Parallels Product Manager Evgeny Korepanov shared insights about the most interesting features of the Remote Application Server solution for delivering applications and virtual desktop infrastructure and its main competitive advantages. Here is the story from the first person. Enjoy!
Parallels RAS enables remote delivery of everything that runs on Windows servers and desktops to client devices. This is the core purpose of our product. Whether the user has a Mac, Windows, or a mobile device running Android or iOS, they can use applications published through Parallels RAS from any device. In this article, I will discuss the most interesting features of the platform.
History (RAS) began with a rather simple idea. Essentially, it was about taking an application that we run far away on a server and displaying it on a Windows client as if it were installed locally. The concept took off and has gradually evolved. Now, we have been enhancing, refining, and perfecting the product for over 14 years. In that time, we have added around a thousand features and removed quite a few as well.
We are not afraid to experiment, but not all ideas turn out successful in real-world usage scenarios. For instance, we had our own operating system for devices. It could be installed on old computers sitting at our customers' offices and used as thin clients. This OS did not gain popularity — we decided to drop it. The fact is, very few companies have successfully implemented the idea of terminal stations for which it was created. We realized that it was more advantageous and simpler to partner with someone than to develop in that direction ourselves.
Some features were removed due to the failure of third-party products in the market. In 2010, we supported Windows Phone; do you remember those devices? But the mobile platform did not take off, and along with it, we dropped the client for its support.
In every release of Parallels RAS, there are at least a hundred new features. Sometimes the number even reaches two hundred. They range from large to small, successful to not so much, some with bugs and some without. Among them, I would like to highlight a few time-tested and, in my opinion, very important ones.
High Availability Load Balancer
This is a virtual machine that we provide to our users. It easily integrates with Parallels RAS and is manageable. In general, a Load Balancer is essential for any large installations. If you have 100 people and two network gateways, you technically need to use it. Parallels RAS provides its own, without the need to purchase any additional licenses.
We basically have one standard option. This is what distinguishes us from Citrix and other competitors. Users who purchase a license gain immediate access to all features of Parallels RAS.
Google Authenticator
This service comes out of the box, allowing administrators to implement multi-factor authentication without deploying additional virtual machines or purchasing other MFA solutions' licenses. We first released this functionality in version 17.0 and have since made about 5 smaller upgrades. In particular, we improved user filtering, client behavior, and made administration more accessible.
This is not a very complex feature; it's not technological, but it is genuinely important. Our surveys and statistics show that people actively use it. And the way we implemented it — simply set up the solution, check the box to 'enable Google Authenticator,' and it worked for everyone — is something that no one else offers.
Universal Printing Driver
Printing is truly a challenging issue for all admins dealing with desktop delivery applications. The printers themselves are very capricious, and every vendor has its drivers, which behave differently on each operating system. Therefore, we created our own universal printing driver that serves as a bridge between real printers and what the user sees and uses on their client.
For example, I sit at home, connect a printer via USB, and it redirects to the server. However, it doesn’t use actual drivers; instead, it creates Parallels RAS Universal Printing. This way, the server doesn't get cluttered, and there’s no risk of the machine crashing. We invest a lot of resources to ensure this printing works well. We have several people who consistently work on improving this feature. If during the testing of RAS with our sales manager you find any printer issues, there’s a good chance they will be resolved and officially released by the time you are ready for production.
Multi-Tenant
This is one of the major features that was released very recently in the latest version. Typically, service providers using Parallels RAS either provide their users with a ready-made solution based on our program or they sell additional administrator services that handle all IT needs for the client. In this scenario, it’s important for end-users to be isolated.
Previously, we offered to create separate, independent farms. In principle, this worked, but of course, there were shortcomings. People wanted more centralization and reduced costs, as setting up a full-fledged farm requires a considerable investment. servers. Yes, they are virtual machines, but nonetheless. With this Multi-Tenant feature, we allowed sharing part of the infrastructure between tenants and end clients.
They remain isolated from each other, knowing nothing about one another and unable to interact, yet they share a layer of the Parallels infrastructure, which is, of course, deployed on the service provider's end. As a result, our customers gained the ability to sell their RAS-based solutions more competitively.
I can’t say this is a unique feature in the market. In one way or another, our competitors address the same need. But we implemented it slightly differently than everyone else, and better at least in terms of the overall cost of the solution.
Single Sign-On (SSO)
In the previous version, we also released support for Single Sign-On (SSO) technology based on SAML. This feature allows tenants to authenticate through third-party providers when logging into Parallels Client (the client application for RAS). This is crucial because none of the customers want to deploy Active Directory for each client on their side. It costs money, is inefficient, and is complex to maintain.
In the past four months, I've heard a lot of positive feedback about this feature and not one negative comment, even though it’s usually impossible to satisfy everyone in all respects. Yet this functionality hasn’t found anyone who says, “Our scenario just doesn’t work here.” Although the integration itself, to be honest, is quite demanding in terms of management and administration across all client solutions.
Cloud Deployment Options
We support cloud solutions and assist users in transitioning to them. Unfortunately, they are still not cheap, but they bring their bonuses. For instance, during 'Black Friday,' many experience significant loads on their servers. If you have your own data center, you can't just pull another server out of your pocket and quickly set it up to handle the increasing flow of requests.
But in addition to your existing data center, you can register a cloud in RAS, deploy the necessary virtual machines there, and clone them. Our functionality allows for automating up and down scaling loads in the cloud such that machines will be created and deleted based on real necessity.
For example, if no one is using the machines in the evening, we will stop and remove them all. In the morning, when new users arrive and the load on the main data center increases, we will start creating virtual machines in Azure. One, two, three—any number based on demand. And the administrator doesn’t need to monitor the number of clients; we implement this automatically.
Web Console
Following the trend of HTML-based solutions, we are currently transitioning from an admin console that functions as a Windows application to a web-based version. It has already been released, but with minimal functionality necessary for technical support admins. The plan is to gradually transfer all the features available in the old console to this one. So with each release, it will become more and more comprehensive.
Why is this important? First and foremost, because people want to manage everything from their devices. If you have a Mac, you are not eager to connect to the server via RDP with RAS to do something. Or imagine sitting on a plane, getting ready for takeoff, and then your boss calls in a panic saying ‘everything is lost,’ and you only have your phone at hand. By using the web console, you can figure out what the problem is, fix some publishing issues, and restart servers.
Unfortunately, these use cases are not possible if you are using the standard console. Our previous version is limited to Windows in this sense, despite the thousands of features it has.
Flexibility and simplicity
In conclusion, I would like to note that Parallels RAS has many competitors. However, what sets it apart from its analogs is the ease of deployment and use. These may seem like very simplistic words, but I often hear from clients, and read in forums, that installing RAS couldn’t be easier. It takes just a few clicks.
Admin does not need to set up anything additional or, heaven forbid, buy new hardware to install our solution and try it out. Most of the functionality will work in any environment. There are many reasons for this. As always, a product that seems trivial on the surface hides a lot of nuances and a thousand hours spent on support.
In fact, the most important reason why Parallels RAS is so flexible and simple is that we support most operating systems and hypervisors, as well as cluster and cloud solutions. In particular, we have not yet dropped support for Windows 2003, although our competitors did that years ago. There are no other solutions on the market that connect with it; everyone has told their clients to upgrade, but we have not.
Source: habr.com
