Have had this discussion with numerous Operations people recently and there is this misconception that to Remote Desktop (RDP \ MSTSC) to Windows servers is easier and quicker to manage a server.

Quicker and easier for who? The individual? The question is, is this the most efficient way? Even if you still like the GUI interfaces there are other ways to manage a server without using Remote Desktop. Remote administration capabilities have been growing for quite some time. Through the use of RSAT (Remote Server Administration Tools) you can now do almost everything to manage a server day to day.

To check on services use the services applet\snapin and connect to the target server. Set up shares to access log files. Check the Event Viewer using the event viewer on your desktop and connecting the required server. Using local applications and RSAT reduces the resource impact on the server. In addition is means we do not have portal\windows within windows which can get cumbersome when managing multiple servers. Short cut keys rely on focus of the correct window. I know I have accidentally run commands and taken actions I didn’t want on because the correct window was not active. How about you?

All of this is itself is just a precursor to what is coming in the future. More and more tasks will be down via command line interfaces, such as Powershell.

So if you are used to remote desktop today, take the first step away and using remote administration tools.

References

Local Admin GUIs on a server are poison

Microsoft Ignite – Windows Server & System Center Futures—Bring Azure to your Datacenter (Platform Vision & Strategy)
Fast forward to 54 minutes into the video