Configure an RD Session Host Server to Join a Farm in RD Connection Broker
Applies To: Windows Server 2008 R2
You can configure a Remote Desktop Session Host (RD Session Host) server to join a farm in RD Connection Broker, and to participate in RD Connection Broker Load Balancing, by using the Remote Desktop Session Host Configuration tool.
Note
Before you configure the RD Session Host server to join a farm, the computer account for the RD Session Host server must be a member of the Session Broker Computers group on the RD Connection Broker server. For more information, see Add Each RD Session Host Server in the Farm to the Session Broker Computers Local Group.
Membership in the local Administrators group, or equivalent, on the RD Session Host server that you plan to configure, is the minimum required to complete this procedure. Review details about using the appropriate accounts and group memberships at https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=83477.
To configure RD Connection Broker settings
On the RD Session Host server, open Remote Desktop Session Host Configuration. To open Remote Desktop Session Host Configuration, click Start, point to Administrative Tools, point to Remote Desktop Services, and then click Remote Desktop Session Host Configuration.
In the Edit settings area, under RD Connection Broker, double-click Member of farm in RD Connection Broker.
On the RD Connection Broker tab of the Properties dialog box, click Change Settings.
In the RD Connection Broker Settings dialog box, click Farm member.
In the RD Connection Broker server name box, type the name of the RD Connection Broker server.
Note
The RD Connection Broker server is the server where you installed the RD Connection Broker role service.
- In the Farm name box, type the name of the farm that you want to join in RD Connection Broker.
Important
RD Connection Broker uses a farm name to determine which servers are in the same RD Session Host server farm. You must use the same farm name for all servers that are in the same load-balanced RD Session Host server farm. If you type a new farm name, a new farm is created in RD Connection Broker and the server is joined to the farm. If you type an existing farm name, the server joins the existing farm in RD Connection Broker.
Although the farm name in RD Connection Broker does not have to be registered in Active Directory Domain Services, we recommend that you use the same name that you will use in DNS for the RD Session Host server farm. The RD Session Host server farm name in DNS represents the virtual name that clients will use to connect to the RD Session Host server farm. For more information, see Configure DNS for RD Connection Broker Load Balancing.
Click OK to close the RD Connection Broker Settings dialog box.
To participate in RD Connection Broker Load Balancing, select the Participate in Connection Broker Load-Balancing check box.
Optionally, in the Relative weight of this server in the farm box, modify the server weight. By default, the value is 100. The server weight is relative. Therefore, if you assign one server a value of 50, and one a value of 100, the server with a weight of 50 will receive half the number of sessions.
Verify that you want to use IP address redirection. By default, the Use IP address redirection setting is enabled. If you want to use token redirection mode, select Use token redirection. For more information, see About IP Address and Token Redirection.
In the Select IP addresses to be used for reconnection box, select the check box next to each IP address that you want to use.
Note
Only the first selected IPv4 address will be used by clients that are running Remote Desktop Connection 5.2 and earlier.
- When you are finished, click OK.
You can use Group Policy to configure some RD Connection Broker settings. The relevant Group Policy settings are:
Join RD Connection Broker
Configure RD Connection Broker farm name
Configure RD Connection Broker server name
Use RD Connection Broker load balancing
Use IP Address Redirection
These Group Policy settings are located in Computer Configuration\Policies\Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Remote Desktop Services\Remote Desktop Session Host\RD Connection Broker and can be configured by using either the Local Group Policy Editor or the Group Policy Management Console (GPMC). For more information about Group Policy settings for Remote Desktop Services, see the Remote Desktop Services Technical Reference (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=138134).
You can also use the Remote Desktop Services module for Windows PowerShell to view and configure some RD Connection Broker settings. For more information about using Windows PowerShell with Remote Desktop Services, see the Remote Desktop Services Technical Reference (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=139898).