Remote Control V9.1.4
- Release Notes V9.1.4 Fixpack 1
- BigFix® Remote Control V9.1.4 Installation Guide
  By using BigFix® Remote Control you can remotely support and control thousands of PCs and servers, on an enterprise scale, from a central location or directly, in peer to peer mode.
- BigFix® Remote Control V9.1.4 Administrators Guide
  This guide is for users who want to administer BigFix® Remote Control.
  - Set a secure environment
    Set a secure environment when you are using BigFix® Remote Control
  - Secure target registration
    To prevent unauthorized targets from registering with the BigFix® Remote Control server, you can use tokens to authenticate the target.
  - Configure SAML 2.0 authentication on the server
    BigFix® Remote Control V9.1.3 introduced support for SAML 2.0 authentication on the BigFix Remote Control server.
  - Access the server web interface.
  - Unlocking user accounts
    When a user account is locked, you can unlock the account by using the Unlock locked userid feature.
  - Manage targets and target groups
  - Manage users and user groups
  - Server session policies
  - How session policies are determined
  - Starting a managed session by using an installed controller
    When you start a managed session, you can configure the server to use an installed controller rather than using the Java™ Web Start method. Note that the Java Web Start plugin method is deprecated in Remote Control starting from Version 10.0.0 Update 8 (Build Number 0802). This feature makes starting a session faster and it removes any warning message windows that are displayed while the session is starting.
  - Manage permission sets for temporary access to targets
  - Requests for temporary access to targets
  - Generate custom reports
  - Manage the home page for a user or group
  - Adding tables and columns to queries
  - Configuration and troubleshooting options in the Admin menu
  - Ensure targets are registered correctly
  - Record the session on the target
  - Set up for exporting recordings
  - Audit log distribution
  - Access targets on different networks
  - Editing the properties files
    You can use the properties files in BigFix® Remote Control to customize your environment, configure LDAP, set debug options, and set controller and on-demand target properties. The files can be edited in the BigFix Remote Control Server UI.
  - Reduce the volume of target connections to the server
  - Broker configuration
    When you install broker support you can use the installed trc_broker.properties file to configure your environment for using the broker function.
  - Managing brokers
    After installing broker support you can register the broker machines in the BigFix® Remote Control server. When they have been registered you can view the list of brokers, edit the broker details and delete brokers that are no longer required.
  - Certificate management
    When using BigFix® Remote Control to facilitate remote control sessions across the internet, you can use certificates to address the authentication and verification required for ensuring secure connections between brokers and endpoints.
  - Migrating to a new certificate
    If your existing certificates are due to expire, you can create new certificates. Distribute the new certificates to the relevant endpoints so that they can continue to successfully establish remote control sessions through the broker.
  - Configuring the session connection code
    You can define the number of characters required and the timeout value, for the connection code used when starting a remote control session through a broker.
  - Target registration before a remote control session
    When you have targets that are on the internet or third-party networks and cannot register directly with the BigFix® Remote Control server you can configure server properties to allow the target to register with the server. When the target registers, you can start a remote control session with the target, by using a broker.
  - Configure target properties
  - Importing data from other sources
  - Database table and column descriptions
  - Troubleshooting and Help
    - Recovering when the program is not running
    - Login failure
    - Log distribution task of the scheduler
    - Using log files to solve a problem
      - Obtaining the server log files
      - Obtaining the controller log files
        For debug purposes, you can create a log file on the controller system in multiple ways.
      - Obtaining the target log files
      - Obtaining the gateway log files
        The gateway log file can be used for debug purposes when you have an issue in your environment and gateways have been configured.
      - Obtaining the broker log files
      - Obtaining the smart card feature log files
        Use the smart card log files for debugging purposes when you use a smart card during a session and encounter an issue.
      - Obtaining the smart card Fixlet log files
        When you run the Fixlets to install or remove the device driver for the virtual smart card reader or the Fixlet to install the certificates, use the following log files for debugging purposes when an error is reported:
    - Setting up the Trusted Sites zone
    - Targets unable to contact the server successfully and a session cannot be established with these targets
    - Remotely installed targets cannot contact the server
    - Extending the session timeout value
      When you are logged on to the BigFix® Remote Control Server and there is no activity, you are logged out after a time period. You can increase this time interval.
    - Gray screen on a Windows 2003 system
    - Files not visible during a file transfer session
    - Getting control of a mac OS target after the screen is locked
    - Getting Help
    - Broker troubleshooting and FAQs
      This section provides some answers to questions that might arise when you are installing or using the broker functions.
    - Error message when CallHome receives a list exceeding 320 IP addresses
      Error message appears in sever log files when CallHome recieves a list of more than 320 IP addresses.
  - Gateway sample scenarios
  - Properties for configuring logging activity
    Use properties to determine what type of information and how much is written to the broker, gateway, and target component log files.
- BigFix® Remote Control V9.1.4 Console Users Guide
- BigFix® Remote Control V9.1.4 Controller Users Guide
- BigFix® Remote Control V9.1.4 Target Users Guide
- BigFix® Remote Control V9.1.4 On-demand Target Guide
  Use BigFix® Remote Control to start remote control sessions over the internet with targets that do not have the target software installed.
- Remote Control V9.1.4 Readme file

Obtaining the server log files

About this task

You can use the log file in theBigFix® Remote Control Server program to troubleshoot problems you encounter.

To view a log of all server and database activities, click Admin > View Application Log. The content of the Application Log is displayed on the screen. To see the most recent activities, scroll to the bottom of the file.

Note: From the Admin menu, select Send Application Log, to open or save the application log file, trc.log, for attaching to an email.

Log4j logging

The log4j package is used to provide additional logging information and this can be useful when trying to debug a problem using the application log file. The level of logging can be controlled by the property values in the log4j.properties file. For more details, see Editing the properties files. The following levels of logging are available:

ALL
DEBUG
INFO . This is the default value
WARN
ERROR
FATAL
OFF

To obtain more information for debug purposes complete the following steps

Procedure

Click Admin > Edit properties file
Select log4j.properties from the list
Set log4j.logger.com.ibm=DEBUG,
Set this value to log information from debug messages to fatal messages.
Click Submit.
Restart the BigFix® Remote Control- server service
Perform the steps that are causing a problem with the application.
Click Admin > View Application Log to view the log information or select Send Application Log to save the log file.

Results

There might be multiple copies of trc log files. All of these log files are helpful when debugging a problem and can be sent to the support team when you have a problem. The value of log4j.logger.com.ibm must be set back to INFO when finished.