Comments on: Remote System Access

By: phil short

phil short — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 10:24:56 +0000

I think its a large corporate thing. My experience with smaller clients is exactly as yours, but in a large corporate environment it seems that sometimes things are locked down because of ignorance, a "jobsworth" mindset, or a not-invented-here attitude (they have their VPN and you WILL use it!) – or a combination of all three.

By: Tony Gravagno

Tony Gravagno — Fri, 19 Jan 2007 18:02:42 +0000

I’d like to understand exactly why they’re so against this that they actually blacklisted it. That’s 180 degrees from the responses I get from my clients who are now buying licenses for themselves based on the experience they’ve had with me. GTM can’t be used without someone local setting it up for each instance. LogMeIn however can sit in the tray and allow an authorized user in at any time. That’s good for me the support provider, but "me the user" turns off LogMeIn until I need to access my systems remotely – but it’s certainly not blacklisted.

By: phil short

phil short — Fri, 19 Jan 2007 14:47:43 +0000

I’m sitting here with my main system configured to control three MaxiVista clients with either a five screen desktop (two of those 1920×1200) or toggle via hotkey three of the screens to remote control of the servers they are connected to; one of the remote controlled servers is my VMware host running a D3 VM and a DesignBais host VM and a couple of others. That’s four physical machines plus four virtual ones, all controlled by one mouse and keyboard. Technology can be good when it works!
I have used the GoToMyPC products extensively in the past, but some clients don’t share my views on the benefits of that type of remote support and added GoToMyPC to their WebSense blacklist. Now I have to go through their Cisco VPN with all the restrictions that come with that. A complete PITA.

By: Tony Gravagno

Tony Gravagno — Tue, 09 Jan 2007 10:14:16 +0000

Yup, forgot about those, thanks. There’s VNC, RealVNC, UltraVNC, TightVNC, J2MEVNC and others. In that category of control and virtualization people will also find tools like Synergy and MaxiVista. I use both of these KVM-type utilities to allow one mouse and keyboard to control multiple systems, and/or share monitors. So many options these days – it’s amazing that this stuff all works.

By: symeonb

symeonb — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 13:40:43 +0000

Hi Tony – in my experiance the most common for one on one remote access (usually for sys admin purposes) is vnc – numerous compatable version, free and runs linux as well. It has been my choice for sys admin of any windows and linux servers for several years.