Product of the Day: Real World Linux - NetOp Remote Control for Linux
Product: NetOp Remote Control for LinuxManufacturer: CrossTec CorporationAddress: 500 NE Spanish River Boulevard, Suite 201 Boca Raton, Florida 33431Telephone: 800-675-0729E-Mail: services@CrossTecCorp.comURL: www.CrossTecCorp.com
NetOp Remote Control for Linux provides secure, cross-platform, remote control for remote access, enterprise support and network administration. NetOp for Linux offers fast remote control, file transfers, chat and more and includes both NetOp Guest and NetOp Host modules - so users can control PCs and servers running popular Linux operating systems such as Red Hat, or control PCs from a Linux machine. NetOp for Linux includes full cross-platform support for Linux, Sun Solaris, all Windows platforms including CE and even legacy DOS and OS/2 machines.
NetOp for Linux Benefits
Secure, cross-platform, support for your Linux, Sun Solaris, Windows and even legacy OS/2 or DOS systems.
Remote control a current Linux desktop session - NetOp does not create a new Linux desktop session making it ideal for support and training.
Fast file transfer functionality including NetOp's simple drag-and-drop screen, synchronization, delta file transfer and cloning
NetOp for Linux operates on in both TCP/IP (UDP) and TCP/IP (TCP) communication protocols.
Text chat lets you type messages to the remote PC user to ask questions and explain things.
Advanced security including local settings, encryption, logging, multiple passwords and more.
Graphical phonebook makes it easy to store info and settings about the remote Host PCs and connect to them with a single click.
Control Windows, Linux, Sun Solaris or any NetOp Hosts from the same NetOp Guest interface
Supports NetOp's optional Gateway Server, Name Server and Security Server which makes NetOp for Linux totally scalable for your enterprise administration needs.
How NetOp for Linux can help you support PCs & Servers NetOp is designed to help cut down travel time, and incident response times, from hours or days, to just minutes. NetOp enables users to support many more machines than could be done otherwise.
The way NetOp works is that support staff, or anyone wishing to access another PC or server, will run the NetOp Guest on their computer, and they can connect to a NetOp Host running on a distant machine giving them full control of the keyboard, video, and mouse no matter where that PC is located. The NetOp Guest program for Linux has been on the market since 2001, but until now there was no way to get control of a remote Linux desktop. With the introduction of the NetOp Host for Linux, it doesn't matter if the end user is on a Windows machine, Linux machine, or even a Solaris machine, (yes, NetOp has a Host for SUN Sparc boxes as well!), you can still control them. A typical use might be where Telnet or SSH won't work because you need a GUI interface to install or use a certain application such as Oracle, or Websphere.
Some of the other helpful features are the chat and file transfer features. Chat lets you have an instant message type chat session with a NetOp Host user. NetOp's file transfer utility lets you easily drag and drop files from Linux to Linux, Windows to Linux and Linux to Windows. NetOp also includes a handy Phonebook tab to help you connect to PCs without having to remember their settings. With the NetOp Guest, you simply set up a phonebook entry for machines you might regularly control, double click, and you are connected and remote controlling the machine. It is fast and easy!
Winner of PC Magazine's Editors' Choice Award, NetOp Remote Control is considered faster, more stable, and the fastest, most secure remote control solution on the market. NetOp was 1st created as a network support tool for a European stock market application running on DOS in the late 80s. In the early 90s NetOp added support for OS/2 and Windows. Most recently, besides support for Linux and Sun Solaris, NetOp has added a Windows CE module for PocketPC and a Symbian Guest for controlling PCs from other handhelds such as the Nokia communicator.
The NetOp Host for Linux is not as fast as the NetOp Host on a Windows platform due to its use of bitmapping instead of GDI hooking which Windows uses, but it is much faster and less resource-intensive than any other remote control solution. Another key difference between other remote tools is that NetOp lets you connect to the desktop session that is running, and does not start a new X Window session - basically enabling you to see what the user sees. Typically when you connect via an X-Window, whatever you are doing is dependent on your x-session, meaning if you disconnect, the process you are running stops. Again, with NetOp Host for Linux, you are connected to the actual desktop, so if you disconnect, the actual process continues to run. This can be particularly helpful if the Guest PC is in a non-secured area and you need to start a database process that might take several hours. With NetOp you could start an application, disconnect and then come back to it later without worrying what goes on with the PC in the interim.
Officially, NetOp only runs on Red Hat Linux, but it should also work on just about any other flavor of Linux. On the support website, www.netop.com/tech, there are installation instructions for SUSE Linux as well. The installation is very simple via Red Hat Package Manager, and there is also a TAR package available. CrossTec Corporation, the North American distributor of NetOp, provides a free full evaluation at www.crossteccorp.com , and also provides free pre and post sale tech support.
The following system requirements apply when installing this version of NetOp Remote Control on a computer using a Linux operating system:
Computer Intel 80486 processor or higher, or 100% compatible.
Memory 64 MB (128 MB recommended).
Video Any supported by Xfree86.
Disk space 30 MB.
Platform Red Hat 7.x or higher with Xfree86 server and kdm or gdm window manager, Desktop: kde or gnome.
Communications TCP/IP: As supported by the operating system.
Installation - two methods are available:
Red Hat Packet Manager from the rpm file.
Zipped tar from the tar.gz file.
email: potd@ssc.com
