PC Remote
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 PC Remote
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About PC Remote
Note: PC Remote is no longer supported by Untangle.
PC Remote is intended for System Administrators that want to:
- Generate a list of the systems on the network.
- Log on to a user's system with the intent of providing the user technical support.
Sure, you can use Remote Access Portal to remotely access a system, but PC Remote is much more efficient and comprehensive for this purpose. Remote Access Portal is intended for end-users.
Settings
This section reviews the different settings and configuration options available for PC Remote.
Searching for Remote Systems
To keep a close eye on your network profile, such as the number of systems and their operating systems, you might want to generate a list of the systems on your network.
PC Remote uses a tool called nmap to search for systems on the network. This tool has both good uses and bad uses. Untangle Server is using it in a good way, but Intrusion Prevention software can't discriminate. If a user is running Intrusion Prevention software (for example, McAfee or Kaspersky), locally on a network desktop/laptop, and PC Remote scans the network to discover all the network clients, that software detects an intruder trying to scan the network, and so the software displays a warning message on the client's screen.
There is no way to know that the "intruder" is PC Remote, or a bad, outside intruder, unless you can pinpoint the time that the software displayed the alert and the time that you initiated a PC Remote client search. If you don't need to remove log in to the client running the software, you can instruct PC Remote not to probe for that client's particular IP address: simply construct IP address ranges that excludes the IP address that you don't want to discover.
To search for remote systems:
- From PC Remote and in the Find Systems In drop-down list, specify the IP address range, Domain Name, or Workgroup.
- In the Find How drop-down list, specify how you want to scan for the systems. All probes use common portscanning techniques:
Quickly Uses Ping. Thourghly Uses TCP FIN and OS fingerprinting. Remote systems are less likely to hide with this type of probe. RDP/VNC Enabled Probes for systems that have standard RDP or VNC ports open.
Note: Mapping large networks can take a long time, and can consume system resources in a way that negatively affects network performance. Specifically, use care when creating IP masks with wild card expressions. For example, an IP mask of 10.0.*.* will end up searching for 65,536 systems and at a cost of 2 seconds per IP address. Such a search takes 36 hours to run and that's for a Quick scan! So, when mapping more complex networks do so in chunks of less than 4,000 IP addresses at a time, and even fewer than that if the IP address range has very few PCs on it (for example, 10.0.0-5.*).
Connecting Remotely To Systems
With a click of a button, you can log on to a user's system using either VNC or RDP. This functionality is perfect if you're an offsite System Administrator.
To connect remotely to systems:
- From PC Remote, search for the system, or locate it in the Remote Systems table.
- In the Connection drop-down list for the system, choose how you want to connect to the system based on that systems operating system.
- VNC. For Linux and Mac systems, or as an alternative to RDP for Windows systems.
- RDP. Exclusively for Windows systems.
- (RDP Only) In the User field, specify the user name. For RDP connections, a user name must be specified. You can specify the user name each time you connect, but its much easier to set it "once and for all".
- Click Connect.
- (Optional) If this is a system that you access regularly, consider adding the system to your favorites.
Adding Systems To Favorites
To "bookmark" remote systems:
- From PC Remote, search for the system, or locate it in the Remote Systems table.
- (Optional) Select the type of connection and specify the user name (for RDP type connections), then add notes about the system. For example, mention the physical location of the system or the business function of the system, then click Save.
- Click Add. PC Remote moves the system to the Favorites table.
- Click Save.
Event Log
Related Topics
PC Remote FAQs
Can I use Remote Access Portal on both of my WAN connections?
No. Remote Access Portal will only function on your primary WAN connection.
How do I get the Remote Access Portal on my 7.2 box?
The Remote Access Portal (RAP) has been discontinued and phased out. We recommend using the OpenVPN.
If I have the Remote Access Portal, can I still use it?
Yes, however, it will be unsupported by our support team.
Seems like the client's java is causing the Remote Access Portal to malfunction?
From our experience, it is best to use older version of the java and don't let it upgrade. Try the jre 1.5 update 16, you might need to uninstall your current version. Please note, by default, it will enable the automatic updates, you might want to disable that function if you want to continue using the Remote Access Portal.
