Email through RDC?

[Corbin Dallas]

I am trying to figure out how to email from my outlook from a RDC sesson to a remote server that hosts my executable program.

Does that make sense?

I'm accessing a terminal server via RDC and the terminal server has a program on it that has an email handoff to outlook. Normally, when I'm on the local intranet, the handoff is fine (because I'm using my desktop shortcut), but when I use the terminal services, the handoff fails.

How do I get this working properly in the TS?

[JDay]

Use outlook on the remote system, or use a VPN instead of remote desktop.

[socalblue]

Not going to happen. While RDP permits drive & printer shares there is no ability to pass state within the system or user space.

You best option is to put everything on the remote desktop & access via a VPN.

[JDay]

Not going to happen. While RDP permits drive & printer shares there is no ability to pass state within the system or user space.

Actually it can, however I have no experience with this.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remote_Desktop_Protocol#Features

Features

* 32-bit color support. 8-, 15-, 16-, and 24-bit color are also supported.
* 128-bit encryption, using the RC4 encryption algorithm, as of Version 6.[15] Older implementations suffer from a man-in-the-middle vulnerability, which can allow an attacker to decrypt the encrypted streams by recording the encryption key as it is transmitted.[16]
* Audio Redirection allows users to run an audio program on the remote desktop and have the sound redirected to their local computer.
* File System Redirection allows users to use their local files on a remote desktop within the terminal session.
* Printer Redirection allows users to use their local printer within the terminal session as they would with a locally or network shared printer.
* Port Redirection allows applications running within the terminal session to access local serial and parallel ports directly.
* The clipboard can be shared between the remote computer and the local computer.
* Seamless Windows: Remote applications can run on a client machine that is served by a Remote Desktop connection. It uses virtual channel method, and available since RDP 5[17].


The following features were introduced with the release of RDP 6.0 in 2006:

* Remote Programs: Application publishing with client-side file type associations.
* Terminal Services Gateway: Enables the ability to use a front-end IIS server to accept connections (over port 443) for back-end Terminal Services servers via an https connection, similar to how RPC over https allows Outlook clients to connect to a back-end Exchange 2003 server. Requires Windows Server 2008
* Network Level Authentication
* Support for remoting the Aero Glass Theme (or Composed Desktop), including ClearType font smoothing technology.
* Support for remoting of Windows Presentation Foundation applications: Compatible clients that have .NET Framework 3.0 support will be able to display full Windows Presentation Foundation effects on a local machine.
* Rewrite of device redirection to be more general-purpose, allowing a greater variety of devices to be accessed.
* Fully configurable and scriptable via Windows Management Instrumentation.
* Improved bandwidth tuning for RDP clients.
* Support for Transport Layer Security (TLS) 1.0 on both server and client ends (set as default).
* Multiple monitor support. Spread session across two monitors.

[Nose Nuggets]

doesnt the app need to be hosted by a local windows server? i was unaware that you could slave the app from another remote workstation.

VPN option is still the best. or use OWA.

[brianinca]

Remote Programs is a feature Citrix MetaFrame has had for years, have to have Server 2008 or better. This isn't the feature you need.

The kind of email handoff you seem to be talking about is a little strange, but from your post if you're on your own workstation on the network, the feature works from Outlook. If you're coming in and working on your Terminal Server, the feature doesn't work. Is this correct?

I'd say client misconfiguration on the TS Profile you're using, OR possibly something screwed up in permissions. Sounds like you're not using Exchange so OWA wouldn't be a valid alternative.

A little more info would be very helpful, specifically what mail server are you running Outlook against?

Regards,
Brian in CA

[Corbin Dallas]

Remote Programs is a feature Citrix MetaFrame has had for years, have to have Server 2008 or better. This isn't the feature you need.

The kind of email handoff you seem to be talking about is a little strange, but from your post if you're on your own workstation on the network, the feature works from Outlook. If you're coming in and working on your Terminal Server, the feature doesn't work. Is this correct?

I'd say client misconfiguration on the TS Profile you're using, OR possibly something screwed up in permissions. Sounds like you're not using Exchange so OWA wouldn't be a valid alternative.

A little more info would be very helpful, specifically what mail server are you running Outlook against?

Regards,
Brian in CA

Correct. I am accessing a Terminal Server through RDC.

The TS is mapped to access the program from the main server. No exchange server as my program uses a shared MAPI connection.

I know this can be done, I'm just at a loss on how to get the TS to accept my local PC's MAPI settings.

[brianinca]

So it's MAPI based, some kind of contact management software?

Regardless, you're talking to an Exchange Server or some equivalent thereof (Zimbra?) and you need a VPN connection.

The Remote Desktop Client hasn't anything to do with client-side connectivity other than printers and redirected drives.

Talk to your IT staff about setting up a VPN, IPSEC preferably, back to your network.

Regards,
Brian in CA

[Corbin Dallas]

So it's MAPI based, some kind of contact management software?

Regardless, you're talking to an Exchange Server or some equivalent thereof (Zimbra?) and you need a VPN connection.

The Remote Desktop Client hasn't anything to do with client-side connectivity other than printers and redirected drives.

Talk to your IT staff about setting up a VPN, IPSEC preferably, back to your network.

Regards,
Brian in CA

It's a MRO/SAP type software. The email client sends out RFQ's directly from the software using my outlook.

I know this can be done in RDC. There has to be a way to handoff the MAPI client from my PC to the TS. Either by a batch file or something similar.

[brianinca]

>>>
I know this can be done in RDC. There has to be a way to handoff the MAPI client from my PC to the TS. Either by a batch file or something similar.
>>>

You, logged into the Terminal Server, running your MRO software and having Outlook installed for your user account = yes, you should be able to do this. If it does not, likely your client setup is either incomplete/flawed or some permissions issue is causing this not to work.

You, on your home PC running MRO software + Outlook locally on that machine, are not going to have any useful connectivity to your office just by having a Remote Desktop session also active. The purpose of a VPN is to provide secure remote access for client machines connected to the public Internet.

Remote Desktop is just that, the clicks and keyboard inputs go from your local computer to the remote computer and you receive back the graphical results. There is printing redirection, drive redirection and limited clipboard redirection, but you're not going to get local Outlook connectivity through that.

You need a MAPI session over a VPN - if that's too much, see about getting your IT folks to setup Outlook Anywhere, pretty simple SSL proxy for Outlook, works well if you have the infrastructure for it.

Regards,
Brian in CA