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This guide is intended for system administrators responsible for installing, configuring, and administering Parallels RAS. This guide assumes that the reader is familiar with Microsoft Remote Desktop Services and has an intermediate networking knowledge.
The following table lists the Parallels RAS 19 release history. Parallels RAS documentation is updated for every release. This guide refers to the latest Parallels RAS 19 release from the table below. If you are using a newer Parallels RAS release or version, please download the current version of the guide from https://www.parallels.com/products/ras/resources/.
19.0
Initial release
07/27/2022
19.0
Update 1
08/31/2022
19.0
Hotfix 1
09/16/2022
19.0
Hotfix 2
09/30/2022
19.0
Hotfix 3
10/14/2022
19.1
Update 2
11/15/2022
19.2
Update 3
07/06/2023
19.3
Update 1
11/06/2023
19.4
Update 2
06/08/2024
Note: Starting with Parallels RAS 19, all products and documentation, including this section, use updated terminology. To see what terms were changed, go to https://kb.parallels.com/en/128943.
Term/Abbreviation
Description
RAS Console
Parallels RAS Console.
The RAS console is the primary interface you use to configure, manage, and run Parallels RAS. As an administrator, you use the RAS console to manage Farms, Sites, RD Session Hosts, published resources, client connections, etc.
Category
In the RAS console, categories are displayed in the left pane of the main window. Each category consists of a number of settings related to a specific task or operation.
The categories include Start, Farm, Load Balancing, Publishing, Universal Printing, Universal Scanning, Connection, Device Manager, and others.
Farm
A Parallels RAS Farm is a logical grouping of objects for the purpose of centralized management. A Farm configuration is stored in a single database which contains information about all objects comprising the Farm. A Farm consists of at least one Site but may have as many sites as necessary (see Site below).
Site
A Site consists of at least one RAS Connection Broker, RAS Secure Gateway (or multiple gateways), and RAS agents installed on RD Session Hosts, Providers, and Windows PCs. Note that a given RD Session Host, Provider, or PC can be a member of only one Site at any given time.
Licensing Site
The Site that manages Parallels RAS licenses in a Parallels RAS Farm. By default, the server on which you install Parallels RAS becomes the Licensing Site. If you create additional sites later, you can designate any one of them as the Licensing Site.
There can be only one Licensing Site in a given Farm. All other sites are called secondary sites.
Note: Parallels RAS updates or upgrades must be applied to the Licensing Site first.
RAS Secure Gateway
RAS Secure Gateway tunnels all traffic needed by applications on a single port and provides secure connections.
Web Client
Web Client allows users to view and launch remote applications and desktops in a web browser. The Web Client functionality is a part of RAS Secure Gateway.
Publishing
The act of making items installed on a Remote Desktop Server, Provider or Remote PC available to the users via Parallels RAS.
RAS Connection Broker
RAS Connection Broker provides load balancing of published applications and desktops.
RAS RD Session Host Agent
RAS RD Session Host Agent collects information from Microsoft RDS hosts required by the Connection Broker and transmits to it when required.
Remote PC Agent
Remote PC Agent collects information from Remote PC hosts required by the Connection Broker and transmits to it when required.
RAS Guest Agent
RAS Guest Agent collects information from the VDI desktop required by RAS Connection Broker and transmits to it when required.
RAS Provider Agent / RAS Provider Agent
RAS Provider Agent collects information from the Parallels RAS Infrastructure and is responsible for controlling VDI through its native API. RAS Provider Agent is built into the RAS Connection Broker and is available by default. It can be used to control multiple Providers in a Parallels RAS Farm.
RAS Provider Agent is the same as RAS Provider Agent, but the term is used in the context of Azure Virtual Desktop (described at the end of this table).
RAS Provider Agent dedicated
RAS Provider Agent dedicated is similar to the RAS Provider Agent described above with one important difference — it is a separate component that must be installed from the Parallels RAS installer and can only control a single Provider.
RDSH or RD Session Host
RDSH makes applications and a full desktop accessible to a remote client that supports Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP). RDSH replaced Terminal Servicer beginning with Windows 2008 R2.
HALB
High Availability Load Balancing (HALB) is an appliance that provides load balancing for RAS Secure Gateways. Parallels HALB virtual appliance is available for the following hypervisors: Hyper-V, VMware. Multiple HALB Virtual Servers representing different HALB devices can be deployed in a single Site. Multiple HALB deployments can run simultaneously, one acting as the primary and others as secondaries. The more HALB deployments a Site has, the lower the probability that end users will experience downtime. Primary and secondary HALB deployments share a common or virtual IP address (VIP). Should the primary HALB deployment fail, a secondary is promoted to primary and takes its place.
Tenant Broker
Tenant Broker is a special RAS installation that hosts shared RAS Secure Gateways. It is an essential part of the RAS multi-tenant architecture.
Tenant
Tenants are RAS farms that join Tenant Broker (see above) and use shared RAS Secure Gateways and HALB thus eliminating the need to have their own Gateways and HALB deployed.
RAS Enrollment Server
RAS Enrollment Server is an essential component of the SAML SSO Authentication functionality. It communicates with Microsoft Certificate Authority (CA) to request, enroll, and manage digital certificates on behalf of the user for SSO authentication in the Parallels RAS environment.
RAS PowerShell
Parallels RAS PowerShell allows you to perform Parallels RAS administrative tasks using PowerShell cmdlets. You can execute cmdlets in the Windows PowerShell console or you can write scripts to perform common Parallels RAS administrative tasks. A complete guide to Parallels RAS PowerShell is available on the Parallels website together with other Parallels RAS documentation.
RAS REST API
Parallels RAS comes with various APIs to help you develop custom applications that integrate with it. The RAS REST API is one of them.
RAS Management Portal
Parallels RAS Management Portal is an HTML5 browser-based application that lets you manage Parallels RAS.
RAS Web Administration Service
A Web service that provides the user interface for RAS Management Portal and implements RESTful Web services for the RAS REST API (see above).
Azure Virtual Desktop
Azure Virtual Desktop is a desktop and app virtualization service running on Microsoft Azure, providing access to RD Session Hosts and VDI. Parallels RAS 18 provides the ability to integrate, configure, maintain, support and access Azure Virtual Desktop workloads on top of the existing technical capabilities of Parallels RAS.
FSLogix
FSLogix Profile Container is a remote profile solution for non-persistent environments. Parallels RAS supports FSLogix on RD Session Hosts, VDI, and Azure Virtual Desktop.
Parallels RAS provides vendor independent virtual desktop and application delivery from a single platform. Accessible from anywhere with platform-specific clients and web enabled solutions, like the built-in Parallels Web Client, Parallels RAS allows you to publish remote desktops, applications and documents, improving desktop manageability, security and performance.
Parallels RAS extends Windows Remote Desktop Services by using a customized shell and virtual channel extensions over the Microsoft RDP protocol. Parallels RAS supports all major hypervisors from Microsoft, VMware, and other vendors including Hyperconverged solutions such as Nutanix AHV (AOS) and Scale Computing and Cloud platforms and services such as Microsoft Azure and Azure Virtual Desktop (formerly known as Windows Virtual Desktop), enabling the publishing of virtual desktops and applications to Parallels Client.
The product includes powerful universal printing and scanning functionality, as well as resource-based load balancing and management features.
With Parallels Device Manager Module for Parallels RAS you can also centrally manage user connections and PCs converted into thin clients using the free Parallels Client.
When a user requests an application or a desktop, Parallels RAS finds a least loaded RD Session Host or a guest VM on one of the least loaded Providers and establishes an RDP connection with it. Using Microsoft RDP protocol, the requested application or desktop is presented to the user. Note that in addition to RD Sessions Hosts and VDI, Parallels RAS can also be used to configure, manage and publish Azure Virtual Desktop resources.
Users can connect to Parallels RAS using Parallels Client (available at no charge), which can run on Windows, Linux, macOS, Android, Chrome, iOS and iPadOS. Users can also connect via an HTML5 browser or Chromebook.
As newer versions of Windows keep on being developed as time goes by, you need to defend the migration cost to your business. Parallels RAS can help. Desktop replacement allows you to extend the lifespan of your hardware and delay migration to the latest OSs to a time that suits you best. The Parallels RAS solution allows you to be very flexible: you can lock machine configurations on the user side, placing your corporate data in an extremely secure position; or you can opt to allow users to run some local and remote applications. Parallels Client Desktop Replacement is able to reduce the operability of the local machine by disabling the most common local configuration options, while guaranteeing the same level of service and security afforded by thin clients, directly from your existing PCs.
Welcome to Parallels® Remote Application Server (Parallels RAS), an integrated solution to virtualize your applications, desktops and data. Parallels RAS publishes applications and delivers remote and virtual desktops to any device on your network, anywhere.
This chapter describes how to install and activate Parallels RAS.
Before installing Parallels RAS, please verify that your hardware and software meet or exceed the hardware and software requirements described below. Please note that although Parallels RAS can be used in Workgroup environment, Parallels recommends using Active Directory to manage users, groups, and machine accounts via group policies.
Parallels RAS is extensively tested on both physical and virtual platforms. The minimum hardware requirements approved to run Parallels RAS are outlined below.
Physical Machines – Dual Core Processor and a minimum of 4GB RAM.
Virtual Machines – Two Virtual Processors and a minimum of 4GB of RAM.
The server hardware requirements to install and configure Parallels RAS can vary according to end-user requirements.
Typically for an installation of 30 users or under, Parallels RAS can be installed on one high specification server and the resources published directly from it. For more than 30 users, multiple servers may be required.
The below should be considered during the planning stage of a Parallels RAS deployment:
High specification servers should be used, consisting of multiple CPU cores, a high specification disk transfer rate and plenty of RAM.
A hypervisor-based virtual machine can be used as long as the resources needed to serve end-users are calculated accordingly.
It is recommended that RAS Secure Gateway does not exceed 1200 users per server for incoming connections using the Gateway SSL mode.
HALB usage should not exceed 2000 user sessions per HALB appliance. See https://kb.parallels.com/125229.
When planning VDI Hypervisor resource requirements, extra requirements such as RAM usage per virtual machine and disk space should be taken into account.
When configuring RD Session Hosts, VDI, or Azure Virtual Desktop, please keep in mind that different types of workloads require different session host configurations. For the best possible experience, scale your deployment depending on your users' needs. The following table gives you an idea of how different workload types affect session host configurations.
Workload
Example users
Example apps
Max users per vCPU
Minimum
Light
Basic data entry tasks
Database entry applications, command-line interfaces
6
2 vCPUs
8 GB RAM
16 GB storage
Medium
Consultants and market researchers
Database entry applications, command-line interfaces, Microsoft Word, static web pages
4
4 vCPUs
16 GB RAM
32 GB storage
Heavy
Software engineers, content creators
Database entry applications, command-line interfaces, Microsoft Word, static web pages, Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft PowerPoint, dynamic web pages
2
4 vCPUs
16 GB RAM
32 GB storage
Power
Graphic designers, 3D model makers, machine learning researches
Database entry applications, command-line interfaces, Microsoft Word, static web pages, Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft PowerPoint, dynamic web pages, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, CAD, CAM
1
6 vCPUs
56 GB RAM
340 GB storage
Note: Sizing guidelines are based on Microsoft recommendations on RDS or Azure Virtual Desktop multi-session hosts.
For port requirements, please see the Port Reference section.
After you've installed Parallels RAS, run the RAS Console and activate your new Parallels RAS Farm.
By default, the Parallels RAS Console is launched automatically after you click Finish on the last page of the installation wizard. To launch the console manually, navigate to Start > Apps > Parallels and click on Parallels Remote Application Server Console.
When the Parallels RAS Console is launched for the first time, you are presented with the login dialog. In the dialog, specify the following:
Farm: A Parallels RAS Farm to connect to. Enter the FQDN or IP address of the server where you have RAS Connection Broker installed.
If you've installed the Parallels Single Sign-On component when installing the RAS Console, you will see the Authentication type field from which you can select whether to log on using your credentials or SSO. If you reboot after the installation and select SSO, select Single Sign-On and then click Connect. Your Windows credentials will be used to log in to the RAS Farm. If you select Credentials, enter your credentials as described below.
Username: A user account with administrative privileges on the server where Parallels RAS is installed (usually a domain or local administrator). The account name must be specified using the UPN format (e.g. administrator@domain.local
). The specified user will be automatically configured as the Parallels RAS administrator with full access rights.
Password: The specified user account password.
If you select the Remember credentials option, this dialog will not be shown the next time you launch the Parallels RAS Console.
The Edit Connections button opens a dialog where you can manage your RAS connection. This dialog becomes useful if this is not the first time you are connecting to one or more of your RAS Farms. The left pane of the dialog displays RAS Farms to which previously connected (you can remove a Farm from the list by clicking the [-] icon if you no longer need it). The right pane displays at least the primary Connection Broker for the selected Farm. If you've added a secondary Connection Brokers to a Farm, you can add it to this list by clicking the [+] icon and typing its hostname or IP address (click the "recycle" icon to verify the agent status). This way the RAS Console will try to connect to the primary Connection Broker first and if it fails (e.g. the agent is offline or cannot be reached), it will try to connect to the secondary Connection Broker. For more information about secondary Connection Brokers, please see Parallels RAS Connection Brokers chapter.
When you are done entering the connection information, click the Connect button to connect to the Parallels RAS Farm.
To activate Parallels RAS, you must register for a Parallels business account. After you logged in to Parallels RAS, you'll see the Sign In to Parallels My Account dialog. If you already have an account, type the email address and password you used to register the account and click Sign In.
Note: If you use an HTTP proxy server on your network, you will see a dialog asking you to configure the proxy server connection settings. Click the Configure Proxy button. In the dialog that opens, select one of the following: Use system proxy settings (the default proxy settings from the Internet Explorer will be used) or Manual HTTP proxy configuration (specify the settings manually). If your proxy configuration changes, you can re-configure it later by navigating to Administration > Settings and clicking the Configure Proxy button.
If you don't have a Parallels business account, you can register for one as follows:
In the Sign In to Parallels My Account dialog, click Register. The Register Parallels My Account dialog opens.
Enter your name and email address, choose and type a password, and enter your company info (all fields are required).
Follow the links to Parallels Privacy Policy and Terms of Use. After reading them (and if you agree) select the I have read and agree to the Parallels Privacy Policy and Terms of Use checkbox.
Click Register to register an account. This will create a personal account for yourself and a business account for your organization to which you will be assigned as administrator.
After you sign in to Parallels My Account, the Activate Product dialog opens asking you to activate the Parallels RAS Farm.
If you already have a Parallels RAS license key, select the Activate using license key option and enter the key in the field provided. You can click the button next to the field to see the list of subscriptions and/or permanent license keys you have registered in Parallels My Account. If the list is empty, it means that you don't have any subscriptions or license keys and need to purchase one first.
Note: You can manage your Parallels RAS license using the Licensing category in the Parallels RAS console. The management tasks include viewing the license information, switching to a different Parallels My Account, and activating the Parallels RAS Farm using a different license key. For more information, please see the Licensing section.
If you don't have a Parallels RAS license key, you have the following options:
Purchase a subscription online by clicking the Purchase a license link.
Activate Parallels RAS as a trial by selecting the Activate trial version option.
After entering a license key (or selecting to activate a trial version), click Activate. You should see a message that the Parallels RAS Farm was activated successfully. Click OK to close the message box.
The first dialog that you see informs you that you have no servers configured that can be used to host published resources. This means that to begin using Parallels RAS, you need at least one RD Session Host, Provider, or a Remote PC configured. We'll talk about configuring a Parallels RAS Farm in the next chapter. For now, click OK to close the message box. You will then see the Applying Settings dialog. Wait for the initial configuration of Parallels RAS to complete and click OK. You will now see the main Parallels RAS Console window where you can begin configuring the Parallels RAS Farm.
Read on to learn how to quickly add an RD Session Host, publish resources, and invite your users to Parallels RAS.
For information about Microsoft license requirements, such as Remote Desktop Services Client Access Licenses (RDS CALs) and Virtual Desktop Access (VDA) licenses, please see Appendix: Microsoft license requirements in Parallels RAS.
To install Parallels RAS:
Make sure you have administrative privileges on the computer where you are installing Parallels RAS.
Double click the RASInstaller.msi
file to launch the Parallels RAS installation wizard. If you see a message that begins with "This version of Parallels RAS is only for testing purposes.", it means that it's not an official build and should not be used in a production environment.
Follow the onscreen instructions.
Note: Please ensure that the presented terms in the license agreement are read and accepted to complete installation and/or upgrade. For programmatic deployment, it is understood that the terms in the license agreement have been read and accepted.
Note: If you are upgrading from one of the major versions (for example, from Parallels RAS 18 to Parallels RAS 19), you will see a message that lists system requirements for every component of the new version. Please read them carefully to make sure that all components can be upgraded in your environment. Note that if you install a component on a system that does not meet its system requirements, the component will not work.
Help us improve our products!
When you install Parallels RAS, you can choose to join Parallels Customer Experience Program. For more information about Parallels Customer Experience Program, see https://www.parallels.com/about/legal/pcep/.
Proceed to the Select Installation Type page and select from the following:
Parallels Remote Application Server. The default installation that will install RAS Console, RAS Management Portal, RAS Connection Broker, RAS Secure Gateway, RAS RD Session Host Agent, RAS PowerShell, and RAS Web Administration Service on the same machine. This is ideal for testing or small production environments.
Parallels RAS Tenant Broker. This option installs Tenant Broker. Please note that Tenant Broker must be installed on a server separate from the existing RAS farms. For more information about Tenant Broker, please see the RAS Multi-Tenant Architecture chapter.
Custom. Select and install only the components that you require. You can select individual components after you click Next. Note that if a component cannot be installed on the current server, it will not be available for installation. See Software Requirements.
Click Next.
Review the notice on the Important Notice wizard page. If there's a port conflict on your computer, the information will be displayed here. You can resolve the conflict later.
Click Next.
On the Firewall Settings page, select Automatically add firewall rules to configure the firewall on this computer for Parallels RAS to work properly. See Port Reference for details.
Click Next and then click Install. Wait for the installation to finish and click Finish.
If you are upgrading your RAS installation, it is recommend to reboot all servers where components are upgraded.
When you need to install a particular Parallels RAS component on a different server, run the installation wizard again, select Custom and choose the component(s) you wish to install.