Remote Consoles

Introduction

OpsRamp’s Secure Remote Console enables you to launch consoles into managed devices remotely.

Core Concepts

Types of Consoles

OpsRamp supports following types of consoles.

1. Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP)

2. Virtual Network Computing (VNC)

3. Secure Shell (SSH)

4. Secure Shell (SSH) with PublicKey

5. Telnet

6. Remote Shell (RMSHELL)

7. File Transfer

8. TeamViewer

9. Admin Console

Console Recording

All console activities in OpsRamp are recorded except TeamViewer.

Scenarios

Launch a console to a device managed by an Agent, Gateway or Gateway device

A user wants to launch console on a device that is managed by an Agent, Gateway or Gateway device. Example:

1. Remote Desktop Protocol into Windows

2. Remote Shell into Windows

3. Secure Shell into Linux

4. Telnet into network device

5. File Transfer into Linux

To launch a remote console first, add a console and then launch it.

Add Console

1. Login to OpsRamp.

2. On the drop-down menu, click Infrastructure.

3. Click on the device name on which the console needs to be added.

4. Click button and then click Add Consoles. Consoles window appears.

5. Provide Console details. See here for more information on console details.

6. Console is successfully added.

Launch Console

Launch RDP console

1. Login to OpsRamp.

2. On the drop-down menu, click Infrastructure.

3. Click on the device name on which the console needs to be launched.

4. Click button and then click RDP.

5. Provide Ticket ID. If you want to associate the console activity to a ticket.

6. Activity Log Note. Provide comments for RDP console activity if any.

7. Provide Username and Password. This field will not appear if username and password are provided at the time of adding console and click OK. RDP console is successfully launched.

To launch Remote Shell console

1. Login to OpsRamp.

2. On the drop-down menu, click Infrastructure.

3. Click on the device name on which the console needs to be launched.

4. Click launch console button and then select RMSHELL.

5. OpsRamp Agent Console tuning window opens.

6. Remote Shell console is launched if the credentials are validated.

Launch Telnet console

1. Login to OpsRamp.

2. On the drop-down menu, click Infrastructure.

3. Click on the device name on which the console needs to be launched.

4. Click launch console button and then click Telnet.

5. Provide Ticket ID. If you want to associate the console activity to a ticket.

6. Activity Log Note. Provide comments for Telnet console activity, this is mandatory and click OK.

Launch File Transfer console

1. Login to OpsRamp.

2. On the drop-down menu, click Infrastructure.

3. Click on the device name on which the console needs to be launched.

4. Click launch console button and then click FTransfer

5. File Transfer console is successfully launched.

Launch simultaneous consoles into multiple devices

A user wants to launch consoles into multiple devices.

Example:

1. Secure Shell

2. Telnet

To launch simultaneous consoles,

1. Login to OpsRamp.

2. On the drop-down menu, click Infrastructure.

3. Select the devices on which the console needs to be launched.

4. Click launch console button. Launch Console window opens.

5. Select Management Profile Type – Gateway or Agent.

6. Select console Type. Simultaneous consoles can be launched only Secure Shell and Telnet.

7. Provide comments for console activity.

8. Select

   • Use Credentials – If credentials are available in credentials sets.

   • I have Credentials – If you have credentials.

   • Manual Login – Manually login to each device after launching the console.

9. Click Launch.

10. View both the Secure Shell consoles.

Launch a TeamViewer console

OpsRamp supports launching remote consoles in TeamViewer. Users that have TeamViewer installed, can configure OpsRamp to launch TeamViewer remote consoles within OpsRamp. This feature is intended for environments where full-featured remote desktop support is a key requirement.

Integration with TeamViewer

Launch a console to access an application

• Admin Consoles can be added and launched on Window 2003 and 2008 servers only.

• For Windows 2008 servers RemoteApp settings needs to be configured. See RemoteApp settings.

• To launch Admin Console, first define Admin Console parameters and then add Admin Console.

Step 1: Define Admin Console Parameters

1. Login to OpsRamp.

2. On the drop-down menu, click Setup.

3. On the left-hand side panel, click Device Management and then click Admin Console Parameters.

4. Click on the device on which Admin Console needs to be added and click Create.

5. Provide a name for Admin Console parameter and its Parameters and click Save. Example: For HTTP access provide https://172.22.221.1:8443/adminui

Step 2: Add Admin Console

1. Login to OpsRamp.

2. On the drop-down menu, click Infrastructure.

3. Click on the device name on which the console needs to be added.

4. Click Add Console and then click Add at Admin Consoles.

5. Select the Admin Device, then Input parameters are automatically populated.

6. Click Save.

Step 3: Launch Admin Console

1. Login to OpsRamp.

2. On the drop-down menu, click Infrastructure.

3. Click on the device name on which the console needs to be launched.

4. Click launch console button and then click Admin Console.

5. Provide Ticket ID. If you want to associate the console activity to a ticket.

6. Select the domain and then click OK. Admin console is successfully launched.

Playback console recording

1. Click Infrastructure.

2. Click on the device name and then click Audio Recordings tab. You can view all the console recording properties.

3. On the Actions tab, click Play.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. How long are the console recording activity files stored in OpsRamp? Console recording activities are stored till 180 days from the day of recording.

2. I am unable to launch RDP console, even after adding RDP console on the device. Check if RDP console is enabled on the device, if not enable RDP console and then try again.

3. Does console recording has any limit on file size? No, console recordings do NOT have any limit on any file size.

4. What will be size of a console recording? Size will be large for VNC and RDP recordings. In general, Secure Shell and Telnet recordings take less size as there are text based operations.

Appendix

Console Types and Properties

Console Type	Connector Type	Service Type	Port Number	IP Address
Remote Desktop Protocol	Agent	RDP	3389	Local host IP address 127.0.0.1
Virtual Network Computing	Gateway	VNC	5900	IP address of target device
Secure Shell	Gateway	SSH	22	IP address of target device
Secure Shell with Public Key	Gateway	SSHPUBLICKEY	22	IP address of target device
Telnet	Gateway	TELNET	23	IP address of target device
Remote Shell	Gateway	RHSHELL	NA	IP address of target device
File Transfer	Agent/Gateway	FTRANSFER	NA	Local host IP address 127.0.0.1/IP address of target device
If launching console on OpsRamp Gateway itself, then provide local host IP address (127.0.0.1)

Configure RemoteApp Settings

This section describes instructions for configuring RemoteApp Manager required for launching Admin Consoles on Windows 2008.

1. On the Start button, navigate to the Administrative Tools, and then Remote Desktop Services and start the RemoteApp Manager.

2. Click Start button and type Administrative Tools, administrative tool window appears.

3. Select Remote Desktop Services and start the RemoteApp Manager.

4. On the Actions tab of RemoteApp Manager, click Remote Desktop Session Host Server Settings or on the Overview tab, beside RDP Settings, click Change.

   • For the latter method select the Remote Desktop Session Host Server tab on the RemoteApp Deployment Settings dialog box.

5. To enable the RDP client to launch applications, select Allow users to start both listed and unlisted programs on initial connection and click OK.

   • If this option is selected, then users can start any program remotely from a .rdp file on initial connection.

   • In the Access to unlisted programs sections, the following two options are available:

     • Do not allow users to start unlisted programs on initial connection (Recommended by Microsoft)

     • Allow users to start both listed and unlisted programs on initial connection (Suggested for testing applications with RDP Client)