[THIN] MSTerminalServices.org - April 2007 Newsletter

MSTerminalServices.org Newsletter of April 2007
Sponsored by: SecureIDA
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In this issue:
What's up?
KB Articles of the Month
Ask our MVPs!
Learning Zone
Windows 2003 SP2 special
Rumours on  the SBC Space


Welcome to the MSTerminalServices.org newsletter! Each month we will bring you 
interesting and helpful information on MS Terminal Services and server based 
computing. We want to know what all *you* are interested in hearing about. 
Please send your suggestions for future newsletter content to: 
SVermeulen@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

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1. What's up?
Stefan Vermeulen, Terminal Server MVP and Citrix CTP

Hi there!

This month's special is due to the surprise Microsoft dropped on us. Windows 
2003 server SP2 has been released without any prior notice and it is not 
completely without issues when it comes to terminal server solutions.

I am finalizing this newsletter from Chicago where Briforum is being held - an 
event that looks at terminal server, Citrix, virtualization and application 
delivery. Hopefully I may meet some of you that read this letter. If you do, 
make sure to tap me on the shoulder for a chat.

That's all for now!

See you later!

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SecureIDA delivers remote users and branch offices secure access to 
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and end-user interface.

IT staff configure and end users easily access resources through a common 
managed portal. There's an intuitive way to add systems to the network, control 
who can access the resources, and for instant end user access the resources.

Try VPN For Free! (http://www.eztrackz.com/tracking.aspx?id=66168)
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2. KB Articles of the Month

Here are some interesting and useful Terminal Services related articles posted 
by Microsoft in the last month:

Index.dat files are not deleted from the server when a user logs off a Terminal 
Services session to a Windows Server 2003-based computer.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/933562

You experience slow file server performance and delays occur when you work with 
files that are located on a file server.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/822219

Standard users cannot turn off the Internet Explorer Enhanced Security feature 
on a Windows Server 2003-based terminal server.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/933991

A user who is logged on to a Windows Server 2003-based Terminal Server cannot 
configure a printer as the default printer.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/933996

Recommended TCP/IP settings for WAN links with a MTU size of less than 576.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/900926

Hotfixes of the month

This month's Hotfix update is quite large:

You receive a "The specified domain either does not exist or could not be 
contacted" error message when you try to establish a new Terminal Services 
connection to a Windows Server 2003-based terminal server
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/902336

Event ID 2020 and event ID 1000 are logged and the registry size limit is 
exceeded on a computer that is running Terminal Services in Application Server 
mode and Windows Server 2003 or Windows 2000
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/906952

A Terminal Services client computer may make beep sounds after you connect to a 
Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1-based computer
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/901115

The session redirection function does not work correctly on Windows Server 
2003-based servers that have Terminal Server enabled
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/913948

Terminal Servers cannot locate the license servers when you use the "Use the 
specified Terminal Server license servers" policy setting
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/922508

You cannot connect to a Windows Server 2003-based terminal server when the 
Remote Desktop Web Connection ActiveX control screen resolution is higher than 
1600 by 1200 pixels on a client computer
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/915947

You cannot connect to a Windows Server 2003-based terminal server when the 
screen resolution for the Remote Desktop Web Connection ActiveX control is 
higher than 1600 by 1200 pixels
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/918679

A terminal server cannot obtain a license from a licensing server that is 
running Windows Server 2003
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/917915

A Windows Server 2003-based terminal server stops responding to new connection 
requests, and the logon window does not appear
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/923630

When a user logs off a Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1-based terminal 
server, the terminal server may stop responding for several seconds
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927182

A leak occurs in the Netbt.sys file on Windows Server 2003 Terminal Server that 
has many NetBT connections
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/916508

The Windows Language bar closes unexpectedly when you start a Citrix 
Presentation Server-published application on a Windows Server 2003 SP1-based 
computer that runs Terminal Services
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/918184

Print spooling operation in Windows Server 2003-based Terminal Services (TS) 
computer is slow when Remote Desktop Connection thin clients use printer 
redirection
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/900090

A Windows Server 2003-based terminal server in a forest cannot obtain a license 
from a license server in a different forest
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/905687

Terminal Services Licensing Manager may stop when you add a new license on a 
computer that is running the Brazilian Portuguese version of Windows Server 2003
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/906207

An IBM DB2 program stops responding on a Windows Server 2003-based computer 
that is running Terminal Services
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/916667

Error message when you try to create a database connection to SQL Server 
Express in a Windows Server 2003-based terminal server session: "Failed to 
spawn a user instance of SQL Server"
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/921498

Event ID: 26 occurs when you log off from a server that has Terminal Server 
enabled in Windows Server 2003 SP1
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/891194

FIX: The "% Processor Time" counter of the Terminal Services Session 
performance object reports a value of more than 100 percent
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/922595

Print jobs take longer to finish than you expect in a Terminal Services session 
in Windows Server 2003
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/924663

The Winlogon.exe process uses excessive CPU resources when a user reinserts a 
smart card to log on to a Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1-based terminal 
server
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/919578

When you use a Terminal Services session to access redirected local hard disk 
drives on a Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1-based computer, you may 
experience a delay
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/922297

Error message when you try to log on to a terminal server that is running 
Windows Server 2003: "STOP 0x000000C2 0x00000007, 0x00001163, 0x42040001, 
0x88990be8
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/918120

FIX: In the .NET Framework 1.1, you may randomly receive 
System.NullReferenceException exceptions when a Windows Forms application 
displays a modal dialog box in response to an event
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/899511

You may experience a 20-second delay when you try to access a redirected folder 
by logging on to a Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1-based computer or to a 
Windows XP Service Pack 2-based computer
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/899409

A custom wave driver is unloaded when a remote client computer connects to a 
Windows Server 2003-based computer that is running a TAPI program
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/928046

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3. Ask our MVPs a question

This is simple and straight forward: shoot us your TS/Citrix question and we 
will get some of the top Terminal Services MVPs together and get you an answer, 
from everyone?s point of view! The best question of the month will be published 
here with all the answers from these guys. Just email us at 
SVermeulen@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

QUESTION: Will the Windows Server 2007 release (Longhorn) be the version that I 
can use without any extra add-ons like Citrix?

Regards, Terminal Server Theo.

ANSWER: Dear Theo,

Microsoft has always positioned, and probably will keep doing so for a long 
time, the Terminal Server release as a platform for the OEM's to built upon. 
Whereas each release gets better, it will never be a match for the add-ons like 
Citrix, Provision Networks, Tricerat, etc. Only if you are happy enough with 
the functionality that comes with the base product can it be enough to give it 
a try, but based on my experience you will encounter the need for functionality 
quite early on. If you make a good inquiry before starting such a project with 
your future users, you will be far better capable of making the decision for 
pure TS only or maybe with one or two add-ons. Good luck with the decision!

Cheers!

4. Learning Zone

An overview of the Citrix Web Interface 4.5
http://www.msterminalservices.org/articles/Citrix-Web-Interface.html
Date - April 04, 2007; Author - Duane Bradley; Section - Articles :: General
In this article Duane takes a deep dive into Citrix Web Interface 4.5 and all 
that's new.
Find out here if it's worth the upgrade!

Windows Terminal Services Printing
http://www.msterminalservices.org/articles/Windows-Terminal-Services-Printing.html
Date - April 12, 2007; Author - Patrick Rouse; Section - Articles :: Printing
In this article Patrick goes over all the basics and issues you will encounter 
when using basic
Terminal Server printing on your server.

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financial barriers to your using it and getting exposure to the administrator 
and end-user interface.

IT staff configure and end users easily access resources through a common 
managed portal. There's an intuitive way to add systems to the network, control 
who can access the resources, and for instant end user access the resources.

Try VPN For Free! (http://www.eztrackz.com/tracking.aspx?id=66168)
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5. Windows 2003 SP2 special

A few weeks ago Microsoft surprised us with the release of Service Pack 2 for 
Windows Server 2003. No big drums or anything, it was suddenly there. (Auto 
update will install it if you don't read carefully)

A real strange one is that specific customers have had to uninstall up to 26 
hotfixes and replace them with new versions, before being able to install SP2. 
According to Microsoft this is only valid for about 200 customers worldwide. 
Hopefully you're not one of them.

Read the full story here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/932132

Using Citrix?

SP2 includes MMC 3.0 and that will take over your existing MSC files and should 
you uninstall MMC 3.0 they will fail. Read the full story and what else to 
watch when installing SP2 here(http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX113035).

So before even thinking about updating to SP2, make sure to:

- Check out the release 
notes(http://technet2.microsoft.com/WindowsServer/en/library/ed5382af-e819-4d33-ace0-225d31b7ab751033.mspx?mfr=true).
- Test the update on an isolated easy to restore box if possible.
- Check the list of applications you have running with the official MS SP2 
approved list(http://support.microsoft.com/kb/926031).

Is there any positive news about SP2 other then "be careful?" Yes, Microsoft 
has added 2 new pieces of functionality with SP2:

- Scalable Networking Pack
- XMLLite

Now the xmllite is not so interesting, as it targets developers, but the 
"Scalable Networking Pack" can be an interesting one. For those interested, 
make sure to check out:

- The Scalable Networking 
homepage(http://www.microsoft.com/technet/network/snp/default.mspx).
- The Introduction 
whitepaper(http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=6AEE2E62-B708-44C1-BABE-FC0E7B0F02BD&displaylang=en).
- The FAQ(http://www.microsoft.com/technet/network/snp/faq.mspx).

6. Rumors on the SBC Space

The biggest news is the release of Longhorn Beta 3 at the beginning of this 
month. This beta has a lot of the final functionality in working order, like 
the load balancer and the new XPS printing engine. If you have access to it via 
MSDN, make sure to test it!

If you have plans on going over to Longhorn TS, make sure to check out the 
licensing. The team from Microsoft has put together a 3 part tutorial on the 
Longhorn license model: Part 
1(http://blogs.msdn.com/ts/archive/2007/04/17/what-s-new-in-terminal-services-licensing-for-longhorn-part-1.aspx),
 part 
2(http://blogs.msdn.com/ts/archive/2007/04/17/what-s-new-in-terminal-services-licensing-for-longhorn-part-2.aspx)
 and part 
3(http://blogs.msdn.com/ts/archive/2007/04/17/what-s-new-in-terminal-services-licensing-for-longhorn-part-3.aspx).

The team from Ctrl-Alt-Del IT Consultancy has come up with another free killer 
tool. This time it's a tool to replace the msg.exe on a terminal server. Their 
version is called TSMSG and enables the administrator to send a message to all 
users on a server, or a bunch of servers. You can download the tool 
here(http://www.ctrl-alt-del.com.au/CAD_Utils.htm).

See you next month!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Citrix alternative that requires no additional hardware - only $4/user
SecureIDA delivers remote users and branch offices secure access to 
applications, servers, and data. The platform is packaged to eliminate any 
financial barriers to your using it and getting exposure to the administrator 
and end-user interface.

IT staff configure and end users easily access resources through a common 
managed portal. There's an intuitive way to add systems to the network, control 
who can access the resources, and for instant end user access the resources.

Try VPN For Free! (http://www.eztrackz.com/tracking.aspx?id=66168)
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