The wireless age has arrived—people are reaching for their handheld computers and going mobile. But what does a wireless world mean for systems administrators? How can we use this new technology to make our jobs easier? What Microsoft tools are available for remotely managing our IT infrastructures? Currently, Microsoft's only mobile administration tool is the Terminal Services Client for Pocket PC 2002. This software client isn't included with Pocket PC 2002 devices, but you can download it for free from Microsoft's Pocket PC Downloads Web site (http://www.microsoft.com/mobile/pocketpc/downloads/terminalservices/default.asp). Let's take a look at the Terminal Services Client's requirements, installation, configuration, and use. (For information about how to use a Pocket PC 2002 to perform administrative tasks, see Mobile & Wireless, "Mobile Administrator's Toolkit," March 2002, http://www.winnetmag.com, InstantDoc ID 23855.)
Requirements
Microsoft wrote the Terminal Services Client solely for the Pocket PC 2002—the program isn't backward-compatible. To download a Windows CE 3.0 Terminal Server client, go to http://www.microsoft.com/mobile/handheldpc/downloads/terminalserver/ts.asp. This version of the Terminal Server client isn't as stable as the Pocket PC 2002 version. (For more information about the earlier version, see the Microsoft article "Terminal Server Client for the Handheld PC Professional Edition Readme.txt File" at http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=q236282.)
To take full advantage of the Terminal Services Client's mobility, you need wireless access to the LAN on which the servers you want to administer reside. Most environments currently support some form of wireless LAN (WLAN) connectivity. This access usually incorporates 802.11b, which is the 11Mbps wireless standard for most of today's wireless access products. You can also use a standard 10/100 NIC to connect to your LAN, but you won't have the freedom of wireless mobility. For this article, I assume you've implemented a wireless infrastructure in your environment and that your Pocket PC has a wireless network card installed. Cisco Systems, ORiNOCO Wireless Networks, and Linksys are the three most commonly used wireless hardware manufacturers. For more information about wireless network hardware, see Buyer's Guide, "Wireless Server Management," September 2001, http://www.winnetmag.com, InstantDoc ID 21864.
In addition to the hardware necessary to physically connect to the network (either wirelessly or through a physical LAN connection), you also need an IP address. You can use DHCP to dynamically configure an IP address, or you can manually enter the IP address information directly into your Pocket PC.
Finally, you need to have Windows 2000 Server Terminal Services installed on any server you want to remotely administer. Terminal Services is available in the Win2K Server family but isn't installed by default.
Before you install Terminal Services on your Win2K server, you need to decide which mode you want to run. The most common mode for systems administration is the Remote Administration mode. This mode doesn't require additional Terminal Services licensing, but it does have a limit of two concurrent terminal sessions. In addition, the users connecting to the session must belong to the Local Administrators group.
Another mode is Application Server mode. You typically use this mode to share applications through a terminal connection across a network. Application Server mode doesn't have the two-concurrent-user limitation, and nonadministrators can access sessions. However, this mode requires you to install Terminal Services licensing and purchase a license for each concurrent user.
To install Terminal Services in the Remote Administration mode, start the Control Panel Add/Remove Programs applet on the server. Click Add/Remove Windows Components. Then, scroll to the bottom of the components list and select the Terminal Services check box. In the Terminal Services Setup wizard, click Remote Administration. When the installation is finished, click Finish. Your server is now ready to accept Terminal Services sessions.
You can also configure a Windows XP machine to accept remote administrative sessions, much like a Win2K server. To configure remote access in XP, start the Control Panel System applet. Click the Remote tab and select the Allow users to connect remotely to this computer check box. Click OK. Finally, ensure that you're an administrator or a member of the Remote Desktop Users group on your computer. For more information about remote access in XP, see the OS's Help and Support files.
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