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Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) pros and cons

Vendor: Parallels

4.4 out of 5

25 reviews
96% willing to recommend

Pros & Cons summary

Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) enables efficient application management with centralized distribution, enhanced security features, and straightforward Active Directory integration. It offers broad client compatibility, resource-efficient features like connection compression, and supports cloud desktop publication. Improvement areas include performance monitoring, automatic re-connection, and pricing. Dependency on Microsoft solutions may be reduced. Migration from platforms like Citrix and VMware could benefit from an automated solution.

Buyer's Guide

Get pricing advice, tips, use cases and valuable features from real users of this product.

Prominent pros & cons

PROS

Parallels Remote Application Server permits centralized control over applications, allowing seamless distribution to user desktops.

It offers robust security features, such as the integration with Windows Active Directory and additional support for multi-factor authentication.

Compatibility with various devices, including Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, Linux, Xbox One, and PS4, enhances user access flexibility.

Efficient use of resources is achieved through connection compression and cloud desktops that can be published to a subset of users.

Management of the servers, applications, and clients can be done centrally and efficiently, alleviating the need to manage installations on individual devices.

CONS

Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) upgrade frequency is too high, causing operational strain.

Performance monitoring of client's endpoint and automatic re-connection need improvement.

Printing issues persist with random disconnections, causing major inconvenience over time.

HALB instability with two instances running simultaneously, requiring time-consuming server upgrades during off-hours.

The lack of strong local support in Mexico presents challenges for user assistance and operations.

Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) Pros review quotes

Systems Administrator at a construction company with 1,001-5,000 employees

May 28, 2018

Ease of use in publishing apps and installing the agent. The Interface is fairly intuitive after some tinkering. Although I inherited the app only two-thirds deployed, I was able to complete the deployment and service it over the last year without referring to any documentation.

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CIO at a healthcare company with 1,001-5,000 employees

May 28, 2018

Allows us to publish applications accessible by current-generation HTML5 browser or OS-specific client (Windows, Android, iOS), and it supports popular single sign-on and multi-factor authentication protocols.

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Senior System Engineer at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees

May 28, 2018

Client compatibility with many systems makes it very versatile. The reporting that is included is awesome.

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Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)

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Network Administrator

May 31, 2018

It is robust. We have some 75 users using it and it doesn't lag. It's very speedy.

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MC

Technical Lead (Windows Desktops) / Senior IT Consultant at a university with 1,001-5,000 employees

Oct 31, 2018

We use Cloudpaging to package and deploy the vast majority of our applications to our standard Windows 10 desktops. With the use of Parallels integration into Software2 AppsAnywhere hub, this means we can use the same packages to deliver Windows applications to almost any device - Windows, mac OS, iOS, Android, Linux, Xbox One, PS4 - just by ticking a box.

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Technical Operations Manager at a tech services company with 11-50 employees

Jul 18, 2018

We use RAS to publish cloud desktops to our clients. The ability to easily publish resources to a subset of users is what we find most valuable.

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Operation Manager Servers and Central Infrastructure

Jul 25, 2018

We can publish apps and desktops on Terminal Servers and seamlessly share printers. We also combine Parallels with Deepnet Security to get two-factor authentication.

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Project Manager with 1,001-5,000 employees

Jul 25, 2018

It provides flexible access to Windows applications from many types of devices.

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JC

IT Director at a energy/utilities company with 1,001-5,000 employees

Jul 30, 2018

It has allowed us to centralize the software location so we don't have to update the software client on 70 computers.

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CJ

Christophe Jurdan

System Engineer at a government with 1,001-5,000 employees

Aug 1, 2018

Thin client management (Windows 10 client) provides an easy way to lock down client connection to the remote infrastructure. Policies are very helpful for preconfiguring client behavior. Finally, client management is easy.

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Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) Cons review quotes

Systems Administrator at a construction company with 1,001-5,000 employees

May 28, 2018

Opening a ticket should be available from the actual RAS console. It is cumbersome to go to a portal, hunt around for five minutes for a link to open a ticket, answer questions meant to direct you towards FAQs instead of live support, then fill out information (license #, version #, etc.) which could more easily be supplied by sending a ticket straight from the console with all of that information automatically specified.

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CIO at a healthcare company with 1,001-5,000 employees

May 28, 2018

Improvement is needed in performance monitoring of the client's endpoint, and automatic re-connection of the client in the event of circuit disruptions (this works well generally but can present challenges).

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Senior System Engineer at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees

May 28, 2018

The customization of the web interface could possibly use some improvement. Little things, like being able to place a background image instead of just choosing from a palette of colors, would be nice.

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Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)

Free Report: Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) Reviews and More

Learn what your peers think about Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS). Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: January 2026.

881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Network Administrator

May 31, 2018

Since I've been here less than a year, I have had to upgrade the system three times. The first time was the major upgrade but they have upgraded twice since, and I think that's too many times in that time span.

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MC

Technical Lead (Windows Desktops) / Senior IT Consultant at a university with 1,001-5,000 employees

Oct 31, 2018

It needs Windows scaling on Android/iOS devices. At present, the concept of delivering apps to Android and iOS devices is appealing, but the reality is the screen size on these devices is so small that, unless there is some scaling option, it is not really usable.

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Technical Operations Manager at a tech services company with 11-50 employees

Jul 18, 2018

It would be great if there were more sophisticated GPO templates/options.

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Operation Manager Servers and Central Infrastructure

Jul 25, 2018

We use several gateways because access to our secret zone requires two-factor user authentication. It is a lot of hassle differentiating among users with or without two-factor. Of course, we could use two farms, but that would mean more management too.

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Project Manager with 1,001-5,000 employees

Jul 25, 2018

A web-based management interface for administration and reporting would be nice, instead of needing to log into a remote server.

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JC

IT Director at a energy/utilities company with 1,001-5,000 employees

Jul 30, 2018

The main issue we have with all of our users is printing. Randomly, a printer will disconnect or someone won't connect to it and I will have to reset the print service and then nobody can print. That's the big headache we've had over the course of the five years.

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CJ

Christophe Jurdan

System Engineer at a government with 1,001-5,000 employees

Aug 1, 2018

HALB is not stable in our environment. When running two HALBs we have stability problems, so we use an active one and a passive for backup. Also, it would be nice to implement an upgrade of the environment without having to stop the servers. As it is, this must be done during off-hours.

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Product Categories

Product Categories

Application Virtualization

Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)

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Product Categories

Product Categories

Application Virtualization

Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)

Popular Comparisons

Popular Comparisons

VMware Workstation vs Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)

VMware Fusion Pro vs Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)

Workspace ONE UEM vs Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)

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NComputing vSpace vs Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS)

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