RDP connection software

[CommodoreS]

I am looking into Ericom Accessnow as a possible RDP solution, although at the moment it is looking too expensive.

 

Can anyone recommend any similar product which would be cheaper and do the same job?

[mavhc]

A web rdp client? https://guacamole.incubator.apache.org/

[TechMonkey]

What's the use case or need? Is there a reason you can't use the Microsoft RDP program or app?

[FN-GM]

AccessNow is based on Guacamole so its probably one to look at.

 

What's the use case or need? Is there a reason you can't use the Microsoft RDP program or app?

 

Probably because its not HTML 5.

[TechMonkey]

AccessNow is based on Guacamole so its probably one to look at.

 

 

 

Probably because its not HTML 5.

 

Why does it need to be HTML5? That is why I was asking about the use case, if it is just to be cross platform the Microsoft App is available for all platforms and is free so seems a no brainer. If there is some other need, such as embedding it into a web page then that alters the question.

[CommodoreS]

Why does it need to be HTML5? That is why I was asking about the use case, if it is just to be cross platform the Microsoft App is available for all platforms and is free so seems a no brainer. If there is some other need, such as embedding it into a web page then that alters the question.

 

This is really why I am asking, having limited experience with RDP, solutions and features. Whats the benefit of a HTML5 system over other systems?

 

This is for staff to use (so needs to be as simple as possible) to gain access to the system from home and not me as an admin. Accessnow would allow 10 staff to simultaneously connect to the system, use all software, and also has full documentation and support for a system we have not used before and do not know much about.

[TechMonkey]

Not having used an HTML5 system my first question would be is it just a layer on top of Server 2012/2016 RDP? If so I would say it is simple enough to set up yourself, publish an RDP file to your staff and give links to the Microsoft client for each platform

[LeeCSE]

The benefit of HTLM5 is that users don’tneed to install any 3^rd party software it just works through a web browser.

[FN-GM]

Why does it need to be HTML5? That is why I was asking about the use case, if it is just to be cross platform the Microsoft App is available for all platforms and is free so seems a no brainer. If there is some other need, such as embedding it into a web page then that alters the question.

 

It doesn't work that well on non Microsoft operating systems. It doesn't work at all on Chrome OS. It doesn't work as well on other browsers on Windows either.

[TechMonkey]

Not sure what issues you've faced but they work fine on my Android phone and my Mac.

 

Are you talking about a browser based system? I am talking about the actual program that you can get from the Mac store, Plays store or download. Red icon

[FN-GM]

Not sure what issues you've faced but they work fine on my Android phone and my Mac.

 

Are you talking about a browser based system? I am talking about the actual program that you can get from the Mac store, Plays store or download. Red icon

 

Yep used it on a Mac, its just a little more fiddly and not as user friendly. You have to enter credentials twice etc.

 

As I say it doesn't work on Chrome OS.

 

Compared the Citrix the Microsoft offering is very poor.

[dhicks]

I am looking into Ericom Accessnow as a possible RDP solution, although at the moment it is looking too expensive.

 

We use AccessNow for our remote access solution. Teachers and pupils find it easy to use, they just type an address into their web browser and log in with their usual login details. On our particular setup, I've created our own custom login page that does its own sticky load-balancing based on the user's username - this was to solve an issue we had with a particular package that some people needed to use. The software can be very flexible - you don't need to install the server-side component on the actual RDP server(s) you want people to connect to, you can run it as a gateway from a separate server. However, if you want to allow users to be able to directly upload and download files via the client, you need to install the server component on all your servers.

 

Licensing is by simultanious user - in our case, 40 licenses covers us quite easily for our 550 potential users. The cost wasn't too bad, around £800 I think, and that's a one-off fee, yearly maintainance is fairly minimal.

 

Guacamole has only recently become an Apache project, and is being worked on a lot more now, with releases and updates coming along at a fair rate. It is still a "pre-release" 0.9 version at the moment. When it is production ready it should be a very good solution, handling VNC and SSH as well as RDP, which would allow for some fun and interesting applications.

[mavhc]

This is really why I am asking, having limited experience with RDP, solutions and features. Whats the benefit of a HTML5 system over other systems?

 

This is for staff to use (so needs to be as simple as possible) to gain access to the system from home and not me as an admin. Accessnow would allow 10 staff to simultaneously connect to the system, use all software, and also has full documentation and support for a system we have not used before and do not know much about.

 

OK, sounds like you should specify your requirments:

 

Do you have a terminal server already for them to connect to? with enough licences? How do you want security to work? What OSes are you going to say people can connect from? What work are they going to do while connected? Do you need to load balance because 1 server can't cope with 100 users at once?