1. Home
  2. Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) Software and Solutions
  3. Parallels RAS Reviews
  4. User Review of Parallels RAS
Review of Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)
January 29, 2020

Review of Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)

Javier Blanque | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with Parallels Remote Application Server

We use Parallels RAS to monitor and administer remotely our IT infrastructure. Information Technology uses the software. We are planning to extend its use along the whole organization. We are replacing Citrix Xen App with Parallels RAS. With this new tool, we are better managing around one hundred physical servers remotely, networking components, virtual machines, containers, in an heterogeneous mix of platforms, such as Citrix Xenserver, Proxmox Virtual Environment, Dell and SuperMicro servers, and switches and storage units (SANs and NASs).
  • Better ROI than Citrix Xen App
  • Simple and powerful administrative tools to manage users, groups, and the publishing of environments
  • RAS could be less attached to the Microsoft Windows Server Platform
  • We could love to have a Parallels RAS Server running on Linux
  • RAS helps us to run our IT infrastructure with less fuss.
  • RAS has a better ROI than Citrix Xen App or Xen Desktop for us.
  • Citrix Virtual Apps (formerly XenApp) and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops (formerly XenDesktop)
We used (and still use) Citrix Xen App for about twelve years, but when compared with RAS, which has been used for testing several times for around 5 years and is in production since the beginning of 2019, there are powerful but subtle differences that make RAS a better choice for us: it is more intuitive, more robust, and has less security and configuration problems than the Citrix products.
The Citrix Xen App always had problems with printing, which RAS does not have. The Citrix Xen App always had problems copying and pasting from one platform to another, which RAS does not have.
We use it 24 hours for access remotely to our IT infrastructure, with no problems whatsoever, accessing by way of VPNs (we use the open-source OpenVPN). Our specialists and technicians access the server they need, with the roles granted for them authenticating with Active Directory.
We use RAS as a Windows Server virtual machine that runs over the Proxmox Virtual Environment (Debian and KVM), and we enjoy excellent performance with not too many resources assigned to it. We do not use Microsoft Hyper-V nor VMWare ESXi, We use Citrix Xenserver, but we are migrating gradually to Proxmox.
We have Firewalls (pfSense), which provide the first layer of defense, with VPNs (OpenVPN), and access the RAS through SSL. We are very happy with the security record of Parallels RAS and see a lot fewer vulnerabilities from Parallels RAS than from Citrix on the US-CERT bulletins.
The only questions we had were at the time of the purchase regarding the 25 users license. Luckily we did not have technical questions because the product is relatively simple to use, given the power it has.
We had looked at the forums a couple of times, and they were helpful. The documentation was also complete and helpful.

Do you think Parallels Remote Application Server (Parallels RAS) delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Parallels Remote Application Server (Parallels RAS)'s feature set?

Yes

Did Parallels Remote Application Server (Parallels RAS) live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of Parallels Remote Application Server (Parallels RAS) go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy Parallels Remote Application Server (Parallels RAS) again?

Yes

If your organization is multi-platform aware and you have Windows Server knowledge and other platforms, especially if you have implemented the Active Directory functionality of Windows Server, Parallels RAS will make your life much better. It is especially helpful with remote and mobile workers or for off-hours internal technical support.
If your organization runs on the cloud, without on-premises infrastructure, and the users all just use browsers to access the services, RAS is less compelling, I think. But what medium or large organization does not have legacy applications and information systems lurking around?