Greetings friends and current Remote Desktop Commander customers! We’ve just released Version 7 of our Remote Desktop Commander solution. This major release version introduces many new features- such as a brand new DEX (Digital Employee eXperience) dashboard, automated agent service deployments with WinRM, automatic enhanced user activity monitoring (screenshots and window caption recording without login scripts), new improved database management features, and much more.
A Quick Look at Remote Desktop Canary v3+
The Remote Desktop Canary Version 3 release represented a point of major overhaul in its evolution. Why? Here are a few of the key capabilities that came along and continue to make it such a powerful synthetic monitoring tool.
Remote Desktop Commander 3.9 Now Available
Greetings friends and current Remote Desktop Commander customers! We’ve just released Version 3.9 of Remote Desktop Commander, both the Lite and Suite editions, so we want to tell you what’s new under the hood in terms of features.
In this RDPSoft E-Newsletter:
New Remote Desktop Commander 3.9 Features
End of Year Discount for New Subscriptions!
Need RDS Consulting? Contact Our Friends at RDSGurus.com
RDC 3.9 Download and Upgrade Links
MSP? Have a Complex Network? Remote Desktop Commander Now Lets you Monitor and Manage Remote Desktop Session Hosts and Citrix XenApp Deployments in Untrusted Domains and Workgroups
This Feature Is Present In the Following Editions: Suite
Managed Service Providers know all too well the difficulty of managing systems in multi-tenant environments. Most MSPs isolate each of their clients in a separate domain, and if the client runs Remote Desktop Services or Citrix, the collection/farm is also bound to that domain. Previous versions of Remote Desktop Commander have required a separate deployment per AD forest. Now, in Version 3.9, we’ve made our software friendlier for MSPs. Version 3.9 supports the secure caching of user account credentials that can be used to authenticate against foreign domains.
Remote Desktop Commander administrators, after entering the appropriate credentials, can assign these credentials to RDS session hosts or Citrix servers they need to monitor or actively manage. This allows them to stand up considerably fewer deployments of our Remote Desktop Commander solution, reducing licensing costs associated with Microsoft SQL Server, as well as lowering administrative overhead. Provided that the different client domains are located on the same physical network (or common virtual network/VLAN), and provided there are rules that permit normal Windows network traffic in the datacenter (e.g. Kerberos, Dynamic RPC, etc), our software can authenticate across domains to bring the information from multiple clients into a single database. Similarly, the Farms/Collections of all clients can be managed in one area using the Remote Desktop Commander Client.
Improved Discovery of RDS Collections / Remote Desktop Session Hosts
This Feature Is Present In the Following Editions: Suite
Formerly, the Remote Desktop Commander Configuration Tool required you to add the names of Remote Desktop Session Hosts by hand. Now, if your RDS deployment has a server running the connection broker role, you can enter in the name of the connection broker server, and quickly import your RDSH systems for monitoring.
As described above, Remote Desktop Commander 3.9 allows you to provide alternate credentials for authenticating against foreign, non-trusting domains. You can also use alternate credentials to authenticate against connection brokers in other domains, in order to both monitor and manage those session hosts throughout the programs in the Remote Desktop Commander Suite.
Collect SPLA Usage Data From Untrusting Domains, Plus Filter Reports By Domain In Version 3.9 of the SPL Tracker Module
This Feature Is Present In the Following Editions: Suite
Previously, in order to obtain SPLA usage data for SPLA reporting, we required our MSP customers to stand up an instance of Remote Desktop Commander with the SPL Tracker in each of their client domains. Now, if alternate credentials are defined in the Remote Desktop Commander Configuration Tool, our SPL Tracker tool will also use them automatically to authenticate against foreign domains. And, you can now easily create multiple SPLA license usage classes per domain, by setting up domain filters and using the new Clone feature to duplicate existing license usage classes.
Improved Agent Service Performance and Dashboard
This Feature Is Present In the Following Editions: Suite
In Remote Desktop Commander 3.9, we’ve optimized our Agent service to where it operates faster and can handle a higher volume of monitored objects, such as on Remote Desktop Session Hosts that have tens of thousands of open UDP/TCP connections. We’ve also expanded our Performance Across the Farm Dashboard, so that even if you have not deployed the Agent service to your session hosts, you can still at least see current CPU and memory consumption on each session host.
Retention of Shadowing Preferences
This Feature Is Present In the Following Editions: Suite and Lite (Free)
Several of our customers requested that we add a feature to make Remote Desktop Commander “remember” the shadowing options preferences for the help desk user or administrator. That feature is now present in Version 3.9 and is a great time saver.
Import/Export of Remote Desktop Commander Client Preferences
This Feature Is Present In the Following Editions: Suite and Lite (Free)
Do you have lots of help desk personnel and admins in your organization who need to manage RDS sessions, or access the detailed reporting found in the Remote Desktop Commander Suite? If so, now replicating configuration settings across multiple users is easy. Simply configure one instance of the client as needed, and then export those settings to a dat file. Other users can then import that Preferences file into their instance of Remote Desktop Commander to obtain the same master settings.
Now Through the End of December 2016 – $2 Off Your $9 Per Month Subscription for 3 Months!
Use coupon code RDCDEC16 when you start a new Remote Desktop Commander Suite Monthly Server subscription. Doing so will reduce the monthly per server licensing cost to only $7 per server for the next 3 months. To start your monthly subscription, click here.
Is Your Remote Desktop Services Deployment Giving You Tons Of Challenges? Look No Further Than the Experts at RDSGurus.com
As you know, running a stable and fast Remote Desktop Services deployment takes quite a bit of tweaking. Whether it’s authentication issues, group policy settings, logon times, user profile disks, or application changes, sometimes you need to bring in the big guns. Look no further than the RDS Gurus Consultancy. Led by three Microsoft RDS MVPs, they can get your RDS collection in tip top shape in short order. For the biggest impact, consider leveraging both the RDS Gurus team AND a subscription to our Remote Desktop Commander Suite. Combining the insightful data we collect with the decades of hard won expertise they offer, your RDS infrastructure will soon be running smoother than ever!
Click here to contact the experts at RDSGurus.com
Remote Desktop Commander 3.9 Download and Upgrade Links
Most RDS/Citrix Monitoring Tools Licensing Models are Bull$h!+
Ready for another epic Andy rant on the Citrix/RDS monitoring industry? Strap into your seats, folks! Today we’re going to take on how most RDS and Citrix monitoring tool vendors adopt licensing models designed to soak their customers and bleed them dry.
RDS Licensing Gotcha 1: When They Charge You For Data Retention, and/or Tier Their Licensing Based on Citrix/RDS Data Retention
This seriously chaps my hide. Back when I ran Dorian Software, our licensing model was simple. You paid us for each Windows system you monitored / archived Windows event log data from. We didn’t care if you had your auditing turned on full bore or at a trickle, nor how many gigabytes of log data you generated each day. We simply gathered up the incoming entries and stashed them into a database. Then, we put YOU in control of your own data retention / grooming policies. Provided you had the database server beefy enough to handle a year or more’s worth of log data, you could hold on to data that long or longer.
We use this same licensing model at RDPSoft for our Remote Desktop Commander Suite. We put you in charge of the Citrix and RDS data retention, as you can see below from one of our configuration dialogs. And just like in the Dorian days, our licensing model is based on the total number of RDS servers and workstations/virtual desktops you’re collecting data from, not the number of concurrent users connecting to sessions/remote apps, nor the retention days or the volume of data collected. There’s a word for this licensing model: Fair.
However, more and more Citrix and RDS monitoring vendors tie their licensing models to data retention. This includes the Citrix Director plus Edgesight monitoring platform. If you want, in effect, unlimited data retention, you get to pay through the nose. We’ve seen licensing schemes whereby pricing is tiered based on retention, such as one day, one month, or one year. Guess what – the one month and one year data retention options are considerably more costly.
To those vendors adopting those models, we at RDPSoft say: STOP HOLDING YOUR CUSTOMERS’ DATA HOSTAGE.
RDS Licensing Gotcha 2: When They Charge You For Concurrent Users, But Also Count The Built-In Services and Console Sessions Towards the Total
Seriously? You’re so greedy that you’re going to run up the concurrent user count by adding the built-in services and console sessions on every Windows system? Yes, there are vendors in the marketplace that do this. If you’re evaluating other Citrix / RDS monitoring tools, you MUST read their licensing fine print. In this market, more than many others, the licensing scams models are apples and oranges.
Unfair Licensing Schemes Are the Product Of Desperation, Not Innovation
I’ve been around the software industry long enough to tell you how these convoluted and unfair licensing models come into being. It’s no different in the RDS/Citrix tools market.
Picture a bunch of sales weasels professionals gathered around a conference table. They’re sweating bullets because they have major quotas to meet for the year. More than likely there are now ambitious revenue targets set by management in place. “Eureka,” one of them exclaims, “let’s change our licensing model / rules to create more billable units/devices/interfaces/users per customer. That’s the ticket!”
Rather than innovating and raising prices to match an expanded feature set, they simply change the rules of the game midstream. If the subsequent cost increases are mild enough for most customers, those customers don’t complain too much. The old anecdote about boiling a frog slowly comes to mind.
At RDPSoft, Our Licensing Model For RDS and Citrix Monitoring Is Fair, and Maximizes Value
We’re probably old fashioned, but at RDPSoft, we believe in the golden rule. When we buy software or services, we ourselves want to be treated fairly, and we want to support vendors that provide a lot of value for our money. We treat our customers no differently. To summarize, here’s how we do that:
- Our licensing is based on the number of servers, workstations, or virtual desktops you want to monitor, not the number of named users or concurrent users.
- We don’t charge you / upsell you based on how much monitoring and reporting data you want to store over time.
- We don’t pad our margins by forcing you to pay for extra licenses to monitor the built-in console or services sessions.
- We offer an extremely affordable, pay as you go monthly subscription option for only $9 per RDS/Citrix server monitored, and $1 per Workstation/VDI monitored.
- We offer free support and a money-back guarantee during the first 30 days after purchase / subscription start. If our software does not perform in your environment for any reason, we will refund your purchase price. Your satisfaction is our number one concern.
Are you ready to save money by dumping your existing RDS/Citrix monitoring vendor? Would you like to start monitoring your RDS farm without breaking the bank on licensing costs? View all the features of our Remote Desktop Commander Suite here, and start your monthly subscription for only $9 per server per month.
Flexible Licensing for RDS Tools
Years ago, we launched a flexible month-to-month subscription licensing program for our Remote Desktop Commander Suite, and the result was phenomenal. The traditional channel-driven, expensive perpetual licensing models used by our competition were simply making less and less sense.
While occasionally we offer promotions, you can always count on this: We offer month-to-month licensing that starts at less than $10 per RDS/XenApp server per month, and at about a $1 per virtual desktop/physical workstation.
For more details, check out our pricing for Remote Desktop Commander.
RDS Tools for Specific Tasks . . . And Within Reach
Small and medium-sized businesses who run server-based computing farms designed around Microsoft Remote Desktop Services or Citrix XenApp continue to enthusiastically embrace our licensing model, thrilled to finally have reliable tools that cover areas like:
. . . and the little features that help with things like enabling Remote Desktop remotely and the demystification of RDP logs.
All with so little additional cost.
Not sure where to start? Determine what your needs are for RDS tools or Learn more about Remote Desktop Commander Suite and its many features.
Updated: January 2021.
