In 2001, Microsoft introduced the RDP protocol that allowed users to access an operating system’s desktop remotely. Since then, Microsoft has developed the Microsoft Remote Desktop Services (RDS) to facilitate remote desktop access.
However, Microsoft RDS leaves a lot to be desired. This white paper highlights the pain points of RDS solutions, and how systems administrators can use Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) to enhance their Microsoft RDS infrastructure.
Microsoft RDS Pain Points:• Limited Load Balancing Functionality• Limited Client Device Support• Difficult to Install, Set Up, and Update
Parallels RAS is an application and virtual desktop delivery solution that allows systems administrators to create a private cloud from which they can centrally manage the delivery of applications, virtual desktops, and business-critical data. This comprehensive VDI solution is well known for its ease of use, low license costs, and feature list.
How Parallels RAS Enhances Your Microsoft RDS Infrastructure:• Easy to Install and Set Up• Centralized Configuration Console• Auto-Configuration of Remote Desktop Session Hosts• High Availability Load Balancing (HALB)• Superior user experience on mobile devices• Supports hypervisors from Citrix, VMware, Microsoft’s own Hyper-V, Nutanix Acropolis, and Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM)
As this white paper highlights, Parallels RAS allows you to enhance your Microsoft Remote Desktop Services infrastructure, enabling you to offer a superior application and virtual desktop delivery solution.
Built around Microsoft’s RDP protocol, Parallels RAS allows systems administrators to do more in less time with fewer resources. Since it is easier to implement and use, systems administrators can manage and easily scale up the Parallels RAS farm without requiring any specialized training. Because of its extensive feature list and multisite support, they can build solutions that meet the requirements of any enterprise, regardless of its size and scale.
IT security has always been a major concern for businesses that accept online credit card payments. They hold sensitive information that malicious hackers are after: cardholder data. This is why such businesses are legally obliged to build IT systems and networks that are PCI DSS compliant.
What Is PCI DSS?PCI DSS is a security standard developed by the PCI Security Standards Council. Designed for businesses that do online transactions and hold customers’ payment records, it helps them build and maintain secure IT systems and networks, ensuring the privacy and security of their customers’ credit-card details and cardholder data.
The set of standards defined in the PCI DSS are the minimum required level of computer systems security that must be in place when processing credit-card data. These standards apply to merchants, processors, financial institutions, service providers, and any other entity that store, process, or transmit credit-card and cardholder information.
Why Businesses Need to Be PCI DSS CompliantThe challenges of building and maintaining a PCI DSS–compliant network are many and depend on several factors—for example, the type of software used, the network setup, and the procedures in place. If organizations that process credit-card payments and store cardholder details fail to build PCI DSS–compliant networks and computer systems, they risk being fined up to $500,000 per month—or even worse, having their trading licence revoked.
This white paper explains how using Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) can help organizations build scalable PCI DSS–compliant networks and also save on costs and administration overheads.
Mobility, security and compliance, automation, and the demand for “the workspace of the future” are just some of the challenges that businesses face today.
The cloud is best positioned to support these challenges, but it can be hard to pick the right kind of cloud and find the right balance between cost and benefits.
Parallels IntroductionParallels is a global leader in cross-platform technologies and is renowned for its award-winning software solutions that cut complexity and lower costs for a wide range of industries, including healthcare, education, banking and finance, manufacturing, the public sector, and many others.
Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) provides easy-to-use, comprehensive application and desktop delivery that enables business and public-sector organizations to seamlessly integrate virtual Windows applications and desktops on nearly any device or operating system.
ThinPrint IntroductionThinPrint is a global leader in solutions that support an organization’s digital transformation, helping ensure users can draw on highly reliable and innovative print solutions that support today’s and tomorrow’s requirements.
Joint Value Statement
Together, Parallels and ThinPrint allow an organization to become a cloud-ready business on its own terms, with unprecedented ease and cost-effectiveness.
We support any endpoint device from a desktop PC to a smartphone or tablet, can deploy on-premise or in the cloud, and follow your business as it completes its digital transformation.
You may decide to start digitally transforming your business by delivering applications or desktops from an existing server in your datacenter and move to Amazon Web Services (AWS) or Microsoft Azure later. You can also replace user workstations with newer, more mobile devices, or expand from an initial pilot group to new use cases for the entire company.
Whatever your plans are, Parallels and ThinPrint will help you implement them with easy, cost-effective solutions and the ability to adapt to future challenges.
If you’re here to gather some of the best practices surrounding vSphere, you’ve come to the right place! Mastering vSphere: Best Practices, Optimizing Configurations & More, the free eBook authored by me, Ryan Birk, is the product of many years working with vSphere as well as teaching others in a professional capacity. In my extensive career as a VMware consultant and teacher (I’m a VMware Certified Instructor) I have worked with people of all competence levels and been asked hundreds - if not thousands - of questions on vSphere. I was approached to write this eBook to put that experience to use to help people currently working with vSphere step up their game and reach that next level. As such, this eBook assumes readers already have a basic understanding of vSphere and will cover the best practices for four key aspects of any vSphere environment.
The best practices covered here will focus largely on management and configuration solutions so should remain relevant for quite some time. However, with that said, things are constantly changing in IT, so I would always recommend obtaining the most up-to-date information from VMware KBs and official documentation especially regarding specific versions of tools and software updates. This eBook is divided into several sections, and although I would advise reading the whole eBook as most elements relate to others, you might want to just focus on a certain area you’re having trouble with. If so, jump to the section you want read about.
Before we begin, I want to note that in a VMware environment, it’s always best to try to keep things simple. Far too often I have seen environments be thrown off the tracks by trying to do too much at once. I try to live by the mentality of “keeping your environment boring” – in other words, keeping your host configurations the same, storage configurations the same and network configurations the same. I don’t mean duplicate IP addresses, but the hosts need identical port groups, access to the same storage networks, etc. Consistency is the name of the game and is key to solving unexpected problems down the line. Furthermore, it enables smooth scalability - when you move from a single host configuration to a cluster configuration, having the same configurations will make live migrations and high availability far easier to configure without having to significantly re-work the entire infrastructure. Now the scene has been set, let’s get started!
Make the Move: Linux Remote Desktops Made Easy
Securely run Linux applications and desktops from the cloud or your data center.
Download this guide and learn...
Assess what you already have
If you have a business continuity plan or a disaster recovery plan in place, that’s a good place to start. This scenario may not fit the definition of disaster that you originally intended, but it can serve to help you test your plan in a more controlled fashion that can benefit both your current situation by giving you a head start, and your overall plan by revealing gaps that would be more problematic in a more urgent or catastrophic environment with less time to prepare and implement.
Does your plan include access to remote desktops in a data center or the cloud? If so, and you already have a service in place ready to transition or expand, you’re well on your way.
Read the guide to learn what it takes for IT teams to set up staff to work effectively from home with virtual desktop deployments. Learn how to get started, if you’re new to VDI or if you already have an existing remote desktop scenario but are looking for alternatives.
With times changing continuously in the tech world, more and more workloads are moving to the cloud and a VPN solution is becoming outdated - services are no longer just located in your office or data center, but a hybrid combination of on-premises and public cloud services. Leveraging cloud-based solutions means that your company can centrally control access to applications while reinforcing security.
As an affordable all-in-one VDI solution, Parallels RAS allows users to securely access virtual workspaces from anywhere, on any device, anytime. Parallels RAS centralizes management of the IT infrastructure, streamlines multi-cloud deployments, enhances data security, and improves process automation.
As lockdowns end, organziations are ready to start planning on how to gear their business for more agility, with a robust business continuity plan for their employees and their technology. A plan that includes technology which enables their business to work at full capacity rather than just getting by.A successful Business Continuity Plan includes key technology attributes needed for employees to be 100% productive before, during and after a Covid-19 type event. The technology should be:
As a result of the Covid-19 lockdown experience, temporary measures will be scaled back and adoption of fully functional “Remote” workplaces will now be accelerated. A reduction in the obstacles for moving to virtual desktops and applications will be required so that businesses can be 100% productive during Business Continuity events. The winners will be those organizations who use and explore the possibilities of a virtual workplace every day.As an affordable but scalable all-in-one virtual desktop and application solution, Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) allows users to securely access virtual workspaces from anywhere, on any device, at any time. Parallels RAS centralizes management of the IT infrastructure, streamlines multi-cloud deployments, enhances data security and improves process automation.
In 2020, a total of 20 million Chromebooks are expected to be shipped globally. That’s a 17% increase from last year’s 17 million units. Already quickly gaining in popularity due to the cheap price tag and long battery life, Chromebooks are about to get another boost as organizations look to equip employees with laptops—part of their work-from-home strategy to minimize the risk of COVID infections.
While Chromebooks are ideal for remote work and learning from an economic and operational standpoint, they also have some serious limitations, including access to Windows Applications. In this white paper, the following topics are covered:
With virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI), users can use the same applications they’re already familiar with on Chromebooks. Users don’t have to go through a steep learning curve because the applications that are delivered through VDI will look and feel just like any locally installed application.
In choosing a VDI solution for a fleet of Chromebooks, it’s important to consider not only the inherent capabilities of the VDI solution itself but also how well it integrates with Chromebooks. Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) meets both requirements.
Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) is an all-in-one VDI solution enabling seamless access to virtual desktops and applications on any device, anywhere, including Chromebooks.