2.4 Remote Management

How do I secure my Remote Management session?

When connecting to remote machines, you should use SSH or VPN. You can also tunnel the VNC protocol through the encrypted SSH channel.

The VNC protocol and data are unencrypted between the Remote Management Viewer and the managed device. If you perform Remote Management operations over an insecure network like the Internet, you should tunnel the VNC protocol using SSH for secure communication.

  1. Establish SSH tunneling to use VNC between the Remote Management Viewer and the managed device.

    For more information on establishing VNC through SSH tunnelling between the Remote Management Viewer and the managed device, refer Establishing SSH Tunneling in the Novell ZENworks 7.2 Linux Management Administration Guide.

  2. In the ZENworks Control Center, click the Devices page.

  3. Launch the Remote Control session from Device Tasks in the top left pane.

  4. Specify the IP address and the port number of the configured SSH tunnel.

  5. Select the desired operation from the drop-down list.

  6. Click OK.

How can I improve Remote Management performance on a slow link?

The performance during a Remote Management session over a slow link or a fast link varies depending on the network traffic. For better response time, try one or more of the following strategies:

On the Management Console

On the Remote Management viewer window at the console, click Options and do the following:

On the Managed Device

More Performance Tuning Tips

For additional information on performance tuning tips, refer to the following Web sites for specific components:

Why do I get a black screen when I perform the Remote Control operation?

The ZENworks 7.2 Linux Management provides VNC-based Remote Management, which does not support Remote Control over the Text consoles.

Why does the Remote Management Viewer show only a toolbar at the center of the applet window?

If the Ask for Permission from User setting is enabled for the managed device, the “Ask For Permission From User On The Managed Device” dialog box appears on the managed device when a remote control session is initiated. The viewer displays the toolbar until the user at the managed device accepts or declines the connection or a timeout occurs.

Why is the Novell Remote Management Viewer Applet signed?

Any unsigned applet can only connect back to the same device from which it is downloaded. However, the Novell Remote Management Viewer Applet is downloaded from the management server with each remote session request and then connects to different managed device. So, it has to be signed.

Why do I get a warning indicating that an unsecure download is in progress on Internet Explorer?

All connections to the management server use HTTPS. But, to download the Novell Remote Management Applet from the management server, a HTTP connection is used which causes the warning.

I rejected the Novell Remote Management certificate and now I am unable to perform Remote Management operations

Do the following:

  1. Restart the browser by closing all the browser window and opening a new browser window.

  2. Launch the Novell Remote Management session through the ZENworks Control Center.

  3. When the Java security dialog box appears again, choose Yes or Always to perform Remote Management operations.

Can I use any other third-party VNC viewer to connect to the ZENworks 7 Linux managed device?

Yes. You can use any VNC viewer to connect to a ZENworks 7 Linux Managed Device. However, you need to connect to the port of the corresponding service. By default, the Remote Control Service listens on port 5950 and the Remote Login Service listens on port 5951.

Can I use the Novell ZENworks Remote Management Viewer window to Remote Control any third-party VNC server?

Yes. You can use Novell Remote Management viewer to Remote Control any third party VNC server.

Why is the certificate is not displayed while trying to start the Remote Management session for a managed device?

The Remote Management viewer requires the Java 1.4.x plug-in to be installed on the browser machine.

If you are using Firefox web browser, you can verify the plug-in version by entering the following command in the URL bar:

about:plugins

If you are using the Internet Explorer Web browser, you can verify the plug-in version by clicking Tools > Internet Options > Advanced.