Re: VB6 application on Terminal Server

Wow!!!
So much useful information in one response. Thank you very very much expvb.
I'll will follow all your advices.

vovan

"expvb" <nobody@xxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:OH5c3xbgJHA.4556@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"vovan" <vovan@xxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:uzjiCoagJHA.1248@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I was asked by my boss to find out if we can install our VB6 application
on the terminal server instead of installing it on each workstation.

Yes you can and usually there is no special thing you need to do, but
there is not much benefit if the workstations are on the same LAN. TS are
useful maybe only over the Internet because only screen contents are
passed to the client, not huge amount of data for a client app to process
for example. Some use Citrix along with TS, but it's not required. The
main benefit of Citrix that I hear is that it uses a more optimized screen
update, so even with a 28.8 KB Modem, it looks reasonably fast.

On the same LAN, with many clients connected the application would be
slow, because each session would use a lot of resources. If the purpose
that you want people to use TS is that they can see the same application
settings regardless of which computer they log on, use Roaming Profiles
instead of TS.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roaming_profiles

You might need licenses for each computer to use TS, but I think a license
is not needed based on the client OS. Usually the client OS has to be the
Pro version to avoid getting a TS license. This is separate from the file
server licenses. Ask or search a TS group for details.

Unfortunately I'm not a system guy and know nothing in the administration
area. I tried to read a topic about Office installation
(http://www.sessioncomputing.com/applications.htm) and was totally
confused when I've read in 2 subsequent statements the following:
5. Make sure your terminal server is in Application Server Mode (Windows
2000 Server) or has the role of Terminal Server (Windows Server 2003)
before installing your software
and in the next paragraph:
6. Make sure the terminal server is in "Install Mode" before installing
software.

When you install software, use "Add/Remove Program", then on the left
side, click "Add New Programs", then browse to the installer EXE.

Our application uses INI file for storing settings for the user on each
workstation. Should we at least rwrite the portions of saving and reading
settings to make our application compatible with Terminal server?
Where can I read any information about developing the software for
Terminal server wich is spescific for a developer, not system
administrator?

You need to use AppData folder, which lets you save the INI in a per user
location on the TS. You can't save to the workstation anymore. There is no
mechanism to access the workstation hard drive from TS session, unless you
open shares on the workstations, which is not recommended.

Search the newsgroups for "SHGetSpecialFolderLocation" in how to get
AppData. This has been discussed recently.

As for TS documentation, in MSDN, look under Platform SDK, Base Services,
Terminal Services, but in my opinion, you don't need to read it. Most VB
apps work fine in TS without modifications, unless they do some exclusive
file access, otherwise, a VB app would see terminal services session as if
it's a separate computer.

If you have Windows 2000 or XP, you can download the free Virtual PC,
install Windows Server on it, and try installing your software and see how
it behaves. You connect to a terminal server by going to Start-->All
Programs-->Accessories-->Communications-->Remote Desktop Connection. You
enter a computer name or IP.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terminal_Services

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Virtual_PC






.

Loading