What Citrix MetaFrame Adds to Windows 2000 Terminal Services

Windows 2000 Terminal Services (TS) offers most of the basic functionality required in a thin-client environment. However, MetaFrame—which incorporates Citrix’s Independent Computing Architecture (ICA)—offers better management tools and additional capabilities not available in Windows 2000 TS. The list below highlights some of the most interesting features of MetaFrame beyond those of Windows 2000 TS.

Installation Management Services Ready

The Installation Management Services (IMS) option allows administrators to install software once on a single server and then replicate that configuration to a number of servers in an application “server farm” automatically. (Ed. Note: Microsoft intends to deliver this capability with AppCenter Application Server, expected in late 2000. See “Microsoft Announces AppCenter Application Server” on page 3 of the Nov. 1999 Update.)

Load Balancing Support

A TS server farm using MetaFrame uses a more dynamic and efficient load balancing algorithm compared to a server farm implemented using Windows 2000 Network Load Balancing (NLB). For example, the Citrix load balancer examines actual server load and automatically directs user connections to the most lightly loaded server in the farm for execution. While Microsoft’s NLB allows spreading the load across multiple servers, it does not take actual server load into consideration. Also, the Citrix load balancer is included with MetaFrame. NLB requires installation of Windows 2000 Advanced Server on each TS server at a cost of US$3,995 per server.