Installing a Second Server : SBS 2011 Essentials & Premium Add on Server Part 2

In my other post on this subject, i mused over the pro’s and con’s of Installing the SBS Essentials Connector on the PAO Server in an effort to get it to appear in the RWA, to allow remote users to connect to it.

You can relive that magical post right here.

Anyway, being a man, i do a lot of thinking while in the bathroom, and an idea hit me the other day which i tried out.

I also decided to share that with my fellow MVPs who said, oh yeah, that, thats been done before. Undeterred from my moment of brilliance, i still decided it was worth posting, i mean, i had never seen it done before so.. Im not bitter or anything.

So i am assuming you are running SBS Essentials, you have purchased the PAO, and you are also licensed to use RDS (by this i mean you have RDS CALs, which are separate from PAO CALs)

Firstly, on our Essentials Server, we are simply going to create an RDP File.

From start, type in MSTSC.exe and hit enter.

When the Remote Desktop Connection window opens, enter the name of your PAO Server.

Switch to the Advanced tab, and click on Settings.

Check the box that says ‘Use these RD Gateway server settings’

Under Server name, enter the public name of your RWA site.

Under logon method, choose ‘Ask for Password NTLM’  Click ok when you are done.

Back to the General tab, then click Save As. Enter a name for your RDP file, and save it to the desktop.

Now we need to load up IIS from the Administrative Tools menu.

Expand the Default Website, then right Click Default Website, and click Add Virtual Directory.

In the Add Virtual Directory window, enter an Alias (a name you use to access the VDir) and enter a local path. This is where we will store our RDP file.

You will then see your new VDir in the list. Select it, and click on MIME Types.

In the top right, click Add.

Enter the file extension, ‘.rdp’ and the MIME Type ‘application/x-rdp’

Close IIS.

Move your RDP File to the path you specified for the VDir.

Now open the Dashboard.

Open the Server Settings, then go to Remote Web Access.

Click on Customize, then switch to the Home Page Links tab.

Enter a name, and the full URL to your RDP file and click Add, to save your new Link.

Now, when you open the RWA Home page, you will see your custom link to your RDP File, which will launch a connection to your PAO Server.

Just to recap, in order to use the RDS Gateway function in this manner, you do need to have RDS CALs for your connection.