Azure – Windows Server 2012 – Accessing RDS via web access from external address

azurerdsrdwebremote-desktop-serviceswindows-server-2012-r2

I have a very strange issue. I'm setting up an RDS server in azure for a proof of concept. I've found that if I use the web access using the external URL provided by azure (xxxx.cloudapp.net/RDWeb), I can log in fine, even get the little popup in the taskbar to say i'm connected, however the page shows no remoteapps available – as if none had been published.

If I modify my hosts file to treat the external IP address as having the internal dns name (xxx.domain.local etc), and use that to access RDWeb, it works perfectly. I can access the remoteapp catalog, choose an app and run it with no problems at all.

I've tried everything I can think of, including setting up an rds gateway which wasn't installed before, but nothing makes any difference. Does anyone have any insight?

Best Answer

I had this issue, it's all down to names and certificates. You need to ensure that:

  • All servers are configured to present your External DNS name, RD Web Server, Session Hosts, brokers and Gateway (if you have one)
  • Servers need to be able to respond to that External name on the internal network, so you will need to setup a second DNS zone on your Internal network, with the external name and correct IP's for all servers
  • Ensure that all servers have a valid certificate for the external domain. You will likely need a wildcard for this as you need all servers presented as servername.external.domain
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