How to use Remote Administration

Client's list

Client's version of ZDelete.NET has only My Computer node and its settings in navigation tree view. Administrator's version also maintains a list of network clients with their settings below. The upper node for each client is a client's name defined as

<domain name>\<account name>@<computer name>.

In case of using workgroup instead of domain, <domain name> will be the same as <computer name>.

There are four navigation panes available for each client:

• System Folders
• Disks to Wipe
• Scheduler
• ZDelete.NET Options

If client is unavailable (logged off or closed ZDelete.NET), it will be shown in grey color in the tree. In this case client's child nodes will be removed.

Client's list is stored in administrator's settings, so each time administrator runs ZDelete.NET, he will see all the clients added before, even if some of them are currently not available.

Adding clients to the list

There are two ways to add client to the list - automated and manual. For the first one click Remote | Search Clients. When this command is invoked, administrator sends broadcast message in order to find working clients. Every client received the search method replies to administrator, so administrator can add him to the list (if it is not already on the list). If administrator receives reply from the clients which is not on his list, it attempts to retrieve client's settings. If the client settings are received successfully, administrator adds client to the tree view with it's settings sub nodes and shows it in full-color (active) mode. If by some reason administrator was unable to retrieve clients' settings, clients will be added to the list without sub nodes and shown in grey (inactive) mode.

Search Clients command is performed automatically on administrator's startup.

It is also possible to add new client manually by clicking Remote | Add Client.

Computer Name: network name of the client's computer.

User Account: pair of <domain name>\<account name>. If client computer is in workgroup (not a domain), use computer name instead of domain name. Account name is an account under which user has logged in.

Note

Please keep in mind that Search Clients command does not attempt to get client's information if the client is already on the list. Its purpose is to find new clients, not to update status of existing ones. So, if administrator has a client with inactive status in the list and performs Search Clients command, the status of the client will not be updated even if it is active by this time. To update status and retrieve current settings of remote client see Getting client settings.

Removing client from the list

Since the client list is stored on administrator's machine, clients will remain on the list even if they are not active. You can remove client account from the list by selecting the client and clicking Remote | Remove Client. Alternatively you can right-click on the client in the tree view and click Remove Client.

Getting client settings

As it was mentioned in Adding clients to the list section, ZDelete.NET retrieves client's settings when new client is added to the list. However, the status of clients already on the list is not updated by Search Clients command. Client's settings could also be changed during the time or remote user can close ZDelete.NET or log off, so account will become unavailable. To ensure you have the latest account status, you need to refresh client settings by selecting client in the tree view and clicking Remote | Refresh. Alternatively you can right-click on the client in the tree view and click Refresh. You can also update the status of all remote clients by clicking Remote | Refresh All.

Changing client settings

You can change remote client's settings as they were your own. However, the settings you are changing are your local copy of client's options. You need to update client profile to make new settings take effect. To do this, perform one of the following:

• Select a client and click Remote | Update Client
• Right-click on the client in the tree view and click Update Client
• On the client's general information pane click Update Client

Note

After updating of client's profile administrator will request new client settings to double check them. If by some reason client profile is now updated properly, you will see the actual client's settings, not you were trying to set.

Multiple client update

In order to save efforts on updating multiple clients with the same settings you can update all clients in one shot. To do this, select any client in the list and configure its account. Then instead of updating just this particular client click Remote | Update All.

Disabling control by Administrator

User running client version of ZDelete.NET can forbid administrator to access his profile. In this case his instance of ZDelete.NET will be invisible to administrator and network functions of ZDelete.NET will be disabled.

• Click File | Settings, ZDelete.NET Settings dialog window will appear
• Unselect check box Allow Control by Administrator
• Click OK

See Also

User Interface | Remote Administration Basics

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