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Deploying Remote Desktop Gateway

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Remote Desktop Gateway (RDGW) is a Windows Server service for accessing resources that have no internet access via a secure HTTPS communication channel.

In this use case, users from the Administrators group are granted access to a test VM using a self-signed certificate.

Before you start

Before working, you need to register in Yandex Cloud and create a billing account:

  1. Go to the management console. Then log in to Yandex Cloud or sign up if don't already have an account.
  2. On the billing page, make sure you linked a billing account, and it has the ACTIVE or TRIAL_ACTIVE status. If you don't have a billing account, create one.

If you have an active billing account, you can create or select a folder to run your VM in from the Yandex Cloud page.

Learn more about clouds and folders.

The cost of installing RDGW includes:

Create a cloud network and subnets

Create a cloud network named rdgw-network with a subnet in the availability zone where your VMs will be located.

  1. Create a cloud network.

    1. Open the Virtual Private Cloud section in the folder where you want to create the cloud network.
    2. Click Create network.
    3. Enter the network name: rdgw-network.
    4. Click Create network.
    yc vpc network create --name rdgw-network

    Command execution result:

    id: qqppl6fduhct76qkjh6s
folder_id: big67u7m5flplkc6vvpc
created_at: "2021-06-09T10:49:07Z"
name: rdgw-network
default_security_group_id: enpa139ji55jti00u5sg

  2. Create a subnet in the network rdgw-network.

    1. Open Virtual Private Cloud in the folder where you want to create the subnet.
    2. Click on the name of the cloud network.
    3. Click Add subnet.
    4. Fill out the form: enter rdgw-subnet as a subnet name and select the desired availability zone from the drop-down list (for example, ru-central1-a).
    5. Enter the subnet CIDR, which is its IP address and mask: 10.1.0.0/16. For more information about subnet IP ranges, see Cloud networks and subnets.
    6. Click Create subnet.
    yc vpc subnet create `
  --name rdgw-subnet `
  --zone ru-central1-a `
  --network-name rdgw-network `
  --range 10.1.0.0/16

    Command execution result:

    id: e9b95m6al33r62n5vkab
folder_id: big67u7m5flplkc6vvpc
created_at: "2021-06-09T10:49:21Z"
name: rdgw-subnet
network_id: qqppl6fduhct76qkjh6s
zone_id: ru-central1-a
v4_cidr_blocks:
- 10.1.0.0/16

Create a security group

Create and set up a security group.

  1. Open the Virtual Private Cloud section in the folder to create a security group in.

  2. Open the Security groups tab.

  3. Click Create group.

  4. Enter the security group name: my-rdgw-sg.

  5. In the Network field, select the network to assign the security group to: rdgw-network.

  6. Under Rules, create the following traffic management rules according to the instructions below the table:

    Traffic
    direction    		 Description Port
    range    		 Protocol Source
    type    		 Source/Purpose
    Incoming ICMP — ICMP CIDR 0.0.0.0/0
    Incoming self-security Any Any Security group Current
    Incoming TCP 3389 TCP CIDR 0.0.0.0/0
    Incoming RDGW 443 TCP CIDR 0.0.0.0/0
    Outgoing default Any Any CIDR 0.0.0.0/0
    1. Select the Outgoing traffic or Incoming traffic tab.
    2. Click Add rule.
    3. In the Port range field of the window that opens, specify a single port or a range of ports that traffic will come to or from.
    4. In the Protocol field, specify the desired protocol or leave Any to allow traffic transmission over any protocol.
    5. In the Purpose or Source field, select the purpose of the rule:
      • CIDR: The rule will apply to the range of IP addresses. In the CIDR blocks field, specify the CIDR and masks of subnets that traffic will come to or from. To add multiple CIDRs, click Add CIDR.
      • Security group: The rule will apply to the VMs from the current group or the selected security group.
    6. Click Save. Repeat the steps to create all rules from the table.

  7. Click Save.

yc vpc security-group create --name=my-rdgw-sg `
  --network-name rdgw-network `
  --rule direction=ingress,protocol=icmp,v4-cidrs=[0.0.0.0/0],description=icmp `
  --rule direction=ingress,port=any,protocol=any,predefined=self_security_group,description=self `
  --rule direction=ingress,port=3389,protocol=tcp,v4-cidrs=[0.0.0.0/0],description=rdp `
  --rule direction=ingress,port=443,protocol=tcp,v4-cidrs=[0.0.0.0/0],description=rdgw `
  --rule direction=egress,port=any,protocol=any,v4-cidrs=[0.0.0.0/0],description=default

Command execution result:

id: enp136p8s2ael7ob6klg
folder_id: big67u7m5flplkc6vvpc
created_at: "2021-06-09T10:50:29Z"
name: my-rdgw-sg
network_id: qqppl6fduhct76qkjh6s
status: ACTIVE
rules:
- id: env98jerk9b3tcp68k61
  description: icmp
  direction: INGRESS
  protocol_name: ICMP
  protocol_number: "1"
  cidr_blocks:
  v4_cidr_blocks:
   - 0.0.0.0/0

Create a VM for the gateway

Create a VM with a static address:

  1. On the folder page in the management console, click Create resource and select Virtual machine.
  2. In the Name field, enter a name for the VM: my-rds-gw.
  3. Select the availability zone ru-central1-a.
  4. Under Image/boot disk selection, select the 2019 Datacenter image.
  5. Under Disks, enter 60 GB for the size of the boot disk.
  6. Under Computing resources:
    • Choose a platform: Intel Ice Lake.
    • Specify the number of vCPUs and amount of RAM:
      • vCPU: 2
      • Guaranteed vCPU share: 100%
      • RAM: 4 GB
  7. Under Network settings, click Add network and select rdgw-network. Select rdgw-subnet. Under Public address, select Automatically. Select the my-rdgw-sg security group.
  8. Under Access, specify the data required to access the VM: enter your password in the Password field.
  9. Click Create VM.

  1. In the PowerShell terminal, create a script named setpass to set up a password for the Administrator account using the user-data field in the VM's metadata. The cloudbase-init utility executes it on the first run.

    Note

    The first line of the script must only contain #ps1, otherwise the cloudbase-init utility won't execute the script.

    #ps1
Get-LocalUser | Where-Object SID -like *-500 | Set-LocalUser -Password (ConvertTo-SecureString "<your password>" -AsPlainText -Force)

  2. Create a VM and specify the created script as the metadata source. As the security-group-ids parameter, enter the ID of the my-rdgw-group security group:

    yc compute instance create `
     --name my-rds-gw `
     --hostname my-rds-gw `
     --memory 4 `
     --cores 2 `
     --platform-id=standard-v3 `
     --zone ru-central1-a `
     --network-interface subnet-name=rdgw-subnet,ipv4-address=10.1.0.3,nat-ip-version=ipv4,security-group-ids=<id_my-rdgw-group> `
     --create-boot-disk image-folder-id=standard-images,image-family=windows-2019-dc-gvlk `
     --metadata-from-file user-data=setpass

Command execution result:

```
done (25s)
id: frmogfp7mm1kg87c25f3
folder_id: big67u7m5flplkc6vvpc
created_at: "2021-06-09T10:51:58Z"
name: my-rds-gw
zone_id: ru-central1-a
platform_id: standard-v3
resources:
memory: "4294967296"
cores: "2"
core_fraction: "100"
status: RUNNING
boot_disk:
mode: READ_WRITE
device_name: fhmplfvr7g6pfv63fsr7
auto_delete: true
disk_id: fhmplfvr7g6pfv63fsr7
network_interfaces:
- index: "0"
  mac_address: d0:0d:18:83:c8:7b
  subnet_id: e9b95m6al33r62n5vkab
  primary_v4_address:
  address: 10.1.0.3
  one_to_one_nat:
  address: 178.154.231.126
  ip_version: IPV4
  security_group_ids:
   - enp136p8s2ael7ob6klg
     fqdn: my-rds-gw.ru-central1.internal
     scheduling_policy: {}
     network_settings:
     type: STANDARD
     placement_policy: {}
```

Configure the RDGW role

  1. Connect to the created VM via RDP.

  2. Install the required roles and management snap-ins:

    Install-WindowsFeature RDS-Gateway -IncludeManagementTools

    Command execution result:

    Success Restart Needed Exit Code      Feature Result
------- -------------- ---------      --------------
True    No             Success        {Network Policy and Access Services, Remot...

  3. Import the RDS module:

    Import-Module -Name RemoteDesktopServices

  4. Create a client access policy to allow all Administrators local group accounts to connect to the RDGW. You can do this using a Windows PowerShell drive that is created automatically when importing the role:

    New-Item -Path 'RDS:\GatewayServer\CAP' -Name 'Default-CAP' -UserGroups Administrators@Builtin -AuthMethod '1'

    Command execution result:

        Directory: RDS:\GatewayServer\CAP

Name                   Type      CurrentValue         GP   PermissibleValues PermissibleOperations
----                   ----      ------------         --   ----------------- ---------------------
Default-CAP                                           -                      Get-Item, Get-ChildItem, Remove-Item,...

  5. Create a resource access policy to allow all Administrators local group accounts to connect to any internal resource through the created RDGW.

    New-Item -Path 'RDS:\GatewayServer\RAP' -Name 'Default-RAP' -UserGroups Administrators@Builtin -ComputerGroupType '2'

    Command execution result:

        Directory: RDS:\GatewayServer\RAP

Name                   Type      CurrentValue         GP   PermissibleValues PermissibleOperations
----                   ----      ------------         --   ----------------- ---------------------
Default-RAP                                           -                      Get-Item, Get-ChildItem, Remove-Item,...

  6. Create a certificate with the name of the server to be used for connecting to the gateway and encrypting traffic:

    $Certificate = New-SelfSignedCertificate -CertStoreLocation 'Cert:\LocalMachine\My' -DnsName $ENV:COMPUTERNAME

  7. Export the created certificate to later upload it to the Trusted Roots Certificate Authorities certificate store on the computer connecting to the VM. This is necessary for the client to trust the self-signed RDGW certificate:

    $Certificate | Export-Certificate -FilePath "C:\REGW.cer"

    Command execution result:

        Directory: RDS:\GatewayServer\RAP

Name                   Type      CurrentValue         GP   PermissibleValues PermissibleOperations
----                   ----      ------------         --   ----------------- ---------------------
Default-RAP                                           -                      Get-Item, Get-ChildItem, Remove-Item,...

  8. Specify which certificate the RDGW should use. Restart the Remote Desktop Gateway service to apply the settings:

    Set-Item -Path 'RDS:\GatewayServer\SSLCertificate\Thumbprint' -Value $Certificate.Thumbprint
Get-Service TSGateway | Restart-Service

    Command execution result:

        Directory: C:\

Mode                LastWriteTime         Length Name
----                -------------         ------ ----
-a----         6/9/2021  11:51 AM            796 REGW.cer

The gateway VM with the RDGW role configured allows BUILTIN\Administrators local group accounts to connect to VMs that do not have direct internet access.

Test the RDGW

  1. Create a VM with no internet access and connect to it during the test.

    1. On the folder page in the management console, click Create resource and select Virtual machine.
    2. In the Name field, enter the VM name: test-vm.
    3. Select the availability zone ru-central1-a.
    4. Under Image/boot disk selection, select the 2019 Datacenter image.
    5. Under Disks, enter 60 GB for the size of the boot disk.
    6. Under Computing resources:
      • Choose a platform: Intel Ice Lake.
      • Specify the number of vCPUs and amount of RAM:
        • vCPU: 2
        • Guaranteed vCPU share: 100%
        • RAM: 4 GB
    7. Under Network settings, click Add network and select rdgw-network. Select rdgw-subnet. Under Public address, select No address.
    8. Under Access, specify the data required to access the VM: enter your password in the Password field.
    9. Click Create VM.

    Create a VM:

    yc compute instance create `
  --name test-vm `
  --hostname test-vm `
  --platform-id=standard-v3 `
  --memory 4 `
  --cores 2 `
  --zone ru-central1-a `
  --network-interface subnet-name=rdgw-subnet,ipv4-address=10.1.0.4 `
  --create-boot-disk image-folder-id=standard-images,image-family=windows-2019-dc-gvlk `
  --metadata-from-file user-data=setpass

    Command execution result:

    done (19s)
id: fhm5pflreh2jellq97r0
folder_id: big67u7m5flplkc6vvpc
created_at: "2021-06-09T11:53:03Z"
name: test-vm
zone_id: ru-central1-a
platform_id: standard-v3
resources:
memory: "4294967296"
cores: "2"
core_fraction: "100"
status: RUNNING
boot_disk:
mode: READ_WRITE
device_name: fhmmf65nlbt131b3e36l
auto_delete: true
disk_id: fhmmf65nlbt131b3e36l
network_interfaces:
- index: "0"
  mac_address: d0:0d:5d:ef:bb:74
  subnet_id: e9b95m6al33r62n5vkab
  primary_v4_address:
  address: 10.1.0.4
  fqdn: test-vm.ru-central1.internal
  scheduling_policy: {}
  network_settings:
  type: STANDARD
  placement_policy: {}

  2. Import the created certificate to the Trusted Roots Certificate Authorities directory on the computer that you'll use to connect to the test VM.

    To connect to the gateway using the VM name, specify the name and external IP address of the created RDGW in the C:\Windows\system32\drivers\hosts file. For example:

    87.250.250.242 my-rds-gw

  3. Run the mstsc utility that creates remote desktop connections. In the settings on the Advanced tab, specify the my-rds-gw VM name as the gateway, the test-vm name as the destination node, and Administrator as the username.

Delete the created resources

If you no longer need the created resources, delete the VMs and networks.

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