Published Resource settings in Parallels RAS

Introduction

Parallels RAS is a fantastic product for SMEs. For an overview of what Parallels RAS is and the services we provide to help organizations design, deploy, and manage their RAS environments, visit Parallels RAS page.

Publishing applications and desktops provides users with secure and convenient access to the resources they need without requiring the applications or desktop environments to be installed directly on their local devices. However, simply publishing a resource is not enough—the configuration settings associated with a published application or desktop determine how users access and interact with it.

These settings allow administrators to control various aspects of the published resource, including availability, user access, session behavior, and the overall user experience. Properly configuring these options is essential for ensuring that applications and desktops are delivered consistently and according to the organization’s requirements.

In this blog, we’ll explore the key configuration settings available for published applications and published desktops, explain the purpose of each setting, and discuss how these configurations can affect the user experience and resource management.

Published Application settings

In this part we will describe the most useful configuration settings for a published application.
If you haven't published a resource yet, read our guide on publishing applications first: Publish a Resource with Parallels RAS.

Filtering

After publishing the application, several settings can be configured to control how it is presented and accessed by end users.
This section covers the key application settings, including filtering, which determines which users or groups are granted access to the published application.

By default, a published application is available to all users who can connect to the Parallels RAS environment.
The default rule allows everyone, best practice is an AD group per application, so here's how to set it up:

1. In the Parallels RAS Console, go to Publishing and select the published application you want to configure.
2. Open the Filtering settings

3. You will notice the default setting configured for every published resource.
If we take a closer look you will see what the rule will do, double click on the wildcard * filter

4. In the new dialog box click on the Tasks dropdown button to see what the default behavior of this rule is

5. From the Tasks dropdown box we select Deny to disable the default Rule and click OK to close the dialog box
6. Now we can create our own filtering rule by clicking the plus sign in the upper right corner.
The New Rule dialog box opens
7. By default these criteria were set, so you allow access if the user or group is everyone.
From the Tasks dropdown box you can choose all different types of criteria to add to your rule.
Type a name in the Name field
Leave Allow if, you can also use Deny when you need to explicitly prevent specific users or groups from accessing the application.

8. In this guide we build a filter based on a user group, so we will simply click on the blue typed everyone phrase.
A dialog box opens where you click on the plus sign to find a user group in your Active Directory domain.
Search for the group and click OK

9. Check if the criteria is Enabled in the upper left side of the remaining dialog box.
Also check if your Matching mode is the one you like. For now we choose to match one of the following and click OK

10. You can add more criteria if you like by simply clicking the blue plus sign.
It is also possible to change anything in the current criteria by clicking configure in the same phrase.
If you are happy with the criteria hit OK

11. Do not forget to press Apply to commit the changes

Shortcuts

Shortcuts determine how a published application shows up on the user's device. Instead of only opening the application from the Parallels Client, you can place it on the desktop or in the Start menu, or have it start automatically when the user signs in.

1. In the Parallels RAS Console, go to Publishing and select the published application you want to configure.
2. Open the Shortcuts settings- Select Create Shortcut on Desktop if you want a shortcut on the user's desktop. This is useful for applications that are used every day.
- Select Create shortcut in Start Folder if you want the application to appear in the Start menu. Optionally, enter a folder name in the Start menu folder field to group related applications together (for example Finance or Office).
- Select Create shortcut in Auto Start folder if the application should launch automatically when the Parallels Client starts.
_Use this option carefully. Every autostarted application opens a session or connection at sign-in, which uses resources on your RD Session Hosts and can slow down the login experience._

3.Click OK and do not forget to press Apply to commit the changes.

Display and window state

The display settings control how the application window appears when the user launches it. This is useful when an application should always start maximized, or when a small utility should stay compact.
There are two sections where to modify the look and feel of a published application:

Opening behavior

1. In the Parallels RAS Console, go to Publishing.
2. In the Published Resources tree, select the published application you want to change.
3. Open the Application tab.4. Locate the Run drop-down box and choose one of the following options:
- Normal: the application opens in a regular window.
- Minimized: the application opens minimized to the taskbar.
- Maximized: the application fills the screen.

5.(Optional) Click Change Icon to give the application a more recognizable look in the Parallels Client.
6.Click Apply to save the changes.

Changing the display settings

1. In the Parallels RAS Console, go to Publishing and select the published application.
2. Open the Display tab.3. Clear the Inherit default settings checkbox. Without this, the Site defaults stay in effect and your custom values are ignored.
4. Choose the Color Depth, Resolution, Width and Height you want for this application.
5. (Optional) Select any of the following options if they apply:
- Wait until all RAS Universal Printers are redirected before showing the application: the application only starts once the user’s printers are available. You can also set a maximum wait time in seconds, and the user sees a progress bar while they are redirected.
- Start the application as maximized when using mobile clients: always opens the application maximized in Parallels Client on mobile devices.
- Start in fullscreen mode for Wyse ThinOS: starts the application fullscreen on Wyse ThinOS. This hides the taskbar, so it can’t cover the bottom of the application window.

6.Click Apply to save the changes.

Tip: for line-of-business applications that users work in all day, Maximized usually gives the best experience. For helper tools such as a calculator or a small launcher, Normal is the better choice.

Session and launch behavior

Session settings decide whether an application shares a session with other applications, how many times it can be opened, and whether it starts automatically. These options have a direct impact on performance and on the stability of applications that do not like to run twice.

Session sharing

Applications that a user launches are normally delivered in a shared session. This saves resources, because the user does not need a new session for every application. However, applications that conflict with each other can cause problems when they share a session. For those applications you can isolate them.

1. In the Parallels RAS Console, go to Publishing and select the published application.
2. Open the Licensing tab.3. Clear the Inherit default settings checkbox, otherwise the Site defaults stay in effect.
4. Select Disable session sharing to isolate the application to its own session.
5. Click Apply to save the changes.

Instance limits

An instance is one running copy of an application. Some applications do not like to run twice for the same user, and some licenses only allow a limited number of copies at the same time. Parallels RAS has two settings for this, and they work independently of each other:

Allow users to start only one instance of the application: limits each user to a single copy. Use it for applications that cannot run twice, for example because both copies would use the same data file or settings.
Concurrent Licenses: limits the total number of copies that can run at the same time across all users. Use it when the license of the application only covers a set number of copies. For example, if your license allows 10 copies, enter 10. Once 10 copies are running, other users cannot start another one.

You can use one of them or both. For example, with both enabled and a limit of 10, every user can have only one copy, and no more than 10 users can run the application at the same time.

To configure the limits:

1. In the Parallels RAS Console, go to Publishing and select the published application.
2. Open the Licensing tab.3. Clear the Inherit default settings checkbox. Without this, the Site defaults stay in effect and your changes are ignored.
4. To limit each user to one copy, select Allow users to start only one instance of the application.
5. To limit the total number of copies, enter the maximum in Concurrent Licenses.
_If you set Concurrent Licenses, choose in If limit is exceeded what Parallels RAS should do when the limit is reached._
7. Click Apply to save the changes.

Launch options

1. On the Application tab you can also control when an application starts:- Start automatically when user logs on: starts the application as soon as the user logs in. This works on the desktop versions of Parallels Client only.
- Exclude from session prelaunch: keeps the application out of session prelaunch.

2.Click Apply after changing either option.

Tip: test these settings with a normal user account, not only with an administrator. Differences in permissions often only show up for regular users.

File type associations

A file extension association links a file extension to a published application. When a user opens a file with that extension through the Parallels Client, the file opens in the published application instead of on the local device.

1. In the Parallels RAS Console, go to Publishing and select the published application.
2. Open the File Extensions tab.3. Select the Associate File Extensions option. Without this, you cannot add or change any associations.
4. Click Add in the Tasks drop-down list (or click the + icon) to add a new extension.
5. Enter the file extension, for example docx or pdf.
6. Repeat steps 4 and 5 for every extension the application should handle.
7. Click Apply to save the changes.

Tip: only add the extensions you really want the published application to open. If you add very common extensions, users who also have a local application for those file types may be confused about where their files open.

Preferred routing

Preferred routing is useful when users from different locations connect to the same Parallels RAS Farm or Site. Without it, every user connects through the default gateway, even when the application runs in a data center on the other side of the country. With preferred routing, you choose which server users are sent through for a specific published application.

This is how it works:

1. The user connects to the default Secure Gateway as usual.
2. The RAS Connection Broker checks whether the application has a preferred route.
3. Parallels Client receives the preferred public address and tries to start the application through it.
4. If that fails, Parallels Client falls back to the original gateway, so users can still open the application.

To set a preferred route for an application:

1. In the Parallels RAS Console, go to Publishing and select the published application.
2. Open the Routing tab.3. Select the Enable preferred routing option. The Add preferred route dialog opens.4. Add the server (or servers) you want to use as a route.
5. Select the server that this published application should use.
6. Click Apply to save the changes.

_Good to know:_

_Preferred routing does not apply to Azure Virtual Desktop published resources.
Routing is supported in SAML environments.
Combined with user groups, you can set a preferred route for a group of users in a specific location._

Quick keypad

A quick keypad adds extra keys to the virtual keyboard when a user runs a published application on a phone or tablet. These keys can perform common actions, for example Ctrl+N to open a new document. This saves mobile users from having to find those shortcuts on a touch keyboard. Quick keypads only apply to published applications on mobile devices.

You create a quick keypad as a template once, and then assign it to one or more published applications.

Assigning a quick keypad to an application

If a template already exists, you can assign it directly on the application:

In the Parallels RAS Console, go to Publishing and select the published application.
Scroll to the Quick Keypad section.
Select the template you want to use from the drop-down list.
Click Apply to save the changes.

[Screenshot: Quick Keypad section on the application’s settings]

Creating a quick keypad template

If you do not have a template yet, create one first:

1. In the Parallels RAS Console, select the Quick Keypad category. 2. In the Quick Keypads view, click the Tasks drop-down list and choose New Quick Keypad (or click the + icon).3. Enter a name for the template.
4. Define the keys you want to add. You can organize them in a multi-level menu.
5. Assign the template to the applications that should use it.6. In the Assign Quick Keypad Template dialog, select one or more applications.6. Click Apply to save the changes.
7. If you look back into your published application under the Quick Keypad tab, you will see the freshly made keypad

Tip: make a separate template for each application, or for a group of applications with the same layout. Shortcuts that work in one application may do something else in another.

To change a template later, right-click it in the Quick Keypads list and choose Properties. To move a template to another Parallels RAS Farm, right-click it and choose Export, then right-click an empty space in the list on the other Farm and choose Import.

Conclusion

Publishing a resource is only the first step. The configuration settings behind each published application or desktop determine who can access it, how it behaves, and how users experience it. By managing access through Active Directory groups, configuring sensible defaults, and testing your changes as an end user, you can deliver applications and desktops consistently and securely.

Need help designing, deploying, or managing your Parallels RAS environment? Visit our Parallels RAS Page or click here to contact us.