Question : Problem: How do I connect to multiple Remote Desktop PC's which are behind a NAT firewall (no VPN)

Hello,
I installed remote desktop web connection on a windows 2003 server.  I have port 3389 forwarded to this server through the firewall.   When I got to http:\\publicip\tsweb  I get the good screen.  If I put the private ip address here (or local computer name), I can get to all 10 windows xp remote desktop pc's when I am on the local network but not from the public internet.  

So I know each pc is setup correctly, the firewall is port forwarding to the Remote Desktop web connection server ok.   Am I misunderstanding how RDWC works?  Do I have to create a custom port for each desktop pc (3390, 3391, etc) and just forward those directly to the pc's?  If so, what is the use of RDWC?  

I hope I am just missing something.    And yes, VPN will solve this.

Thanks in advance,
Berne

Answer : Problem: How do I connect to multiple Remote Desktop PC's which are behind a NAT firewall (no VPN)

I think that you may not be able to make this work without port forwarding. RDWC only provides a way to tie into the RDP server without having RDP client installed by implementing an activex control. It looks like you cannot "pass through" a server. You need to have direct access to the intended box (via port forwarding if needed).

I was certain that I had done it before. But now, after thinking about it a bit more, I recall that I did end up opening ports for clients to use public ports for RDP adn just forwarded a single port to a single box. The TS Web was working for Intranet, but in those cases the private IP address was directly accessible.

I used non-standard ports on the public interface, but if I were going to do such a thing again, I'd recommend looking in to "port knocking" before just opening up public ports directly into a RDP server.