By default, the Resource Based load balancing is enabled. It is recommended that this setting is remained as is for better resource utilization and load balancing to RD Session Hosts mitigating users experience degradation due to limited RD Session Host resources.

Parallels recommends setting up recurrent backups of Parallels RAS farm settings. This can be accomplished using Parallels RAS PowerShell, which is a part of Parallels RAS beginning with version 15.5.2. Parallels RAS PowerShell is installed by default when you install Parallels RAS. If you chose not to install it, please run the Parallels RAS installer again and install the Parallels RAS PowerShell component.

The following sample PowerShell script shows how to export Parallels RAS farm settings to a file.

#Get the current datetime to be used as a name for the backup file.
#You can use any other unique name format that you like.
$Date = Get-Date -Format yyyy.MM.dd.mm.ss

#Import the Parallels RAS PowerShell module.
Import-Module RASAdmin

#Create a Parallels RAS session.
#Since the password must be passed as SecureString, we need to convert it first.
#In your own script, replace "secret" with your Parallels RAS password.
$Pass = "secret" | ConvertTo-SecureString -AsPlainText -Force

#We can now create a Parallels RAS session.
#Replace "user" and "server.company.dom" with your RAS user and server names.
#If executing the script locally, you can omit the -Server parameter. 
New-RASSession -Username "user" -Password $Pass -Server "server.company.dom"

#Export farm settings to a file.
#You can specify a different folder for saving the file if you wish.
#.dat2 is the default extension Parallels RAS uses for backup files.
Invoke-RASExportSettings $env:userprofile\$Date.dat2

#Close the current RAS session.
Remove-RASSession

Save the above sample script to a file with the ".ps1" extension. To test the script, you can execute it in the PowerShell console. To execute the script on a schedule, do the following:

1. Open Windows Scheduler and click Create Task.

2. On the General tab page of the Create Task dialog, fill in all required fields.

3. Select the Actions tab page and then click the New button.

4. In the New Action dialog, make sure Start a program is selected in the Action drop-down list, then click Browse and select your .ps1 script file.

5. Click OK in the New Action dialog.

6. Select the Triggers tab page and click New.

7. In the New Trigger dialog, specify the desired schedule settings.

8. Click OK to close all dialogs.

To import the settings from a saved file into a Parallels RAS farm:

• In the Parallels RAS Console, navigate to Administration \ Backup and click Import. Specify the ".dat2" file to import the farm settings from.

• Using Parallels RAS PowerShell, execute the Invoke-RASImportSettings cmdlet passing the path and filename of the backup file.

The complete Parallels RAS PowerShell documentation can be viewed and downloaded from http://www.parallels.com/products/ras/resources/

Keep your gateway private on your local LAN:

1. In the Parallels RAS console under Farm, select Gateways.

2. Open the gateway properties for each Gateway server in your farm.

3. Under the Network tab, uncheck "Broadcast RAS Secure Gateway Address"

4. Click OK and then Apply Settings.

To save system resources on RD Session Hosts, it is possible to disable application monitoring if it is not required.

Reboot clears up old sessions and releases resources in use (CPU, RAM, file handles, etc.). It is recommended to configure scheduled reboots for your RD Session Hosts (applicable for frequent logoffs and logons). To do so, in the RAS Console, navigate to Farm > RD Session Hosts > Scheduler and click Tasks > Add > Reboot server. Reboot frequency depends on how heavily the RD Session Hosts are utilized.

Hint: Make sure that server rebooting does not cause any downtime. This can be carried out by offloading users onto other servers prior to reboot by enabling the drain mode.

When configuring Filtering for published resources and selecting User as the filtering type, select Secure Identifier as the Browse Mode. This is the fastest method that supports group nesting and renaming.

In some cases bandwidth and other factors can cause a memory error when transferring large files between remote applications and local drives.

For large file transfer optimization, the following settings should be made on both the server and client side.

RDS/TS Server Settings

Referencing the Remote Desktop/Terminal Server Performance Settings section at the beginning of this document:

• Set Visual Effects to "Best Performance".

• Set the Windows Paging file to three times the physical RAM.

Disable Desktop Composition under Group Policy (on Windows Server 2008 R2 only).

Under Local Computer Policy > Computer Configurations > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Remote Desktop Services > Remote Desktop Session Host > Remote Session Environment, set Desktop Composition to "Not Configured."

Client Settings

Client settings can be changed on a per client basis using Connection Properties or centrally from the Parallels RAS management console using Policies.

1. For an individual client, under Connection Properties, go the Experience tab and set the Connection Optimization to WAN (10 Mbps or higher with high latency):
2. To change this setting centrally for multiple clients, in the Parallels RAS Console, select the Policies category. Add a policy for a group of users and under Session > Experience, set the connection speed to WAN.

Physical PCs can be accessed remotely using the RAS infrastructure:

• Parallels RAS Remote PC Agent is used to publish both applications and desktops.

• Desktop operating systems can only support one remote user at a time.

Supported operating systems:

• Windows 7 and newer

• Windows Server 2008 R2 and newer

Configure RemoteFX (Windows 7 and later) using the in the RemoteFX section of this guide.

RD Session Host host pool are recommended to be used. This ensures that published resources are configured to publish resources from host pools. If a new RD Session Host is to be added, new hosts can simply be added to the host pool created rather than changing published resources configurations to be also accessible from new servers.

Parallels Remote Application server comes preconfigured with a self-signed certificate to enable SSL access to the Farm during the testing phase. Self-signed certificates will generate a warning that the connection is not secure/private. For production purposes, certificates should be purchased from a Certificate Authority.

During the testing phase you may wish to suppress the self-signed certificate error which can be done using RAS Policy settings. Note that this policy only works with Parallels Client for Windows, Mac, and Linux.

To remove the certificate error simply follow the steps below:

1. Navigate to Policies from within the RAS Console.

2. Click to add a Local/Domain group which will be affected by this policy.

3. Select Options under Policy.

4. Then click on the Advanced Settings tab.

5. Check the option Do not warn if server certificate is not valid.

6. Click OK and then Apply Settings.

Parallels RAS supports the following hypervisors:

• Microsoft Hyper-V, including Windows Server 2019

• Microsoft Hyper-V Failover Cluster

• VMware vCenter

• VMware ESXi

• Scale Computing HC3

• Nutanix Acropolis

Configure RemoteFX (Windows 7 and later) using the RemoteFX Settings for Windows Workstations Runnings Remote PC agents and Provider Agents in the RemoteFX section of this guide.