Revisiting TS, Part I
So, in the middle of December, I wrote a posting praising Microsoft for the way TS 2008 turned out. This was based on my theoretical knowledge of the software. However, I’ve actually gotten around to setting it up. My opinion of the service has really been confirmed. It’s great stuff once you manage to get it setup. That’s where there’s a bit of a problem. Getting it setup isn’t hard, it’s just not easy. The main point, on which I was stuck for a while, is that you absolutely must have an SSL Certificate signed by a Microsoft Approved CA (or jump through some hoops, more on that later). It’s not like a regular website where you can just ignore an invalid certificate. RDC requires that the certificate come from a trusted CA. There are hundreds of these; more get added every month or so through Windows Update. You can, however, trust yourself as a CA. Then you can get around having an SSL Certificate, however, that’s cumbersome for IT people and borderline impossible for normal people. (Note: This is a way to check to see if the setup is working before you buy that certificate. Plug to GoDaddy for the $29.99/yr certificate that is MS trusted.)
I’m going to document a complete setup in the coming days.