Distributed Networks

[dedzed]

Is there a way to install the Enterprise client that gives laptops and satelite office PC's the ability to communicate with the Enterprise server remotely?

Could I point a remote client via the .ini file to a port listening at "mydomain.com" which is in fact my Enteprise server in the DMZ?

Thanks in advance.

[MJohnson]

Thanks for contacting PC Tools.

Regarding your enquiry: Is there a way to install the Enterprise client so that it gives laptops and satelite office PC's the ability to communicate with the Enterprise server remotely?

Could I point a remote client via the .ini file to a port listening at "mydomain.com" which is in fact my Enteprise server in the DMZ?

You will be able to do that, but need to make sure:

The ports are open in the firewall (50555 – 50559)
We assume that the FQDN address of the SDE Server is not an external name so in order for the SDE Client to be able to connect to the SDE Server you will need to have an external address and then Network Address Translation in your firewall and then set the host file in the client computer to point to the external IP.

We will explain (2) in detail because it might seem complicated.

Lets say you have installed SDE Server on computer name xxx and let’s say that the DNS suffix is y.local. This means that the FQDN of the SDE Server is xxx.y.local

This is in most cases maps to an internal IP address.

If the laptop is outside of the DMZ it will try to connect to xxx.y.local (because it gets the name of the SDE Server from the server) which will not map to the correct address.

If you have a DMZ you will probably have an external IP address (lets say it is ex1.ex2.ex3.ex4). You will need to set an entry in the host file of the client like: xxx.y.local ex1.ex2.ex3.ex4

This way when the SDE Client on the laptop will try to communicate with xxx.y.local it will actually connect to IP ex1.ex2.ex3.ex4

The next stage would be to have a NAT rule in the firewall to map connection of ex1.ex2.ex3.ex4:505556-505559 to real IP address of xxx.y.local.

In the next version we will have a better support for clients outside of the DMZ (you will not need to set the host file in the client computer you will just have to add it to a specific group and configure this group's external IP to
ex1.ex2.ex3.ex4.

We hope this helps.

Kind regards,

Matt Johnson

Technical Support Representative
PC Tools Customer Support Services
______________________________
PC Tools - www.pctools.com

* The Online Support Site at www.pctools.com/contact/support/ offers answers to many customer questions and is a great source of knowledge for future questions.

[dedzed]

Thanks for your response. This should work. It definately would be better if this could be controlled through a configuration within the console. I look forward to this change.

NEW QUESTION:

Is there a way for these remote laptops and satelite office PC's to obtain their Smart Updates from a source other than the Enteprise server?

For example: I have a satelite office that I want to control centrally using the example from my first question "Distributed Networks" but I want this office to obtain it's Smart Updates form a local resource or from PCTools directly. I need this to prevent multiple PC's from all trying to download smart updates from my server via the internet.

Thank you for your prompt responses.

[MJohnson]

Thank you for the reply.

SDE version 3.0.1 no longer provides the option for remote laptop users to obtain their Smart Updates from our web site. The laptops can only connect (via VPN) to your company’s network, where the SDE Server Console is installed to obtain the Smart Updates.

If the laptop users rarely or never connect to your company’s network, you may wish for them to have Spyware Doctor 'stand alone version' instead?

For more SDE information you can go to: http://www.pctools.com/spyware-doctor-enterprise/features/

Kind regards,

Matt Johnson

Technical Support Representative
PC Tools Customer Support Services
______________________________
PC Tools - www.pctools.com

* The Online Support Site at www.pctools.com/contact/support/ offers answers to many customer questions and is a great source of knowledge for future questions.