How much RAM do you need for remote desktop?

Remote Desktop Services is a collection of roles that enable secure remote desktop access. This solution combined with cloud services empowers organizations to create true work from anywhere experience for their users. RDS is an excellent way to deliver a remote work experience for your users. It provides the flexibility to provide full desktop sessions or published apps. For the purpose of this article, we will cover a single site deployment of the RDS infrastructure. Further considerations need to be taken if your application requires High Availability, DRaaS for RDS, Geo-redundancy, or User Profile Management.

Roles Required

  • Connection Broker
  • Gateway Server
  • Licensing Server
  • RD Web Server
  • Session Host

Dependencies

  • Active Directory
  • DNS
  • File Services [for user data storage]
  • LOB application[s]

RDS Considerations

There is no one size fits all recommendation for RDS deployments. There are many factors that must be considered for a successful deployment of Remote Desktop Services. Below is a list of some of the considerations when deploying RDS.

QuestionPotential Answers
How many users will the system need to handle?
  • A Handful [1-10]
  • Many [10-100]
  • Multiple Buildings [100+]
What types of users will make up the base?
  • Task Worker
    • Performs basic data entry, single application use.
    • 2-4GB of RAM
    • 500Kbps 1Mbps
  • Knowledge Worker
    • Light word processing, web based application use
    • 3-6GB or RAM
    • 1Mbps 2Mbps
  • Power User
    • Full MS Office suite [Outlook, Word, Excel], heavy browser use, LOB application use
    • 6-8GB of RAM
    • 2Mbps-5Mbps
What types of applications will need to run on the system?
  • LOB Applications
  • Consider any graphics-heavy applications
How will User Profile Data be stored?
  • Folder Redirection
  • Roaming Profiles
  • User Profile Disk
How will user security be ensured?
  • Multi-Factor Authentication
  • OS Hardening
  • IPSEC or SSL VPNs
  • EPP/EDR Solutions
What are the users networking needs?