About PCoIP Sessions¶
Establishing a PCoIP session involves a number of key components, including system actors, PCoIP session phases, and connection brokers as discussed next.
System Actors¶
There are at least three components that work together to create a PCoIP session:
- PCoIP client: The hardware or software device, local to the user, which requests and drives the PCoIP session by negotiating with PCoIP brokers and PCoIP agents.
- PCoIP Broker: Brokers maintain lists of active users, their authentication information, and the host machines they can connect to. Except for systems using direct connections, all PCoIP sessions are negotiated via third-party brokers.
- PCoIP agent: The Teradici extension installed on the host machine. The PCoIP agent is the single point of access for PCoIP clients, and handles all video, audio, and USB exchanges between the client and desktop.
Terminology: Hosts and Desktops
Host refers to a Windows, or Linux machine, either virual or physical, which has a PCoIP agent installed and can serve a remote desktop to a PCoIP Client. Desktop refers to an entity which is delivered to the client as a remote workload. This is typically a full Windows or Linux desktop, but it can also be configured to present a single application.
The following diagrams show the actors outlined above in a brokered and direct connection:
Direct Connection
Brokered Connection
