Multiuser workstations

[ThisIs]

I have multiple rooms with workstations in them. I need to be able to transfer one session from room 1 to room 2 (without loosing any work). So person 2 can log in room 1.

 

I am new to servers so my hope is that this is a super easy thing to set up and manage. I haven't been able to find the right resource for this.

 

Is this something that is easier in Windows Server 2016 with thin clients or is this a better use case for Unraid? I have been wanting to set something up like this ever since I saw the two gamers one PC video.

[NelizMastr]

You can't move a non-AD non-terminal client session from one PC to another without physically moving the PC.

 

What you basically need:

 

1. Terminal server (Windows RDS deployment, with RDSH instead of VDI)

2. Active Directory domain

3. Microsoft Terminal Server Client (MSTSC.exe, available in every version of Windows since XP)

 

Are these workstations in the sense of being machines used for graphics work or video editing? If so, then VDI will be the better option. 

You'll need a good stack of cash to make that happen, though.

[ThisIs]

These PCs can be nearly bare bone. They will only need to be able to run chrome and maybe one or two other programs at a time. No video card needed.

 

I tried to call Microsoft but unlucky they were very little help.

 

Would I just need Windows Server 2016 and VM Horizen 7 or do you have other recommendations?

 

Do you have any tips or links to resources that will help me out.

 

Thanks a ton for your help thus far.

[Mikensan]

You may be able to use the "cloud" to your advantage.

Chrome allows you to move between computers fairly easily assuming you're logged in and have Sync turned on.

Microsoft Office (2016) and google documents allows you to edit documents in a browser - which you could have open in chrome and resume from anywhere else in the world.

Applications do get a little tricky, as that would be something that falls under terminal services. Although... If you get a NAS and store user data there, then they can just open the application on the other desktop and then open their file off the NAS.

 

• Horizon is ungodly expensive. Couple years ago, paid $40k for a 50 Concurrent User license (to be fair this was the advanced license pack, enterprise was too expensive).
• For Server 2016 you would need the standard license $800, plus a CAL license (5 users, $180). Their licensing has changed a lot since I've had to deal with it, I think they allow you to run a couple more installs as a VM which you could run as AD and whatever else (file server?).
• If you don't have any infrastructure it's going to be an undertaking to get everything configured. If you're new to it all, maybe 1-2 weeks to get everything working assuming you dedicate your time to this project.

[NelizMastr]

5 minutes ago, Mikensan said:

• Their licensing has changed a lot since I've had to deal with it, I think they allow you to run a couple more installs as a VM which you could run as AD and whatever else (file server?)

It sure has. You now have to buy CPU core licenses (8 included with one standard/datacenter license) for your machine, which can be a pain if you have more physical cores than that. 

 

In terms of VMs it's not super difficult to follow:

 

Standard:  2 OSEs in addition to the Hyper-V host. This host can be a core or GUI install - this means you have a hypervisor and two VMs running on the same license. One AD one RDS/TS for instance.

 

Datacenter: Unlimited OSEs per license. With this the core count caveat hurts the most, as you obviously need more than 8 cores for a large number of VMs.

[Electronics Wizardy]

How many users do you have? Id just get laptops here personally. Just let the users move the laptops to where there needed, and get docks for external monitors and keyboards and mice.

[ThisIs]

I'm prepared to pay for the Core Licensing for Windows Server 2016. But maybe I can have my cake and eat it too with a Linux server running Windows VMs for the staff?

 

If anyone could drop a link to a tutorial or overview so I can see what this entails it would be appreciated.

 

I originally tried the laptop approach but it wasn't working out the way we wanted. We have 5 workstations now with anywhere between 3 and 5 users depending on the day. The complication comes that we need user 1 to go into room 1 then user 2 then user 3. However, due to the sensitive nature of our work we can not let user 1 see user 2 and 3s PCs and vise versa.

[Mikensan]

44 minutes ago, ThisIs said:

I'm prepared to pay for the Core Licensing for Windows Server 2016. But maybe I can have my cake and eat it too with a Linux server running Windows VMs for the staff?

 

If anyone could drop a link to a tutorial or overview so I can see what this entails it would be appreciated.

 

I originally tried the laptop approach but it wasn't working out the way we wanted. We have 5 workstations now with anywhere between 3 and 5 users depending on the day. The complication comes that we need user 1 to go into room 1 then user 2 then user 3. However, due to the sensitive nature of our work we can not let user 1 see user 2 and 3s PCs and vise versa.

Well be careful what you buy, the Core version is just a powershell console. If you want Hyper-V it's free with a couple limitations. Probably the best/easiest solution for a linux server running windows VMs would be Proxmox, should be able to search youtube and find quite a few tutorials.

 

[ThisIs]

1 hour ago, Mikensan said:

Well be careful what you buy, the Core version is just a powershell console. If you want Hyper-V it's free with a couple limitations. Probably the best/easiest solution for a linux server running windows VMs would be Proxmox, should be able to search youtube and find quite a few tutorials.

 

Thanks a lot for the information. I was needing some places to start from.