Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) Reviews

It's our financial software. From the server side, we got it set up and, for the most part, it has been working. I haven't really changed the configuration in some three years.

It has allowed us to centralize the software location so we don't have to update the software client on 70 computers. It's just the one or two servers that we have, and when people connect to it, it goes from there. It allows for ease of scalability, ease of update, etc.

• Ease of use
• Ease of setup
• Stability

Those would be the three things I really like about it.

The main issue we have with all of our users is printing. Randomly, a printer will disconnect or someone won't connect to it and I will have to reset the print service and then nobody can print. That's the big headache we've had over the course of the five years, printing.

Three to five years.

We have not generally encountered any issues with stability and, usually, it is more server-based than software-based. Generally, it's some hardware failing in the server which causes some instability. But we get that replaced and everything gets back to normal. I would say it's a stable product.

We have not noticed any issues with scalability. Generally, again, that goes back to servers. When we noticed that one server was not enough for us, we added another server. We were able to add it to the farm within the software, and it flowed pretty easily. It allowed us to scale up really easily.

The few times I have used tech support, they have been really good, quick response. They're really knowledgeable about the software and are able to find a solution and get it going for me.

We did not have a previous solution. The company I worked for before was taking over IT and we realized they were going to need this kind of solution. I don't know how the decision was made. I came into it after all the decisions had been made about the software. Because the companies were merging together, they were going to have more users. They needed a more centralized software system.

The setup was pretty straightforward. In this environment especially, it's just two or three programs that we have that a lot of people need to use, so it was just getting it set up, installed the right way, and making sure that everybody was able to get connected. We made sure everybody could get the right client software. Then, upgrading software versions, we made sure we got that taken care of on everybody's computers, and went from there.

With a different client that I had set it up for, it was a little bit more complicated but that was the nature of their environment, not so much the software.

I feel the product's pricing is of good value. We have reviewed pricing on other software products, Citrix and products like that, and we realized that for the same basic functionality, we're paying pennies on the dollar, so we do appreciate that pricing level.

In terms of licensing, I don't want to call it an "issue" but the one thing we've run into is, sometimes not having enough licenses. So you have to be on top of that, be ahead of that game. Don't wait until you've completely run out. Always stay five ahead.

We didn't really test out anything else that I know of. When I came in, the decision had already been made. We have reviewed other solutions in the past, like Citrix but, again, we felt that the functionality that we needed was in this solution. For the price point and for the service, we just want to stick with Parallels.

Make sure you have security groups set up for who's going to be using which applications. Other than that, it's stable, it's easy to set up. Once it's set up, you don't really change in a lot of things, unless you're adding to it. You don't have to worry too much. You can get alerts. You have real, in-depth control of everything, so it's a great solution.

I give this product an eight out of 10 and it just comes down to the printing. We've tried several things to get that resolved and nothing has really worked. It will work well for a little bit and then something will hiccup. We have had a lot of hassle for a while. Otherwise, it's a great product.

It provides flexible access to Windows applications from many types of devices.

Students need to access many Windows applications. We provide hundreds of PCs across the campus for them to do so. Using Parallels means they can now use their own devices (Macs, tablets, etc.) from any location instead of having to go to a specific room or queue to use a PC.

• Ease of set up
• Transparent end user experience

Our main target for this product is the student body, who may not be using a Windows PC/laptop, and require access to applications which they are required to undertake during their studies or when they need to carry out research activities. Parallels allows us to provide easy access to applications on multiple devices from any location.

A web-based management interface for administration and reporting would be nice, instead of needing to log into a remote server.

Less than one year.

We have not yet encountered any issues with stability.

We have not yet encountered any issues with scalability.

Their technical support is okay.

We did not previously use another solution.

The initial setup was straightforward.

It was performed by Parallels.

Everyone's circumstances are different. Therefore, I cannot provide advice.

We evaluated Citrix VMware.

Try it in a pilot first.

Providing load balancing to our RDS infrastructure, publishing RDS applications and desktops.

Accelerates deployment of thin clients and remote desktop servers in the farm.

• Thin client management (Windows 10 client) provides an easy way to lock down client connection to the remote infrastructure.
• Policies are very helpful for preconfiguring client behavior.
• Client management is easy.

HALB is not stable in our environment. When running two HALBs we have stability problems, so we use an active one and a passive for backup.

Also, it would be nice to implement an upgrade of the environment without having to stop the servers. As it is, this must be done during off-hours.

More than five years.

There have been a few stability issues, mainly around configuration.

I use GPO preferences to push configuration of Windows 10 thin client parameters for Parallels. Each device can have status “managed” in Parallels, meaning that the client is managed by the administration console and policies are applied. But these thin clients were not able to be managed because we discovered that we had already installed the RAS client on the SysPrep-ed machine, and a registry setting was used by Parallels to know the client’s MAC address. This MAC address was the same for all clients and the SysPrep-ed machine, so communication between newly installed clients and the administration server was not possible.

I had to create a script to collect the client’s MAC address during login and replace the registry value with it.

No issues with scalability.

Technical support is an eight out of 10.

Native remote desktop.

The initial setup was of medium complexity. We initially purchased a RAS server to provide more advanced load balancing capabilities between our remote desktop servers. This configuration was quite simple. We added another gateway server later and that was straightforward too.

Pricing is good.

Read the manual.

We needed to access multiple programs, for multiple users, and it's like a virtual session that does that.

We would not be able to function without it.

It is robust. We have some 75 users using it and it doesn't lag. It's very speedy.

One area which I would say needs a lot of improvement: Since I've been here less than a year, I have had to upgrade the system three times. The first time was the major upgrade but they have upgraded twice since, and I think that's too many times in that time span. I'm the only one doing IT, so I have over 75 users that I actually have to touch every time they upgrade, which is a lot of work.

I would roll up the updates in a group, rather than as they come out.

Less than one year.

I encountered an issue with stability once, with licensing. For some odd reason, after I upgraded to the current version, the 15.2, it lost its license, so I had to get a temporary license to get my users up and running. They had to figure out why I couldn't hold on to my current license that I had just bought.

When it's stable, it's stable. I would say 90 to close to 100 percent of the time it's stable, it's right on the mark. When it goes down, since my whole user community uses it, every user in my company is down. When it's working, it's working great and I don't get any phone calls. When it's down, everyone in the company, as I said, is down, they only have email. Every other software package goes through the Parallel, so it's a big impact.

Scalability is pretty good. There's a small delay, but that could be the server, the amount that we're pushing through it. But it's pretty good in scalability.

Tech support seems good, and they seem very accommodating in time. Whatever time I want to work on it, they are there.

Tech support helped me upgrade it to the current version. It was pretty much straightforward.

Pricing is a little steep, but I really couldn't go to anyone else because it is so integrated into our system.

Do your homework. Call, see if you can speak to three customers who use it and get their opinion. Also get three different quotes, or three similar products, and see how they work.

I would rate it an eight out of 10. As I said, when it's stable it's stable, it's very good. I find in the last year there were just too many upgrades. I still have an upgrade facing me now, and I haven't upgraded the main server because that means I have to go around to all the workstations.

It is our primary remote access solution for remote desktop.

It permits us to control the applications that our users are able to get to, in a seamless manner. We're able to distribute applications to users' desktops, just like those applications are on each user's computer, but they're not.

• Easy to install
• Super stable
• Easy to manage

It's a really good product. There's not a lot that needs improving, and we're on an older version. I imagine the newer versions are better but we have not had a single need to improve anything.

One to three years.

No issues with stability.

No issues with scalability.

We have asked for help from tech support and their service was good.

Citrix. We switched because Citrix is complicated and expensive.

We had them assist us with the setup and I think that's important. When rolling out a product like this, the vendor should want to help implement, so it's implemented correctly. We used them to implement it, and that's the way it's been running since we started.

I think the new pricing is a little bit high. If the price was lower, we could use it for many more customers. If there was one improvement to be made to this product, it would be a small-business version, at a much lower price point.

Licensing should always, in my opinion, be on a per-user, per-month basis. I would like to be able to add one user, take one user off. That would be the ideal, to be able to supply this as a service.

Citrix and the native Microsoft Remote Desktop. The latter is very hard it is to install, and makes us mad.

Everything can be improved, so I give it an eight out of 10. It does everything we need it to do, it's stable; with the caveat that there is no perfect solution.

If you're doing a thin-client environment, where you want to publish applications, then of all the products on the market right now, this is the product to use.

It works. It is easy to install and easy to use. 

You have the opportunity to virtualize applications in different locations. Everything is in one pane or one window, which is quite good.

Too much Active Directory dependent

We've been working with this solution for about five years.

It is scalable, and you also get high availability included.

Technical support has worked any time we needed it. We always got it.

Positive

We worked mostly with remote control. For support reasons, we remote control solutions. We also used RDP, but back then, it was quite rudimental. It is an improvement over Microsoft RDP. Actually, it uses RDP in the background, but it is sleeker to use.

We are also working with Virtuozzo and Jelastic, and we are actually looking at combining them at the moment.

It is quite easy. It is not complex.

Good!

It is not that high. It is in the medium range. Of course, it could be lower, but the price is not the issue.

If you don't want to install it yourself, it is also available as a service from many providers. We're a reseller and an MSP, and we tell smaller customers that they can have it as a service as well.

I would rate Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) an eight out of 10. It works, and it is fulfilling the function.

very good value for money easy administration sehr stabile Product painless Application deployment

delegation in 2X Console currently accepts User Accounts only, please Add delegation for AD Groups.We started with 2X App Server Version 6. The development of the 2X App Server made many Great steps (eg. Universal Printing, Universal Scanning, VDI and so on). In our current environment, we use 2X to bring the different Apps from our TS Farm (6 Terminalservers - 2 Gateways) to our Users. Our users distributet over about 15 Sites and all Applications are hosted in our Main-Site. I never had any big Problems with 2X. It does what it should, it works! Support Team at 2X does a realy good Job. The Documentation is o.k. but in the Blog there are really good tips. Updates on the 2X Server are painless at all. Thank you 2X for such a great Product that makes my work much easier!

If you have Terminalservers (or Remote Desktop Session Host) and you haven't 2X, then go buy it.

Cloud-hosted desktop.

We use RAS for customer solutions.

We use RAS to publish cloud desktops to our clients. The ability to easily publish resources to a subset of users is what we find most valuable. 

The management capability from the RAS portal provides greater control than using pure MS inbuilt into RDS capabilities.

We have had significant, ongoing issues with printing. It would be great to have a best practice for dealing with printing that we can offer to our customers. 

It would be great if there were more sophisticated GPO templates/options.

One to three years.

From time to time, we have had issues with stability. However, this could be related to connectivity at client sites. 

We also have regular issues with printers disappearing from sessions.

We currently use Parallels side-by-side with an Azure cloud-hosted solution. This may be from a lack of product knowledge on my part, but we still need to work out the most effective way to shut down servers outside of hours, thereby reduce hosting costs. I am not entirely convinced Parallels does this well yet.

In my limited dealings with support, they have been responsive, respectful, and helpful.

We were previously using Citrix. We changed for a number of reasons: 

1. We acquired a cloud company which was already using Parallels. 
2. Cost.

The initial setup was straightforward.

Parallels is a cost effective alternative to Citrix.

We evaluated Citrix and Microsoft Remote Desktop Services (MS RDS).

Understand what you want to get out of the product.