Just like the Control Machine function, the Agent eliminates gateway and port blocking problems by always initiating outbound connections from both the target machine and the administrator machine. Helper applications, unique to FTP, automatically determine the optimal routing path between the administrator machine and the target machine. If a direct connection is not possible then the helper applications route the remote control traffic through the VSA server on the same port used by the agents to check-in (default 5721).

The VSA uses the FTP client built into Internet Explore so you can operate with the same Windows look and feel. Once the FTP session has been initiated, a new browser pops up displaying the contents of a fixed disk on the remote machine. Just drag and drop files as normal.

Select a remote machine to FTP with simply by clicking the name of the target machine. Only client machines with the Available to remote control icon (see icon list below) can be remote controlled and will have live links; all others will be inactivated. Icons next to the client machine ID indicate current connection status for that machine.

Available to remote control

Remote control has been disabled by the user

The Agent is currently offline

The Agent has never checked in

Note: Users can disable remote control from the agent menu. You can deny users this ability by removing Disable Remote Control from the Agent menu.

FTP to VSA Server - Click this link to start an FTP session with the VSA server itself. Since you can not install an agent on the same machine as a VSA Server is loaded, use this link to remotely administer your VSA server.

Select Remote Drive To FTP To. The browser window that opens displays the contents of a single fixed disk drive. Choose which drive on the remote machine to access from the list in step 2.

Note: The VSA can only determine how many fixed disks a remote machine has via its Latest Audit function. If you have not run Latest Audit on the selected machine, your only choice will be C:

Some reasons for remote control failure are:

• The administrator machine is blocking outbound traffic on the agent check-in port (default 5721). The firewall may need to be reconfigured.

• The target machine is on a slow connection. Let the applications run longer than the timeout period and see if that works.