Just a couple of observations from our attempt to deploy Windows 2008 R2 RD Session Hosts as part of a Windows 2012 RD Deployment. Hopefully these save someone the angst of not finding answers in other documentation.
1. Our first hurdle was trying to add a Windows 2008 R2 server (RD02) as a Session Host in the Remote Desktop Services area in Server Manager on our Windows 2012 RD Deployment server (RDCB01), which had the Connection Broker, Web Access and Session Host role services installed. After some side-tracking through AD issues, we eventually discovered that we had to manually add RD02 to the list of servers to manage in Server Manager on RDCB01. Then it was visible and could be selected.
2. Now that we could, we tried to actually add the RD02 Windows 2008 R2 Session Host to the 2012 Deployment. This failed the previously unheard of compatibility tests with the error "Compatibility check failed" "The server is not running at least {0}". A list of requirements is shown:
You will not be able to proceed with the installation unless ALL the following criteria are met:
- The server must be available by using Windows PowerShell remotely.
- The server must be running at least Windows Server 2012.
- The currently logged on user must be a member of the local Administrators group on the server.
- The server must not have a pending start.
We were also concerned that we could not change many of the properties of Published Applications on our 2012 Publishing server. In our case changing an icon was critical for user acceptance to distinguish between application functions.
It seems RDS is an all or nothing approach between 208 R2 and 2012 versions. The only thing we were able to get going in time was some limited Published Application capability.
I agree with other posters in their assessments of wholesale changes to RDS in 2012, and a lack of readily available definitive information.