Managing direct access to a device

In some situations, administrators find it convenient to work on a single device at a time. Moreover, some features (for example, remote file explorer) require a large amount of data that does not need to be stored in the database. It is therefore necessary to have key emergency features available from the console that do not use scheduling or cascading.

Remote Manager is a real-time configuration tool that provides the administrator with direct read and write access to the directories and files and the registry and services of a remote computer via the Direct Access node of the console.

To be able to establish a connection you might be required to have the login information of the managed device, that is, the login name and its corresponding password, as well as the agent access rights, which are defined through the agent's user interface. This setting is defined via the System Variables.

Be aware, that you can only access devices with NAT configurations via this functionality if the agent tunneling is activated.

The following tools are available for direct access on a device:

• File System:
  The File System function is very similar to Windows Explorer as it allows you not only to view a device's complete directory structure with its files but also to manipulate them, that is, to copy, move, rename and delete directories as well as files. It also allows you to edit individual text files within the privacy restrictions set up by the user/administrator of the managed device.
• Registry:
  The Registry function allows you to directly access the Microsoft Registry and make changes there. You can add, modify or delete keys here as well all connected values.
• Services:
  Through the Services function you can start or stop services on remote Windows devices and configure startup options. You cannot stop or restart the CM agent from here.
• Process Management:
  The Process Management allows you to access information about programs and processes running on the remote managed devices, thus providing you with the possibility to monitor key indicators of your computer's performance. You can quickly see the status of the programs that are running and end programs that have stopped responding. Here you can start and end processes and configure preferences for this view.
• Windows Events:
  Via the Windows Events you can view and follow all events logged by the system on Windows devices.
• File Transfer:
  This function allows you to transfer files between the local and the remote device, it is the same one used by Remote Control.
• Check Connection:
  This function checks if the device is contactable.
• Reboot:
  This function allows you to remotely reboot the device.
• Shut down:
  Allows to remotely shut down the device.
• Wake up:
  This function wakes the remote device up, either from a sleep/hibernation state or from being shut down.
• Restart the agent:
  This function restarts the agent service of the remote device.

The following paragraphs lead you through your first steps when directly accessing devices in your network.

You can directly access a remote device from the Search, Device Groups and Device Topology location.

• Transferring files between devices via direct access
• Checking the connection
• Rebooting a remote device
• Shutting down a remote device
• Waking up a device
• Managing File System
• Managing Registry
• Managing Services
• Managing processes
• Managing Windows events