Windows 7 / Networking

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Enable TS Session Broker

TS Session Broker works with a "farm" of two to five terminal servers, all members of which provide the same programs and services to the remote clients. TS Session Broker will spread out and balance the TS load among the several servers and will reconnect a client to an existing session within the load-balanced farm. When a client initially seeks terminal services, TS Session Broker will look at the various servers and assign the client to the least-loaded server. If the client should end the session or, for some reason, become disconnected and then return, TS Session Broker will reconnect the client to the server and session to which it was originally connected. If one server is down, TS Session Broker will automatically pass over that server in favor of one of the others. Finally, each of the servers can be given a relative weight in terms of their ability to handle a TS load, so more powerful and capable servers can be given a larger load.

To use TS Session Broker, all servers in the farm must be running Windows Server 2008 with the Terminal Services role and with both the Terminal Server and TS Session Broker role services installed as described in "Install the Terminal Services Roles" earlier in this tutorial. To create the farm, one IP address is assigned to it and all servers are given a DNS registration to that IP address. This registration, the enabling of TS Session Broker, and the assigning of the relative weight is done on each server in the farm through TS Configuration.

1. Open TS Configuration by clicking Start | Administrative Tools | Terminal Services | Terminal Services Configuration.
   Or, in the Server Manager window, open Roles and Terminal Services, and click Terminal Services Configuration.
   In either case, Terminal Services Configuration will open, either within the Server Manager or within its own window.
2. At the bottom of the middle pane (in Server Manager) under TS Session Broker, right-click Member Of Farm In TS Session Broker and click Properties.
3. Click Join A Farm In TS Session Broker and enter a registered server name or IP address for the first, or lead, server in the farm (this becomes the farm's address) and a farm name.
4. Click Participate In Session Broker Load-Balancing, enter the relative weight of each of the servers, click Use IP Address Redirection (otherwise load balancing can't take place), click the IP address to use for the particular server you are entering when reconnecting a client, and click OK.

With a moderate number of terminal servers, TS Session Broker provides an excellent way to balance and manage the TS load among them.