Reduce Support Costs With Remote Control Software

Software glitches often lead to an expensive service calls. In many cases, these calls occur at the expense of the system builder. At the very least, the system builder faces shipping charges for receiving and returning the unit.

One answer to this conundrum: Don't send a technician to a site, and dont incur shipping charges associated with service. How is that possible? By turning to remote control products. System builders can use remote control products to troubleshoot a system and determine if the problem is indeed a software issue.

Remote control products have been offered for some time by several major vendors. One of the most popular packages is Symantec's PCanywhere. But with a retail price of roughly $190, it's too expensive for system builders to include as part of an overall system.

Open source to the rescue! Virtual Network Computing (VNC) is a freeware product that supports remote control over several platforms. VNC has created some excitement in the open-source community. And because it's open source, the product is distributed for free from several locations. The most popular VNC distributions include RealVNC, TightVNC, and UltraVNC. All are free, but donations to the sites are appreciated. Each distribution offers slightly different features and installations, but all are mutually compatible.

SUBHED TK

For this Recipe, I chose TightVNC. First, I downloaded the product from TightVNC's Web site, as shown below.

TightVNC is available in several versions, each for a different OS platform, ranging from Microsoft Windows to Linux. What's more, these versions are all cross-platform compatible, meaning you can use it to control a Linux system from a Windows system, or the other way around.

TightVNC consists of two major components: a host or server component, and a viewer component. The host component gets installed on the remote system, while the viewer component is used to control the host. So from a system builder's perspective, you load the host component on your customer's system, and the viewer on you own.

For this Recipe, I downloaded the self-installing package for Windows, tightvnc-1.2.9-setup.exe, to a local directory on my system's hard drive, as shown below. This shows both components, the server and the viewer.

System builders may also want to download the TightVNC viewer application separately. You can download it to save to a CD or flash drive, which would let you quickly install the viewer on any PC, such as one in an Internet cafe or at a client's site. This lets a system builder support customers from anywhere.

The advantage to the viewer download is that it does not need to be installed. Users can simply extract the executable to any Windows machine, then run it directly. This lets system builders in the field quickly control a remote system from nearly any Internet-connected PC. This way, even if you're not in the office, you can still support the customer.

Technicians can also control a VNC host from almost any Web browser via Java. While some functions, such as file transfer, may not be supported, the Web browser viewer provides a quick way to control a remote system from an Internet cafe or other temporary location. For full support, integrators will want to download the Java binarys, tightvnc-1.2.9_javabin.zip.

Once the files are downloaded, installation is straightforward. For hosts running Windows 95/98/ME/NT/2000/XP/Server 2003, simply double click on tightvnc-1.2.9-setup.exe, as shown below.

That will launch the VNC setup wizard, shown in the next screen shot.

Agree to the license terms, as shown below.

Then select the directory you want to install the product in, as shown below. For most installations, the default locations should be fine.

Next, select what components to install. You may want to install only TightVNC Server on systems being shipped to customers, as adding additional components may confuse neophyte users.

If, however, you select the full installation, note that both the server and viewer components will be installed on the PC, along with Web-based documentation.

After selecting the components to install, system builders can choose where to place the programs in the systems start folder. You may want to choose the "don't create any icons" option to prevent confusion for new users.

Next, you will be prompted to configure TightVNC. For most implementations, system builders will want to select "Register TightVNC Server as a system service." That will launch TightVNC as a Windows service and make the host application available to remote viewers without any end-user intervention. But be aware: Running the server as a system service can cause security concerns if the PC is not properly setup for secure communications.

After completing the wizard, the TightVNC installer will inform you that the product was successfully installed, as shown below. A reboot is often required at this point.

Now that the product is installed, focus on setting up program options. That is accomplished when TightVNC server is launched and a startup dialog box is presented, as shown below.

This screen can also be accessed by right-clicking the VNC tray icon and selecting Properties. You'll find several settings here. Focus on the Password fields, and make sure that a satisfactory password is used to protect users from unwanted intruders. Also consider changing which ports the product listens on. The default ports are 5900 for the viewer and 5800 for browser-based (Java) access. Other options include disabling the host system's keyboard and mouse, which you might do to prevent someone from the remote host from interfering with the task at hand.

Selecting the Advanced button brings up the Advanced Properties dialog. This lets you further fine-tune the product. Pay special attention to the "disable empty passwords" dialog. This should be checked off to prevent opening the system to intruders. Also, the "Enable Built-in HTTP Daemon" lets the server be accessed by a Java-compatible Web browser. Check it to enable additional support options.

Once TightVNC server is configured on the host system, the system builder will need to use the TightVNC viewer to attach to the host system.

The TightVNC viewer comes in three forms: best compression, fast compression and a listen mode. Fast compression and best compression differ in how much CPU time they use to compress transmitted screens. The listen mode lets a session be launched from the host instead of the viewer system.

Once the TightVNC viewer is launched, the system builder will be presented with a dialog box that requests the IP address of the VNC server system. You must type in the IP address of the remote system. (If you don't know the computer's IP address, see the "Known Issues" section below.)

Users can also select the Options button to change the default connection. For most sessions, the defaults offered by TightVNC viewer will be fine.

Next, click OK. The remote user will be prompted for a session password. That will be the same password assigned during the setup of TightVNC server.

Once the proper password is entered, the viewer application will take control of the host (or server) system, allowing direct control of that system.

TightVNC viewer users can change online options by right-clicking the VNC task in the system task bar. That lets users resend screens, send the ctrl-alt-del command, or access the connections options menu. The options menu lets you change the screen resolution, keyboard and mouse access, and some other features. Sending a ctrl-alt-del is sometimes necessary to login into a Windows 2000 or WinXP system or launch the task manager. Sometimes screens may become corrupted due to a transmission error, thus needing to be refreshed or resent.

Next, the connections options menu brings up several additional choices. Pay close attention to the "scale by" option. This lets remote users compress VNC server screens to fit on a VNC viewer systems desktop. The "full screen mode" option brings the full screen of the server system to the viewer system, making a session look as if the remote user is actually there.

Another advantage to VNC is that VNC servers can be accessed from a Web browser. All a remote user needs to do is point the browser at the IP address of the VNC server and add a :5800 to the address. For example, typing in 192.168.1.10 would bring up the VNC server at that IP address.

A browser-based session lets a system builder perform all the basic operations of VNC, but without needing additional software to conduct a remote control session. One downside, however, is that screen scaling is not supported. This means the remote user must scroll through the VNC Server's screen to locate icons and menus, as shown below.

Known Issues

VNC isn't perfect, and you'll occasionally run into some challenges. The most common involves figuring out a VNC server's IP address. If that's an issue, you can simply have a user at the host machine launch their Web browser and go to a site that will identify the IP address, such as WhatisMyIP.

Other problems can arise from firewalls or security packages. In those cases, you may have to set up some port forwarding or change the default access ports.

Otherwise, you should find open-source remote control a great way to limit your on-site service calls and eliminate unpleasant shipping costs.

FRANK OHLHORST is Technology Editor at CRN.

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