Multiple RDP servers

[ProjectBox153]

Is there a way to have multiple WAN accesible RDP servers on one WAN IP? Such as with different internal and external listening ports? And if so, would it be as simple to connect to as telling the RDP client to connect to "INSERTWANIP:INSERTPORT"? Thanks!

[Electronics Wizardy]

yep, just change the port.

[ProjectBox153]

11 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

yep, just change the port.

Ok, thanks. I figured it would be that easy, but I thought I should ask. What port should I change the server to listen on (besides 3389,  it's already taken), and how do I change it? It is running Windows Server 2012 R2, if that helps. 

[Electronics Wizardy]

1 minute ago, Jamiec1130 said:

Ok, thanks. I figured it would be that easy, but I thought I should ask. What port should I change the server to listen on (besides 3389,  it's already taken), and how do I change it? It is running Windows Server 2012 R2, if that helps. 

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/306759/how-to-change-the-listening-port-for-remote-desktop

 

The better and more secure way to do this is a vpn server

[KuJoe]

IMO it's better to handle the port changing at the router instead of changing the registry keys as it may break something down the line and you'll also need to change firewall rules in Windows.

 

For me, I setup port forwarding on my routers to change the port. Basically you can pick any port you want and forward it to 3389 on the Windows device. I recommend common ports that you don't plan on using like port 80, 443, 21, 53, etc... since these ports are not usually blocked by other networks.

 

A VPN is a good solution also like @Electronics Wizardy mentioned but this might cause some issues with things like streaming. For example, I can watch YouTube and Floatplane Club videos on my Windows VM via RDP but when I VPN to my network and then RDP via the VPN the video is choppy and the audio is a tad out of sync. I'm sure I can resolve this with a VPN protocol with less overhead like PPTP but I only use L2TP when I'm not on a network I trust.

[ProjectBox153]

On 4/23/2017 at 8:12 PM, KuJoe said:

IMO it's better to handle the port changing at the router instead of changing the registry keys as it may break something down the line and you'll also need to change firewall rules in Windows.

 

For me, I setup port forwarding on my routers to change the port. Basically you can pick any port you want and forward it to 3389 on the Windows device. I recommend common ports that you don't plan on using like port 80, 443, 21, 53, etc... since these ports are not usually blocked by other networks.

 

A VPN is a good solution also like @Electronics Wizardy mentioned but this might cause some issues with things like streaming. For example, I can watch YouTube and Floatplane Club videos on my Windows VM via RDP but when I VPN to my network and then RDP via the VPN the video is choppy and the audio is a tad out of sync. I'm sure I can resolve this with a VPN protocol with less overhead like PPTP but I only use L2TP when I'm not on a network I trust.

That is a really good idea to go through the router. I did not think of that. As for the VPN idea, it wouldn't work for me. I need RDP access at work (3389 is blocked so I have to use a web client) and VPNs are a pain in the ass to get working on my phone (primary device for remote connections). I don't have any security issues with RDP over the internet as I've been running another RDP server (the one on port 3389) for many months with no issues. 

[leadeater]

You can always use an RD Gateway which actually gives you slightly better WAN performance and also uses HTTPS so traverses firewalls easily. RD Gateway allows you to connect to any server without making any changes to the server and only requires that you forward port 443 to the RD Gateway server.

 

Then you just use the server name for the computer field then under the advanced options set the RD Gateway address.

[ProjectBox153]

Update: got it working properly. I used my router to forward traffic from port 443 to port 3389 on the new server, and 3389 to 3389 on the old server. Thanks everybody!