Introduction

Parallels RAS(Parallels Remote Application Server) is an application that provides vendor independent desktops and applications. Accessible from anywhere, the Parallels RAS allows you to publish full desktops and applications within a thin client or virtual environment, improving desktop manageability, security and performance.

The basic component of the Parallels RAS is the LoadBalancer. This component is made up of two sub components; the Publishing Agent Service and the Parallels management Console. The Publishing Agent provides load balanced applications and desktop publishing services to clients. Parallels management Console is the GUI through which all configuration and management is performed.

The second component is the Parallels RAS Agent, which is typically installed on each Terminal server in the environment. The Terminal Server Agent’s job is to collect resource availability information from the Terminal Services and then report that information to the LoadBalancer. That way, the Application Server can always use the available Terminal Server resources efficiently.

The final component is the Parallels Client gateway. The Parallels Client gateway’s job is to tunnel all of the traffic related to hosted applications over a single, secure port.

Clients connect to a Parallels Client gateway, which routes the request to the Publishing Agent. This Publishing Agent responds to the client request with the Terminal server that the client can use. The client then connects to the Terminal server either directly or via the Client Gateway to access the published applications or desktops (see Figure 1).

Figure 1 : Components of the 2X server architeture

Quick and easy access to desktops, stable user sessions, and hassle-free use of published applications all make for a 'good user experience' with the Parallels RAS. On the contrary, delayed access to desktops combined with application slow-downs can be the key spoilers of a user's experience with the Parallels RAS. More frustrating to administrators is the fact that many times, the cause of such anomalies cannot be pinpointed, making recovery difficult. While standard monitoring solutions are available, most do not provide the critical in-depth analysis that administrators need, with many failing to provide comprehensive data into the network, virtualization storage, and application levels. Administrators thus far have been pressured to discover the reasons behind network performance failures, unable to pinpoint the problem to the network, profile server, Web access, virtualization platform or other components.

To meet the high standards of network administrators, eG Parallels RAS Monitoring provides total performance visibility for Parallels RAS installations of all types. As part of the eG Enterprise, eG Parallels RAS Monitoring is a comprehensive management solution for Parallels RAS farms, providing complete visibility and monitoring for all layers and tiers of the organization’s Parallels RAS infrastructure, including the Parallels RAS, the publishing agent, client gateway, network, storage and more.

Towards this end, eG Enterprise offers three specialized monitoring models - namely, the Parallels RAS model, the Parallels Publishing Agent model, and the Parallels Client gateway model - that focuses on the overall performance and problems related to the Parallels RAS, the publishing agent, and the client gateway components, respectively.