Royal Server Configuration
There are various options to configure Royal Server.
Royal Server Configuration Tool
The most common way is to use the Royal Server Configuration Tool, which provides a modern graphical user interface for changing the configuration and the ability to stop and (re)start the server. You can use it to manage the different components of Royal Server, install license(s), set up certificates, grant permissions, etc. It also includes a health monitor to easily monitor resource usage.
Configuration File
Royal Server V4 and newer stores the configuration settings in a file that can be found here: %ProgramData%\RoyalServer\appsettings.json.
If not present at startup, appsettings.json will be created automatically.
Note
Settings from a previous Royal Server V3 installation are automatically imported.
You can edit this file using the Royal Server Configuration Tool or any text editor. After each change, Royal Server must be restarted.
This can be done either using the configuration tool or from the command line:
net stop RoyalServer && net start RoyalServer
Note
There are a number of sensitive settings that can only be managed through the Royal Server Configuration Tool to ensure they are properly protected:
- Worker Account Settings
- Proxy Settings
- MFADuoSecretKey
- MFADuoIntegrationKey
- MFADuoHost
Environment Variables
From Royal Server V4 you can optionally pass configuration values using environment variables.
Environment variables must be prefixed with RS_ followed by the corresponding key name in appsettings.json.
As with hierarchical keys, the separator is a double underscore (__). Environment variables need to be available for the user that is configured for
the Royal Server Windows Service - by default this is LocalSystem.
Examples:
set RS_IPAddress="127.0.0.1"
set RS_Port=8888,
set RS_SecureGateway__GatewayEnabled=false
Note
Be aware that these overwrites are not shown in the Configuration Tool but will be reflected in the log.
Configuration of Managed Servers
Royal Server manages remote server via different Modules. These require specific protocols to work:
| Module | Protocol | Remark |
|---|---|---|
| Eventlog | WMI/CIM | User needs to have the rights to read the Windows Event Log |
| Hyper-V | WMI/CIM | |
| Processes | WMI/CIM | |
| RoyalDocumentStore | - | Module used by Royal Server for hosting documents |
| RoyalServerManagement | - | Internal module used by Royal Server |
| Script | WMI/CIM | PowerShell Remoting for PS |
| Terminal Services | WTS API | Proprietary protocol by Microsoft |
| VM Ware | WMI/CIM | |
| Windows Services | WMI/CIM |
The easiest way to achieve that a remote server can be managed is via the following two steps:
- Enable-PSRemoting
- Firewall should let through Royal Server traffic
1. Enable-PSRemoting
Most of the Management Endpoint modules are based on WMI. To enable the proper configuration for remote WMI calls, you need to execute the Enable-PSRemoting command in an elevated PowerShell console.
2. Firewall Settings
In case the Windows Firewall is enabled the following two rules must be enabled:
- Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI-In), and
- Windows Management Instrumentation (DCOM-In)
For the above two steps, we have also prepared a PowerShell script (in <royal-server-installation-dir>\scripts\prepare_server.ps1). See the Preparing a Managed Server chapter.