RemoteApp 101 Delivering Seamless Remote Applications

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RemoteApp 101

Delivering Seamless Remote Applications

Dr. Benny Tritsch

CTO bluecue consulting http://www.drtritsch.com

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• The History of “Remote Applications Integrated Locally” • Seamless Remote Applications Concepts

• Installing and Configuring RemoteApp • RemoteApp Usability

• Azure RemoteApp • Summary

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What is RAIL?

Local Application RemoteApp Seamless App Application Host Client Remoting Protocol

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Local Applications vs. RAIL

Local application on local desktop Software Deployment Server Application runs here Remote application on local desktop RDSH Server OS Hardware User Sessions Application runs here RDP Datacenter

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Windows Components

Small Icon

Menu Bar

Windows Title Bar and Caption Control

Box Scroll Bar Border Attributes • Size and position Window styles: • Caption, SysMenu • Visible • ScrollBar • ThickFrame • MinimizeBox, MaximizeBox

This text is displayed in the “Client Area”

Most Windows applications create a main window as the first window of the application

A child window can also be a parent window that contains child windows, such as controls

When a parent window is destroyed, moved, hidden or disabled, so are its children

Events in a child window are not always passed to the parent window

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Z Order – GDI Repaint Mechanism

Invalid Rectangle WM_PAINT Client Area

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“Poor Man’s” Application Remoting 

Alt-Print

Ctrl-V  Send Email

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RAIL #1: Mapping the Entire App Window

Host Client

Seamless Frame App Window

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RAIL #2: Using Client Window Manager

Seamless Frame Wnd Resources Icon Resource Client Area Untitled - Notepad   _   File Edit Format View Help

Client Host

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RAIL #3: Hidden Desktop

Client Desktop Mapping Invisible Desktop Local Window Icon Resource Host

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Z Order of Application Windows

Local Application Remote Application Local Application Remote Application

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“Simple” Microsoft RD Session Host

RDSH Collection RD Connection Broker RDP Client Notes:

• Backend servers must be domain-joined!!!

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• RDP Client for Windows

• RDP Client for Windows RT • RDP Client for Mac OSX

• RDP Client for iPad (iOS) • RDP Client for Android

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Microsoft RDSH + RD Web Access

HTTP RDSH Collection RD Connection Broker RD Web Access RDP File RDP Client RDP

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• Windows Server 2012 R2 RDSH • RD Connection Broker • RD Web Access • RD Licensing • Windows 8.1 • Domain-joined

Simplified Demo Environment

• Windows Server 2012 R2 DC • DNS • Domain users Windows 8.1 Client Hyper-V VM1 VM2 VM3

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• Available in Control Panel

• Provides administrators the ability to group and personalize RemoteApp programs and virtual desktops

• Makes them available to end users on the Start menu

• A RemoteApp and Desktop Connection notification area icon shows connection status and allows to disconnect

• Administrators can create a client configuration file (.wcx) and

distribute it, allowing users to automatically configure RemoteApp and Desktop Connection

• NOTE: Certificate required for client-to-host communication

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Usability: Device Redirection

• Client drives • USB devices

• Audio devices (CAM) • Clipboard

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Usability: RDP Virtual Channels

RDP

Client RDS_Host

RDP Protocol Stream

Core (graphics, keyboard, mouse) Seamless Windows / RemoteApp

Printing Data Clipboard Mapping Drive Mapping Audio Dynamic Virtual Channels

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• Z order of dialog boxes (popups behind main window) • Transparent application elements and window regions • Mouse cursors and keyboard shortcuts

• Move and resize experience, full drag • Thumbnails and live tiles in taskbar

• Tray area notifications (“toasts”) with transparency (alpha blending) • Rotation and resolution adoption (tablets)

• Shell extensions dependencies (Explorer plug-ins) • User profile management in client and host sessions

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Microsoft Azure RemoteApp Cloud Deployment

RemoteApp Service

Pre-built template image Automatically maintained Published Apps

Session

Host Session Host … Session

Host

Elastic Runtime

Persistent user data (50GB per user) Microsoft Account Azure Active Directory On-premises Network Windows Server Active Directory DirSync (optional) RDP Identity Options Authentication Source: Microsoft

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Azure RemoteApp Client for Windows

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Price (per user) Free during preview

Window Server version Windows Server 2012 R2

Remoting Protocol RDP 8.1

Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2013 

Bring your own applications 

Device platforms Windows 7/8.x, iOS, Android, Windows Phone, Windows RT Coming soon: Mac OS X

Microsoft Account support 

Federated Identity with Active Directory  Integration with On-Premises IT Infrastructure 

Storage (per user) 50 GB

Initial capacity at preview 20 users per Azure account.

Customers can request additional capacity during the preview. Regions US East, US West, Europe North, Europe West, Asia Pacific

East, Asia Pacific Southeast

Microsoft Azure RemoteApp Features

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• RemoteApp is cool stuff – but not too many people know about it

• Not only RD Session Host servers can host RemoteApp programs, but also physical or virtual Windows clients (Enterprise edition)

• RemoteApp management has room for improvements

• In Cloud concepts, RemoteApp (or RAIL in general) may become an important cornerstone – saves the “legacy” Windows apps

• RemoteApp clients are available for a range of devices and OSes (also non-Windows platforms)

• Check out the new kid on the block: Azure RemoteApp

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THANK YOU

Benny Tritsch

http://www.drtritsch.com Twitter: @drtritsch