Information Strategy and Technology Services

UniSA home

Directory

Email

myUniSA

Library

About UniSA

Study at UniSA

Research

Community

• ISTS
  • AskIT
  • Resources for students
    • Service status
    • Computer barns and pools
    • Getting help
    • Getting started
    • Getting Connected
    • Internet quota
    • Print quota
    • Using Email
    • Work At Home Software
    • Computer Purchasing Offers - restricted access
    • Feedback Form
  • Resources for staff
    • Service status
    • Getting Connected
    • Usage information
    • Computer Pools
    • Hardware purchasing
    • Software purchasing
    • Governance and Planning
    • Policies and procedures
    • Tenders
    • Using Email
    • Feedback Form
  • For ISTS Staff
  • For IT Support Staff
    • Technical Resources
    • IT Support Staff Workshops-Restricted Access
    • Service Delivery
    • Support Matrix-Restricted Access
    • HP Service Desk - Hints

Remote Desktop Assistance - DameWare Mini Remote Control

• Introduction
• DMRC Software Overview
• Current Standard Version for UniSA
• Installing DMRC Client Agent
• How does it work?
• General issues

---

Introduction

The IT Help Desk is now able to offer remote control of PCs for assistance in situations where it may help to resolve a problem more quickly and easily.  DameWare Mini Remote Control (DMRC) will be used as the primary product for remote assistance.

If a problem needs to be resolved by local IT staff, remote assistance may enable the IT Help Desk to provide better information when logging the call to ensure that the right person can resolve the problem the first time. However many help desk calls relate to staff not being able to find certain information or access resources on the University network and can easily be resolved if both the caller and the support person can see what the other is doing.

DMRC Software Overview

There are two parts to DameWare:

• The DameWare Mini Remote Control Client Agent, this is installed on the remote machine.
• The DameWare Mini Remote Control Application, this is installed on the operator machine. (eg the IT Help Desk and licensed IT support staff)

The DMRC Agent is currently installed in all ISTS managed computer pools and is part of the UniSA SOE.  The DMRC Agent will be installed by UniSA PC suppliers where they supply new computers where a UniSA SOE load has been requested. We strongly recommend IT support include the DMRC Agent in their local SOE.  There is no cost associated with installing the agent.

The DMRC Client Application requires a licence be purchased.  All IT Help Desk staff are licensed to use DMRC, IT support staff must purchase licences from an external supplier should they wish to offer remote assistance to their clients.  Contact the IT Help Desk for further information. 

Current Standard Version for UniSA

Recent versions of DMRC only work properly without requiring administrator access to the user's PC if the application and the client agent versions are compatible.  The current standard version for use in UniSA is 6.6.1

Installing DMRC Agent

The DMRC Agent installation package is available from Software server. Once the installation has been successfully completed, you will see the DameWare Mini Remote Control Agent icon in the system tray area.   Please note that the agent installation has been modified to suit UniSA requirements.

Click here to install the DMRC Agent
 

How does it work?

Accepting a connection
 

• The Help Desk staff will send an invitation to initiate the remote control session. 
   

• The client will display the invitation, the user will be prompted to accept or decline the invitation.
   

• The invitation window shows the user who is trying to connect and their machine ID.
     
• The DMRC icon in the system tray will change colour to indicate the remote operator is connected.
   

Disconnecting
 

• The remote control session can be disconnected by either the operator (eg IT Help Desk) or the remote user at any time.
   

• To disconnect from the client computer, right click on the DMRC system tray icon and select "disconnect".
     
• Click “Yes” to stop the connection or ‘No” to keep connection alive.
   

• The system will notify the client the connection has been terminated.
   

• Once the connection is closed, the system tray icon will return to its normal colour display.
   

General issues
 

What the IT Help Desk won't do?
The IT Help Desk will not change any settings on a client computer where it may interfere with local conventions or practices undertaken by local IT support staff.  

What level of access will the IT Help Desk have on the remote PC?
The person sitting at the controlled PC can see everything being done by the Help Desk staff member and can terminate the session at any time. The Help Desk staff operating the remote control session will only have the same security privileges as that of the currently logged on user.

Invitations
The person being assisted is prompted by an invitation from the remote control software and must accept the invitation to be remotely controlled when ensures their privacy is not compromised. The user has the right to reject or disconnect a remote connection once connected.

Security

• All connections between IT Help Desk and client computer are encrypted.
• PCs running the customised DMRC Agent are configured to only allow authorised staff to connect as restricted by an AD security group.
• PCs running the customised DMRC Agent are configured to only allow access by a specified IP address range.
• The customised DMRC Agent configures Windows Firewall to only allow connections from a specified IP range to TCP port 6129.

Other
DMRC may temporarily disable the wallpaper, font smoothing and desktop pattern settings on a remote machine during the connection. Disabling these settings may improve transactions performance.

top^