Remote Desktop Services vs. mRemoteNG

Remote Desktop Services provides access to work environments from any device. This allows us to ensure business continuity in case of disaster. It provides admins more control over access and security. Remote Desktop Services simplifies software updates and compliance management by reducing the need to act on end users devices.

mRemote is well suited if you need to manage multiple types of servers and/or network devices. Instead of opening a dedicated Putty session and having to manage all of the windows, mRemote can handle all of this with different tabs. If you only have a few devices (less than 10), mRemote could be overwhelming for the need and not quite match up with what you are needing.

Incentivized

• Relative ease of setup: in comparison to some of the other solutions on the market (Citrix, etc.), Remote Desktop Services is rather easy to set up and get configured in your environment.
• Feature set: Microsoft offers a good deal of the same features many competitors offer in the same space including a mobile app and the ability to have a "native" app feel for a remote application.
• Inexpensive Licensing: in comparison to other solutions on the market Remote Desktop Services is inexpensive.
• Move LOB applications closer to their server counterparts: this goes for all remote solutions, but if you have a line of business application that makes a great deal of calls across the network to your data center, your remote office users will likely benefit from the performance and stability side by moving those client side applications into the data center.

Incentivized

• Tabbed Views. Each server remote desktop is viewed in its own separate tab, similar to a web browser. This makes it much quicker and easier to switch between them than using separate windows.
• Storing credentials. You can configure it with log on credentials for each system, saving time on accessing as you don't need to enter a password each time.
• Multiple connection types. I use the traditional RDP the most, but mRemoteNG allows many different connection types, similar to Putty.

Incentivized

• Advanced configuration is required.
• Off-site access from a different network is very insecure unless a VPN can be used.
• It's complicated and relatively costly for multi-user environments, as each user or device requires a CAL on top of the server licensing.
• Incredibly complicated licensing strategy from Microsoft.

Incentivized

• Sadly not seeing much in the way of active development these days.
• Have had a few issues where the config file has been messed up (so learnging to back that up was key).
• Interface is functional but not pretty and can be a bit clunky at times.

Incentivized

Once set up it works well and is extremely easy for users. Getting it right can be difficult, it is easy to setup insecurely. Maintenance can be difficult with only a single broker and with manual switchover required for redundant gateways. Troubleshooting access issues can also be difficult

Incentivized

It's very easy to setup and use. The tree structure organizes the multiple connections in a hierarchical manner which makes it easy to browse and the tabbed browsing make it simple to switch between multiple ongoing connections You can even export the list of connections and import it to another setup.

Incentivized

There are some third party tools available that allow you to manage multiple connections.

Incentivized

As with any Microsoft Server product, support for Remote Desktop Services requires a paid support package. These are license-based and very costly, on top of the already costly product licensing. Microsoft's licensing is complicated to begin with, so setting up licensing alone essentially requires a licensing expert's counsel. There is community documentation and support available on Microsoft websites, as well as community websites.

Incentivized

Never actually needed to use support so have no idea - honestly it's simple enough to use I'd be surprised if anyone really needs support with it.

Incentivized

We used RDS on-site primarily because of how easy it is for users to transition from their own desktop to a remote desktop. However, from off-site, there are VPN and other security considerations to take into account, and the process gets a little more complex. In this situation, especially if you're trying to support a user who is outside the local network, it can be easier to use something like Chrome Remote Desktop or TeamViewer. However, the Windows functionality of RDS is totally unmatched.

Incentivized

mRemoteNG is far more useful than LogMeIn when on the same network, or VPN as the servers, as it allows multiple server screens open in multiple tabs. LogMeIn is much more useful when working out of the office for its ability to connect anywhere, but each system accessed is in a separate window making navigation a little tricky. Sometimes I use them in tandem however, LogMeIn to access a machine in my network, then mRemoteNG to access multiple machines from there!

Incentivized

• Remote Desktop Services has had a major positive ROI impact at our firm. There were a number of times when our staff was traveling abroad to business meetings with a laptop that had missing presentations. But once they had internet access, a Remote Desktop Services connection is established, and presentation data can now be shown directly from their laptops as if theyr'e sitting in our office.
• Remote Desktop Services has made it possible for Mac staff users to use their computing devices to access our network system to run Windows applications and access all our network data.
• Remote Desktop Services has made it possible for our staff to successfully work remotely from outside the office. There were many occasions when emergencies came up which prevented staff from coming into the office to work. But as long as they have a computer with an internet connection, they used Remote Desktop Services to connect to our terminal server and successfully ran the programs to modify data files on the network without losing a beat.

Incentivized

• Very easy to hand over connections to new starters.
• Having multiple remote protocols in one place is a massive time saver.

Incentivized