Application servers

An application server is a cloud desktop installed with Windows Server 2008 or a later version to provide virtual applications for end users. You can create an application server based on a cloud desktop and obtain the published applications on the application server as needed from Space Console. To publish applications on an application server to domain users, domain user groups, or OUs by using an application group, you must first create the application server.

Prerequisites

Before you configure an application server, complete the following tasks:

• Create a system image. In the system image, select Windows for Operating System and select a Windows Server version from the Version list. For more information, see "Create a system image."

1. Create an image source VM. For more information, see "Create a VDI image source VM."

2. Build the VDI image source VM. For more information, see "Build a VDI image source VM."

 

After you install the operating system and applications on the VDI image source VM, set the DNS server address to the IP address of the authentication server before you proceed to install CAStools and VdiAgent and configure optimization settings on the VM.

 

3. Create a VDI desktop pool. For more information, see "Create a VDI desktop pool."

 

When creating the VDI desktop pool, select Domain Users for Assign Desktop To and Fast for Initialization Type.

 

4. Deploy cloud desktops that can be used to create application servers based on the desktop image in the desktop pool. For more information, see "Deploy a VDI desktop pool."

5. Go to the deployed cloud desktop list page to install the RDS service on each cloud desktop to be used as an application server:

1. Enable remote access to the cloud desktop.

2. Click  in the tool bar and navigate to the Server Manager > Dashboard page.

3. Select Manager > Add Roles and Features.

4. Review the requirements on the Before you begin page, and click Next.

5. On the Select Installation Type page, select Remote Desktop Services installation.

6. On the Select deployment type page, select Quick Start and click Next.

7. Select Session-Based Desktop Deployment and click Next.

8. Select the server where the RDS service will be deployed and click Next.

9. Review the installation settings and click Install.

10. When the installation is finished, click Close to close the Add Roles and Features wizard.

Create an application server

1. From the navigation pane, select Applications > Application Center > Virtual Applications > Application Servers.

2. Click Create.

3. Enter a name for the application server, and then enter the IP address of the cloud desktop you want to use for the application server. You can view the IP addresses of deployed cloud desktops on the Desktop Pools page.

4. Click Connect. Space Console will connect to the application server and obtain the applications installed on the server.

5. After the connection to the application server succeeds, enter the description (optional), and then click OK.

Synchronize application information from an application server

When a change occurs on the application server (for example, an application is added or deleted), you can synchronize application information from the application server.

To synchronize application information from an application server:

1. From the navigation pane, select Applications > Application Center > Virtual Applications > Application Servers.

2. Perform either of the following tasks:

• To synchronize application information from multiple application servers, select the target application servers, and then click Sync above the application server list.

• To synchronize application information from a single application server, click More in the Actions column for the target application server, and then click Sync.

Edit an application server

1. From the navigation pane, select Applications > Application Center > Virtual Applications > Application Servers.

2. Click More in the Actions column for the target application server, and then select Edit from the menu.

3. Edit the application server settings as needed and click OK. For information about the application server parameters, see "Create an application server."

Delete application servers

You cannot delete an application server that contain published applications.

 

1. From the navigation pane, select Applications > Application Center > Virtual Applications > Application Servers.

2. Perform either of the following tasks:

• To delete multiple application servers, select the target application servers, and then click Delete above the application server list.

• To delete a single application server, click More in the Actions column for the server, and then select Delete from the menu.

3. In the dialog box that opens, click OK.

Change the priority of an application server

When multiple application servers exists, newly published applications will run on the server with the highest priority. You can configure the priority settings to adjust the load on the application servers.

1. From the navigation pane, select Applications > Application Center > Virtual Applications > Application Servers.

The application server list displays the application servers in descending order of priority from top to bottom.

2. Click Prioritize in the Actions column for the target server to move the server one place up the prioritized application server list.

Configure LB

When multiple application servers exists, you can configure LB settings to enable automatic adjustment of the service load on the application servers. When a metric of an application server exceeds the specified threshold, newly published applications will not run on the application server.

1. From the navigation pane, select Applications > Application Center > Virtual Applications > Application Servers.

2. Click Configure LB, and then configure the following settings:

• CPU Usage: CPU usage of the application server.

• Memory Usage: Memory usage of the application server.

• Disk Queue Length: Average number of disk read and write requests during the sampling interval. The larger the value, the busier the disk, and the slower the disk read and write speed.

• User Quantity: Number of users connected to the application server.

3. Click OK.

Open the management console of an application server

Perform this task to open the management console of an application server. Through the management console, you can install or remove applications on the server.

1. From the navigation pane, select Applications > Application Center > Virtual Applications > Application Servers.

2. Click Console in the Actions column for the target application server.

View application server details

1. From the navigation pane, select Applications > Application Center > Virtual Applications > Application Servers.

2. Click the name of the target application server to view its details.