In this tutorial, we have configured a simple Parallels RAS Farm with a single RD Session Host and one published application. We then configured a mailbox for outgoing emails and sent an invitation email to end users with instructions on how to install Parallels Client, connect to the Parallels RAS Farm, and run the published application. Essentially, we've created a fully functional Parallels RAS Farm serving remote applications to end users.

If you wish, you can repeat the tutorial and add more RD Session Hosts, publish more applications, or send an invitation email to users who use different types of devices. The instructions remain essentially the same.

The rest of this guide explains in detail how to configure and use various features of Parallels RAS.

The Deploy Azure Virtual Desktop section in the Start category is an optional feature, which allows you to deploy Azure Virtual Desktop in Parallels RAS. The feature is described in detail in the Azure Virtual Desktop chapter.

This chapter will help you get started with Parallels RAS. Read it to learn how to use the Parallels RAS Console and how to set up a simple RAS environment.

After you added an RD Session Host, you can publish applications from it.

To publish an application:

1. In the Parallels RAS Console, select the Start category and click the Publish Applications item in the right pane.

2. The Publish Applications wizard opens. On the first page, select one or more servers from which the application should be published. You can select all servers, server host pools, or individual servers.
3. Click Next.

4. On the next page, select one or more applications you want to publish.

   If you've selected more than one server on the previous screen, the Show applications not available on all target servers option becomes enabled. If the option is cleared (default), the folder tree will contain applications that are available on each and every server that you selected. If the option is enabled, the tree will contain applications that may be available on some server(s), but not on the others.
5. Click Next. Review the summary information and click Next again.

6. Click Finish when ready.

To verify that an application has been successfully published, select the Publishing category in the RAS Console. The application should be included in the Published Resources list (the middle pane).

In this section, we'll set up a basic Parallels RAS Farm where all required components run on a single server.

To set up a Parallels RAS Farm:

1. Log in to the Parallels RAS Console.

2. In the console, select the Start category. This category gives you access to three wizards that you can use to easily perform essential tasks, such as adding RD Session Hosts, publishing applications, and inviting users to Parallels RAS.

The Parallels RAS Console is a Windows application used to configure and administer a Parallels RAS Farm.

To open the Parallels RAS Console, navigate to Apps > Parallels and click Parallels Remote Application Server Console. Note that you can open multiple instances of the Parallels RAS Console on the same computer if you want to manage more than one Farm or Site simultaneously without switching between them inside the console. This works with a locally installed Parallels RAS Console and when you run it as a remote application from Parallels Client.

The following screenshot and the description below it give you an overview of the Parallels RAS Console.

The Parallels RAS Console consists of the following sections:

First, you need to add an RD Session Host to the Farm. In this tutorial, we'll add the local server on which Parallels RAS is installed.

To add an RD Session Host to the Farm:

1. Click Add RD Session Hosts. The Add RD Session Hosts wizard opens.
2. Click the Tasks menu (or click the [+] icon) and select one of the following:

   • Add from Active Directory: Adds an RD Session Host from Active directory.

   • Add Manually: Adds RD Session Host by entering its FQDN or IP address.

   Note that if you enter the server FQDN, it will be used as the primary method of connecting to this server from other Parallels RAS components and clients. If you enter the IP address, it will be automatically resolved to FQDN, but only if the global option to resolve to FQDN is enabled. To see the current setting of this global option, click Tools > Options on the main menu. In the Options dialog, examine the Always attempt to resolve to fully qualified domain name (FQDN) when adding hosts option. When the option is selected, the IP address of every server/component in the RAS Farm is always resolved to FQDN. When the option is cleared, whatever is specified for a server (IP address or name) is used to communicate with a server. This makes a difference in deployments where an IP address cannot be used to access a server, such as when a server is hosted in the cloud. For more information, see Host Name Resolution.

3. Click Next.

4. The page with general settings opens:

   Specify the following settings:

   • Add firewall rules. Add firewall rules required by Parallels RAS in Windows running on the server. See Port Reference for details.

   • Install RDS role. Install the RDS role on the server if it's not installed. You should always select this option.

   • Enable Desktop Experience. Enable the Desktop Experience feature in Windows running on the server. This option is enabled only if the Install RDS role option (above) is selected. The option applies to Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 2012 R1/R2 on which the Desktop Experience feature is not enabled by default.

   • Restart server if required. Automatically restart the server if necessary. You can restart the server manually if you wish.
5. Click Next.

6. Add the server (or servers) to a host pool. Select the desired host pool or create a new host pool. If you are not sure what host pool to choose, select Default Host pool. Host pools are described in detail in the Manage host pools (RD Session Hosts) section.

7. Click Next.

8. In order for end users to access published resources on the RD Session Host, they must be added to the Remote Desktop Users group in Windows running on the server. This can be done one of the following ways:

   • Adding each user or group directly on the server using standard Windows administrative tools.

   • Adding users or groups through Active Directory.

   • Using the wizard page described below, which is provided for your convenience.

   If you already added your users to the Remote Desktop Users group on the given server (or if for any reason you want to use one of the other methods listed above), you can simply click Next and skip this page.

   To add users to the Remote Desktop Users group using the wizard, select the Specify users or groups to be added to the Remote Desktop Users group option and then click the [+] icon. In the Select Users or Groups dialog, specify a user or group and click OK. The selected user/group will be added to the list on the wizard page.
9. Click Next.

10. The User profile page allows you to select a technology to manage user profiles.

    You can select from User profile disk or FSlogix. User Profile Disks are virtual hard disks that store user application data on a dedicated file share. Microsoft FSLogix Profile Container is the preferred Profile Management solution as the successor of Roaming Profiles and User Profile Disks (UPDs). It is set to maintain user context in non-persistent environments, minimize sign-in times and provide native profile experience eliminating compatibility issues. You can keep the default settings for now. We will talk in detail about user profiles later in this guide.
11. The Optimization page allows you to specify settings that will be used to optimize Windows on the RD Session Host for best performance in a Parallels RAS environment.

    You can select Windows components, services, and other options that will be disabled, removed, or optimized to ensure a more efficient, streamlined, and improved delivery of virtual apps and desktops. You can keep the default settings or you can modify (or disable if not sure) optimization for now. Optimization is described in detail later in this guide.
12. On the next page, review the settings and click Next.

13. The Install RAS RD Session Host Agent dialog opens. Follow the instructions and install the agent. When the installation is finished, click Done to close the dialog.

14. Back in the wizard, click Finish to exit.

If you would like to verify that the RD Session Host has been added to the Farm, click the Farm category (below the Start category in the left pane of the Parallels RAS Console window) and then click RD Session Hosts in the navigation tree (the middle pane). The server should be included in the RD Session Hosts list. The Status column may display a warning message. If it does, reboot the server. The Status column should now say, "OK", which means that your RD Session Host is functioning properly.

Read on to learn how to publish an application from an RD Session Host.

Your Parallels RAS Farm is now fully operational. You have an RD Session Host and published application(s). All you need to do now is invite your users to install the Parallels Client software on their devices and connect to the Parallels RAS Farm.

Note: Consider allowing users to access the published resources by using their email instead of Secure Gateway IP address or hostname. For information on how to do it, see Allowing users to discover RAS connections via email address.

To invite users:

1. In the Parallels RAS Console, select the Start category and click the Invite Users item.

2. The Invite Users wizard opens. On the first page, specify the mailbox information that should be used to send invitation emails to users.

   Specify the following options:

   • Mailbox Server: Enter the mailbox server name. For example, mail.company.com:500

   • Sender Address: Enter the email address.

   • TLS / SSL: Choose whether to use the TLS/SSL protocol.

   • SMTP server requires authentication: Select this option if your SMTP server requires authentication. If it does, also type the username and password in the fields provided.

   In the Test Email section, type one or more email addresses to which a test email should be sent (separate multiple address with a semicolon). Click the Send Test Email button to send the email.
3. Click Next.

4. On the next page of the wizard, specify target platforms and connection options:

   • In the target devices list, select the types of devices to send an invitation to. Each target device of a particular type will receive an email with instructions on how to download, install, and configure the Parallels Client software on that device type.

   • In the Public address field, specify a public FQDN or IP address. This setting is used by the Preferred routing functionality to redirect client connections. Please see Configuring preferred routing.

   • In the Connection Mode drop-down list, select the RAS Secure Gateway connection mode. Please note that SSL modes require the gateway to have SSL configured. More information can be found in the Configuring RAS Secure Gateway section.

   • In the Authentication mode drop-down list, select the authentication mode for your users. For the list of authentication modes, see subsection Primary connection in the RAS Connection Broker connection settings section.

   • Optionally, click the Advanced button to open the Advanced Settings dialog. This dialog allows you to specify a third-party credential provider component. If you use such a component to authenticate your users, specify its GUID in this dialog. For more information, see Configure Client Policy Options > Single Sign-On.
5. Click Next.

6. On the next page, specify the email recipients. Click the [...] button to select users or groups.
7. Review the invitation email template displayed in the Review the invitation e-mail box. You can modify the template text as needed. The template also uses variables, which are explained below.

   • %RECIPIENT% — Specifies the name of a recipient to whom the email message is addressed.

   • %SENDER% — The sender's email address that you specified in the first step of this wizard when you configured the outgoing email server settings.

   • %INSTRUCTIONS% — Includes a custom URL hyperlink for automatic configuration of Parallels Client. The URL uses the Parallels Client URL scheme. For more info, see RAS Web Client API and Parallels Client URL Scheme.

   • %MANUALINSTRUCTIONS% — Includes instructions for manual configuration of Parallels Client.

   The variables are defined dynamically depending on the type(s) of the target devices and other settings. Normally, you should always include them in the message, so your users will receive all the necessary instructions and links. If you don't include any of the variables, you will see a warning message, but including all of them is not a requirement. To preview the message, click the Preview button. This will open the HTML version of the message in a separate window. This is the email message that your users will receive.

8. Click Next, review the summary and click Next again to send the invitation email to users.

When users receive the invitation email, they will follow the instructions that it contains to install and configure Parallels Client on their devices. Once that's done, the users will be able to connect to Parallels RAS and launch published resources.