RDPSoft

Remote Desktop and Terminal Server Software

We Make RDS, XenApp & VDI Monitoring/Reporting Easy and Affordable
  • Products / Services
    • Not Sure Where To Start?
    • The Complete Monitoring and Management Bundle For RDS and AVD
    • RDS / AVD Monitoring & Reporting
      • Remote Desktop Commander Suite
    • RDS / AVD Management and RMM Tools
      • Remote Desktop Commander Lite (Free RDS/AVD Management Tool)
      • Remote Assistance RMM Tool + Delegation of Management for RDS/AVD Support Desk
    • RDS Synthetic Login Monitoring / Connection Time / Uptime Monitoring Tools
      • Remote Desktop Canary
    • Consulting and Professional Services
      • RDS Performance Audit
      • Custom Report Design Services
      • Training and Other Professional Services
  • Download
    • Lite: Free RDS/Citrix Session and Farm Manager
    • Lite With Premium Management Features
    • Suite: Installer and Release Notes
    • Remote Desktop Canary – Request a Demo/Trial
    • Request Upgrade To New Version
  • Buy
    • The Complete RDS/AVD Monitoring and Management Bundle Purchase Options
      • Start Monthly Subscription Now
      • Start Annual Subscription Now
    • Remote Desktop Commander Suite Purchase Options
      • Start Monthly Subscription Now
      • Start Annual Subscription Now
      • Buy Perpetual License(s)
    • Premium Management Features Purchase Options
      • Start Monthly Subscription Now
      • Start Annual Subscription Now
    • Remote Desktop Canary Purchase Options
      • Start Monthly Subscription Now
      • Start Annual Subscription Now
    • Buy Incident Based Support Packages
    • Pricing
  • Blog
  • Support
    • Contact Support / Submit Ticket
    • RDPSoft Knowledge Base
  • Contact
  • Partners

RDPSoft Remote Desktop Commander Suite Release Notes

The Remote Desktop Commander Suite (v. 6.5) Includes:

  • Remote Desktop Commander™ Client
  • Remote Desktop Commander™ Configuration Tool
  • Remote Desktop Reporter™ Agent Components
  • Service Provider Licensing Tracker™

Where Should I Install the Suite Components?

If possible, it is ideal to install the Remote Desktop Commander Suite to a separate VM or physical server that may or may not be running other network management software. To prevent conflict, it is recommended that this VM DOES NOT CONTAIN any existing SQL Server installations/instances. However, you can install the Remote Desktop Commander Suite directly to one of your existing RDS/XenApp servers if need be – just make sure to allow an additional 1 GB of available memory if installing a local instance of Microsoft SQL Server Express.


Supported Operating Systems:

Installation is supported on the following operating systems:

  • Windows Vista 32-bit/64-bit (SP1+)
  • Windows Server 2008 32-bit/64-bit (SP1+)
  • Windows Server 2008 R2 (All SP Levels)
  • Windows 7 32-bit/64-bit (All SP Levels)
  • Windows Server 2012
  • Windows Server 2012 R2
  • Windows 8 and Windows 8.1
  • Windows 10
  • Windows 10 Enterprise Multiuser for Azure Virtual Desktop
  • Windows 11
  • Windows 11 Enterprise Multiuser for Azure Virtual Desktop
  • Windows Server 2016
  • Windows Server 2019
  • Windows Server 2022

Please Watch – Remote Desktop Commander Suite Setup – Part 1

  • Expand the video above into full screen mode when watching.
  • Also, click the gear icon and make sure you watch it in HD quality.

This guided video discusses what version of SQL Server to use, how to create a dedicated service account, how to adjust Windows Firewall settings on monitored hosts, and how to install your licensing.

Having an issue getting Microsoft SQL Server Express, Microsoft SQL Server Standard, or Azure SQL deployed and linked to Remote Desktop Commander?  Use our SQL Server Setup Troubleshooter.

Please Watch – Remote Desktop Commander Suite Setup – Part 2

  • Expand the video above into full screen mode when watching.
  • Also, click the gear icon and make sure you watch it in HD quality.

This guided video discusses how to add RDS, Citrix, and AVD hosts and/or workstations for monitoring, and then verify that they are polling polling properly.  It also discusses the prerequisites required to monitor physical or virtualized Windows workstations and/or AVD hosts.

Please Watch – Remote Desktop Commander Suite Setup – Part 3

  • Expand the video above into full screen mode when watching.
  • Also, click the gear icon and make sure you watch it in HD quality.

This guided video discusses how to deploy the Remote Desktop Commander Agent Service on your session hosts / AVD hosts, and covers topics such as database space, features provided by the agent, agent service install options, and how to tune the agent service.

Please Watch If You Use RDS Infrastructure Role Servers (e.g. Gateways and Brokers) – Remote Desktop Commander Suite Setup – The Top Level Deployment Status Dashboard

  • Expand the video above into full screen mode when watching.
  • Also, click the gear icon and make sure you watch it in HD quality.

This guided video shows you how to monitor connection brokers, gateways, and session host collections using the Top Level Deployment Status Dashboard, which is the recommended default dashboard for monitoring full RDS deployments that utilize one or more infrastructure role servers.

Please Watch If You Own Both Remote Desktop Commander and Remote Desktop Canary – Remote Desktop Commander Suite Setup – Integrating Remote Desktop Canary with Remote Desktop Commander

  • Expand the video above into full screen mode when watching.
  • Also, click the gear icon and make sure you watch it in HD quality.

This guided video shows you how to connect Remote Desktop Commander to Remote Desktop Canary’s SQL database table, so that Remote Desktop Commander can display login test alerts and statistics, as well as provide reporting for Remote Desktop Canary.

Avoiding Common Pitfalls When Using SQL Server Express (Click to Expand This Section)

If you only have a handful of Terminal Servers, you may not already have a full version of SQL Server running on your network. If so, you can install SQL Server Express, or you can deploy a single database instance of Microsoft Azure SQL, with the most common instance sizes used by our clients being S1, S2, or S3.

If you deploy SQL Express locally, here are common “gotchas” that can prevent our setup program from successfully installing SQL Server Express.

MAKE SURE .NET FRAMEWORK VERSION 3.5 IS INSTALLED ON THE VM HOSTING SQL EXPRESS

You can verify this by loading Server Manager, choosing Add Roles and Features, and viewing the installed features on your server.  If the .NET Framework 3.5 Features are not installed, install them first.

Net Framework 3.5 Features

TURN OFF UAC (User Account Control)

Before starting our software’s installer, please either disable UAC for your administrator account, or log in with a built-in administrator account that has UAC disabled. If UAC is running, it can interfere with the SQL Server Express installation.

DO NOT INSTALL SQL EXPRESS ON A VM/COMPUTER WITH ANOTHER INSTANCE OF SQL SERVER EXPRESS ALREADY INSTALLED

Installing multiple instance of SQL Server Express (especially different year versions, like 2014 on 2008, etc) on a single VM raises the likelihood of an installation conflict. If at all possible, choose a VM with no prior installations of SQL Server Express. If this is unavoidable, consider purchasing our White Glove Remote Installation service so our technicians can work around potential SQL Server Express issues for you.

Hardware Requirements for Main Installation System (Click to Expand This Section)

  • CPU: 2 GHz or faster processor is recommended
  • RAM: 1GB+ recommended minimum
  • Available Disk Space: Between 1 and 15GBs free minimum, depending on configuration (see below)

Installing Remote Desktop Commander Suite with a Local SQL Server Express Instance requires 13 GBs of free disk space (for both SQL Server Express install and database creation). If you elect to use a remote installation of SQL Server elsewhere on your network, or use Azure SQL, this extra disk space is not required. Our setup program will prompt you at the outset regarding whether or not you need to use a local SQL Server Express instance, OR if you plan to use an existing remote SQL Server instance elsewhere.

If you do not yet have the .NET 4.0 Framework (Full) installed yet on your system, an additional 850MBs to 2GBs of free disk space will be required.

Also, if you wish to do session recording with the Remote Desktop Reporter agent, you will need to reserve anywhere from 10-50 additional GBs of storage space for recorded screenshot images, depending on how many days of retention you require.

Memory And CPU Requirements for Physical Desktops, Virtual Desktops, or Servers Where the Optional Remote Desktop Reporter Agent Is Installed (Click to Expand This Section)

  • Memory Use: 100MBs for the base Agent Service on RDS servers, XenApp servers, or VDIs / AVD hosts. For any users that need full screenshot recording (which necessitates deployment of an in-session helper process for our Agent), add an additional 30MBs per user in that category.
  • CPU Use: On average, in its standard configuration, our agent uses less than 1% of available CPU even on session hosts with greater than 30 concurrent users.

Permission Considerations and Firewall Rules (Click to Expand This Section)

You will need to be logged on with Administrator rights on the local machine when performing the installation.

If you are installing the software in a domain environment, the Remote Desktop Reporter service account should preferably be 1.) a Domain User account, that 2.) is a local Administrator on the machine where you installed Remote Desktop Commander, and 3.) is an Administrator on all systems that it will poll for RDP session information.

If you are installing the software in a workgroup environment, choose a common Administrator account present on all workgroup members (e.g. that has the same username/password).

When working within the Remote Desktop Commander Configuration Tool, make sure you are a local Administrator, and also hold Administrator privileges on the systems you will be managing/reporting against.

The following firewall exceptions are required so that our software can poll session host servers, Windows workstations/virtual desktops, and RD gateway servers properly:

  • Remote Service Management
  • Remote Event Log Management
  • Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI)
  • Also, the Remote Registry Service should be enabled

What is the Remote Desktop Commander Client? (Click to Expand This Section)

The Remote Desktop Commander Client is a separate program you can install (or publish as a RemoteApp) to be used by administrators, managers, and/or help desk staff.  It’s primary functions are to:

  • Allow you to prepare, schedule, and review reports on historical session data collected by the Remote Desktop Reporter Service,
  • Review historical Terminal Server user session performance (e.g. CPU, memory, UDP/TCP connections) collected by the Remote Desktop Reporter Agent and step through recorded user sessions, and
  • View performance dashboards to quickly assess the health of your RDS/AVD/Citrix systems in terms of CPU and memory load, seeing how each user session is impacting the server.
  • Perform active session and process management on Terminal Servers in your farm.
  • Perform shadowing and remote assistance functions to users with sessions in your RDS / AVD environment.

Please access the Remote Desktop Commander Client Guided Setup here, which will walk you through installing and configuring the client for other admins, managers, or help desk staff to use in your organization.

You can access the Remote Desktop Commander Client installer from the ClientInstaller subfolder under the main suite installation directory (e.g. C:\Program Files (x86)\RDPSoft\Remote Desktop Reporter). NOTE: It is installed by default on the main system where the full Remote Desktop Comander Suite is installed.

Do I Need To Deploy the Remote Desktop Reporter Agent On My Servers, Virtual Desktops, or Physical Desktops? (Click to Expand This Section)

Whether or not you need to deploy the Remote Desktop Reporter Agent on your systems is completely a function of a.) what metrics you wish to monitor and analyze, and b.) the server-based computing platforms (e.g. RDS, VDI, Physical Desktops) you utilize. We suggest you review our convenient Remote Desktop Reporter Feature Matrix Guide as it will quickly tell you which features require deployment of the agent components.

OK, So I Need to Deploy the Agent Components. How Do I Do That? (Click to Expand This Section)

Please review our comprehensive Remote Desktop Reporter Agent Deployment Guide. It covers all of the scenarios, such as deployment to Server-Based Computing platforms (e.g. RDS/XenApp), deployment to virtual desktop golden images (e.g. XenDesktop), or deployment to physical workstations. It also demonstrates how to configure Group Policy to associate different monitoring levels with different users.

Also, consider watching our comprehensive agent deployment demonstration video at our Youtube channel, as it covers many of the same topics featured in the Deployment Guide above.

If You Plan To Use The Service Provider License Tracker (Click to Expand This Section)

As the RDPSoft Service Provider License Tracker depends on usage data collected and stored by Remote Desktop Reporter, please configure Remote Desktop Commander first, and allow it to collect RDS and program usage information for several days before building reports with the SPL Tracker.

Remote Desktop Commander Installation Package

The Full Setup Build contains all product files and required prerequisites, including the .NET 4.0 Framework, optionally deployable SQL Server 2014 Express, and Windows Installer 4.5 (required by SQL Express).

Proceed to download page for direct links to all product builds.

  • Email
  • Google+
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Not Sure Where To Start?

In just a few moments, you can find the right fit of solutions and even services for your needs.

> Get Going Now.

Help Documents

Remote Desktop Commander
Help and Users Guide
Release Notes (ver 6.x)

Sign Up for Remote Desktop Tips and RDPSoft Updates

Blog Topic Categories

  • Azure RemoteApp
  • Azure Virtual Desktop
  • citrix edgesight
  • Citrix Edgesight Replacement
  • Citrix Shadowing
  • Cloud RDP Monitoring
  • Performance
  • RDP Disconnects
  • RDP Latency
  • RDP Login Time
  • RDP Login Tracking
  • RDP Logon Failure Tracking
  • RDP Logs
  • RDP Loss Rate
  • RDP Security
  • RDP Transmission Rate
  • RDS Infrastructure
  • RDS License Metering
  • RDS Licensing
  • Remote Desktop Bandwidth
  • Remote Desktop CPU
  • Remote Desktop Management
  • Remote Desktop Memory
  • Remote Desktop Memory Usage
  • Remote Desktop Monitoring
  • Remote Desktop Performance
  • Remote Desktop Protocol
  • Remote Desktop Reporting
  • Remote Desktop Security
  • Remote Desktop Services
  • Remote Desktop Services Free Tools
  • Remote Desktop Services Hotfix
  • Sensitive Data
  • Server 2012 TSAdmin Replacement
  • Shadow User
  • Software Releases
  • SPLA Reporting
  • Synthetic RDP
  • Telecommuting/Teleworking
  • Terminal Server Logging
  • Terminal Server Monitoring
  • Uncategorized
  • User Activity Monitoring
  • User Productivity
  • Windows 2008 Terminal Server
  • Windows Virtual Desktop
  • WVD Login Time
  • XenApp Monitoring
  • XenApp Reporting

Recent Posts

  • Remote Desktop Commander v6.5 Now Available!
  • AVD Monitoring: An Easy Step-By-Step Approach
  • Three Reasons Why You Need to Monitor CAP and RAP Failures On Your Remote Desktop Gateways
  • Remote Desktop Commander v6.0+ Highlights
  • Connection Broker Monitoring

From the RDPSoft Blog

  • Remote Desktop Commander v6.5 Now Available!
  • AVD Monitoring: An Easy Step-By-Step Approach
  • Three Reasons Why You Need to Monitor CAP and RAP Failures On Your Remote Desktop Gateways
  • Remote Desktop Commander v6.0+ Highlights
  • Connection Broker Monitoring
  • Email
  • Google+
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

We Do “Single Pane of Glass” Monitoring and Management for RDS

Top Level Deployment Dashboard

One of the biggest criticisms leveled against Microsoft's Remote Desktop Services as an end user computing (EUC) platform is its complete lack of integrated management and monitoring tools. … Learn more about our centralized RDS monitoring and management >

Reach Out

For fastest response, reach out via our sales and support contact forms.

Sales
US: 1-855-738-8457 x1
Outside the US: 1-702-749-4325 x1

Support
for Evaluators and Priority Support Customers
US: 1-855-738-8457 x2
Outside the US: 1-702-749-4325 x2

Copyright © 2013 - 2020 RDPSoft. All rights reserved. · RDPSoft is the sole authorized publisher and distributor of the following software titles: Remote Desktop Commander, Premium Management Features, Remote Desktop Canary · Sitemap