Half Way Through Setting Up A Terminal Server And Stuck!

[farquea]

I've got a TS up and running. i plan to use it so staff can connect and run sims on it.

 

I want it to connect using a generic user account, it then runs sims automatically so all staff have to do is just enter their sims credentials. - ive managed to achieve this.

 

The problem is i dont get a taskbar when i connect or see any of my desktop icons, so when it comes to logging off.... i cant!

 

On the TS if i changed the option on the "environment" tab to "do not allow an initial program to run, show desktop only" then it works and i see a desktop. but i want to use the option below so that on the TS icon on staff laptops i can specify to run sims"

 

Anyone help?

[dhicks]

I want it to connect using a generic user account, it then runs sims automatically so all staff have to do is just enter their sims credentials. - ive managed to achieve this.

 

SIMS also supports being automatically logged in as the current Windows user, so if people are connecting to Terminal Services with their Windows username and password then SIMS will simply start up and log them in. A couple of previous related threads:

 

http://www.edugeek.net/forums/mis-systems/36755-sims-under-terminal-services.html

 

http://www.edugeek.net/forums/mis-systems/48488-sims-home-running-ts-setup-help-needed.html

 

The problem is i dont get a taskbar when i connect or see any of my desktop icons, so when it comes to logging off.... i cant!

 

Running Terminal Services on Server 2003, if the user closes SIMS then the terminal window generally closes and the user is logged off after a few seconds. We also have the TS machine set up to automatically log users out if they are idle for a certain amount of time, or you could simply have the TS machine reboot overnight.

 

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David Hicks

[farquea]

thanks for the help, i didnt realise that it eventually logs you off once you close the application.

 

The only other major problem at the moment i have is that everytime i load up sims it brings up an error about the sims.ini file while trying to update. I tried copying the sims.ini file from c:windows on my pc to the TS and now it runs the upgrade fine. the problem is it runs the sims upgrade now every time i open sims, which is rather annoying.

[wesleyw]

Needs to have the full Sims Infrastructure as well as Sims Apps run on it as admin then check to see if there is a sims.ini file in the profile of administrator if it continues to have that fault copy the sims.ini file to C:\windows and it'll work correctly the one you are using from another machine will be slightly different than the one needed I believe they reference the machine on some of the lines which may explain why it keeps updating everytime.

 

 

Wes

[localzuk]

thanks for the help, i didnt realise that it eventually logs you off once you close the application.

 

The only other major problem at the moment i have is that everytime i load up sims it brings up an error about the sims.ini file while trying to update. I tried copying the sims.ini file from c:windows on my pc to the TS and now it runs the upgrade fine. the problem is it runs the sims upgrade now every time i open sims, which is rather annoying.

 

The updater is supposed to run every time - that is what SIMSLoad.exe does - it checks for updates every time. It can't be doing a full update each time, as there is nothing to update.

 

Regarding multiple users logging on as a generic user - this may cause issues, as they will all be sharing one set of credentials. Things like QuickLetter will end up being customisable only by one user, and when someone tries to add documents to a pupil's record (Linked documents), where are they going to be getting them from?

[farquea]

im aware sims will check for updates each time it runs but currently everytime i open sims on the TS it actually does the upgrade process and takes a few minutes doing it then prompting the user to run "SIMSCentralServerSetup.EXE" and it does this everytime which is obviously not ideal.

 

There is no sims.ini file created in c:\windows or in the admin profile so im starting to get a bit stumped. Im not sure of "Needs to have the full Sims Infrastructure as well as Sims Apps run on it as admin" though, all im doing is running the simsinst.exe like i normally would on a client. should i be doing something extra?

[dhicks]

currently everytime i open sims on the TS it actually does the upgrade process and takes a few minutes doing it then prompting the user to run "SIMSCentralServerSetup.EXE" and it does this everytime which is obviously not ideal.

 

As pointed out here:

 

http://www.edugeek.net/forums/mis-systems/36755-sims-under-terminal-services.html

 

On the terminal server, uninstall the Internet Explorere Enhanced Security component of Windows - that's the annoying widget that pops up asking you to whitelist every website you visit. If end users are using the machine they'll find it super annoying. You'll also find that running SIMS will bring up a dialog box for every user asking if they are sure they want to run the SIMS upgrade application. You can get rid of this by adding your SIMS server to the "trusted sites" list of the Intranet section in network settings (i.e. Tool -> Internet Options -> Security tab from Internet Explorer). You need to add your server with a line of the form "file\\".

 

There is no sims.ini file created in c:\windows or in the admin profile so im starting to get a bit stumped. Im not sure of "Needs to have the full Sims Infrastructure as well as Sims Apps run on it as admin" though, all im doing is running the simsinst.exe like i normally would on a client. should i be doing something extra?

 

Make sure siminst.exe is running in "install" mode. You might have to explicitly set this - Windows Server reckons it can spot these days when an installer program runs, but this might not work with the SIMS installer. Having a good reimaging system to hand is a helpful - I wound up reimaging our TS server half a dozen times before I got everything working correctly.

 

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David Hicks

[farquea]

i was about to thank you and say that its sorted as the first time i connected it went straight to the sims login screen without any upfgrading or prompts but then every other time its back to normal, going through the upgrading process (even though the client build is up to date) and prompting to install the "SIMSCentralServerSetup.EXE". Do you know if this should be installed, o9n our sims server maybe as i dont think it is, but never really come accross it before?

[dhicks]

i was about to thank you and say that its sorted as the first time i connected it went straight to the sims login screen without any upfgrading or prompts but then every other time its back to normal, going through the upgrading process (even though the client build is up to date) and prompting to install the "SIMSCentralServerSetup.EXE".

 

It's a while since I set our TS server up with SIMS, so I can't remember exactly what I did. I do remember that I forgot to explicitly set "install mode" once, which messed SIMS up enough that I simply re-imaged the machine and tried again.

 

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David Hicks

[localzuk]

To be honest, when I set up our TS environment, I didn't set any 'install mode' (and actually don't know what this is?). I simply ran SIMSINST.exe as domain admin, copied the sims.ini from an XP machine's windows folder onto the server and that was it.

 

You don't need to install simscentralserversetup.exe - this is for a SIMS server.

[farquea]

and localzuk does sims open and update fine and only once when it needs to? not everytime you run sims?

[localzuk]

and localzuk does sims open and update fine and only once when it needs to? not everytime you run sims?

 

Yup, we have about a dozen users who use sims on the ts boxes and it works fine - only updates when a new version is available.

[farquea]

ok fixed my problem, it just needed a batch file with a 2 second "sleep" in and it works fine, something to do with sims running instantly when you connect and logon to the box, it didnt seem to like it for some strange reason.

 

Anyway as i now have my server up and running i'm left with 1 last problem. The licencing that it keeps popping up and telling me about in the tray. I've no idea what we need here, totally clueless so im going to do some research but if anyone can point me to any documents or inform me what i need to do, if anything, that would be brilliant.

[dhicks]

To be honest, when I set up our TS environment, I didn't set any 'install mode' (and actually don't know what this is?).

 

You used to have to explicitly set "install mode" from the command line before you ran an application installer - I get the impression this was some horrible cludge left over from Server 2000, and has probably been done away with by now (our TS server is running Server 2003, as that was all we had spare).

 

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David Hicks

[dhicks]

it just needed a batch file with a 2 second "sleep" in and it works fine, something to do with sims running instantly when you connect and logon to the box, it didnt seem to like it for some strange reason.

 

Is the Sims share (S drive?) slow to connect?

 

The licencing that it keeps popping up and telling me about in the tray.

 

What does the message say? You probably need to make sure you have a TS licensing server on your network - we have a separate Windows-based applications server that I set up for this, I don't know if it's a good idea to use your Domain Controller.

 

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David Hicks

[farquea]

Is the Sims share (S drive?) slow to connect?

 

 

What does the message say? You probably need to make sure you have a TS licensing server on your network - we have a separate Windows-based applications server that I set up for this, I don't know if it's a good idea to use your Domain Controller.

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David Hicks

 

Thats what i thought, hence putting a batch file together to run a 5 second sleep command and it works fine now, even used the cmd window to display a welcome message and simple instructions.

 

I cant actually get the message up now, but i think its about being unable to contact a TS licensing server. We dont have one setup on our network but like i said i know pretty much nothing about them or what im expected to put in place. Im assuming i install TS licensing server (as a role) on a server? and then purchase some sort of licenses for the number of users ill be having connect to the TS concurrently, that right? Any ball park figures for what kind of costing i'm going to be hit with for this?

[localzuk]

Yes, you need to install the TS Licensing server as a role on a server. Then you buy TS Cals. If you're on Schools Agreement, they come in at a couple of quid each. On Select they come in at about a fiver or so each IIRC.

[farquea]

sorry to be a pain, but exactly what type of licenses do i want as ive had a look and see there are device, user and external connector licenses available. Also where can i purchase them usually?

[localzuk]

sorry to be a pain, but exactly what type of licenses do i want as ive had a look and see there are device, user and external connector licenses available. Also where can i purchase them usually?

 

It depends on your needs. You shouldn't need external connector licenses, AFAIK - these are usually related to allowing people who aren't employed by your 'business' to use your systems. The main choice depends on how you're going to have users connecting. If you've got 600 users and they're going to be connecting via 100 fixed devices, device cals are best choice. Whereas, if you've got 600 users, and they could be connecting via any of 10,000 devices, user cals are your choice.

[farquea]

well initially on this TS ive only allowed 10 concurrent connections and the connections will be from school owned staff laptops from their homes. But it sounds like you are saying i'll need a license for every member of staff with a school laptop, regardless of how many concurrent connections are allowed on the TS?

 

Just thinking, is this any different to me and my colleagues using RDP to connect to manage servers etc? should we not have some sort of licensing in place already to allows us to do that?

[localzuk]

TS licensing works by people using the server, not by concurrancy. ie. even if you only ever have 10 people connected, if it is actually 100 devices or 100 users then you need 100 device CALs or 100 user CALs.

 

On the admin RDP - 2003 server comes with 2 built in licenses to allow remote administration of a server.

[farquea]

ok thansk for clearing that up, so i want a "User CAL" for every member of staff with a laptop. Any suggestions on where to purchase from so i can see how much damage this is going to make on my budget?

[localzuk]

Personally, I use Academia.co.uk, but there are plenty of them. Such as Insight UK, European Electronique, Pugh, Ramsys etc...

[farquea]

cheers i'll get some quotes once i know what numbers i'll be wanting.

 

thanks for all your help.

[dhicks]

Im assuming i install TS licensing server (as a role) on a server?

 

Yep, just run the Windows Server "configure your server" wizard, it's dead easy. I seem to remember the TS license server gives you about 90 days grace to check you've got everything working correctly before it stops working, so you can run a few tests and make sure things are working okay before you go spending money. I seem to remember TS CALs costing us around £30 each, but we're a private school and often wind up paying more for stuff like that.

 

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David Hicks