Remote Control of DSS boxes

[patrckb]

We have finally received our first DSS boxes (S4000s)! It's a great day!

I was wondering about peoples experience with using remote control software on their DSS.

We have DameWare (

http://www.dameware.com)

to remotely control Windows machines. It is similar-yet-different to PC Anywhere.

Would I screw up my DSS if I used this?

I am thinking of installing the DSS "headless" and save rack space.

Thoughts?

Patrick

Patrick Bartkus, CCNP, CNX, SCM Sr. Network Engineer
GA Dept of Labor IT Network Services
If truth were not absolute, how could there be justice?

 

[portable]

Patrick,
You can use a tool called RD 32 which comes pre-installed on the Agent. The RD32 client installable should be available on the Console Installation folder or the application CD.
This tool is similar to DameWare and is used by S4000 customers to manager remote 'headless' devices the way you want to.

 

[AlfSutherland]

Hi,
From past experience, if you do use any other "Remote Control" software I do recommend un-installing "Remote Desktop 32" (RD32).
FYI - Remote Desktop used to be a NAI product that they sold, but now they just bundle it in with the Sniffer Distributed Appliances.
Alf

 

[portable]

Hi,
I would not recommend installing any other remote control software on the agent as it may cause conflicts with the code.
The best bet might be to use RD 32 as it has been tested and is supported.
My 2 cents,
Portable.

 

[rwullems]

Portable has a good point there. NAI is very carefull with there support, if you install thirh party software on there DSS boxes (i presume you bought the turnkey solution, hardware and software) there is the possibility that you dont't get support when you got in to trouble.

We had the problems lots of times with customers installing software on DSS's, complete deliverd Dolch systems or Investigators.

Robert

Robert A.H. Wullems
Sniffer University Instructor
SCM/CNX/MSCA

 

[ussniffer]

You will have no problem using Dameware to remote control your Distributed Sniffers. Uninstalling the RD32 Agent on the Distributed Sniffer would be prudent, but is not necessary.

RD32 is ok, but I have damewae to be more robust.

 

[phaelon56]

Both Robert and Portable make good points but I have personally found RD32 to be clumsy and slow in terms of response time. I have also had a large number of end users that I've spoken to complain about it. I'm not familiar with Dameware but have successfuly been deploying FreeVNC as a proxy utility for quite some time on our DS Pro boxes. Have spoken to others who've also been doing this with good results and RD32 was not uninstalled - we simply used something else in place of it. Last time I checked, FreeVNC could NOT do file transfers but I'm told that there's a new verison which does.

Also note that there are a few basic Gig card configurations that can be done from the SniffView (DS Pro View) rather than by proxying in to the Agent box. Just open SniffView, right click on the Agent of interests and choose Configure from the pull down menu that appears. Some basic Gig card configurations can be done in this screen, such as changing the card from Pass-Thru (for connection to taps if I recall correctly) to End Station Auto Negotiate (for SPAN or mirror port connections). There are other functions such as Probeviewer that must be access locally or by proxy only.

Owen O'Neill
Datacom Systems Inc.
Northeastern SE

http://www.datacomsystems.com

 

[portable]

I have one minor correction to Owen's comment...
Anything you can do using ProbeViewer, you can do via SniffView by right clicking the agent and selecting Configure.
The only reason you would need to use RD32, DameWare or VNC would be if you wanted to do things like launch windows explorer, copy/paste/delete files, check event logs, create desktop shortcuts, etc. which are outside of Sniffer Distributed functionality.
For others, you can use the Configure option from SniffView context menu.
P

 

[phaelon56]

Not completely true. I'm familar with Probeviewer mostly from using it to add and configure matrix switches so that they can be controlled from within Sniffer Console. Try this: right click on the Agent and choose Configure. The dialogue box that appears is absilutely identical to what you get in Probeviewer EXCEPT the Matrix Switch tab is missing. You must connect locally or with proxy software to add and configure the matrix switches. This has been the case for all versions from v4.0 through the beat version of v4.3. The only version I haven't looked at yet is v4.3 production release but to the best of my knowledge you still need to be in probeviewer to add switches.

Owen O'Neill
Datacom Systems Inc.
Northeastern SE

http://www.datacomsystems.com