Date of Review: October 2006

Author: Patrick C. Rouse

Product Homepage:  2X ApplicationServer v.4 for Windows Terminal Services

Introduction:

2X Software Ltd has released version 4 of 2X ApplicationServer for Terminal Services.  2X ApplicationServer is an add-on product suite for Microsoft Windows Terminal Server. In this review I’ll describe 2X ApplicationServer’s components,  example deployment configurations, client and server features, pluses and minuses and how for 2X ApplicationServer for Terminal Services fits into the Server Based Computing market space. 

Components: 

The 2X ApplicationServer is installed on a central Windows 2000 or Windows 2003 Server, which stores all of the server side configuration information.  The configuration information is stored in the Windows Registry, so no database product is required.

The 2X ApplicationServer Console is installed with the 2X ApplicationServer on the central Windows 2000 or Windows 2003 Server.  The console is used to configure the 2X ApplicationServer components as well as 2X LoadBalancer.

The 2X Terminal Server Agent is all that is required to be installed on each Windows 2000 or Windows 2003 Terminal Server.  2X Terminal Server Agent is a Windows Service that facilitates communication between the terminal server and the 2X ApplicationServer.

The 2X Client Gateway is a service is installed on a Windows 2000 or Windows 2003 Server. This service facilitates SSL tunneling of all terminal server traffic between each 2X ApplicationServer Client and the 2X Client Gateway.  Additionally it communicates to the terminal servers on behalf of the client.

The 2X ApplicationServer Client is a terminal server client that is used to connect to the 2X Client Gateway and run 2X ApplicationServer applications.  The available client installation packages are MSI for Windows, RPM for Linux and DMG for Mac.

The 2X ApplicationServer Web Portal is an administrator configurable web portal created with the 2X Application Server Console.  The web portal facilitates delivery of the MSI client installation and embedded shortcuts to the 2X ApplicationServer applications.  The web portal can run on any kind of web server, i.e. IIS, Apache, Tomcat….

Configuration Options: 

In this example configuration the 2X ApplicationServer, 2X ApplicationServer Console, 2X Terminal Server Agent and 2X Client Gateway are installed on one Windows 2000 or Windows 2003 Terminal Server.  This configuration would satisfy the needs of the small office or department that needs access to terminal server published applications for a limited number of users when they have only one server at their disposal.

While this is not my recommended configuration, it would fit the bill for a small office currently using Windows Terminal Server that is looking to add application publishing, seamless windows and secure remote access to their current configuration at a relatively low cost.  Additional servers could be added to this configuration if there were growth or changes that dictated the need redundant load balanced terminal servers, or to accommodate more terminal server users.

Server Features:  

The Terminal Servers node of the 2X ApplicationServer Console is used to add terminal servers or Citrix Servers to the server farm.  In the picture below you’ll notice that I was able to add a list of servers and configure the maximum number of sessions each would accept.  I was also able to group the terminal servers into groups for different purposes, i.e. production, test and development.

The Load Balancing node of the 2X ApplicationServer console has only a few options.  It offers two different methods of load balancing, i.e. Resource Based and Round Robin.  Resource Based load balancing is the recommended configuration for use with terminal servers, as it takes into account metrics that are particularly important to terminal server performance, i.e. User Sessions, Memory  and CPU.  These items are not configurable, but work well for most configurations.

 

 

The Application Publishing node of the 2X ApplicationServer Console (shown below) has some really great features.

 

Drag and drop application publishing allows you to drag a shortcut into the console, which completes the executable path, startup folder and icon file to be displayed

The Add button allow for adding individual applications, groups of applications, published desktops and predefined applications.

 

Adding a Predefined Application is pre-populated with that are generally more difficult to do manually, i.e. publishing and faxes control panel or display control panel applet.

 

Published Resources allows one to add applications, configure which servers or server groups the applications are published from, the application path on each server and filtering by IP Address, Client Name (including wildcard naming) and named users or groups of users.

Connection Settings allows one to configure the listening ports for for each component of 2X ApplicationServer, including a security page to configure the SSL certificate an port used for client gateway.  One can select a SSL Certificate or create a self signed certificate with the built-in wizard.

I was pleased with the simplicity and available options in the Information node of the 2X ApplicationServer Console. It lists the status of each terminal server and associated sessions, allows for notification configuration (seen below), logging, version information, software update checking and a link to the support website, support forums and support email. 

The Licensing node of the 2X ApplicationServer Console allows for adding the appropriate licenses for 2X ApplicationServer and 2X LoadBalancer.

Pluses and minuses: 

1. Simple to install and use
2. Good seamless windows implementation
3. Lightweight MSI installation package for the 2X Terminal Server Agent that can easily be deployed via Group Policy or manually
4. Resource based load balancer without any confusing configuration options
5. Easy to configure Client Gateway Settings for client access via HTTP (tcp port 80) or HTTPS (tcp port 443)
6. Web Portal that works on virtually any web server
7. Clients for Windows, Linux and Mac
8. No requirement to use or purchase a database to track configuration settings
9. Support for multiple internal and external client gateways
10. Enough application publishing options to allow for granular application assignment, but not so many options that would make it too confusing to use
11. Integration with 2X LoadBalancer allows for load balancing of both Windows Terminal Servers or those running Citrix
12. Inexpensive, at less than $1000 per Terminal Server hosting 50 sessions costs less than $20 USD per session.  Pricing info here; 2X Pricing

1. No built-in universal printer driver, TWAIN redirection or bi-directional audio support
2. No policy based control of client features (except via GPO)
3. Lack of support for multiple, synchronized 2X ApplicationServers makes use in a mission critical enterprise environment questionable
4. The 2X ApplicationServer console must be use on the 2X ApplicationServer, or via published application assigned to the 2X ApplicationServer.
5. No current cmd line or scripting language support

Conclusion: 

I was pleasantly surprised with the ease of installation, configuration and use of each 2X ApplicationServer component.  2X ApplicationServer’s low cost makes it a good fit for companies currently using Windows Terminal Servers but needing features like Application Publishing, Seamless Windows, Load Balancing, Secure Remote Access or clients for Mac and Linux.  It is also a possible migration path for organizations using Citrix MetaFrame 1.8 that want to upgrade to Windows Server 2003, but don't want to spend the money to bring their Citrix Subscription Advantage current. It’s a great option for businesses needing extra bells, whistles and management features that are not available with the base Windows Terminal Server feature set.

More Information:

www.2x.com