MICROSOFT’S TERMINAL SERVER ARCHITECTURE IS A COST EFFECTIVE PROTOCOL THAT INTERCONNECTS REMOTE DEVICES AND LOCATIONS THROUGH A LOCAL OR WIDE AREA NETWORK AT A MINIMAL COST.
A “terminal server” is a hardware device or SERVER that provides terminals (PCs, printers, and other devices) with a common connection point to a local or wide area network. The terminals connect to the terminal server from their RS-232C or RS-423 serial port. The other side of the terminal server connects through network interface cards to a local area network (LAN) to the dial-in/out wide area network. (Different makes of terminal server offer different kinds of interconnection. Some can be ordered in different configurations based on customer need.) The use of a terminal server means that each terminal doesn't need its own network interface card or router. The connection resources inside the terminal server are usually shared dynamically by all attached terminals.
TERMINAL SERVER VS CLIENT SERVER
Terminal Server is the preferred alternative by growing floor covering companies. The reasons are as follows: 1) Overall lower network costs; although a more expensive server and licenses are required, the PC for each client is less expensive; 2) the client PC does not require any application software, and 3) the system is easier to set-up and maintain:
Less security maintenance is required for the clients; the security is all on the server.
Since all the data is on the server, you don't have to worry about confidential data being stored on the thin client's hard drives – hard drives on the client PC’s are optional.
If a thin client fails, the balance of the network is not affected.
Roaming sessions - you can log into the terminal server on a new thin client and your session will automatically move with you to the new client. Imagine walking from your office to your home, you log in and your display is exactly the same as it was in your office.
LICENSING CONSIDERATIONS
Licensing is probably the most dreaded component of any Terminal Server implementation. In Terminal Server environments, you must account for both OS licenses and application licenses. Licensing is really no different from non-Terminal Server environments, except that Windows Server 2003 has technical components that force you to comply with your user licenses.
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