Starting a peer to peer session

When a remote control session request is initiated from the server, the controller is launched and it contacts the target to send the session request. The target contacts the server to authenticate the request and obtain the policies and permissions for the session. Peer to peer remote control sessions are remote takeover sessions not initiated from the server, they are established directly between the controller and the target. When peer to peer mode is enabled on the target and the server is down or cannot be reached by the target, the session is established directly between the target and the controller. The local policies that have been set on the target are used for the session. You can set the peer to peer policies during installation of the target or after installation by configuring the target properties.

About this task

You can start a peer to peer session with a target that has been enabled for peer to peer connections by running the controller locally on your system. If you have an Remote Control server installed you can download and install the controller from there. For details, see Downloading the component software from the server. For details of installing the controller component, if you do not have a server installed, see the BigFix® Remote Control Installation Guide.

After installing the controller you can start a peer to peer session by completing the following steps :

Procedure

  1. Start the controller.
    Windows® systems
    1. Click Start > All Programs
    2. Click Remote Control > Controller
    Linux® or UNIX® systems
    To start the controller locate the Remote Control controller application from the operating system application interface or issue the following command

    /opt/bigfix/trc/controller/trc_controller.sh

    The Controller application can be also started using the following menu entries Applications > Internet > BigFix Remote Control - Controller

    macOS systems
    1. Open Finder (Applications folder) or Launchpad.
    2. Locate the Remote Control Controller application and open it.
  2. In the Open Connection window:
    1. Enter the IP address of the target you want to start a session with
    2. Enter the port used by the target for listening the incoming connections (unless changed the default port is 888 or 8787 depending on the OS)
    3. Select Use proxy to use a proxy
    4. Select the required protocol and provide the required information.
    Server
    Enter the host name or IP address of the proxy server.
    Port
    Enter the port required for the proxy server.
    Proxy requires authentication
    Select this option if you require to authenticate with the proxy server. Provide the username and password that is required for authentication.
  3. Click the required session type.
    Note: If the target has a Windows® operating system installed, and the CheckUserLogin policy is set to Yes, a login window opens. Enter a valid Windows™ ID and password to continue. If the target is already in a remote control session you might have the option to join or disconnect the session, depending on other target properties that have been set. For more details see, Connecting to a target that is already in a session.

Results

Successful connection to the target is established when any of the following conditions are met.
  • No user acceptance policies have been enabled for accepting the session.
  • User acceptance policies for accepting the session have been enabled and the target user has accepted the request. For more details on consenting to a remote control session, see the BigFix® Remote Control Target User's Guide.

After the session is accepted and established, the policies set locally on the target determine the actions that can be carried out during the session.