RDP settings determine the parameters of the connection on the protocol level. For example, timeout value, the supported authentication modes, and display parameters.

Figure 218: RDP Control > Settings — RDP settings

Caution: Modifying the RDP settings is recommended only to advanced users. Do not modify these settings unless you exactly know what you are doing.

To create a new RDP settings profile or edit an existing one

1. Navigate to RDP Control > Settings and click to create an RDP setting profile. Enter a name for the profile (for example, rdp5only).

2. Click to display the parameters of the RDP connection.

3. Modify the parameters as needed. The following parameters are available:

   • Network idle timeout: Connection timeout value in seconds. To avoid early timeout, set it to a larger value, for example a week (604800 seconds).

     Even if the user is not active, the session can contain activity that must be audited (for example, the output of a script). The idle timeout period will start only after this activity has stopped.

     Caution: Determining if a connection is idle is based on the network traffic generated by the connection, not the activity of the user. For example, if an application or the taskbar of a graphical desktop displays the time which is updated every minute, it generates network traffic every minute, negating the effects of timeout values greater than one minute and preventing One Identity Safeguard for Privileged Sessions (SPS) from closing the connection.

     Caution: If the value is set below 31 seconds, MSTSC can fail and prevent new connections if Act as a Remote Desktop Gateway is enabled in RDP Control > Connections. To prevent this, set the Idle timeout value to at least 31 seconds.

   • User idle timeout: If no user activity is detected, terminate the session after the configured time has passed since the last user activity.

     This can be useful if only user-generated network traffic is important in a session. By using this option, situations described in the caution of Network idle timeout (such as a taskbar clock keeping the network traffic open indefinitely) can be avoided. To enable user idle timeout, select Enable user idle timeout and enter a value that is greater than or equal to the value of Network idle timeout.

   • Maximum display width: The maximum allowed width of the remote desktop in pixels (for example 1024).

     NOTE: The Maximum display width and Maximum display height options should be high enough to cover the combined resolution of the client monitor setup. Connections that exceed these limits will automatically fail. Make sure to adjust these settings if your clients use multiple monitors. For example, if your clients use two monitors that have a resolution of 1920x1080 pixels each, set Maximum display width to 4000, and Maximum display height to 2200.

   • Maximum display height: The maximum allowed height of the remote desktop in pixels (for example 768).

     NOTE: The Maximum display width and Maximum display height options should be high enough to cover the combined resolution of the client monitor setup. Connections that exceed these limits will automatically fail. Make sure to adjust these settings if your clients use multiple monitors. For example, if your clients use two monitors that have a resolution of 1920x1080 pixels each, set Maximum display width to 4000, and Maximum display height to 2200.

   • Maximum display depth: The maximum allowed color depth of the remote desktop in bits (for example 24). The following values are valid: 8, 15, 16, 24.

     Caution: Using 32-bit color depth is currently not supported: client connections requesting 32-bit color depth automatically revert to 24-bit. Certain Windows versions do not support 24-bit color depth. In this case, those versions can only be displayed in 16-bit color depth. SPS automatically changes its settings to 16-bit.

   • Authentication mode: Enable the authentication option that best matches the authentication method supported by your server. The available options are Server logon screen and Enable Network Level Authentication. Network Level Authentication (NLA) is also called Credential Security Service Provider (CredSSP).

     By default, both the Server logon screen and the Enable Network Level Authentication options are enabled. If you want to ensure a higher level of security, enable only the Enable Network Level Authentication option. In this case, the connection must use TLS as the transport security. For information on enabling the TLS encryption, see Enabling TLS-encryption for RDP connections.

     NOTE: Smartcard authentication cannot be used if Network Level Authentication is negotiated at the beginning of the connection.

     • Server logon screen: Use this option if the RDP server is not NLA-enabled. This option allows you to log in directly to the RDP server through its graphical login screen.

     • Enable Network Level Authentication: Use this option to connect to NLA-enabled RDP servers with RDP 6 or later versions. NLA is the preferred option and considered more secure than the authentication provided by the Server logon screen option.

       Require domain membership: This is a sub-option of the Enable Network Level Authentication option. By default, the Require domain membership option is not enabled. In the default operation, you can use SPS to monitor RDP access to servers that accept only NLA, even if the client, SPS, and the server are not in the same domain. You can use this option also if the RDP server is a standalone server and is not part of a domain, or if, for some reason, you cannot add SPS to the domain.

       If you enable the Require domain membership option, you can only authenticate successfully to the RDP server if SPS is a member of the domain to which the RDP server belongs. To configure SPS to join your domain, see Network Level Authentication (NLA) with domain membership.

   • Enable pre-channel check: Select this option to evaluate the connection and channel policies before establishing the server-side connection. That way if the connection is not permitted at all, SPS does not establish the server-side connection.

   • Permit unreliable usernames: SPS automatically terminates RDP connections if it cannot reliably extract the username from the RDP connection. Enable this option to permit connections with unreliable usernames. For details on ensuring that the usernames in RDP connections are reliable, see Usernames in RDP connections.

     Known issue

     When accessing a Windows Server 2003 R2 host, the Permit unreliable usernames option is disabled, and the username is unreliable, SPS terminates the connection, but only after the user logs in. As a result, the session is not closed on the server-side.

   • Autologon domain suffix: Enter the suffix that the client will append to the domain when using autologon in conjunction with Network Level Authentication (CredSSP).

4. To display a banner message to the clients before authentication, enter the message into the Banner field. For example, this banner can inform the users that the connection is audited. SPS displays this banner in a graphical window that has only an OK button. Note the following points:

   • You can write a plain-text or a basic HTML-formatted banner.

     Caution: If the banner is overly complex HTML using deeply embedded structures, displaying the banner will fail, causing the RDP connections to time out.

   • When using HTML markup, the entire banner must be a single HTML object (for example, a div).

     <div align="center"><b>Your session is recorded using Privileged Session Monitoring</b></div>

   • In HTML, you can embed images (for example, a company logo) as data URLs in an img tag:

     To include a logo or other image, use a base64-encoded data url within an, like this: <img alt="Embedded Image" src="data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAADIA..." />.

   • Note that while you can include links in the text, your users cannot click or copy them.

5. To configure TLS security settings on both the Client side and the Server side, proceed to TLS security settings.

   Figure 219: <Protocol> Control > Settings > TLS security settings - configuring TLS security settings

   

   • Cipher strength specifies the cipher string OpenSSL will use. The following options are possible:

     • Recommended: this setting only uses ciphers with adequate security level.

     • Custom: this setting allows you to specify the list of ciphers you want to permit SPS to use in the connection. This setting is only recommended to ensure compatibility with older systems. For more details on customizing this list, check the 'openssl-ciphers' manual page on your SPS appliance.

       For example: ALL:!aNULL:@STRENGTH

   • Minimum TLS version specifies the minimal TLS version SPS will offer during negotiation. The following options are possible:

     • TLS 1.2: this setting only offers TLS version 1.2 during the negotiation. This is the recommended setting.

     • TLS 1.1: this setting offers TLS version 1.1 and later versions during the negotiation.

     • TLS 1.0: this setting offers TLS version 1.0 and later versions during the negotiation.

     NOTE: Setting up sessions to legacy systems that do not support at least TLS 1.2 is only possible when the security level of the connection is degraded to 0, which is possible by specifying the TLS ciphers manually and appending the string `:@SECLEVEL=0` to the cipher list. However, this setting also enables the use of known vulnerable algorithms and key sizes, therefore it is absolutely critical to only use such connection settings when it is necessary and when you can fully trust your network between SPS and the legacy system. It is strongly recommended to use different security settings on the server and the client side of the connection, when degrading the security level of a connection is unavoidable.

   NOTE: Note that SPS only permits TLS-encrypted connections. SSLv3 is not supported.

   NOTE: TLS 1.1 and 1.2 support for Windows 7 Service Pack 1 (SP1) and for Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 2 (SP2) is not available by default. For more information about the requirements and process of enabling this feature, click here or contact our Support Team.

6. Click .

7. Select this settings profile in the RDP settings field of your connections.