PocketEmu Software

Remote Desktop Manager 5.5.1.0 Review

I’ve known many people who carry a multi-tool with them at all times. Anytime they pull it out, they always have to tell you a story about “this one time when…” they did something unbelievable or saved so much time because they had it. Those people are annoying, but there’s no argument against their point. If you’re in a pinch and you need to cut, unscrew, unbolt, wirestrip or filet something, your multi-tool can be a handy item.

For a while now I’ve been on the hunt for a good way to keep track of all of my remote connections. In a typical day, I’ll deal with several RDC, SSH, VNC, SFTP and browser sessions. Since each type of connection has it’s own program, you can imagine how much time is spent to launch, configure, connect and switch between sessions. In the past I’ve created folder structures and quick launch bars which helps, albeit a hackish method. A more elegant solution is necessary. Something that I can call my “multi-tool” of system administration. So what does a system administrator have at their disposal that’s the equivalent of the legendary multi-tool? Is it even possible to have that same amount of versatility in a piece of software? If this software in fact can be found, can it make me one of those annoying multi-tool-story-telling type people? Well, the software I’m about to review may in fact be “it”.

WHAT IS IT?

Remote Desktop Manager (RDM) is described as “a small application used to manage all your remote connections.” There are two versions of Remote Desktop Manager, Standard and Enterprise.  The Standard version is free for personal and commercial use and supports the following:

• Support for Microsoft Remote Desktop and Microsoft Terminal Services
• Support for VNC via RealVNC, TightVNC and/or UltraVNC
• Support for LogMeIn Desktop Shortcut
• Support for Team Viewer
• Support for Dameware
• Support for Radmin
• Support for pc Anywhere
• Support for X Window
• Support for Citrix
• Support for Hyper-V
• Support for FTP, SFTP via Filezilla and/or WinSCP
• Support for Telnet, SSH, RAW and rLogin via PuTTY
• Automatic VPN connection (Microsoft / Cisco)
• Small footprint, easy to install, easy to deploy, only one executable
• Add name, image and description to your configuration
• Tray icon support with quick access menu
• Quick connect with template support
• Import / export / Drag and Drop of remote desktop file (.rdp) and logmein shortcut
• Search filter
• Auto start on Windows startup
• Auto update
• Share settings between users
• Dual monitor support
• Compatible with Windows XP, Windows 2003, Windows Vista (32 bits and 64 bits) and Windows 2008
• Most recently used view
• Opened sessions view
• Favorites view
• Network management (Wake on LAN, ping, trace and more)
• External, embedded, MDI or tabbed sessions

The Enterprise version has all the features of the Standard version, plus the following:

• Multiple database (data source)
• Shared database (data source)
• Multiple templates / shared templates in the database
• SQL Server database support
• Connection information details
• Shared Remote Desktop password management
• Security Management (with SQL Server)
• Connect and disconnect script / command line support
• Importation wizard
• Batch session edit
• Batch credentials management
• Batch command line parameters
• Wake On Lan
• Premium support by email

That’s quite a hefty list of supported applications and features. The supported programs cover just about every popular remote connection method in use.

INSTALLATION

Installing Remote Desktop Manager is just like installing any other application, run the setup and wait for it to finish. You’ll need to at least have the .NET 2.0 Framework installed on your machine prior to installation. If you have purchased the Enterprise edition and plan on using a SQL Server for storage, make sure you also install the SQL Native Client for your operating system. There are many benefits to using SQL Server for storage which I will go into more detail about later.

Depending upon the types of connections you’ll be storing in Remote Desktop Manager, there may be several pieces of software you’ll want to install. If you’re doing SSH or Telnet sessions, you’ll need to have PuTTY installed. I personally like to use Filezilla for all of my FTP and SFTP sessions. Retrieving and installing all of these applications can be a tedious process, especially if you don’t already have the setup files handy or if you don’t know where to find them. The good news here is the developer has made this easy for you by including download links not only on their website, but also right in Remote Desktop Manager’s Installation Path tab in the Options screen. This makes it quick and easy to acquire the programs required for more complete functionality, so kudos to the developer for that!

On first launch you’ll be asked if you want to run Remote Desktop Manager on Windows startup, followed by a prompt to choose the edition of Remote Desktop Manager you’re going to run. Make your choices and you will be greeted by Remote Desktop Manager in all its default glory:

1. Header pane – Lists details about the active/selected session.
2. Quick connect bar – Quickly connect to or scan for Remote Desktop connections.
3. Sessions pane – This is what it’s all about. Lists the sessions in your data source in treeview format by default. You can change this between several different views, however if you have a decent amount of connections treeview is the most efficient.
4. Description/Details view – Shows some of the extended details for your sessions, if you have filled in any of the optional info.
5. Footer pane – Contains Find box, datasource selection and version info.

STANDARD FEATURES

Getting started with Remote Desktop Manager is simple. First you need to decide what data source you’ll be using. If you’re running Standard then you’ll always be running from the local data source, which is an Access database. Enterprise users will be able to select between the local data source, creating a new local data source or setting up a SQL Server connection.  After that is all said and done you can now start adding sessions to the list.

Adding a new session will present you with the following dialog:

In the image above I’m adding a new SFTP session to the list, which will use Filezilla to make the connection. You can also see the other available connection types on the left, which is a list that keeps growing with new releases of Remote Desktop Manager. There are a few options you should take note of here. The first is the Group/Folder option. If you’re like me and you prefer to keep things nicely sorted, this will give you that ability. Here is what my session tree for work looks like, with just one node expanded (all others collapsed to protect the innocent):

Another nice option is “Open embedded”. Remote Desktop Manager allows some connection types to be embedded in it’s main window, like RDC, SSH/Telnet and web browser sessions (embedded web browser uses Internet Explorer only). Here’s an example of an embedded RDC connection:

Notice the tabbed interface when more than one session is open, another very nice feature. The tab feature doesn’t allow you to reorder or sort the tabs, but it does allow you to quickly switch between open embedded sessions. Embedded sessions also leave your taskbar list a little less cluttered, which is always a good thing.

There are also a ton of options for Remote Desktop Manager itself, too many to explain so I’ll let the screenshots do the talking:

ENTERPRISE EDITION

By now you should have a good feeling of how everything is coming together in the quest for the “multi-tool”. To this point you have only bared witness to functionality of the Standard edition, and it’s well worth the $0 price tag. There are also quite a few features of the Enterprise edition that make it ideal for centralized and/or company-wide deployments.

First and most important is the Remote Desktop Manager Enterprise edition’s use of SQL Server. This allows for company-wide access to a shared data source. This is very handy, especially if you have multiple users who share the same sessions. No need to duplicate data and effort. With this centralized database of sessions you can also set up permissions using Remote Desktop Manager’s Users and Security Groups. For example, the company I work for does a lot of custom web development and we have several users that must share client FTP accounts. Instead of having this info strewn about in text files and on sticky notes, simply assign those users to a group that only has access to the client FTP accounts, while keeping my administrative remote connections hidden from prying eyes. This gives the users access to the resources they need while maintaining a decent level of security for client information, and removes the need for multiple databases for different access levels.

Another great feature is Integrated Security.  Integrated Security allows the user’s Windows identity to authenticate with the SQL server. As long as the Windows identity matches an identity configured in Remote Desktop Manager, the user is successfully authenticated and any group permissions that should be are applied. Depending on the size of your deployment it can be a chore to manually enter the users and have their credentials match. Hopefully there will be more versatile User/Group support in later versions. Even in it’s current state, it’s flexible enough to fit the needs of most.

There are a bunch of other non-SQL Server features in the Enterprise Edition which are very nice: detailed information tracking, batch session editing, shared templates and storing connection passwords in the database. Although you may not initially appreciate all the little extras, you’ll slowly begin to start utilizing and depending on those features, especially as your session database grows. All of these features play nicely to the power user and large deployment crowds.

THE VERDICT

Remote Desktop Manager combines a wide array of remote connection types with an even wider array of application configuration options. This flexibility makes it an invaluable tool for anyone who wants to keep track of the sessions types supported by Remote Desktop Manager. Remember it doesn’t just store admin-type remote connections, it can also store websites/URLs and launch applications from the command line, so really the Standard version could be useful to just about anyone and is an excellent example of fully-featured and useful free software.

The Enterprise edition takes this application to a whole new level of functionality. That very last feature listed for the Enterprise edition, which is “Premium support by email” is one of, if not the most valuable features of this program. The developer is very responsive in addressing support requests, and maintains a forum for general help, bug reporting and feature requests. With the available features and the very affordable licensing fees this application can be useful in a variety of business cases on just about any budget.  This program really has one of the best ROI I’ve ever seen for a commercial product.

I tried a few other programs that tout similar features, but none of them had the flexibility that Remote Desktop Manager has. It seems I have found a program worthy of being a system administrator’s “multi-tool”, considering I rely upon it on a daily basis. And for the curious, the answer is yes. I have turned into one of those annoying multi-tool-story-telling type people

If you’re interested in this software, please visit the developer’s website: Remote Desktop Manager