By Vissarion Yfantis

April 23, 2018
Last updated on July 22, 2022

  0

Add Users to VDI by Inviting Them to Parallels RAS

Parallels® Remote Application Server (RAS) provides an intuitive wizard to invite users to connect to the Parallels RAS Farm and start using the published resources. Technically speaking, users can already configure their clients and access the applications, although sending out these invitation emails eases this process.

To invite users, follow these steps:

1. In the Parallels RAS Console, select the Start category and click the Invite Users item.

2. The Invite Users wizard opens. On the first page, specify the mailbox information that should be used to send invitation emails to users.
   Specify the following options:
   • Mailbox Server: Enter the mailbox server name.
   • Sender Address: Enter the email address.
   • TLS / SSL: Choose whether to use the Transport Layer Security / Secure Sockets Layer (TLS/SSL) protocol.
   • SMTP server requires authentication: Select this option if your SMTP server requires authentication. If it does, also type the username and password in the fields provided.

   In the Test email section, type one or more email addresses to which a test email should be sent (separate multiple address with a semicolon). Click the Send Test Email button to send the email.

3. Click Next.

4. On the next page of the wizard, specify target platforms and connection options:

• In the target devices list, select the types of devices to send an invitation to. Each target device of a particular type will receive an email with instructions on how to download, install, and configure the Parallels Client software on that device type.
• In the Public address field, specify the public FQDN or IP address to access your Parallels RAS Farm. Client connections can be managed through a High Availability Load Balancing (HALB) virtual server, a Parallels RAS Secure Client Gateway, or third-party load balancer.
• Choose the Connection Mode from the drop-down list. Optionally, click the Advanced button to open the Advanced Settings dialog. This dialog allows you to specify a third-party credential provider component.

5. Click Next.

6. On the next page, specify the email recipients. Click the […] button to select users or groups.

7. Review the invitation email template displayed in the Review the invitation email box. You can modify the template text as needed. The template also uses variables, which are explained below.
   • %RECIPIENT%: Specifies the name of a recipient to whom the email message is addressed.
   • %SENDER%: Signifies the sender’s email address that you specified in the first step of this wizard when you configured the outgoing email server settings.
   • %INSTRUCTIONS%: Includes a custom URL hyperlink for automatic configuration of Parallels Client.
   • %MANUALINSTRUCTIONS%: Includes instructions for manual configuration of Parallels Client.

   These variables are defined dynamically, depending on the type(s) of the target devices and other settings. Normally, you should always include them in the message, so your users will receive all the necessary instructions and links.
   To preview the message, click the Preview button. This will open the HTML version of the message in a separate window. This is the email message that your users will receive.

8. Click OK, review the summary, and click Next again to send the invitation email to users.
   
   When users receive the invitation email, they will follow the instructions to install and configure Parallels Client on their devices. Once that step is done, they will be able to connect to Parallels RAS and launch published resources.