Keep IT simple - Use RDWeb instead of Site-to-Site VPN

So you have a couple of users moving from the main office to a new office (say they're moving to the public works garage) that is located miles away from the main office. These users need to still be able to use the business application but don't need anything else from the business network and security isn't a high concern. At the remote office the two users will need basic internet, ability to print, and have access to the business application; nothing else is needed. What do you do? Do you buy an expensive firewall to build a site-to-site vpn connection to the main office? Or, since you already have RDWeb implemented for remote use of applications, do you use RDWeb? The cheapest and most efficient solution would be to go with RDWeb. If you're not familiar with RDWeb, I suggest you do some reading on it, but for now know that RDWeb is a feature of Windows Server that builds a portal to essential applications and remote desktop access your employees need either remotely or locally.

Why do I say use RDWeb instead of the VPN connection? Well because RDWeb is simpler. What you can do is give the two users computers with encrypted hard drives, a solid anti-malware solution (I suggest malwarebytes PRO along with Microsoft Security Essentials\Defender and then have OpenDNS at the border), and decent internet bandwidth to give them a great working environment. RDWeb will provide access (securely) to the work application(s) and they can use it almost 99% the way they used it before at the main office. For situations like this, RDWeb trumps the other method of site-to-site VPN because it requires less setup, equipment, and time.

I know for other situations where high-security is a primary concern, file shares are needed, printers are manged from the main network, etc. RDWeb may not be the ideal choice but for a situation like the one described above where the two users just need access to the business application(s) then RDWeb is the clear winner I think. It was the winner at work. The situation described above is a real-world scenario. My work will have a new public works garage and two of our users will be leaving the main office to work out at the new garage. We already have RDWeb in place for remote users so the two users will access the business application through our portal.

One of the things to keep in my mind with any project, especially IT projects, is to keep the solution simple.

Customize an RDP file for a Specific RDWeb user

Do you have some rdweb users who would like to rdp to their desktop from the rdweb portal, but are uncomfortable with the method used in the rdweb portal? It's kind of a long process to login to rdweb, mouse over to 'remote desktop' then plug in the desktop information, etc. What if the user had an rdp file that looked and acted like an app in the remoteapps list? That would be great you say? Then let's do it.

*There might be an easier way than this and if there is please let me know about it*

First, launch remote desktop connection.
Input the user specific information in the fields.

Second, save it as an rdp file.

Third, (only do this if your user's desktop has dual-monitors) open the rdp file in notepad to add some information.
If you user's desktop has dual monitors and the system is Windows 7 ultimate or enterprise then add the following to the end of the rdp file that is opened in notepad: use multimon:i:1

If the users' desktop has dual monitors and running pre-Windows 7 ultimate or enterprise (e.g., windows 7 pro or Windows Vista) then add the following to the end of the rdp file: span monitors:i:1

What is the difference between span and multimon?

From MSDN blog

"Span mode, introduced in Vista, allows the remote desktop to span across all monitors on the client as long as the monitors are arranged to form a rectangle. The remote session created when using span mode is still a single-monitor session. With multimon support, each monitor on the client machine is viewed as a distinct monitor in the remote session. Due to this fundamental difference, span mode has some restrictions that true multimon does not:
1. The primary monitor must be leftmost.
2. The set of monitors must form a rectangle (i.e. identical vertical resolution, and lined up in exact straight line).
3. The total of the resolutions must be below 4096x2048 (ex. 1600x1200+1600x1200 = 3200x1200)."

Multimon "...for Remote Desktop Services allows users to open a Remote Desktop connection expanded across all the monitors on the client computer regardless of the client monitor configuration. With this feature, the user can fully utilize all the monitors connected to the client computer for the Remote Desktop connection thereby providing extra desktop space and an almost seamless experience with the client desktop that is much improved over “Span mode”. "

Fourth, add the rdp file to the remoteapp programs list in your rdweb server.
Go to "remoteapp manger."
Click "add remoteapp programs."
Next.
Browse.
Make sure "all files (*.*)" is selected in the dropdown box. After you've found your custom rdp file select Open.
Next and finish.

Fifth, customize view permissions for the rdp file.
Under remoteapp programs in remoteapp manger, right click the rdp file then select properties. Select user assignment then select "specified domain users and domain groups." Click add. Since this is a specific user rdp file select the appropriate user profile for the rdp file.
OK it.
Then OK in remoteapp properties.

Now, say all of this was for Jane Austen. She will login to the RDWeb portal, see the file you've added to remoteapp programs for her profile, run it then have access to her work desktop. This is much easier compared to the default route.

Make file explorer available in RDWeb

I thought this was pretty cool. This may not be anything new for RDWeb pros, but I discovered this possibility the other day and thought, "Why not share this on my blog?"

First things first: I haven't found a way to make the file explorer match the logged in user's profile, e.g. if jausten logs in to RDWeb, runs file explorer then she will see all of the available folders instead of only seeing her own documents folder. Why? Because this file explorer is the file explorer on the RDWeb server instead of the file explorer that is in jausten's ad profile. Make sense?

Login to your RDWeb server.
Launch remoteapp manager. 
Click add remoteapp program. 
In the "choose programs to add to the..." window, click browse 
In the "choose a program" explorer window browser to c:\windows then choose explorer.exe
Next
Finish 

File explorer is now a part of the remoteapp programs on your RDWeb site. Cool. Just remember to tell your users not to treat the file explorer as their work drive for their own documents. Then why add the file explorer to the remoteapps list? Example: if your rdweb users are on a team then they can share their project files there.There are other examples I'm sure.

Please let me know if you are going to or have done anything with file explorer in rdweb beyond what I have done in this blog post. I would like to hear about it.

Windows Server 2008 R2 RDWeb Resources

This is the first post of February 2013 and it's already the 19th. I can't believe it. I haven't posted in a while, but it's not because of laziness: I've been working on RDWeb for my work. Along the way I found some very helpful and not so helpful resources. I'll only list the helpful links.  Do note that these links may not solve your problem and that I'm not endorsing *every* solution mentioned in the links. The answers labeled "best answer" or "chosen answer" helped me in the forums. I didn't try every solution that is mentioned in the links below.

My main focus for deploying Remote Desktop Services was to make our local applications available to users located outside our network so that's the focus of the links below. 

Getting Started
Deploying Remote Desktop Web Access Step-by-Step Guide

Resources on Troubleshooting Outside Access Problems
External Users Can't Connect to Apps in RDWeb
TS Gateway "the computer can't connect to the remote computer"
External Access to RDWeb Problem
How to resolve external FQDN to a local IP when behind a firewall
RD Gateway/Web Access Outside the Firewall
Your computer can’t connect to the remote computer because the Remote Desktop Gateway server address is unreachable or incorrect. Type a valid Remote Desktop Gateway server address.
Can't Access Through Gateway
Remote Desktop Gateway is Temporarily Unavailable

Licensing
Remote Desktop Services Licensing

Customizing the RDWeb website
Customizing RDWeb

Troubleshooting Remote Desktop from RDWeb
Remote Desktop via RDWeb