SMS Remote Control

Inevitably, a client or a user on your network will need administrative support. Providing support where and when it is needed©even without an administrator's physical presence?is what Systems Management Server (SMS) version 2.0 Remote Tools is all about. With SMS Remote Tools, you can operate and troubleshoot a client without physically going to the computer. The Remote Control feature of Remote Tools uses a network connection to bring a view of the client monitor onto your display as you take control. You can run programs, batch files, or commands on the client using Remote Execute or even reboot the client using Remote Reboot. You can examine the current configuration and run diagnostic tools to troubleshoot problems on clients. Finally, you can converse with the user at the client using Remote Chat and transfer files to and from the client using File Transfer.

Where to Start...

Client Requirements for Remote Control
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article: 198717 - Several steps must be taken to prepare clients for Remote Tools. Remote Tools can only be installed on the following clients: Microsoft Windows NT 3.51, Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows for Workgroups, or Windows 3.11. These clients must be a discovered resource in the Systems Management Server site, and must have the core client components installed on them.

Remote Diagnostics with Systems Management Server Version 2.0
The process flow of the Systems Management Server 2.0 status system and details about remote tools.

Supporting Remote Users and Clients
With SMS Remote Tools, you can operate and troubleshoot a client without physically going to the computer.

Remote Diagnostics with Systems Management Server Version 2.0
Remote Diagnostics with Systems Management Server Version 2.0 White Paper Published February, 1999 Abstract The status system and remote tools provide administrators with the ability to easily isolate and troubleshoot Microsoft© Systems Management Server version 2.0 problems quickly.

Description of the Remote Control Gold Key Feature
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article: 231314 - During a remote control session on Microsoft Windows NT-based clients, you may need to perform tasks that are typically available by pressing CTRL+ALT+DELETE. These tasks include restarting the workstation, locking the workstation, shutting down the workstation, and starting Task Manager. Because this key combination is not passed to a remote computer, the Microsoft Systems Management Server (SMS) remote control feature includes a way to simulate the CTRL+ALT+DELETE key combination on a remote computer.

Description of Remote Control Client Installation
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article: 200483 - To be able to remotely control a computer, that computer must have the Systems Management Server (SMS) Remote Control agent installed. For the Remote Control agent to be installed, it must be enabled for the site from the SMS Administrator

Expected CPU Utilization During a Remote Control Session
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article: 198635 - In Systems Management Server (SMS) version 2.0, remote control tends to cause CPU utilization to rise depending on the configuration of the remote control settings.

How Remote Tools Locates a Client and Establishes a Session
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article: 226297 - This article describes how Systems Management Server 2.0 establishes a connection with a client computer.

Version 2.0 Remote Control Command Line Options
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article: 201793 - In Systems Management Server version 2.0, you can start a remote control session through command line options similar to those you used in Systems Management Server version 1.2.

How To Articles

Determining If a Client Will Use Video Acceleration
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article: 198749 - When a client machine is being remote controlled, the client controls the process that decides whether the video will be accelerated. This can be checked by looking in the client's registry in the following location:

Disabling Remote Control Security Munger on NT Clients
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article: 199922 - This article describes how to disable the Remote Control Security Munger on computers running Windows NT that have been added as Systems Management Server clients. You can add a value to the client's registry that enables you to disable the Security Munger.

How to Check Remote Control Status on 32-bit Client Computers
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article: 200946 - To check the status of the Systems Management Server Remote Control Agent on a 32-bit Systems Management Server client, do the following:

How to Disable Remote Control Acceleration on Selected Client Computers
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article: 246433 - This article describes how to manually disable Systems Management Server (SMS) remote control acceleration on a specific computer or on the entire network.

How to Enable Remote Control Logging for WUSER in SMS 2.0
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article: 195859 - In addition to the mainstream logging of the Install.log and Remctrl.log files, a very low level of client-side remote tools logging is available to log all transactions during remote transactions. This level of logging is disabled by default (updated 791999)

Articles and Whitepapers

Client-Side WUSER Logging for Remote Tools
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article: 198718 - Information on the client's remote control session can be viewed in Remctrl.log. There is an additional ability to log all WUSER transaction information on the client for remote transactions. This is called WUSER Logging.

Explanations of Remote Control Screen Acceleration
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article: 200430 - Before the current upgrades to Windows NT, capturing video for use in a Remote Control session was a simple matter of capturing video from the driver itself. Later versions of Windows NT have video hooks moved into the operating system kernel

Remote Control Compression Levels in Systems Management Server 2.0
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article: 199262 - Systems Management Server 2.0 offers three options for configuring Data Compression levels for the Remote Tools client agent. These options are set in the Remote Tools client agent properties.

Remote Control Setting Registry Values Provided
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article: 198727 - Although the client-side Remote Control icon (Smsrc.cpl) in Control Panel is the preferred method for changing client-side Remote Control settings, it is still useful to know where the registry settings are located and what the default settings are.

Remote Control Supports Microsoft TCP/IP Stack Only
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article: 202046 - Systems Management Server versions 1.2 and 2.0 currently only support Microsoft's TCP/IP stack when TCP/IP is the underlying protocol for the Remote Control Agent. If another vendor's TCP/IP stack is installed, Microsoft cannot guarantee the functionality of Remote Control in either version

Remote Control Uses TCP Instead of UDP
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article: 200401 - Systems Management Server 1.2 uses User Datagram Protocol (UDP) for socket-based Remote Control sessions. UDP is a datagram-based protocol. It is an unreliable, or best-effort protocol that does not verify that packets are not received out of order, lost, or corrupted. Consequently, UDP-based Remote Control was prone to connectivity problems.

Server Side Remote Control Components Maintain SMS Security
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article: 198716 - The components required by the server to run Systems Management Server (SMS) Remote Control are stored in the <local root>\SMS\BIN\<platform> directory.

SMS 2.0 Remote Control Registry Keys and Client Settings
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article: 196225 - Although the client-side Control Panel icon for Remote Control is the preferred method for changing client-side Remote Control settings, a Systems Management Server administrator may also need to know where the registry settings for these i

Troubleshooting

Cannot Delete Files on a CD-ROM Drive
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article: 226890 - In Systems Management Server (SMS), if you attempt to delete a file on a CD-ROM drive on a client computer when connected through Remote Tools - File Transfer, the remote control screen appears to stop responding (hang) for up to five minutes.

Remote Chat May Not Work on Slow Link
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article: 214889 - When you attempt a remote chat session on a slow link (such as a 9,600 bits per second link) by using only TCP/IP, the Chat window may behave as if the viewer timed out immediately. Immediately after the viewer closes its window, the client's Chat window also closes.

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