RDP Window - Player Machine
Hi,
We have installed PE Synthetic Agents in a desktop/VM. This desktop/VM is accessed from another desktop over RDP.
We have observed that the Player Agent processes stop working when the RDP Window is minimized/closed.
My queries:
What is the recommended practice to using RDP to access the Player Agent desktop? Should the RDP window be minimized or closed? Are there any settings in RDP that will ensure that the PE Agent Processes continue to work un-interrupted.
I examined the below post but didnt get a direct response to my question.
Best Answer
Hi,
I’d like to post a summary on accessing agent desktop remotely. Many customers who try using RDP experience problems with locked desktop, as can be seen from this thread, and from mismatch of desktop size (see, for instance, https://answers.dynatrace.com/questions/170014/resolution-of-agents-changing.html) and sometimes other desktop characteristics between RDP session and console session.
It is generally possible to use RDP with the ESM Agent Recorder, as one can see from the Antoon’s comment. Tscon allows convert RDP session into console session; mstsc allows starting the session with the specified screen size. But, only few customers are able to successfully use RDP, and for majority of the customers using other methods of accessing the agent desktop work better. We recommend using software that does not use RDP for accessing agent desktop. Some software, listed in this forum topic earlier is no longer available, some URLs have changed. To see what is available, I’d like to recommend two Wikipedia articles that are more or less being kept up-to-date: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_remote_desktop_software and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_Java_Remote_Desktop_projects. These pages will help you to choose the tool for accessing your agent desktop.
Please choose the tool you can use reliably; from many vendors you can receive assistance, should you need it.
Thank you,
Yuriy
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Yuriy Look added a comment - 11/May/15 12:15 PM GMT-0400
Hi Priya,
I have not tried SCCM, and I could not find direct answer in Microsoft publications, but https://helpdesk.illinoisstate.edu/kb/1903/Configuring_and_using_Remote_Desktop_in_SCCM_2012/ explicitly says that SCCM is using RDP. If this indeed is the fact then SCCM is not a proper solution. Maybe Benjamin or someone else can shed more light on SCCM.
Here are some products you can use. As a side note, I cannot recommend either of them over the other or other products you might find; this is just a courtesy in helping you in finding the product.
TightVNC, http://www.tightvnc.com/.
UltraVNC, http://sourceforge.net/projects/ultravnc/ and http://www.uvnc.com/; the latter link references some more products that might help you.
PC Anywhere, https://support.symantec.com/en_US/defaultProductLanding.52418.html.
Dameware, http://www.dameware.com/?CMP=KNC-TAD-GGL-DW_NA_X_BRAND-X-DL-NA.
In addition, you can try using VMware console, which, assuming you are using VMware, should already be available to you or can downloaded from https://my.vmware.com/web/vmware/details?downloadGroup=VMRC70&productId=353&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CB4QFjAA&url=https://www.vmware.com/go/download-vmrc&ei=4NRQVa60CK-1sATx8YDQDQ&usg=AFQjCNEMaDupHIFMWAuvVuJukE0pQBVdRQ&bvm=bv.92885102,d.cWc.
Thank you,
Yuriy
Hi,
the problem is, that a 'normal' exit of a RDP session locks the screen. Therefore the scripts stop working.
My collegue did some internet research and he placed an icon on the desktop 'RDP Exit' with the following command:
c:\windows\system32\cmd.exe /c "for /f "skip=1 tokens=3" %s in ('query user %username%') do (tscon.exe %s /dest:console)"
You can find information about TSCON on the internet.
Hi Antoon,
I tried the steps which you mentioned in comments.But I got error as Session id is not available.But using query session command I checked in my RDP Machine it shows session is active.And also I tried in some other machine too,in that i got error as Access denied to establish session.In any case, if you gone through this kind of issues, inform us.
Thanks,
Soorya
To add to Yuriy's list, I've also seen Bomgar (www.bomgar.com) being used. It's another option.
And I can confirm the VMWare Console also works.
Hello Priya,
we are using MS System Center Remote Viewer. That musst be the tool you mean with SCCM. That tool works fine for us.
Antoon
Hi Antoon,
The issue is resolved and its works fine.Thanks for the suggestion.
Regards
Soorya
Hi Benjamin,
Can you please suggest what different tool we could use instead of RDP to solve this problem.Will SCCM tool help solve the issue?
Hi Priya,
I would go with one of the tools Yuriy suggested - his list is very good.
Best,
Benjamin
You can also just reboot the Agent instead of closing the session. The Agent should be rebooted daily anyway, and should be able to log itself in.
As Antoon said, closing the RDP session locks the screen. Most customers I'm aware of either use a different tool than RDP, or, if they have to use RDP, reboot the Agent once they're done with the session.
