Deploy an RDS Farm Windows 2012R2/2016/2019

Introduction

In this tutorial, we will see how to set up a RDS farm in Windows 2012R2 / 2016/2019 with the following features:

• Remote Desktop Session Host (x2)
• Service broker for the distribution of connections
• Setting up a collection
• Publishing RemoteApp on a web portal
• Remote Desktop Gateway
• User Profile Disk (UPD)

To set up a complete rds farm, you need a minimum of 4 servers, not including the domain controller and file and print server. All farm servers must be members of the same Active Directory domain.

Composition :

For the realization of the tutorial, I used an AD server, LAB-AD1.rdr.it.intra with the IP address 172.16.0.100. DC is used for storing UPDs.

Server role definitions that are part of an RDS farm.

Remote Desktop Session Host : On these servers, the user sessions are open and allow them to work.

Service broker : This is the circulation agent for sessions in an environment with multiple remote desktop session hosts.

Remote Desktop Gateway : Its primary role is to enable secure access to the RDS infrastructure from the Internet. It connects to the farm using HTTPS and filters connections using access policy.

Web Access : publishes a web portal that allows access to applications via RemoteApp via an Internet browser. This role is also used for RemoteApp access for Windows clients. Through this portal, it is also possible to put the password change of the users.

License Manager : This service is used for license distribution (CAL RDS).

The tutorial was made under Windows 2012R2. The deployment of an RDS farm under Windows 2016 and 2019 is almost identical.