Managing multi-session servers

The first tab of the Servers screen lets you configure multi-session server pools and servers. 

Use the information in this guide to learn how to:

• Manage multi-session servers
  • Create a server pool
  • Edit a server pool
  • Remove a server pool
  • Create a server
  • Edit a server
  • Remove a server
  • Start a server
  • Connect to a server
  • Manage a server image
    • Create image
    • Deploy image
    • Back up an image
    • Restore image

Manage multi-session servers

Desktop applications that allow for concurrent user sessions are supported by multi-session server connections. In this section, you can learn how to view the server pools and edit the server pools and servers configured for multi-session use.

To view the multi-session server pool list, follow the steps below.

1. Log in to the system using your credentials.
2. Click servers or the  icon in the navigation panel.
3. The list of multi-session servers will display by default. You may filter the list or adjust the displayed columns to locate records. See the article on working with lists for more information.

Create a server pool

A server pool is a group of servers that share an image and will work as a group to deliver virtual desktops to end users.

Before a server pool can be created, it is important to have a resource group available in the same region as the server pool.

The table below shows the values that make up a server pool profile.

Field	Datatype	Required?	Notes
Name	String	Yes	A user friendly name
Description	String	Yes	Any meaningful description
Resource group	Lookup value	Yes	List of all resource groups in the system available to the user
Server pool type	Lookup value	Yes	Unknown Shared – Used for cloud multi-session server pools with pre-deployed servers  Autoscale – Used for cloud multi-session server pools with dynamically created servers based on load Hybrid – Used for on-premise multi-session server pools with pre-deployed servers
Load balancer listener port	String	Yes	Each multi-user RDP server farm is assigned a dedicated listener port on the load-balancer. Use this field to specify the listener port of the RDP server pool.
Hyperstream proxy secret	String	No	For on-premises or custom deployments, this value is used to authenticate to the region’s capacity API. It is primarily used for the cloud bursting feature to determine when a server pool is at maximum capacity.
Active	Boolean	Yes

To create a new server pool, follow the steps below.

1. From the Servers page, click on the “multi-session” tab to access the server pools list. This tab will display by default when the page first loads.
2. From the top of the list, click create server pool to trigger the Create server pool screen.
3. Enter the appropriate values, and then click save changes to submit.
4. The new server pool will now appear in the list.

Edit a server pool

A server pool is a group of servers that share configuration information. In the list, server pools are left-justified and the servers within those pools are indented below them.

To edit a server pool, follow the steps below.

1. From the Servers page, click on the “multi-session” tab to access the server pools list. This tab will display by default when the page first loads.
2. From the list, click edit on a server pool row to edit that record. To make it easier to locate the appropriate server pool, you may adjust the visible columns or filter or search through the list. See the article on working with lists for more information.
3. The system will direct you to the Edit server pool screen.
   
4. Update any necessary values, and then click save changes to submit. See the section above on creating a server pool for information on each field.

Additional features in this section:

• Show/hide hyperstream proxy secret – This allows you to toggle between clear text and masking.
• HTTP key refresh – This refreshes the API key used by the hyperstream session to communicate back to the control plane. All on-premises deployments should have a custom key created. If the API key has leaked at some time, use this feature to reset the API key.

Remove a server pool

To remove a server pool, follow the steps below.

1. From the “multi-session” tab of the Servers page, click remove on a server pool row. This will trigger the Delete server pool pop-up screen.
   
2. Click confirm to complete removal of the server pool. This will remove both the server pool and all related servers.
   Deleting a server pool will not remove the server instances.

Create a server

Once a server pool has been created, you can add one or multiple servers to it.

Creating a server record in Apporto does not deploy a new server, it simply adds your existing server to the Apporto interface.

The table below shows the values that make up a server profile.

Field	Datatype	Required?	Notes
Name	String	Yes
IP address	String	No	The IP Address of the RDP server instance. This is typically used when DNS is not set up for server instance.
FQDN	String	No	The fully qualified domain name of the RDP server instance
RDP port	String	No	The RDP Service listening port (typically 3389)
Maximum number of concurrent users	Integer	No	Value used to specify the maximum number of RDP users this server instance can support concurrently
Operating system (OS)	Lookup value	No	Linux Mac Windows

To create a server, follow the steps below.

1. From the Servers page, click on the “multi-session” tab to access the list. This tab will display by default when the page first loads.
2. From the list, click create server on a server pool row to trigger the Create server pop-up screen. To make it easier to locate the appropriate server pool, you may adjust the visible columns or filter or search through the list. See the article on working with lists for more information.
3. Enter the appropriate values, and then click add server to submit.
4. The new server will now appear in the list.

Edit a server

A server is an individual host system within a server pool. In the list, servers are indented under server pools.

To edit a server, follow the steps below.

1. From the Servers page, click on the “multi-session” tab to access the list. This tab will display by default when the page first loads.
2. From the list, click edit on an indented server row to edit that record. You may need to expand a server pool to see its child servers. To make it easier to locate the appropriate server, you may adjust the visible columns or filter or search through the list. See the article on working with lists for more information.
3. The system will trigger the Edit server pop-up screen.
   
4. Update any necessary values, and then click update server to submit. See the section above on creating a server for information on each field.

Remove a server

To remove an unwanted server, follow the steps below.

1. From the “multi-session” tab on the Servers page, click remove on a server row. This will trigger the Delete server pop-up.
   
2. Click confirm to complete deletion. The server will no longer appear in the list.
   Removing a server record in Apporto does not destroy the server, it simply removes the server from the Apporto interface.
   

Start a server

Before being able to connect to a server, it must be running. Apporto-hosted cloud subscriptions can be started from within the Apporto interface.

To start a server, follow the steps below.

1. Manual start
   1. From the “multi-session” tab on the Servers page, locate a stopped server. To make it easier to locate the appropriate server, you may adjust the visible columns or filter or search through the list. See the article on working with lists for more information.
   2. Click start to start the server. It may take a few minutes to begin running.
   3. Once the server is running, the connect option appears.
2. Scheduled – For information on how to schedule a server start event, see the article on managing calendar events.

Connect to a server

When a server is running, you can connect to it.

To connect to a server, follow the steps below.

1. From the “multi-session” tab on the Servers page, locate a running server. To make it easier to locate the appropriate server, you may adjust the visible columns or filter or search through the list. See the article on working with lists for more information.
2. Click connect to connect to the server.

Manage a server image

For cloud hosting (e.g., AWS and Azure servers), an Apporto administrator will create the initial server image. After a server has been imaged for the first time, additional imaging options become available. Admins may create additional images and deploy, back up, or restore existing images.

For on-premises implementations, Apporto customers will need to manage servers independently. Apporto NextGen will only be able to connect to these servers.

Create image

To create a new image, follow the steps below.

1. From the “multi-session” tab on the Servers page, locate a base server image. To make it easier to locate the appropriate server, you may adjust the visible columns or filter or search through the list. See the article on working with lists for more information.
2. Click manage image to view server image options.
3. Click create image to trigger the Create image confirmation pop-up.
4. Click confirm to complete image creation. The process may take up to 2 hours.
5. After the new image is created, it will replace the previous base image.

Deploy image

After creating an image, you may deploy (replicate) it to all production servers in the server pool. Deployment typically takes 30 minutes to 1 hour, depending on the size of the server pool.

To deploy a server image, follow the steps below.

1. Manual deployment
   1. From the “multi-session” tab on the Servers page, locate a base server image. To make it easier to locate the appropriate server, you may adjust the visible columns or filter or search through the list. See the article on working with lists for more information.
   2. Click manage image to view server image options.
   3. Click deploy image to trigger the Deploy image confirmation pop-up.
   4. Click confirm to complete image deployment. The image will deploy through all related servers, 5 servers at a time.
2. Scheduled – For information on how to schedule an image deployment event, see the article on managing calendar events.

Backup image

At times, you may want to create a backup of a base server image. This is useful for future image restoration.

To create a server image backup, follow the steps below.

1. From the “multi-session” tab on the Servers page, locate a base server image. To make it easier to locate the appropriate server, you may adjust the visible columns or filter or search through the list. See the article on working with lists for more information.
2. Click manage image to view server image options.
3. Click backup image to trigger the Backup image confirmation pop-up.
4. Click confirm to complete image backup. The process may take up to 2 hours.
5. After the backup is created, it can be restored.

Restore image

If a server image has been backed up, it can be restored.

To restore a server image, follow the steps below.

1. From the “multi-session” tab on the Servers page, locate a base server image. To make it easier to locate the appropriate server, you may adjust the visible columns or filter or search through the list. See the article on working with lists for more information.
2. Click manage image to view server image options.
3. Click restore image to trigger the Restore image confirmation pop-up.
4. Click confirm to restore the most recent image backup. The process may take up to 2 hours.