In this article, we’ll briefly describe how to configure the release of Thinfinity Remote Desktop v5.0’s components to work in a Load Balancing environment.
First, we’ll install the gateway component on our Gateway Server, and then our broker component on our Broker Server.
Gateway Server
Open the Thinfinity Remote Desktop installer. Click on Next:
Select “I accept the terms in the license agreement” and click on Next:
Select “ Reverse Gateway Only” and click on Next:
Choose a destination folder and click on Next:
Now that everything is configured, click on Install:
Broker Server
Open the Thinfinity Remote Desktop installer. Click on Next:
Select “I accept the terms in the license agreement” and click on Next:
Select “ Broker and HTML5 Services” and click on Next:
Choose a destination folder and click on Next:
Now that everything is configured, click on Install:
To guarantee that the load balancing configuration performs properly, these are the main configuration items we that we should look for:
- The Network ID.
- IP Bindings (in the Gateway Manager).
- The Gateway URL (in the Broker Server).
The Network ID
The ‘Network ID’ must be the same across all gateway(s) and broker(s) components.
You can modify the Network ID to any value since it doesn’t follow a specific format.
IP Bindings
In the General tab, we will configure the Port and Bindings for the user (browser client) to reach Thinfinity Remote Desktop. You can do so by selecting the default connection and click edit. For instance ‘http://Server_IP:8443’ based on the settings below:
We will also check the box: Enable external access in Windows Firewall.
The Gateway URL (in the Broker Server)
Now that the gateway is configured all we need to do is add the gateway URLs in the Broker Server Manager:
Configuring the License Server
When installing Thinfinity Remote Desktop in a Load Balancing environment you must use our Licensing Server to pool the licenses between the back end broker servers. Below we will see how this is configured.
We will open the License Server Manager on the machine in which the gateway is installed.
On this screen we will click add and a menu will open, then select the Thinfinity Remote Desktop v5.0 .
We will choose the activate a Serial Number Online option and press Next.
Here we will have to complete the fields Email and Serial and press next.
Configuring the License tab
In the license tab, we will configure the email address and serial number registered on the license server manager.
We will also write the licensing server URL on the primary field, in that field we will write the URL of the server in which the license server is installed and add port: 7443.
Example: https://Server_IP:7443 .
We will select the use licensing server box.
Click apply and restart the services.
Verifying if the server is connected to the gateway
To verify if the Broker Servers are connected to the Gateway Servers, you can check the log file by clicking on “Show Log”
It should say something like:
Server started. Listening http on port 8443.
Broker: Connecting to http://127.0.0.1:8443/
Broker: Registered on http://127.0.0.1:8443/
Web Server: Connecting to http://127.0.0.1:8443/
Web Server: Registered on http://127.0.0.1:8443/
There are a few things to take into account when using load balancing:
All the Broker Servers have to share the same profiles. To do so, you can copy the database file ‘rdp_profiles.bin’ and distribute it in all the servers. You’ll find this in the following path:
C:\ProgramData\Cybele Software\Thinfinity\Remote Desktop Server\DB
You can also share the database path so all the Broker Servers read the same database:
If you are using One Time URL, you must share the ‘Root Path’ for Temporary Folders. This will also ensure the users have consistency with their intermediate disk (ThinDisk) when they access files from the file manager or upload/download files:
Bear in mind that if you only install the broker service on a server, you will have to register the license using the license server administrator.
If you have any questions regarding this blog entry, you can leave a comment below or send us an email to [email protected]
Cheers!