We get so much great feedback from our customers, and as any software solution matures, it’s easy to lose track of the details of features and the reasons customers need them.
In the case of our Remote Desktop Canary, some key features in v2.0+ have made it the synthetic login monitoring workhorse that it is.
So, here’s a look at 5 key features that were first introduced with version 2.0:
1. Use OCR Event Detection To Alert To Error Conditions And Slow Application Load Times During Synthetic RDS Logins
Based on our customers’ wonderful feedback, we engineered an OCR event detection engine that scans screenshots during and after the RDP login sequence.
So besides that just being cool itself, what does it really do for you? This engine allows you to define and receive alerts when certain error messages appear on screen. This way, you can define and receive alerts if it takes too long for a program to start in a RDP session – due to profile problems, for instance.
2. RDP Connectivity Testing On Multiple Computers at Once
Remote Desktop Canary offers a “multi-server testing workflow,” whereby it will quickly check RDP responsiveness on a group of servers in Active Directory, or the servers participating in a RDS collection.
3. Bypass Windows Server Login Notification Banners
If your organization uses login notification banners to provide an acceptable use policy (AUP) or warning that users must acknowledge before signing on, Remote Desktop Canary can now bypass this easily with synthetic input. As a result, you can now test conditions beyond the login screen using Canary’s new OCR event detection engine.
4. Keep Remote Desktop Canary Up And Running 24/7 With the Remote Desktop Canary Kickstarter Applet
Remote Desktop Canary Kickstarter is a companion utility that ships with Remote Desktop Canary v2.0+. It “babysits” the actively running Remote Desktop Canary tests – by itself running on a different VM from the VM running Remote Desktop Canary.
As a result, it is able to make sure that Remote Desktop Canary tests stay running at all times, and function properly, even in scenarios like:
- When the Remote Desktop Canary system is rebooted, such as for routine maintenance or patch installation
- If the Remote Desktop Canary Logon Testing Module stops running for any reason
- When an active Remote Desktop connection to the Remote Desktop Canary system is interrupted, resulting in a disconnected session that would prevent synthetic input from properly bypassing login banners
And Number 5 . . . Toggle Workflows In and Out of Maintenance Mode
Part of what makes a good monitoring tool is how well you can juggle all of the tasks at hand.
Therefore, while Remote Desktop Canary is running continuous synthetic RDS login tests, you can toggle specific workflows in and out of maintenance mode with a single mouse click. When placed in maintenance mode, Remote Desktop Canary will suspend testing against that RDS collection or group of servers. This prevents alerts from being generated when you take server(s) offline for patching or other maintenance.
But That’s Not All . . .
This is all pretty powerful stuff as any admin can tell you, and we’re always updating and adding new features.
See what we’re up to now: Learn more about Remote Desktop Canary, including all of its features and how it is priced. Or, you can request a free 14-day trial of Remote Desktop Canary in your environment.
Updated: February 2023.
Leave a Reply