MailBag Friday (#13)

 Education, General, Real World ThinManager  No Responses »
Aug 032012
 

Every Friday, we dedicate this space to sharing solutions for some of the most frequently asked questions posed to our ThinManager Technical Support team.  This weekly feature will help educate ThinManager users and provide them with answers to questions they may have about licenses, installation, integration, deployment, upgrades, maintenance, and daily operation.  Great technical support is an essential part of the ThinManager platform, and we are constantly striving to make your environment as productive and efficient as possible.

 

 

Q-   We found an issue that we are looking to resolve.  With the user and user’s desktop in a different domain than the ThinManager server, the ThinManager software installed on the user’s desktop asks for a username and password.  We don’t know what to enter?  User’s name, password? Server username, password?   Is there a way to have the ThinManager software installed on the user’s desktop authenticate using Windows security?

 

A - ThinManager does try to use the current user’s credentials to log into a remote ThinServer.  If that user doesn’t have sufficient privileges on the server that it’s connecting to it will prompt for a password.  By default, ThinManager only lets users in the administrators group connect.  You will need to use the same domain as the server or a local account to connect.  An easy way to check is to have the user log onto the console of the server and open ThinManager.  If it can connect locally, that user should be able to connect from a remote ThinManager installation.

-TM

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Q- What is the function of multicast, and smart multicast?  Is it just used to speed the download of client software and configuration when a group of clients all come on line at the same time?  

 

A – All multicast does is enable the firmware to be downloaded a little bit faster to the clients.  It allows it to be transferred to multiple clients at once instead of one at a time.  Most of the time the difference between using multicast and not isn’t noticeable, or at least is negligible.

-TM

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Q- I can’t communicate with my clients.  When looking at the Thin Client tree the icon is red. Is it a configuration issue? 

 

A – If it is red then the ThinManager interface isn’t talking to the ThinServer database engine that runs as a service.  Try right-clicking on the red icon and select “Reconnect”. If that doesn’t work go to Services and restart the ThinServer service.

Our ThinManual has a troubleshooting section in the back on page 39.

-TM

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Q-  Are there any recommendations regarding the deployment of CALs?  If CALs are used in per device mode with mirrored or redundant mode (2 x terminal server nodes) and the license server node fails will an issue occur with client access and licensing? Do I need additional CALs to cover this and perhaps split them over the two terminal servers or is one CAL per client device on one license server sufficient?

A – I would use Per Device. Each thin client needs to use a unique user name. If you have 10 thin clients you will have 10 users. At this point it doesn’t matter, you could use 10 Device or 10 User TS/RDS CALs.  But, if you are running multiple copies of an application, like on a MultiMonitor box you might need to have the extra sessions log in as unique users, raising the user count while keeping the device count the same. Or, if you have a box that you allow multiple people to log into this would require more User licenses than Device licenses.

You should look at our Licensing Overview Tech Note (http://www.thinmanager.com/technotes/03_Licensing/LicenseOverview.pdf) regarding TSCALs and RDSCALs.

-TM

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ThinManager 6.0 What You Need to Know (#3)

 Release  No Responses »
Mar 212012
 
logo-itmc

 

Over the next month, we will be spotlighting some of the new features being introduced with the release of ThinManager 6.0, as well as improvements to existing features. With so many additions and advancements to our thin client management platform over the last year, we felt it was important to give you a detailed look at what ThinManager 6.0 brings to the table:

iTMC

As we draw closer to the ThinManager 6.0 Launch Event, there is a lot of discussion about what new feature people are most looking forward to seeing in action, and while there are many items making the list, the single most anticipated thing isn’t a feature or a module or a system upgrade…it is a downloadable app.

In April, ThinManager iTMC will join ThinManager Mobile in the Apple App Store and change the way people view thin client management. iTMC truly offers the best of both worlds, allowing your iPad to be used as a full blown thin client from anywhere in your facility while offering the same security and utility as a hard wired thin client. While your iPad is running the iTMC app, it functions as a ThinManager managed Windows client that can run multiple server sessions at the same time.

Not only does iTMC allow you to take full advantage of our MultiSession technology, but it allows an operator to use and select between numerous MultiSessions running at the same time at different resolutions. iTMC allows you to select the best resolution to fit your HMI.

Additionally, iTMC can use the Failover feature provided by ThinManager. Now a user can assign their iPad to several terminal servers and auto detect a backup terminal server. So if a server fails, your iPad will switch to the backup and prevent any downtime.

Simply put, iTMC is the next logical progression in thin client management, and the makers of ThinManager are excited to be the ones to deliver it to the marketplace. For more information please visit: http://www.thinmanager.com/ios/itmc.php