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Performance issues when accessing RDPWin Remotely with Citrix or Terminal Services

Added 3/30/2006 - Article ID#: KWin0021

Factor Description
Number of Clients per Citrix or Terminal Server

Performance of RDPWin

 The performance of RDPWin when running remote or thin client workstations in a Citrix or Terminal Services environment depends on many factors, including:
  • The number of clients per Citrix or Terminal Server.
  • Workload on the client.  Clients that access RDP frequently consume more resources on the server than infrequent use clients.
  • If non-RDP applications are running on the same server, performance is reduced.
  • Number of CPU's and speed of each CPU in the server.
  • Total memory in the server.
  • Network communication card in server (should be one gigabit or faster).
  • Frequency of report printing.

We strongly suggest purchasing multiple, inexpensive servers rather than one expensive Citrix/Terminal server with more memory and multiple CPU's for the following reasons:

  • Multiple Citrix or Terminal Servers provides redundancy - if one server fails, connect to a different one.   
  • Performance is improved with two or more servers, even if you add multiple CPU's and memory to the one server. 
  • The price of two servers with one CPU each is often about the same as one server with multiple CPU's, or one server with a very expensive CPU.
  • RDPWin uses Crystal Reports extensively, which is limited to three simultaneous threads per Citrix or Terminal Server.  This means only three clients can print at the same time.  If the fourth client attempts to print, an error is generated and the client must attempt to print again.   This problem is solved by adding additional Citrix or Terminal servers, but it is not solved if you only add memory or a second CPU to one server.

Our technical staff is glad to help evaluate how many Citrix or Terminal Servers are required for your application.  Please contact RDP Sales for configuration assistance.
Pervasive Workstation Engine Must be Installed as a Service There are special steps required to install Pervasive on a Citrix or Terminal Server.  See Pervasive Work Group Engine Must be installed and run as a Service on Citrix Server or Windows Terminal Server.  The work group engine can be purchased from RDP for $100 by calling RDP Sales.
Citrix or Terminal Services Required Please note that direct server-to-server connections, such as Microsoft's RAS, even with a dedicated T1-line, is too slow to function with RDP; which is why either Citrix or Terminal Services is required.  See: Using RDP Remotely with Citrix or Terminal Services.
Remote Access for 1-2 Users May Not Require Dedicated Citrix or Terminal Server If you only need infrequent remote access from one or two workstations, a separate Citrix/Terminal Server is not required.  The RDP data server with Windows 2003 or 2008 has the ability to host two remote workstations using the free "Remote Desktop for Administration" mode of Windows 2003 or 2008.  When more than two workstations require remote access, RDP requires that the Citrix/Terminal software be installed on a separate Windows 2003 or 2008 server, not the RDP Data server.
Thin Client Access For all workstations that are not remote, RDP suggests connecting them directly to the data server ("fat client") and not using a "thin client".  Directly connecting workstations improves performance and eliminates any printing problems.  Only remote workstations should be connected via Citrix or Terminal Services.
Communication Line
T1, DSL, etc.		 The speed of the communication line between the remote locations and the data server location is critical to performance.  The faster the communication line, the better the performance.  A T1-line at the location of the data server and Citrix/Terminal Server is ideal.  Remote locations may be able to use slower connections, such as DSL, depending on how many remote workstations are at a given location. 

Links Related to Remote Access with Citrix or Terminal Server

Warning:  There are special steps required to install Pervasive on Citrix or Terminal Server.  See Pervasive Work Group Engine Required, Run as Service on Citrix/Terminal Server.  The work group engine can be purchased from RDP for $100 by calling RDP Sales.

Note: Do not use the 2008 64 bit operating system for Citrx or Terminal Server. Various RDP interfaces and utilites will not run on 64 bit operating systems.

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