RDP vs. VNC 1

[UnknownPerson]

In a computer lab where we want to build thin cleints, we are in doubt of the RDP vs. VNC protocols...

Which one best suits for a school computer lab?
(Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Web and Dreamweaver)

I believe that MS Terminal Server only allows RDP connections... and on the other hand, VNC only has the display transmission engine WHICH DOESN'T handle multiple logins...

Any idea?

 

[xmsre]

VNC replaces msgina.dll with newgina.dll. It's one session, just like logging in at the console. Terminal services, on the other hand, will allow multiple user sessions only limited by licensing. Citrix adds application pooling and some other value-add features, but you probably won't find it worth it for a summer project.

Go with TS.

John
MOSMWNMTK

 

[UnknownPerson]

Okay, but let's now think of a **__ D E C E N T __** configuration...

I heard that the terminal server NEEDS a base 128MB of RAM, plus 21MB for each user... okay, but what about the network traffic?? What's the tipical usage for applications?

Now let's suppose that we are going to use a Super-Damn-Processor-Hungry-Huge-App (like i't is on the Corel Draw and Photoshop lab), what configuration could make it a good performer and allow a fast lab?

Say, 128MB per user? What processor?

Also, isn't there any kind of Desktop Administrator or alike that will let multiple VNC desktops on Windows platforms???

 

[xmsre]

The sizing guide is:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/techinfo/administration/terminal/tscaling.asp

You're not going to cut it with a VNC-like app, it's single session only. However...

You may want to try what I do at home. I bought and old quad PIII 733 server with 4GB of RAM off ebay for around $1200. I also have a license for VMWare workstation. I built 10 VMs, and configured each of them to auto start with no popup dialogs. Then, I use svchost to run them in the background as services. If you really get into it, set processor affinity and process priority through control panel for each instance of svchost. If you go this route, remember that the high CPU will be handling interrupts for the host, so you'll want to avoid loading it heavily. You can connect to any given VM via the admin RDP connection in TS, and I suppose if you really wanted to, via VNC installed in each VM. If you have an expansion chassis full of 9 or 18g drives, you can actually give a specific physical drive to each VM. I saw some EXP-15s pretty cheap, and IBM 18G drives are running $100 or so for a 10 pack. You'll need the SCSI driver, which you can download from VMWare. I give RAM to each VM depending on what I'm running. I guess the average VM has around 256M. Running the VMs as services saves the overhead of writing to the screen. If it's just a one time summer demo, you might even save on the OS by using the 180 day eval version.

A couple of servers off ebay, the academic licensing prices, a VMWare license, and you could put something decent together fairly inexpensively.

John
MOSMWNMTK

 

[dkwiebe]

http://www.thinsoftinc.com/products_winconserver_info.html

I was looking to solve almost the same problem today when I came upon this piece of software. I don't know for sure if it would work for you or not. I would check it out. I have no link whatsoever to these people. Good Luck