Smart-X ControlUp · Getting Started User Account Creation and Activation In order to start using ControlUp, you will need an online User Account. This account is used by Smart-X

Smart-X ControlUp

Technical Reference and User Guide

Version 1.1.3.x, September 2011

Table of Contents Introducing ControlUp ..................................................................................................................... 4

Who is ControlUp built for? ........................................................................................................ 4

Typical ControlUp Usage Scenarios ............................................................................................. 5

Terminal Server / Citrix Farm Management ............................................................................ 5

VDI Environment Management ............................................................................................... 5

Physical Servers and Desktops Management .......................................................................... 5

System Requirements...................................................................................................................... 6

Console System Requirements .................................................................................................... 6

Managed Computer System Requirements ................................................................................ 6

Active Directory and Security Permissions .................................................................................. 6

Getting Started ................................................................................................................................ 7

User Account Creation and Activation ........................................................................................ 7

Working in Offline Environments ............................................................................................ 8

ControlUp Organization ............................................................................................................... 9

Creating an Organization ......................................................................................................... 9

Joining an Existing Organization .............................................................................................. 9

Adding Managed Computers ..................................................................................................... 10

Troubleshooting Connections to Managed Computers ........................................................ 13

Sending Reports ........................................................................................................................ 14

Bug Report ............................................................................................................................. 14

Feature Request .................................................................................................................... 14

ControlUp Console Reference ....................................................................................................... 15

Console UI Overview ............................................................................................................. 15

Configuring the Information Grid Display ............................................................................. 15

Views Hierarchy ..................................................................................................................... 18

Focusing ................................................................................................................................. 19

Machines View ...................................................................................................................... 20

Machines View Column Reference ........................................................................................ 28

Sessions View ........................................................................................................................ 29

Sessions Actions .................................................................................................................... 29

Sessions View Column Reference .......................................................................................... 34

Processes View ...................................................................................................................... 35

Processes View Column Reference ....................................................................................... 36

Accounts View ....................................................................................................................... 37

Accounts View Column Reference ........................................................................................ 38

Executables View ................................................................................................................... 39

Executables View Column Reference .................................................................................... 39

Remote Desktop Pane ............................................................................................................... 41

Configuring Remote Desktop Connections ........................................................................... 41

Actions Pane .............................................................................................................................. 42

Events Pane ............................................................................................................................... 43

Settings Pane (advanced) .......................................................................................................... 44

Performance Activity and Statistics ....................................................................................... 44

Counters ................................................................................................................................ 44

Activity Queue ....................................................................................................................... 44

Machines ............................................................................................................................... 45

Agent Settings........................................................................................................................ 45

Configuring Remote Control Settings .................................................................................... 45

Configuring Custom Instructions ........................................................................................... 45

Customizing column display settings in the Information Grid ...................................................... 46

Troubleshooting ............................................................................................................................ 49

Troubleshooting Connections to Managed Computers ............................................................ 49

Session shadowing cannot be established ................................................................................ 49

CPU and Memory usage display zero values ............................................................................. 50

Remote Assistance sessions cannot be established .................................................................. 50

The Initial Program column is empty in a Citrix XenApp 6.0 Environment ............................... 50

Managed computers disconnect from the console after a network failure ............................. 50

Contact Us ..................................................................................................................................... 51

Introducing ControlUp

ControlUp is an advanced computer management and monitoring platform for simultaneously

managing a large amount of Windows servers, workstations and user sessions. The platform

consists of a console executable which aggregates performance data gathered from the

managed computers in the enterprise.

Who is ControlUp built for?

ControlUp is tailor-made for systems administrators and helpdesk personnel that overlook

multi-user environments and are required to prevent and troubleshoot performance issues,

application failures and operating system errors. Typically, these tasks require repetitive and

time-consuming execution of existing consoles, scripts and various management tools, none of

which is capable in itself of achieving the systems administrator’s two primary goals:

- Quickly identify issues in a complex multi-user environment

- Resolve these issues in a simple and efficient manner

Typical ControlUp Usage Scenarios

Terminal Server / Citrix Farm Management

In a terminal server environment, the user sessions are distributed across multiple servers.

ControlUp allows the farm administrator to gain a complete performance overview of the

servers, identify bottlenecks, locate user sessions and pinpoint the issue to the level of an

individual Windows process. ControlUp’s grid view allows for viewing the terminal server farm

as it is designed to be – a continuous fabric of resources available to multiple users. If a system

task or a setting change is required, ControlUp can perform the change simultaneously on

multiple servers or user sessions, keeping the server farm configuration uniform and stable.

VDI Environment Management

Virtual desktops environment need to provide a stable and robust user experience with great

mobility and flexibility which presents some unique challenges to the systems administrator.

ControlUp’s aggregated grid view and simultaneous management task execution capabilities

allow VDI administrators to overlook resource consumption, system stability and user

experience in VDI sessions and to perform maintenance and troubleshooting tasks with a

minimum amount of time and effort.

Physical Servers and Desktops Management

ControlUp can manage any amount of Windows servers and desktops, regardless of their

purpose or usage. Monitoring performance, gathering software inventory, deploying files and

registry settings, configuring Windows components and remotely controlling user sessions for

technical support –are just a few examples of tasks making ControlUp an ideal all-in-one toolbox

for system administrators.

System Requirements

Console System Requirements

ControlUpConsole.exe is the main executable used for data display and task invocation. There is

no setup routine necessary in order to start using ControlUp. Just download the executable and

run it on your admin station or a management server.

ControlUp console is tested on Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows Server 2003,

Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2.

The only software pre-requisite for the console is Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 SP1.

Please ensure this pre-requisite is met before running ControlUp.

In addition, ControlUp’s memory usage can be intensive, depending on the number of managed

machines. A RAM footprint of about 300MB is normal when managing an enterprise with up to

500 live user sessions, while thousands of sessions can bring the console’s RAM usage up to

several gigabytes. You may consider using a high-performance server for running the console for

large environments. Also, some settings can be adjusted for the console to consume less RAM.

For more information, see the Settings Pane (advanced) section of this document.

Managed Computer System Requirements

ControlUp supports managing computers that run Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7,

Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2.

The managed computer should have Microsoft .NET Framework 3 installed (3.5 SP1

recommended). ControlUp requires RPC access for remote agent installation and a single

configurable incoming TCP port open (40705 by default) for agent communication.

Active Directory and Security Permissions

The computer on which ControlUp Console is executed must be a domain member. The user

that runs ControlUp is required to have full administrative privileges on all managed computers.

ControlUp uses existing Windows authentication methods and fully supports Active Directory

delegation, group nesting, trusts and other built-in security mechanisms.

Active Directory is a prerequisite for managing computers using ControlUp. If your network

includes computers that are not joined to a domain, you will be able to connect to these

computers using ControlUp’s Remote Desktop view, while other actions will not be available.

Getting Started

User Account Creation and Activation

In order to start using ControlUp, you will need an online User Account. This account is used by

Smart-X in order to track licensing and gather usage statistics.

No sensitive information regarding your company’s network, users or computers is

ever sent outside your organization using ControlUp.

The user account creation process will start automatically when launching ControlUp Console

for the first time.

Please provide a desired username (nickname) and password, as well as a valid e-mail address in

order to proceed with the creation of your user account. After completing the wizard, you will

receive a confirmation e-mail with an activation link that you should visit in order to activate

ControlUp.

ControlUp requires Internet connectivity for the login process. If you can successfully check the

availability of your desired nickname, connectivity with the online account servers is working

properly. If your network is connected to the Internet, but ControlUp’s connectivity with the

online account servers is blocked by a firewall or other security appliances or software, please

ensure the console is allowed to establish connection to the address app.controlup.com via port

443 (HTTPS).

If your network uses industry-standard security products that prevent ControlUp’s

online features from performing correctly, it is very important that you contact us and

inform our Development Team of the issue. We are working hard to ensure all

Internet-connected networks can successfully login to ControlUp, regardless of the

type of firewall, proxy or Web filter used.

Working in Offline Environments

If your network is not connected to the Internet, please use the Login Wizard to submit a

request for an Offline Authentication File. This file is an authentication method that allows

ControlUp console to run without logging in to the online account servers. As some of

ControlUp’s collaboration features and management actions require Internet connectivity, this

method should only be used as a last resort.

ControlUp Organization

ControlUp organizations are entities that represent groups of computers managed by the same

administrative personnel. Once an organization is created in your network, new ControlUp users

may join the same organization in order to manage the same environment as the existing users.

Alternatively, a new organization may be created to manage a separate group of computers.

ControlUp organizations allow an unlimited number of ControlUp consoles to connect to every

managed computer. All managed computers are configured in such a way that permits

connections only from ControlUp users that are members of the same organization.

Creating an Organization

During the Account Creation Wizard you will be prompted to create an organization. Make sure

to provide a clear and descriptive organization name, this will allow future ControlUp users from

your company to easily recognize the organization when they create their user accounts.

An additional organization can be created directly after the login process. This can be useful for

segmenting your network into distinct administrative units, which are managed by different

administrators.

Each managed computer can be associated with a single organization only. Once a computer is

associated with an organization, users from different organizations will not be able to connect to

it using ControlUp.

Joining an Existing Organization

After the first ControlUp user in the enterprise had created an organization, all new users in the

same Active Directory will be automatically prompted to log on to the same organization. An

administrator who regularly works in a single enterprise is advised to select the “Always use this

organization” checkbox.

All managed computers are configured to permit connection from ControlUp users

which are members of the same organization. This is an important security measure

aimed to prevent various “rogue administrator” issues

Adding Managed Computers

After creating your username and joining an organization, it’s time to introduce ControlUp to

your environment!

In the “Add Computers” wizard you can select the computers which ControlUp will manage;

- Choose a domain containing the computers to be added using the “Domain”

selector button

- Choose a root OU for the Active Directory search using the “Search Root” selector.

This is useful in large environments, in which the size of the directory may slow the

search for computers.

- Search for and select computer accounts from Active Directory.

o Typing text in the Search box performs inline filtering of the result table,

which allows for faster location of computer accounts.

o Please note the “Listen on port” field in the bottom right corner of the

window. Here you can configure a listening TCP port number for ControlUp

Agents to be installed.

- Select the computers you would like to add to the console, click “Add” and then

click “Next” to continue.

- Connect to the managed computers and deploy ControlUp agents.

- The wizard checks RPC connectivity to each computer and if an existing ControlUp

agent is already installed. If no agent is installed it remotely install it.

- You can rerun the discovery process for any selected machine if an issue preventing

agent installation has been resolved. You can also rerun the process for all failed

machines using the “Rerun Failed” button.

At the end of this process, ControlUp agents will be installed and reporting performance data,

and ControlUp console will be ready to perform a variety of management tasks on your selected

machines.

The “Add Computers” wizard will be launched

automatically the first time after the User Account creation

and login processes are completed. In order to launch the

wizard at a later time, right-click the Root Folder or any

computer folder in the Computers pane’s Navigation Tree

and select “Add > Computers”.

Troubleshooting Connections to Managed Computers

Here’s a quick checklist for successfully adding a managed computer to ControlUp console:

- The managed computer’s name, as appears in Active Directory, should be resolvable

to a valid IP address. A name resolution failure is indicated by the following error

message: “No such host is known”.

- The computer’s operating system should be fully started, including the RPC services.

If the boot process has not completed, “There is no RPC access” error message will

be displayed.

- The connection requires RPC access, which can be quickly tested by connecting to

the administrative shares of the target computer, for example by entering

\\computername\Admin$ in the “Start > Run” menu of your computer.

- The computer’s firewall should not be blocking incoming connections to RPC ports

- At least Microsoft .Net Framework 3.0 is correctly installed (3.5 SP1 recommended)

- Your domain account has full administrative privileges on the target computer. If

using User Account Control, make sure you start ControlUp console as an

administrator.

Sending Reports

ControlUp is growing rapidly and our Development Team is

eager and happy to make it better and more powerful. Your

active involvement in the enhancement process is very

important; using the “Send Reports” option located in the

upper left corner of the console, you can send bug report or

feature request to us.

Bug Report

Should you encounter any unexpected behavior using ControlUp, please take a minute to report

the issue to our Development Team by using the “Bug Report” option. Feel free to describe the

issue in maximal detail and attach any relevant data for us to review. Your report, which can also

be sent anonymously, will be investigated and processed thoroughly by our engineers.

Feature Request

Most of ControlUp’s features were developed by request from experienced systems

administrators and other IT professionals. If you feel that ControlUp can benefit from any kind of

additional functionality, please feel free to request your desired features and we shall consider

including them in our future releases. Please provide a clear and detailed description of your

requested feature and attach any relevant data when submitting the report.

ControlUp Console Reference

Console UI Overview

These are the main components of the console’s user interface:

1. Ribbon Bar – in this area, you will locate the views that will be displayed and all the

various actions that can be performed on the selected objects.

2. Navigation Bar – here you can switch between views and navigate back and forward

between the recently visited views.

3. Navigation Tree– a graphical display of all the computers currently added to the console,

arranged in folders. Agent connection and folder arrangement are handled within the

context menu of the Navigation Tree.

4. Information Grid –The main information display area of the console. This high-

performance component can quickly display, sort, group and filter information collected

from the managed computers.

5. Panes – here you can switch to some additional functionality of ControlUp, including

Remote Desktop connections manager, Events and Actions.

Configuring the Information Grid Display

The Information Grid is ControlUp primary source of information. As such, it is worth spending

few minutes configuring the Information Grid display to your needs. Please note that the

amount of columns which are included in the Information Grid Display can also impact the

console’s performance, especially in large deployments.

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Selecting Displayed Columns

In order to add or remove columns, click on the “Select Columns” button on the ribbon bar.

After selecting the desired columns, you can drag and drop the column headers to arrange the

data in a way that best suits your needs.

ControlUp saves the list of your selected columns and their order automatically when you exit

the console. In addition, you can save the column layout using the Save option in ControlUp

button menu, which is located in the upper left corner of your console.

Tip:

Try using ControlUp on your mobile devices, using your remote connection technology

of choice. For example, when made available as a Citrix XenApp published application,

ControlUp can be easily used from supported smartphones and tablets. In order to

achieve the best view of the Console on a small screen, select only the graphic

performance columns and arrange them to the left edge of the screen.

Sorting the Information Grid

The data in the Information Grid can be sorted by any displayed column. Click a column’s header

to sort the Information Grid by that column. Click again to change the sorting order.

Searching the Information Grid

You can search the Information Grid using the Search text box on the right side of the Navigation

Bar. The Information Grid will be filtered automatically as you type your search term. It is

important to understand that the Search text box looks for the search terms only in a single

column, depending on your current view. These are the columns that are searched in each view:

Console View Searched Column

Machines Name

Sessions User

Processes Name

Accounts Name

Executables Name

For example that if you type “Steve” in the Search box while in the Sessions view, the

Information Grid will display only those sessions, the “User” field of which contains “Steve” as a

substring.

When finished searching, click on the X button in the Search box to clear the filter. If not cleared

manually, the Search box remembers the search terms for each of ControlUp’s views.

Column Grouping

In order to obtain an even more convenient display of your resources, you should try grouping

the data in the Information Grid by different columns. Select the “Enable Grouping” checkbox in

the Ribbon Bar and drag any column to the grouping bar that appears between the Information

Grid and the Navigation bar. This can be useful for distinguishing between servers from different

vendors or separating active user sessions from disconnected ones.

Grouping settings are discarded when you close the console.

Exporting Data from the Information Grid

ControlUp console allows you to export the data currently displayed in the Information Grid by

clicking the Export button in the ribbon bar. The supported export format is XLS (Microsoft

Excel). Your column settings and grouping configurations will be preserved in the exported

document.

Views Hierarchy

One of ControlUp’s central strengths is its useful aggregation of data collected from different

machines, sessions and processes in a manner that allows easy browsing and location of the

desired resources. In order to utilize ControlUp efficiently, it is important to understand the way

in which ControlUp organizes the data collected from your network.

The following diagram describes the logical arrangement of ControlUp’s views.

As shown in the diagram, the Machines view is a top-level view, from which you can zoom to the

Sessions and Processes child views. For example, when double-clicking a single machine’s row in

the Machines view, the console will display all of the user sessions currently established on the

selected machine. Using the “Processes” tab on top of the Information Grid, you can switch to

an aggregated view of all the processes currently running on the selected machine. From the

Sessions view, a double-click on each session will zoom in to show the processes running in the

selected session.

The Sessions and Processes views are also available as top-level views, using each you can

display all the sessions established on all of your machines, or all the processes running on all

the machines, respectively.

A double-click on a row in the Accounts view allows for zooming into the Sessions view,

displaying the sessions owned by the selected user account. Further zoom-in to the Processes

view is possible if a single session is double-clicked.

A double-click on a row in the Executables view displays all the running process instances of the

selected program.

The usage of every view is described later in this document.

Machines

Sessions

(on selected machine)

Processes

(in selected session)

Processes

(on selected machine)

Sessions

Processes


Processes Accounts

Sessions (owned by selected

account)

Processes


Executables

Process instances

Focusing

The Navigation Tree allows you to focus your display on any selected folder. For example, if you

created a folder that contains your terminal servers, right-click the folder and select “Focus”.

The data shown in the Information Grid will be limited to these machines only and a notification

bar will be displayed on top of the Information Grid in order to remind you to remove the focus

when you are finished using it.

Machines View

The Machines view is a display of all the machines you have added to the console. This view is

displayed automatically upon the console launch. Besides browsing, searching, grouping and

sorting the data, this view allows you to perform a variety of actions on the selected machine/s.

These actions are available when selecting a machine or a group of machines. They can be

invoked using either the Ribbon Bar “Machine Actions” tab or the context menu (right-click).

Please make yourself familiar with the available actions and test their results thoroughly before

performing them in a live environment.

Remote Desktop (machine action)

This action switch the console to the “Remote Desktops” pane and open an RDP connection to

the selected machine/s. For more information about the “Remote Desktops” pane, see the next

chapter in this document.

Agent Control Actions

Actions grouped in this subsection provide a management interface for ControlUp agent running

on the target machine/s. These actions allow for manual control of the agents and are typically

used in case an issue is preventing the automatic connection from occurring.

ControlUp agents are installed on your target machines automatically when you add them to the

console. The cuAgent services on the target machines are started on demand when you connect

to the machines using ControlUp.

Upgrade Remote Agent

If the console detects a ControlUp agent running on the target machine/s, a version check is

performed and the connection is accepted only if the agent’s version is compatible with the

console’s version. If you receive an error message stating that your target computer is running

an unsupported version of ControlUp agent, use this action to upgrade the agent.

Start Remote Agent

This action starts the cuAgent service on the target machine/s. This may be useful in case you

are experiencing issues when connection to the computer using ControlUp.

Uninstall Remote Agent

This action removes the cuAgent service from the target machine/s, along with all ControlUp-

related files and settings. By default, ControlUp agents are installed in a temporary mode, which

means that the agents are uninstalled automatically if no connection is made to them for 5

minutes.

Stop Remote Agent

This action stops the cuAgent service on the target machine/s.

Restart Remote Agent

This action stops and then starts the cuAgent service on the target machine/s.

Files (machines actions category)

Actions in this category allow you to manipulate files and folders using the selected computer/s.

All Files actions are carried out on the target machine, which means that the paths and

filenames you provide must be valid ON the target machine.

All Files actions are performed using the Local System account on the target machine. This is a

highly privileged account so you are unlikely to encounter a permissions issue when performing

local file operations. However, make sure to provide valid domain credentials when using

network (UNC) paths or network drives, since the Local System account does not have access to

the network.

Delete Files / Folder

This action deletes files on the selected machine/s. Provide the file name or a wildcard

expression that would normally be interpreted using the command-line (such as *.tmp).

Copy Files / Folder

This action performs an advanced copy operation using the specified source and destination

locations. Both locations may be accessible from the target machine/s.

For example, when running ControlUp on a machine named ADMINPC, you would like to copy

the Scripts folder from your C: drive to the target computers. In order to accomplish this,

provide \\ADMINPC\C$\Scripts as your source path and C:\Apps as your destination path.

Remember, since you are using a network path you need to provide valid domain credentials for

the operation to succeed.

Rename File / Folder

Using this action, you can rename a file or folder on the remote machine/s. This can be useful

when managing file versions, patching software or manually rotating log files.

Group Policy (machines actions category)

Refresh Machine Group Policy

This action triggers a Group Policy update on the remote machine using Windows built-in

gpupdate.exe utility. You can manipulate the “Force” and “Timeout” parameters using the

action window.

Power Management (machines actions category)

Reboot Machine

Performs a soft reboot of the target computer/s.

Shutdown Machine

Performs a soft shutdown of the target computer/s.

Processes (machines actions category)

Run As

This action allows you to launch a process at the target computer. You can run any executable

that is accessible on the target machine/s. If using a command-line expression or a batch file,

please prepend “cmd.exe /c ” to your command.

Note – processes started using this action are executed in session 0 using Local System

and are not visible to the users working on the target machine/s. For executing

interactive processes, use the “Start Process in Session” action.

Process Execution Control

Disable process execution

This action prevents processes with the configured file name from being executed on the target

machine/s. This action can be useful for preventing a program from being run during upgrades

or software maintenance.

You are advised to use extreme caution when preventing process execution, since this action

affects all users on the selected machine/s and the execution block will be enforced until

explicitly removed using the “Enable Process Execution” action.

It is important to provide the end user who might try to run a disabled process with an

explanation that will appear on his/her screen. Using the action’s built in text message capability

you can provide such explanation. .

Enable Process Execution

This action reverts the “Disable Process Execution” action. You may choose to remove all

existing execution blocks previously set on the selected computer/s or configure a specific

process name to be unblocked.

Registry

ControlUp’s Registry Dashboard

The Registry Dashboard is an advanced utility that enables viewing and editing the registry on a

remote machine or on multiple machines simultaneously.

If you select multiple machines and launch the Registry Dashboard, you will be presented with

an aggregated view of the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE hives from all of the selected machines.

If you select multiple user sessions and launch the Registry Dashboard, you will be presented

with an aggregated view of the HKEY_CURRENT_USER hives from all of the selected sessions.

The registry tree can then be browsed in a way similar to the standard Windows Registry Editor.

In order to emphasize the differences between the registry configurations of different machines

or users, the Registry Dashboard uses the following color coded icons:

Icon Meaning

Registry key exists in all of the target machine/user hives

Registry key exists in some of the target machine/user hives

Registry key exists in one of the target machine/user hives

Registry value exists in all of the target machine/user hives

Registry value exists in some of the target machine/user hives

Registry value exists on one of the selected machine/user hives

Registry value data differs between the selected machine/user hives

Registry value type differs between the selected machine/user hives

In the Comparison Charts area on the right side of the Registry Dashboard you can view the

details of the differences listed above, for example the data of the same registry value on

different machines.

Adding operation targets

You can add targets to ControlUp Registry Dashboard using the “Add Root Hives” button in the

menu bar. The “Add Root Key” wizard will guide you through the process of adding your

operation target/s.

The Registry Dashboard is capable of managing the following objects:

1. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE hives of the machines connected in ControlUp console

2. User Profiles currently loaded on the machines connected in ControlUp console

3. NTUser.DAT files selected manually from the file system

Note: Only targets of the same kind can be added to the dashboard simultaneously. In

other words, user hives cannot be compared to computer hives.

Removing operation targets

In order to remove a hive from the dashboard view, right-click the computer/user in the “Root

Keys” panel and select “Remove”.

Managing Registry Dashboard Views

ControlUp’s Registry Dashboard is capable of displaying multiple comparison views. Using the

File menu, you can create multiple views and save them to disk for later inspection.

Search Registry

With ControlUp’s Registry Dashboard you can search registry on selected machine/user hives

using configured search pattern. Use the Advanced option to select individual targets for this

operation.

Registry Actions

Create Key

Creates a key with the specified name in the selected machine/user hives. Use the Advanced

option to select individual targets for this operation.

Delete Key

Deletes the selected key in the selected machine/user hives. Use the Advanced option to select

individual targets for this operation.

Rename Key

Renames the selected key in the selected machine/user hives. Use the Advanced option to

select individual targets for this operation.

Copy/Move Key

Copies or move a key within the selected machine/user hives. For example, you can copy the

Software\Policies key to Software\Policies_old in order to create a backup of this key. Copying

keys and values between computers is not supported. Use the Advanced option to select

individual targets for this operation.

Create Value

Creates a value with specified type, name and data on the selected machine/user hives. Use the

Advanced option to select individual targets for this operation.

Delete Value

Deletes the selected value in the selected machine/user hives. Use the Advanced option to

select individual targets for this operation.

Rename Value

Renames the selected value to the configured name in the selected machine/user hives. Use the

Advanced option to select individual targets for this operation.

Modify Value Data

Modifies the selected value’s type and name in the selected machine/user hives, while

overwriting all existing data in the selected value. Use the Advanced option to select individual

targets for this operation.

Services

ControlUp’s Services Dashboard

The Services Dashboard is an advanced utility that enables controlling Windows services on a

remote machine or on multiple machines simultaneously.

If you select multiple machines and launch the Services Dashboard, you will be presented with

an aggregated view of the services from all of the selected machines.

If you select multiple user sessions and launch the Services Dashboard, you will be presented

with an aggregated view of the services from all of the selected sessions.

The system services can then be browsed in a way similar to the standard Windows Services

console. In order to emphasize the differences between the services configurations of different

machines or users, the Services Dashboard uses the following color coded icons:

Icon Meaning

Service exists in all of the target machine/user hives

Service exists in some of the target machine/user hives

Service exists in one of the target machine/user hives

Some of the service’s properties differ on the target machine/user hives

In the Comparison Charts area on the right side of the Services Dashboard you can view the

details of the differences listed above, for example the state of the selected services on the

target machines.

Adding operation targets

You can add targets to ControlUp Services Dashboard using the “Add MAchines” button in the

menu bar. You can only add machines that are currently connected to ControlUp.

Removing operation targets

In order to remove a machine from the dashboard view, right-click the computer in the

“Machines” panel and select “Remove”.

Managing Services Dashboard Views

Services Dashboard is capable of displaying multiple comparison views. Using the File menu, you

can create multiple views and save them to disk for later inspection.

Search Services

Services Dashboard allows searching the selected machine/s for services with a specified name

by using the Search button in the toolbar.

Services Actions

Start Service

Starts the selected service/s on the target machine/s.

Stop Service

Stops the selected service/s on the target machine/s.

Pause Service

Pauses the selected service/s on the target machine/s.

Edit Service Properties

Enables batch modification of service/s properties on the target machines. Using this action, you

can modify the start type and logon information for a service or multiple services at once on

multiple machines.

Terminal Services (machines action category)

Send Message

This action allows administrators to send a plain text message to all the users on the selected

target machine/s.

Send Super Message

This action allows administrators to send an enhanced message to all the users on the selected

target machine/s. This action can be useful when conveying an important message to the end

users and gathering the users’ feedback (for example when testing a recent software fix). The

message can be configured:

1. To include rich-text formatting and graphics

2. To close the message automatically when a configured timeout has elapsed

3. To stay on top of all other user’s windows

4. Not to allow the user to close the message window

5. To allow the user to respond to the message:

a. By using pre-configured buttons (such as Yes;No or OK;Cancel)

b. By using free text

If the user response option is enabled, a window will open displaying all of the users’ feedback

gathered by the Super Message.

Machines View Column Reference

The following information columns are available in the Information Grid while using the

Machines View.

Column Name Explanation

Name Computer name

Status ControlUp agent connection status

Operating System Operating system version

System Type Bitness (32 / 64 bit) of the operating system

CPU Count Number of CPUs

Memory Amount of physical RAM

User Sessions Number of user sessions on the machine, not including the system and services sessions

CPU Processor utilization percentage

Memory Utilization Memory utilization percentage

Disk Queue Average disk queue length for all physical disks

Min Free Space Drive Amount of free space available on most occupied fixed drive

Domain DNS DNS suffix of the computer

Domain Role Role of the computer in the domain

OS Service Pack Operating system service pack version

Organization Name of the ControlUp organization the computer belongs to

Sessions Total number of sessions (including system and services)

Processes Total number of running processes on the machine

Install Date Date on which the Operating System was installed

Last Boot Date and time of the last system boot

Manufacturer Hardware manufacturer of the system

Model Hardware model of the system

Windows Directory Value of the %WINDIR% environment variable

Page Faults/sec Number of system page faults per second

Error Rate Marginal rate of error events in the system logs

Warning Rate Marginal rate of warning events in the system logs

IP Addresses List of all IP addresses currently configured on the machine

Active Sessions Number of sessions in the “Active” state

Disconnected Sessions Number of sessions in the “Disconnected” state

Max Free Space Drive Amount of free space available on least occupied fixed drive

Sessions View

The Sessions view is designed to display and manipulate user connections on your network.

The following types of sessions can be displayed by ControlUp:

1. Local console sessions (users working physically at the computer)

2. Remote console sessions (RDP connections to the console of the computer)

3. Terminal Server connections (Sessions established using RDP on a Terminal / Remote

Desktop Services host)

4. Citrix ICA sessions on XenApp / Presentation Server machines

5. Citrix ICA sessions on XenDesktop VDI stations

6. System and Services sessions (not displayed by default – use the “Show System Sessions

slider on the ribbon bar to change the default behavior)

When you switch to the Sessions view using the Sessions button on the Ribbon Bar, the

Information Grid will display all of the established user sessions on all of the machines you are

currently connected to.

You can also switch to the Sessions view by double-clicking a computer’s row in the Information

Grid of the Machines view. In this case, the Information Grid will display only the user sessions

established on the machine you selected.

Sessions Actions

These actions are available when selecting a session or a group of sessions. The actions can be

invoked using either the Ribbon Bar “Machine Actions” tab or the context menu (right-click).

Chat

With ControlUp, you can open a text chat session with any user currently logged on in your

system. Both you and the end user will be presented with a chat window and the chat session

will continue until terminated by closing the window.

Get Session Screenshot

This action allows you to get a quick screenshot of the user’s activity for support or

troubleshooting purposes. The selected session has to be active and unlocked for this operation

to complete successfully. This operation can be performed in the following modes:

1. User approval – the end user/s will be presented with a warning message asking for

approval of the administrator’s attempt to receive a screenshot of the user’s current

activity.

2. User notification - the end user/s will be presented with a warning message stating that

the administrator has requested to receive a screenshot of the user’s current activity.

No user approval is needed.

3. No notification – the end user/s will not be notified of the action.

Note: Please respect the regulations effective in your region and/or organization in

regard to the users’ privacy. From privacy standpoint, it is always best to request the

users’ permission before requesting a screenshot of their activity. If your user

environment involves sensitive or classified activity, it is recommended that you

contact ControlUp Support and we will assist you with configuring the screenshot

action in a way that will always require user approval.

Remote Assistance

ControlUp can be used to establish Remote Assistance sessions for support and troubleshooting

purposes. Upon first use of this action, you will be required to configure a password for the

remote assistance invitation.

During connection attempt, the end user will receive a confirmation dialog box requesting

permission for you to connect to the assistance session. Please keep in mind that this action

utilizes the built-in Windows Remote Assistance capabilities, which should be enabled on the

target machine. If the Remote Assistance is blocked by policy or is not installed as a feature,

ControlUp is capable of enabling / installing it remotely with your approval.

Note: A known issue exists when establishing Remote Assistance sessions on Windows

XP and Windows Server 2003 computers that were cloned without using the Microsoft

Sysprep utility. If your Remote Assistance request fails, please verify that the Sysprep

utility has been executed after cloning / imaging the target system.

Files (sessions actions category)

Actions in this category allow you to manipulate files and folders using the selected user

session/s. This can be useful for testing a file operation exactly as the user would perform it in

order to re-create a potential issue reported by the user (for example, the inability to copy files

to a network drive). Also, these actions can be used to manipulate files in user-specific locations

as defined by environment variables (such as %TEMP%, %USERPROFILE%, etc.).

Actions in this section are similar to the Files actions in the Machines view, with two major

differences:

1. All session File actions are carried out in the context of the selected session/s, which

means that the paths and filenames you provide must be valid in the target session.

Please keep in mind the values of environment variables, network drive mappings and

other user-specific configurations when performing these actions.

2. All session Files actions are performed using the end user’s account on the target

machine and are subject to the user’s access permissions to the source and destination

locations.

Delete Files / Folder

This action deletes files on the selected machine/s using the selected user session/s. Provide a

file name or a wildcard expression that would normally be interpreted using the command-line

(such as *.tmp).

Copy Files / Folder

This action performs an advanced copy operation using the specified source and destination

locations. Both locations may be accessible from the target machine/s by the user account of

the selected session/s.

For example, when running ControlUp console on a machine named ADMINPC, you would like

to copy the application icons from a network share called AppShortcuts on your computer - to

the users’ desktops. In order to accomplish this, provide \\ADMINPC\AppShortcuts\*.lnk as

your source path and %USERPROFILE%\Desktop as your destination path. The copy operation

will succeed if the target user/s have read permissions to the source folder and write

permissions to the destination folder. Alternative credentials may be used in case permissions

issues are preventing file access.

Rename File / Folder

Using this action, you can rename a file or folder on the remote machine/s using the logged-on

user’s environment and credentials. This can be useful when managing file versions, patching

software or manually rotating log files.

Group Policy (sessions actions category)

Refresh User Group Policy

This action triggers a Group Policy update on the remote user session using Windows built-in

GPUPDATE utility with /Target:User parameter. You can manipulate the “Force” and “Timeout”

parameters using the action window.

Kill User Group Policy

This action removes any group policy restrictions applied to the target user/s environment, such

as start menu restrictions, blocked locations in Windows Explorer, etc. This can be useful during

support sessions in order to allow a user to perform actions normally blocked by Group Policy.

When this action is performed, the user’s shell (explorer.exe) is restarted, the user therefore will

experience a brief disappearance of the Start Manu and taskbar as well as the closing of any

open Windows Explorer windows.

Reapply User Group Policy

Reapplies the Group Policy restrictions previously removed by the “Kill User Group Policy”

action. The user shell will be restarted again when this action is performed.

Processes (sessions actions category)

Run Process in Session

This action allows you to launch a process inside the selected user/s session/s. You can run any

executable that is accessible by the user/s on the target machine/s. If using a command-line

expression or a batch file, please prepend “cmd.exe /c ” to your command.

This action will work correctly only if the target end user/s has appropriate permissions to

launch the selected process.

Note – processes started using ”Run Process” action are executed interactively inside

the user’s session, so all command output and launched windows will be visible to the

user. In order to launch system-level tasks that will be invisible to the user, use the

“Run As” command in the Machines view.

Registry (sessions actions category)

Registry Dashboard

When invoked from the Sessions view, the Registry Dashboard enables viewing and editing the

HKEY_CURRENT_USER registry hive/s corresponding to the selected user session/s. For more

information about the Registry Dashboard, please see the Machines View chapter.

Registry Actions

When invoked from the Sessions view, the Registry actions are limited to the

HKEY_CURRENT_USER registry hive/s corresponding to the selected user session/s. All registry

operations are performed using the target computer’s Local System account.

Terminal Services (sessions actions category)

Disconnect Session

This action Issues a disconnect command for the selected session/s. The session/s will then be

handled according to your Terminal Services configuration and Group Policy (left disconnected

or logged off after a timeout). The end user is not notified of this action.

Log Off Session

This action invokes a log off process for the selected session/s, closing all currently open

programs. The end user is not notified of this action.

Shadow Session

Using this action, you can establish a remote control session that will allow you to view the

activity and collaborate with the target user. This is achieved using the session shadowing

mechanism, which needs to be enabled on the target terminal servers. In order to shadow Citrix

ICA sessions, the Citrix Online Plugin needs to be installed on the computer on which you are

running ControlUp console.

Note: When shadowing a user session on a terminal server, a new session will be

opened for you on that server. This session will log off automatically when the session

shadowing is finished.

Note: Various issues not related to ControlUp may prevent your session shadowing

from working correctly. Please see the Troubleshooting chapter in this document to

check for possible resolutions.

For information on the following actions, see the Machines view chapter in this document.

When invoked using the Sessions view, the following actions are performed on the selected

sessions only:

Send Message

Send Super Message

Sessions View Column Reference

The following information columns are available in the Information Grid while using the Sessions

View.


ID Session ID number

Session name Session name (protocol, number)

User User name of the session’s owner

State Current state of the session (active, disconnected, etc.)

Connect Time Time of session’s last switch to the “Active” state

Disconnect time Time of session’s last switch to the “Disconnected” state

Idle Time Time elapsed since last user input was received in session

Logon Time Time of session establishment

Processes Number of processes currently running in this session

Client IP IP address of computer from which the session was initiated

Client Name Name of computer from which the session was initiated

Machine Name of computer hosting the session

Initial Program Name of the published application used in the session (if appl.)

CPU Percentage of CPU consumed by this session

Page Faults/sec Number of Page Faults per second in this session

Memory (Private Bytes) Non-sharable memory committed to processes in session

Memory (Working Set) Total Working Set of processes in this session

Note: Advanced display settings for each column are controlled using the

ControlUp.xml file located in the Application Data\Controlup directory of your user

profile. Please see the “Customizing column display settings in the Information Grid”

section in this document to learn how to adjust the column display settings to the

needs of your environment.

Processes View

The Processes view provides a display of active Windows processes and their performance data.

Depending on your administrative needs, you can access this view using the following methods:

1. If you would like to receive an aggregated display of all processes running on all your

connected machines, click the Processes button on the ribbon bar.

2. If you would like to display processes running on a specific machine, switch to the

Machines view, double-click on that machine’s row in and select the Processes tab that

appears on top of the Information Grid.

3. If you would like to display processes running on a group of machines, arrange these

machines in a folder, right-click the folder and select “Focus” and then click on the

Processes button on the ribbon bar.

4. If you would like to display processes running in a specific session, double-click on that

session’s row in the Information Grid.

Note: The aggregated processes view (accessed through the ribbon bar) contains the

largest amount of information in ControlUp. For a thousand user sessions, this view

may display 20 to 50 thousand process instances. Although ControlUp console is

designed to handle much greater amounts of instances, your computer’s performance

limitations may become apparent while working in the Processes view. For more

information, please see the Console System Requirements chapter in this document.

Processes actions

Get Session Screenshot

This action is described above in the Sessions view chapter. When invoked using the Processes

view, this action is performed on the parent user session that contains the selected process/es.

Please bear in mind that the selected process does not necessarily have a window in the user

session, and if it does, that window may not necessarily be in the foreground of the user’s

workspace.

Go To > Session

This action switches the console to the Sessions view.

Processes > End Process

This action sends the process a graceful shutdown command. The program will then exit using

its standard exit mechanism (for example, will ask the user to save open documents).

Processes > Kill Process

This action performs a forced termination of the process. Data may be lost when using this

action.

Processes > PsKill Process

This action performs a forced termination of the process using Sysinternals PSkill. The PS Tools

suite is accessed automatically online and downloaded to your computer.

Processes View Column Reference


Processes View.


Name Process image name

PID Process ID number

Session ID Parent session ID number

User User name of the account used to launch the process

Machine Name of computer running the process

Start Time Time process started

Exit Code Exit code of process Displayed briefly after process is terminated Exit Time Time of process termination

Created Time Process executable creation time (as recorded in the file system)

Modified Time Process executable modification time (as recorded in the file system)

Priority CPU priority of the process

Description Executable file description

Exe size (KB) Size on disk of the executable file

Command Line Command used to launch the process, including arguments

Company Name of executable’s publisher

Exe name Full path and name of executable

Product name Product name as recorded in executable’s properties

Product version Product version as recorded in executable’s properties

Exe version Executable version as recorded in executable’s properties

CPU CPU percentage consumed by process

Page Faults/sec Page Faults per second consumed by process

Memory (Private Bytes) Amount of non-sharable memory allocated to process

Memory (Working Set) Process’s memory working set






Accounts View

The Accounts view is an aggregation of all Windows user accounts currently in use in your

network. It allows for comparison and analysis of resources utilized by different users. For

example, the following questions can be answered quickly using the Accounts view:

- How many sessions does user X have on all of the computers in the network?

- Which user consumes the most memory resources in the network?

- Which processes are currently run by service account X?

Every row in the Account view is an aggregation of all the sessions established by a user account

on all of the connected computers. It is possible to zoom in and display the individual sessions

by double-clicking an account’s row.

The ribbon bar and the context menu in the Accounts view provide access to the following

actions described above in the Sessions view chapter of this document:

Group Policy > Kill User Group Policy

Group Policy > Reapply User Group Policy

Registry Dashboard

Terminal Services > Disconnect Session

Terminal Services > Log Off Session

Terminal Services > Send Super Message

Terminal Services > Send Message

When invoked using the Accounts view, the above actions are performed on all of the

sessions established by the selected user account and therefore should be used with

extreme care.

Accounts View Column Reference


Accounts View.


Name User account name

CPU Average percentage of CPU consumed by user on all machines on which at least one process in owned by this user

Page Faults/sec Total Page Faults / sec consumed by this user account on all machines

Memory (Private Bytes) Total non-sharable memory consumed by this user account on all machines

Machines Total number of machines on which the user account is currently running processes

Processes Total number of processes launched by this user account






Executables View

The Executables view is an aggregation of all Windows processes currently in use in your

network. It allows for comparison and analysis of resources utilized by different programs. For

example, the following questions can be answered quickly using ControlUp Executables view:

- How many instances of Excel run on all of the computers in the network?

- Which program consumes the most CPU resources in the network?

- Who is running an unauthorized file sharing application on the network?

Every row in the Executables view is an aggregation of all the process instances with the same

name currently active on all connected computers. It is possible to zoom in and display

individual process instances by double-clicking an executable’s row.

No actions are currently supported from the Executables view. You can perform the standard

Processes view actions by zooming into the process level using a double-click on an executable’s

row.

Executables View Column Reference


Executables View.


Name Process image name

CPU Average percentage of CPU consumed by this executable on all machines on which it is currently launched

Page Faults/sec Total Page Faults / sec consumed by this executable on all machines

Memory (Private Bytes) Total non-sharable memory consumed by this executable on all machines

Memory (Working Set) Total memory working set consumed by this executable on all machines

Machines Total number of machines on which this executable is currently running

Processes Total number of processes with this image name on all managed machines

Avg Memory per Process Average RAM consumed by processes with this image name on all managed machines

Maximum Memory per Process

Maximum RAM consumed by a process with this image name on all managed machines

Minimum Memory per Process

Minimum RAM consumed by a process with this image name on all managed machines






Remote Desktop Pane

The Remote Desktop pane of ControlUp serves as a remote connections manager, using the

same folder hierarchy you have created in the Computers pane.

Configuring Remote Desktop Connections

By default, the Remote Desktop pane contains an RDP connection object for every computer

you have connected to using the Computers pane. New connections can be added by right-

clicking a folder and selecting “Add > RDP Connection” or by using the “Add Machine” button on

the ribbon bar.

Note: Every connected computer in the Computers pane has a corresponding RDP

connection object in the Remote Desktop pane. The opposite, however, is not

necessarily true. When an RDP connection is created manually in the Remote Desktop

pane, no changes are made to the Computers pane. Therefore, you should manually

create RDP connections if you don’t want (or cannot) connect to these computers

using ControlUp. You can also create several connections to the same computer (e.g.

with different credentials) using the Remote Desktop pane.

These connection objects are configurable in a similar way as Microsoft Remote Desktop

Connection (mstsc.exe) are. By default, all RDP connections in this pane inherit their settings

from their parent folder. Therefore, if you configure and save your connection credentials in the

properties of the Root Folder of the hierarchy, you will be able to establish all of the child RDP

connections without entering your password again.

When established, every RDP connection opens a new tab in the Remote Desktop pane. You can

switch between these tabs and close them to disconnect active sessions.

Actions Pane

The Actions pane provides a display of all the actions performed in the console since the

beginning of the current session. It is useful for tracking progress of actions that take a long time

to complete or that are performed on a large amount of target objects. Every action that was

actively performed using the Computers pane is recorded, along with the following details:

- Action parameters (such as source and destination file names in a copy operation)

- Action target objects (machine names, sessions or process IDs)

- The action’s progress (0% - 100%)

- The result of the action on each target object

- Error details (if available)

Every action includes a “Rerun” option, which enables you to replay the stored actions with the

same parameters and on the same targets.

Events Pane

The Events pane provides a real-time aggregation display of selected events from your

connected computers’ Windows System, Application and Security event logs. The following

event types can be collected:

1. Error events

2. Warning events

3. Failure Audit events

Events are conserved in the Events pane for a retention period that can be configured in the

ribbon bar. (Default event retention period is set to 60 minutes).

Using the Filter button, you can configure parameters according to which the events will be

displayed. The following filtering methods are available:

- Filter rules. By configuring a filter rule, you are setting a condition which, if matched,

will cause the event to be ignored. For example, setting a rule with “Event ID=33”

will drop all future events with the ID number of 33 from the console.

- Event levels. You can choose to ignore errors, warnings and/or audit failure events.

By default, only error events are displayed.

- Frequent Events Filter. ControlUp can be configured to ignore events that appear

repeatedly for a configured amount of times during the event retention period. The

default value is 100, so by default an event that appears a hundred times within the

hour will fall under the “Frequent Events Filter” category and will no longer be

reported.

Note: The above filtering mechanisms only affect future events. In order to remove unneeded

events from the view, use the Clear or Clear All buttons on the ribbon bar.

Settings Pane (advanced)

The Settings pane is used for gathering performance statistics, performing advanced

configurations and tweaking ControlUp settings. These configurations require in-depth

understanding of Windows performance metrics and of ControlUp’s internal

architecture. Modifying these configurations incorrectly may lead to performance

overloads, display of outdated information and stability issues. Changes to these

settings will not be supported unless explicitly advised by ControlUp’s product

engineers.

The Settings pane is not displayed by default. In order to display it, click on the expansion arrows

on the bottom of the panes menu:

Select “Add or Remove Buttons” and check the “Settings” option.

Performance Activity and Statistics

ControlUp includes a Performance Activity monitor that allows for advanced inspection of the

information flow from the agents to the console. Using the monitor, you can analyze the

distribution of performance data in the updates sent by ControlUp agents on your connected

machines.

Counters

This area displays the various performance counters collected from ControlUp agents during the

current ControlUp session. If your console performance seems slow and / or if the agents seem

to consume too much network bandwidth, you can use this table to find out which counters

account for the most update notifications from the agents. These counters will appear with

higher numbers of updates and higher “Relative Share” values.

Activity Queue

This area shows the distribution of processing power consumed by the console while processing

the updates received from the agents. The queue utilization graph displays the current queue

utilization level, which should be close to 0. The operations in the table with the highest

numbers of executions and average execution time are the ones accounting for the most

processing load.

Machines

This area shows the distribution of updates received from the individual machine agents. High

average values mean that the corresponding data sources (sessions or processes) are triggering

frequent updates.

Agent Settings

In this tab you will find the settings utilized by ControlUp agents to transmit the data and the

settings used by the console to process the data received from the agents. The client side

intervals determine the frequency of updates sent to the console and the server side settings

determine the frequency of statistical calculations performed upon this information.

Configuring Remote Control Settings

On this tab, you can change the following settings:

1. Remote Assistance Password – the password used automatically to create Remote

Assistance invitations

2. ICA Template File – this file is used when shadowing an ICA session on Citrix XenApp

servers or XenDesktop VDI stations. Please consult Citrix website for detailed ICA file

syntax documentation before editing this file.

Configuring Custom Instructions

This setting is experimental and currently out of the scope of this document.

Customizing column display settings in the Information Grid

(advanced)

Note: Features described in this section are only activated starting ControlUp version

1.1.3.98. Please download an updated version of ControlUp if you are using an earlier

release.

The Information Grid in ControlUp console displays a wealth of data collected from your servers and workstations. The list of displayed counters is constantly growing, while ControlUp’s development team enhances the ability of ControlUp to gather more and more vital pieces of system information and performance data. The Grid’s columns are based upon various valued retrieved from the machines. Some of these values are static and are rarely changed (e.g. Machine Name or Operating System), while others are updated constantly with real-time performance or diagnostics data (e.g. Disk Queue Length or Pages / sec). More than a few experienced ControlUp users expressed the need to be able to customize the way in which the columns are displayed in the Information Grid. The requested customizations include: - Modifying the critical values for counters (e.g. change the CPU utilization graph’s color to

red when its value reaches 90%, instead of the default 90%) - Changing the statistical interpretation of information received from the systems (e.g.

display the current value instead of a historical average for Disk Queue). - Adjusting the display settings of the columns (e.g. switch graph/bar view, change graph

dimensions) These adjustments require editing the ControlUp.xml file which serves as a base for all user configurations and personal settings for ControlUp. Please note that incorrect changes to the XML file may render your ControlUp user personal configurations unusable. Please back up the ControlUp.xml file before editing it. In order to modify the display settings for a column, perform the following actions:

1. Make sure ControlUp console is closed. 2. Locate your ControlUp settings file. Your ControlUp.xml file is located in the

“Application Data”\ControlUp directory of your user profile. 3. Make a backup copy of the ControlUp.xml file. 4. Open ControlUp.xml with a text editor.

notepad %appdata%\ControlUp\ControlUp.xml

5. Scroll to the <CounterLimits> section. Each group in this section provides configuration information necessary to display the columns in the Information Grid. This is an example of the configurations used by the “CPU” column in the processes view:

XML Configuration Explanation

<ProcCPU> The column code, in this case “CPU” in the Processes view

<MidValue>15</MidValue> If severity value is more than this value, and less than the High value, the graph / bar is yellow

<HighValue>50</HighValue> If severity value is more than this value, then the graph / bar is red

<GraphType>Graph</GraphType> The graphic representation of the data, could be either Graph or Bar

<MinScale>10</MinScale> Graphs and Bars needs a minimum value for the upper scale. For example counter of Machine error rate, where the rate value did not exceed 0, will show Y axis with minimal length of 10.

<MaxScale>-17</MaxScale> Same semantics as Min scale, can be set to explicit (with a numeric value) or implicit, regarding to the counter properties.

<DisplayBy>CurrentValue</DisplayBy> Determines the value which will be displayed in the grid – current (“CurrentValue”) or historic average (“AvarageInHistory”)

<SeverityBy>AvarageInHistory</SeverityBy> Similar to “DisplayBy”, determines the value used to compute the counter’s severity. For example, the column may be configured to turn red only when its historical average value is above the threshold.

<NumberFormat>#0.##\%</NumberFormat> The format string the number should be presented. Default value : #0.##. Information on formats can be seen here. Special value :’Bytes’ – will show value as memory size (MB, GB KB and so on)

</ProcCPU> End of a specific column’s configuration

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/0c899ak8.aspx

Here are a few customized configurations with explanations:

1. In a given environment, the CPU usage for a user session is considered high if it rises

above 10% and medium if it rises above 5%. The following modifications to the

<SessionCPU> section should be performed:

<MidValue>5</MidValue>

<HighValue>10</HighValue>

2. The “Page Faults/Sec” column in the Machines View shows the average value computed

from the most recent data received by the console. The following configuration in the

<MachinePFPerSec> section will switch this column’s display to the counter’s current

value, thus making it more sensitive to instant changes:

<DisplayBy>CurrentValue</DisplayBy>

<SeverityBy>CurrentValue</SeverityBy>

3. The “Memory Usage” column in the Sessions View is displayed as a vertical bar by

default. The following change to the <SessionPrivateMemory> section will switch this

column to the “Graph” display mode:

<GraphType>Graph</GraphType>

Troubleshooting

This section contains solutions to some of the issues that may occur while using ControlUp.

Typically, the causes for these issues lay outside of ControlUp and are infrastructure-related.

Resolutions involve reconfigurations of your operating systems or installation of updates and

hotfixes.

Please contact us if you encounter an issue that is not listed here, or if the suggestions provided

in this chapter do not resolve it.

Troubleshooting Connections to Managed Computers Here’s a quick checklist for successfully adding a managed computer to the console:

- The managed computer’s name, as appears in Active Directory, should be resolvable

to a valid IP address. A name resolution failure is indicated by the following error

message: “No such host is known”.

- The computer’s operating system should be fully started, including the RPC services.

If the boot process has not completed, “There is no RPC access” error message will

be displayed.

- The connection requires RPC access, which can be quickly tested by connecting to

the administrative shares of the target computer, for example by entering

\\computername\Admin$ in the “Start > Run” menu of your computer.

- The computer’s firewall should not be blocking incoming connections to RPC ports

- At least Microsoft .Net Framework 3.0 is correctly installed (3.5 SP1 recommended)

- Your domain account has full administrative privileges on the target computer. If

using User Account Control, make sure you start ControlUp as an administrator.

Session shadowing cannot be established The “Session Remote Control” or “Session Shadowing” action may fail in any of the following

cases:

1. The “Allow users to start both listed and unlisted programs on initial connection” setting

is not selected in RemoteApp configuration on your terminal server/s.

2. The “Run initial program specified by user” setting is not selected setting on the

Environment tab of RDP properties in Terminal Services Configuration.

3. The “Always Show Desktop on Connection” setting in Group Policy is enabled.

4. In Citrix XenApp environments, the “Launching of non-published programs during client

connection” in XenApp user policies is not enabled.

5. When executing Remote Control on Citrix ICA sessions, the Citrix Online Plugin is not

installed on the computer on which you are running ControlUp console.

CPU and Memory usage display zero values Known issues may cause Windows Performance counters to become inaccessible. If ControlUp

shows CPU and memory usage on your machines as zeroes, please check whether the

Performance utility (perfmon) correctly displays these counters. If not, please see

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/300956 for instructions for the counter rebuild process.

Remote Assistance sessions cannot be established With Windows XP, Remote Assistance session establishment may fail on computers that were

cloned without using the Microsoft Sysprep utility. Please run the Sysprep utility on these

computers and try using Remote Assistance again.

The Initial Program column is empty in a Citrix XenApp 6.0 Environment A known issue in Citrix XenApp 6.0 may prevent published application names from displaying

correctly. If the "Initial Program" column displays no data, please refer to

http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX128849 to download the Hotfix. (Please note it's a limited

release Hotfix that might require MyCitrix login)

Managed computers disconnect from the console after a network failure If a brief network failure occurs, your managed computers may lose their connections to the

console (icon color changes to black in the Navigation Tree). To prevent this, right-click the

computer/s or folders of choice and select “Keep Connected”. This way, ControlUp console will

maintain connections to these machines at all times and reconnect to their agents when

network connections are restored.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/300956

http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX128849

Contact Us You are welcome to contact Smart-X regarding your experience with ControlUp or any inquiries

you might have about our products. The following means of communication are available:

E-mail: [email protected]

Website: http://www.smart-x.com

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.smart-x.com/

Documents

Smart-X ControlUp · Getting Started User Account Creation and Activation In order to start using ControlUp, you will need an online User Account. This account is used by Smart-X