Fractalia Manager

White Paper Functional and technical description

V 5.2.2

13/04/2010 Fractalia Software

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Document properties

Document name Fractalia Manager White Paper

Version V 5.2.2

Date 13/04/2010

Author Product Management Department

Contents Functional and technical description of Fractalia Manager

Project 0000-FRS-TEM

Keywords Fractalia Manager, IRS, P2P, Workstation Management

Total number of pages 24

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Contents

1 Introduction ............................................................................... 1

1.1 About Fractalia Software ............................................................. 1

1.2 Support service ......................................................................... 1

1.3 Key points ................................................................................ 1

2 Functionalities ........................................................................... 3

2.1 Reactive support ........................................................................ 3

2.1.1 IRS: Instant Recovery System ............................................. 3

2.1.2 Intel vPro ......................................................................... 3

2.1.3 Fractalia Remote Assistance: ............................................... 4

2.1.4 Remote control .................................................................. 4

2.2 Proactive maintenance ................................................................ 4

2.2.1 Terminal group management............................................... 4

2.2.2 Hardware and software inventory......................................... 5

2.2.3 Massive distribution of P2P software ..................................... 5

2.2.4 Patch detection ................................................................. 5

2.2.5 Access control and Security policies ...................................... 6

2.2.6 Instantaneous operations.................................................... 6

2.2.7 Events.............................................................................. 6

2.3 Added-value services .................................................................. 6

2.3.1 Report Server ................................................................... 6

2.3.2 Anti-fraud protection .......................................................... 7

2.3.3 Fractalia Business Intelligence ............................................. 7

3 Technology ................................................................................. 8

3.1 Architecture .............................................................................. 8

3.2 Server ...................................................................................... 9

3.3 Agent ..................................................................................... 10

3.3.1 Fractalia Manager agent ................................................... 10

3.3.2 Instant Recovery System .................................................. 10

3.3.3 Software distribution ........................................................ 11

3.3.4 Remote control ................................................................ 12

4 System requirements ............................................................... 15

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4.1 Server side ............................................................................. 15

4.1.1 Hardware requirements .................................................... 15

4.1.2 Software requirements ..................................................... 15

4.2 Client side ............................................................................... 16

4.2.1 Hardware requirements .................................................... 16

4.2.2 Software requirements ..................................................... 16

4.3 Connectivity typology ............................................................... 16

4.3.1 Connection between server and client ................................. 16

4.3.2 Connection between clients ............................................... 16

4.4 Required bandwidth ................................................................. 17

5 Installation procedure .............................................................. 18

5.1 Analysis and/or definition of the communication network ............... 18

5.2 Possible alternatives for installation in client computers ................. 18

5.2.1 By means of remote software distribution tools .................... 18

5.2.2 Without remote software distribution tools .......................... 19

6 Conclusions .............................................................................. 20

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1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 About Fractalia Software

Fractalia Software is an IT research and development company, a leader in the

development of robust and effective solutions for managing and controlling large

computer networks. Fractalia Manager is a revolutionary solution for the centralised management of large groups of computers that ensures a maximum level of

operation whilst minimising costs. Large companies and organisations have put

their trust in our solution, providing their business with a new concept of remote

management for computer networks.

1.2 Support service

Fractalia Manager is designed for companies that provide centralised services of

reactive and proactive support, either for MSPs (Managed Services Providers) or for

internal use.

Reactive support

• The remote and instantaneous solution of problems of PC availability (any

SW problem).

• The possibility of providing SLAs on managed PCs.

• The reduction of visits to clients’ homes/offices.

• The automation of tasks to reduce response and repair times.

Proactive support

• IT management by group/company policy.

• Automated assistance and fine tuning (SW and application distribution,

equipment inventorying, remote execution of commands…).

• It prevents future problems and enhances the user’s experience.

• Reporting tools, reports and “self-service” solutions for final users.

Added-value services

• Commercial information on the use of PCs, applications and associated

devices.

• Remote blocking/unblocking of PCs.

• Virtualised applications.

1.3 Key points

• Operating systems:

o Windows (W2K, WXP, Vista, W7, Wmobile).

o Linux (Ubuntu, OpenSUSE).

o Mac OSX.

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• Any network connectivity (Internet, intranet, VPN, ADSL, 3G…). Changes are not needed in the client’s network/security, and it works through firewalls

and HTTP proxies. Connectivity is always outbound (HTTP protocol) from the

agent to the server.

• Multicompany environment: one server allows providing differentiated services to multiple companies.

• Disaster recovery: it allows providing PC operation guarantees (SLA on

software failures).

• Theft control: Remote PC blocking.

• No need for local servers at each remote site, no middleware.

• Semiautomated remote deployment.

• Ideal for environments of wide geographic dispersion.

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2 FUNCTIONALITIES According the IT Services provided, Fractalia Manager is divided into the following

modules:

2.1 Reactive support

Task automation, disaster recovery and remote diagnosis.

2.1.1 IRS: Instant Recovery System

Total recovery after SW failures.

The Instant Recovery System (IRS) technology is characteristic of Fractalia Manager and allows -working at a very low level (at sector level)- setting hard drive

restore points and returning to a previous known state. Both actions -setting a

restore point and restoring to a known state- can be performed either locally or

remotely, individually or massively, on a group of terminals.

The process of setting a restore point takes only a few moments and does not

interfere with the user; in addition, it uses very little hard drive resources because

it does not make a full copy of the hard drive.

It is possible to set multiple restore points. This technology allows having total control over the state of a group of distributed terminals since the possibility always

exists of returning to a known restore point in which that piece of equipment works

properly.

2.1.2 Intel vPro

Integrated with HW management (iAMT).

PCs with Intel VPro and Centrino Pro processor technology for laptops provide

exceptional performance for demanding computer tasks, being ideal for professional

environments. The main functionalities of VPro with Fractalia Manager are:

• Remote control of BIOS. Settings, access, the possibility of changing the

username and password that are initially entered in the BIOS of the AMT,

etc.

• It allows redirecting PC start-up to a disk image or a floppy- or CD/DVD-type

removable device, enabling the execution of hardware diagnosis to identify possible problems in the client equipment, using to this end a VT100 or ANSI

emulation and different key translations.

• Remote-control access to the Instant Recovery System console, it being

possible to restore a PC that does not start up without the need for visits or user interaction, the piece of equipment being restored to an operational

state in the shortest time.

• Enterprise mode: integration with Active Directory and encrypted

connections.

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2.1.3 Fractalia Remote Assistance:

Automation of Service Desk tasks.

A remote assistance system where the user of a terminal can request online

support such that an operator connects his/her terminal to provide the help

required. The use of Fractalia Remote Assistance is advantageous with regard to

the use of other systems such as telephone assistance or control remote (VNC and the like):

• Bandwidth use is much lower than in a desktop-sharing video session.

• The assistance session is conducted within a secure virtual network that

ensures direct IP visibility.

• The Fractalia Remote Assistance operator’s interface makes assistance

easier for the operator, allowing him/her to execute predefined solutions in

the assisted terminal aimed at fixing specific incidents, shortening the times

needed to perform support tasks and reducing the experience needed by an operator in order to be effective.

• Fractalia Remote Assistance allows obtaining information about the terminal

and executing commands without having to use the shared desktop, only at

the command level, which speeds up the operator’s work.

• Fractalia Remote Assistance records all actions carried out by an assistance

operator in order for them to be subsequently audited.

2.1.4 Remote control

It allows the remote access to terminals and interacting with the desktop. It is fully

integrated with the solution and its technology is based on the Ultra Virtual Network Computing (UVNC) protocol.

The remote control can be started by the network administrator or at the request of

a user with problems in his/her terminal.

This tool allows enabling the need for access permits by the final user and

automatic access without acceptance by the user (for unattended kiosk or PC environments).

As an additional advantage, the Fractalia Manager platform allows remotely

controlling this equipment without having to open inbound ports in the final

network elements such as routers, firewalls, etc.; it even allows establishing remote connections with terminals protected by an HTTP proxy.

2.2 Proactive maintenance

Terminal group oriented administration that allows to fully control the pool of

clients.

2.2.1 Terminal group management

Fractalia Manager allows managing terminals based on Companies for multicompany setups and on groups for each company. It allows integration with

corporate directories (Active Directory) or the use of your own structures.

Terminals can also be grouped into “dynamic groups" according to different criteria,

which allows grouping terminals according to temporary operational criteria: terminals with a hard-drive use above a certain level, terminals that lack certain

security software item, etc. This enables the operator to act faster against potential

threats, omitting the phase of searching for terminals through the different nodes

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of a mixed tree according to non-transitory operational criteria (the geographical area of a PC, a department within a company, etc.).

2.2.2 Hardware and software inventory

It is an extremely comprehensive tool that provides very accurate information on

the hardware components of the equipment and the software applications that have

been installed.

It is a detailed inventory that allows obtaining reports and filtering such that

terminals that meet certain requirements are selected so as to perform actions on

them (setting restore points, distributing software, etc.).

It warns of the changes that have taken place in both the software and the hardware and allows knowing at all times the state of the group of terminals.

2.2.3 Massive distribution of P2P software

It is a fundamental module in a solution for the remote management of terminals.

It allows distributing, updating and installing applications, updates, patches,

hotfixes and, in short, software packages in a massive and unattended manner.

It uses technology -currently in the Peer-to-Peer (P2P) patent phase- that

segments each software package into fragments that are shared amongst the

terminals that make up the group of PCs (peers) in the same local area network

(LAN).

This technology enables Fractalia Manager to be a highly scalable solution since the

bottleneck constituted by the downloading of packages from a server or from

middleware networks is no longer a critical point.

The entire communication protocol is HTTP encapsulated (firewall transparent) and supports proxies, which allows the solution to behave in a correct and versatile

manner in highly heterogeneous networks.

The software distribution solution periodically checks that the SW packages

assigned to each terminal are properly installed, correcting any differences found

(programme uninstalled by the user, etc.) and generating the necessary events in the platform.

Self-service software

A utility so that the users themselves can choose applications and install them in

their workstations. Fully integrated with Fractalia Manager, the administrator chooses which applications will be public and viewable for each PC and the user

selects those he/she considers appropriate.

When it is time to choose, said applications are assigned by the platform to the PCs

and downloaded, installed and so on as just other packages, becoming added to reports, events, etc.

2.2.4 Patch detection

For Windows clients: terminals are catalogued by their hardware and software and

automatically receive the appropriate Windows, Office, Acrobat and other updates

depending on the group they belong to.

Patch detection uses all the power and technology of massive software distribution,

integrating it with “Windows Update Services” servers.

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2.2.5 Access control and Security policies

It supervises the health of terminals, deploys critical security actions and generates

events and alarms. It can interact with the hard-drive protection module (IRS)

when it is necessary to return to a known point.

It controls and manages access to certain websites for user groups as well as the

execution of certain applications. It also allows restricting the execution of application whitelists and blacklists at the kernel level.

It allows access filtering of families of peripherals external to the devices and the

input/output ports of the computers.

2.2.6 Instantaneous operations

This tool allows assigning operations to the terminals and allows carrying them out immediately. It allows the remote and massive execution of operations, commands

and scripts ordered by the central platform.

2.2.7 Events

The event report shows the logs of the different actions taken by the server or the client’s agent.

The types of events that can be received are:

• Generic event: information on the start-up of the machine is received.

• Inventory event: information on the actions of the IRS assigned to a

terminal is received.

• Instant Recovery System: information on the actions of the IRS is received.

• Remote updates: information on the status of the updates is received.

• Remote control: information on the remote control actions is received.

2.3 Added-value services

Functionalities that allow providing new services to Fractalia Manager clients.

2.3.1 Report Server

A new server for providing web-based reports to final users. Predefined reports on

inventory, SW distribution and application use. It allows providing direct reports to

clients without using the computers’ management tool.

Predefined reports allow obtaining information on:

The total number of managed terminals:

An overall list of terminals

Detailed inventory of SW and HW of the terminals

SW packages distributed:

List of SW packages distributed to the terminals

Number of terminals with each package assigned

Number and list of packages for each terminal

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Use of applications

A list of the applications installed and used by users in the client’s network.

A list of URLs browsed by users (by activating the whitelist and blacklist

function).

2.3.2 Anti-fraud protection

Remote PC blocking.

It verifies that the activity of the Fractalia Manager agent is normal in order to

ensure its performance is correct in the managed terminal. Should a user want to

make inappropriate use of a terminal and thus interrupt the communication

between the Fractalia Manager agent and its server (e.g. by using the terminal exclusively offline), Poison Pill would block the terminal such that it could only

become operational again by the intervention of the Fractalia Manager operator.

Similarly, Poison Pill guarantees the operator the possibility of blocking any given

terminal at any given time, and the terminal object of such blocking can only be made operational again by the operator’s own intervention, as in the previous

scenario.

2.3.3 Fractalia Business Intelligence

The search of patterns in large terminal networks such that they may be used as

input in a technical or strategic decision making chain.

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3 TECHNOLOGY

3.1 Architecture

Fractalia Manager operates on any network architecture, both for fixed

terminals behind any type of network (including private networks, the

Internet, fixed IPs, dynamic IPs, etc.) and roaming terminals. Whenever the terminal browses the Internet (HTTP access to the management server), it

will have the totality of Fractalia Manager’s functionalities at its disposal, even

in the case of going through intermediate elements (firewalls, proxies). The

Peer-to-Peer distribution system provides an efficient use of network resources (at both the LAN and the WAN level).

ESPAÑOL INGLÉS

ENTORNO DE RED INTEGRAL INTEGRAL NETWORK ENVIRONMENT

FRACTALIA MANAGER MÓDULOS FRACTALIA MANAGER MODULES

The Fractalia Manager console uses smart-client technology, so it makes use of

client-server development advantages but avoids the problems associated to

usability and quality of use, as a console that can be run locally. Likewise, it maintains its own directory but can be synchronised to directory systems existing in

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the market and can even work with dynamic groups established according to specific queries.

Fractalia Manager is easy to deploy and allows almost automatic massive

installations. The simplicity and usability of its design allows obtaining good

performance of its functionalities from the first day it is installed. Its use significantly reduces the total cost of usage of a PC throughout its lifetime.

The server side of Fractalia Manager consists of the following logical machines: a

database server and a web server. Said machines can be assembled over Windows

SQL and IIS architectures respectively. The open architecture enables easy integration with other systems and the development of specific reports.

3.2 Server

The Fractalia Manager server controls and manages workstations over the Internet.

Access to the platform is over the Internet, whereupon the administrator can gain

access by using a web browser and an Internet connection and, if necessary,

security credentials.

The different functions of the servers (which can be located in independent physical

machines or in a single machine depending on the desired capacity) are:

Agent web server:

For managing PC terminals.

Remote agents only use HTTP/HTTPS protocols for connecting to the server.

The "polling” frequency can be platform-configured in order to attain a large

capacity with a minimum use of resources. This server allows configuration

in high-capacity, high-availability mode.

Operator web server:

A server for platform management. It allows accessing the operator’s “smart

client”. It is usually located together with the agent web service.

Presence server (“Remoting”):

A server to maintain continuous communication with the terminals. It allows running remote operations in an immediate manner.

The configuration or not of the “presence” use is also carried out from the

central platform, and said configuration can be changed at any time. If the

presence is activated, the agents constantly maintain a bidirectional HTTP/HTTP connection to the server, which allows sending commands

immediately to the terminals.

Remote control server (“Repeater”):

A server for interconnecting the operator and the remote agent over the Internet.

When the user or the operator starts a remote control connection, both

connect via this server, the connection ending as soon as the assistance

session ends. All communications are carried out via HTTPS from the remote

agent and over a specific port (configurable by the operator).

Database server:

An SQL server with the data needed for the platform operation.

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3.3 Agent

ESPAÑOL INGLÉS

PILA DE APLICACIONES APPLICATION STACK

SERVIDOR FRACTALIA MANAGER FRACTALIA MANAGER SERVER

CLIENTE FRACTALIA MANAGER + IRS FRACTALIA MANAGER CLIENT + IRS

CAPA FRACTALIA MANAGER FRACTALIA MANAGER LAYER

CAPA IRS IRS LAYER

3.3.1 Fractalia Manager agent

On the client side, the Fractalia Manager layer is in charge of ensuring that the

contents are properly downloaded and that the actions ordered from the server are

carried out.

The agent-server connection is carried out by means of “polling”, with a frequency

that can be configured at the individual or group level from the platform (from

minutes to several hours).

The agent contains different functional modules to cover the necessary recovery services, instantaneous operations, software updates, etc.

3.3.2 Instant Recovery System

A capability for protecting and recovering the information and system, which is a

key tactical point in every organisation. Instant Recovery System completely

recovers the entire partition of a hard drive and discards all types of changes made by the user (software installation, configuration changes, virus-caused damage,

deleted files or directories, changes in the Windows registry, etc.).

Functionalities:

• One or more protected partitions.

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• Once the Terminal system has been recovered, any following changes will be undone.

• The recovery process takes some seconds and is carried out when the

terminal restarts the system or as a scheduled task. This uses around 5% of

the capacity of the hard drive.

• Instant Recovery System consists of a local application in the event that

corporate policies allow users to set their own recovery points so as to

return to previous restore points.

The protected partition is just an area on the hard drive that is protected de facto by the Instant Recovery System module, and any changes will be automatically

discarded during the restart of the equipment when indicated by the operating

mode.

The user’s common files (data) partition is not protected between changes, and at most 10% of its capacity is used to store the recovery points. The protection of all

changes should not be lost after a restart.

The data partition will not be required, but is advisable for corporate offices or

workstations where the user needs storage space.

Figure 3. Instant Recovery System

3.3.3 Software distribution

The software distribution module will allow remotely updating and installing

software at a workstation or a certain group without needing to use additional resources of a piece of equipment of the network and is based on the Peer-to-Peer

protocol within the local network, no security configuration in WAN networks being

required.

Each terminal shares all downloads, either at the same moment of downloading a portion of the package or after a full download. This allows saving bandwidth at the

remote sites when it is necessary to install an update on several terminals.

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The possible settings of a terminal can be any of the following modes:

P2P over LAN. The terminal does not connect directly to the server; it

needs another terminal in “act as proxy for other peers” mode for the latter

to communicate with the server and subsequently send the former the

requested package.

Direct to the server. The terminal directly communicates to the server and

does not need an intermediate terminal to receive update packages.

Acting as proxy for other peers. It carries out the “mirror” action when it

sees that a terminal in “P2P over LAN” mode is requesting an update; it makes the request to the server and then sends it to the terminal that was

requesting it.

Figure 5. Software distribution

By default, a terminal always acts as a “peer” in the LAN and also communicates

directly with the central server.

3.3.4 Remote control

This module is used for the remote control and management of any workstation in the network in an efficient, organised and exhaustive manner. It is used for

purposes of online technical support and assistance for users. It allows taking

control of the screen, keyboard and mouse of a remote user over a VNC session so

as to solve the problem or to show the user how something specific works. There are three ways of taking remote control according to the configuration of the

network and the existence of firewalls, NATs, proxies or any other type of

restriction in the user network or the administrator network.

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Direct: it is used to connect with terminals within the same LAN as the operator’s or within different networks provided that there is appropriate mapping of public

IPs: public port to private IP, private port in the network elements.

Clients have a VNC server listening over one port. When the remote control is

executed over another terminal from a computer with access to the Fractalia Manager platform, a direct connection is established between both.

It can happen that there is a router between the “viewer” device and the

“controlled” device. In this case, it is necessary to map the router ports to make a

direct connection. In this situation, is not advisable to use the connection in direct mode.

Direct mode

Normal: It is used in those cases where no type of inbound port can be mapped or

the terminals do not have fixed IPs.

Clients have a VNC server listening over a port but they also have the capacity to

send “VNC video” as an outbound connection to any machine prepared to receive it.

Additionally, a machine is located in a network without port-mapping restrictions.

Said machine will consist of two applications:

Remoting. The Remoting application is in charge of getting the remote-

control request in touch with the appropriate client. The following open a

permanent outbound TCP socket with the Remoting port of this machine.

The remote-control requests by the IRM platform arrive at this same port.

When it decides over which machine the remote control is being

attempted, the application indicates the former to start sending “VNC

video” to this machine over the “Server” port.

Repeater. The only thing this application does is to get the “VNC video”

it receives over the “Server” port from the client in touch with the

“Viewer” port, which is where the COM operator’s viewer attacks

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Normal mode

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4 SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS Each instance of the Fractalia Manager software installed is capable of working

with small networks of less than 100 PCs to large corporate networks of hundreds of thousands of PCs.

The hardware and software requirements needed to implement the solution are

shown in the following sections.

4.1 Server side

4.1.1 Hardware requirements

Minimum* < 10,000 terminals From 10,000 to 25,000 terminals

From 25,000 to 100,000 terminals**

Web application server

(x1) (x1) (x1) (x2)

Processor Pentium Core2Duo

Pentium Xeon Pentium Xeon Pentium Xeon

RAM 1GB 2 GB RAM 4 GB RAM 4 GB RAM

Hard drive 20 GB 120 GB 120 GB 120 GB

Database server

(x1) (x1) (x1) (x1)

Processor Pentium Core2Duo

Pentium Xeon Pentium Xeon Pentium Xeon

RAM 1 GB MB 2 GB RAM 4 GB RAM 4 GB RAM

Hard drive 20 GB RAID 1 SCSI with 2 120 GB hard drives

RAID 1 SCSI with 2 120 GB hard drives

RAID 1 SCSI with 2 120 GB hard drives

* This setup is the machine that makes the system run with a reduced number of

PCs. Here, the web application server and the database server can be the same physical machine.

** Web servers are array assembled, whereas database servers are cluster

assembled in order to balance requests.

In case of requiring “Presence” (remoting), it is advisable to assemble independent

servers (having the same characteristics as web servers), in the ratio of one server for every 50,000 PCs.

All servers can be virtualised.

4.1.2 Software requirements

Web server(s) will need the following basic software:

Windows 2003 Server Standard Edition or above.

Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 installed.

Internet Information Server 7.0 installed.

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Database server(s) will need the following basic software:

Windows 2003 Server Standard Edition or above.

Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 installed.

Microsoft SQL Server 2005.

4.2 Client side

4.2.1 Hardware requirements

The minimum hardware settings of an equipment for it to be capable of

running Fractalia Manager are the following:

Processor: 1,8 GHz Celeron D

RAM: 256 MB (recommended: 512MB)

Hard drive: 2 GB of free space

Network card (Ethernet or WI-FI)

4.2.2 Software requirements

Windows 2000 (SP4), XP (SP2, SP3), Vista and W7 operating systems; Linux operating systems: Ubuntu 9.04, OpenSUSE.

Microsoft .NET Frameworks 2.0 installed, or Mono for Linux versions.

NTFS partition for using IRS.

4.3 Connectivity typology

From the standpoint of connectivity, there are two different interfaces: the

connection between server and clients and the connection between clients themselves for P2P content sharing.

4.3.1 Connection between server and client

The network connection between the server side and the clients is supported on

any type of network that supports the HTTP (or HTTPS) protocol over TCP/IP.

Generally, the connectivity between server and clients can be established over: the Internet, extranets, local area networks and virtual private networks. Fractalia

Manager allows managing roaming terminals (users changing from network to

another: corporate network to the Internet) as long as the server is “visible”.

4.3.2 Connection between clients

In order to enjoy the full power of Peer-to-Peer distribution between clients when downloading contents, it is necessary for them to see each other directly.

Therefore, there will be the following networks: local area networks and virtual

private networks.

These networks must allow HTTP communications over TCP/IP.

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4.4 Required bandwidth

The following tables shows scaling of the server-required speed in order to proceed to the downloading of contents from the central server:

The following premises have been set to calculate the server-required speed:

An average size of 10 MB for the contents to be downloaded.

The contents are updated daily during the night (with the network fully downloaded).

The sites have a connection with the server of at least 1 Mbps. This connection

is more than enough to download 10 MB during 8 hours at night.

BANDWIDTH ESTIMATE FOR DOWNLOADS AT MULTIPLE SITES

Size of contents (MB) 10

No. of sites 200 500 1000 5000 10000

Total size of server download (MB) 2000 5000 10000 50000 100000

Download time (night-time) (hours) 8 8 8 8 8

ADSL speed at sites (Mbps) 1 1 1 1 1

Required speed at server (Mbps) 0.6 1.4 2.8 13.9 27.8

It is worth highlighting that the greater the number of sites, the greater the

bandwidth required on the server side. Nevertheless, for a reasonable number of

sites, the bandwidth necessary at the server is easily assumable by means of

dedicated hosting.

Within each site, the distribution of contents is carried out by means of the P2P

protocol between all computers involved.

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5 INSTALLATION PROCEDURE Despite the complexity of the implementation of a new software solution in any

corporate environment, the installation of the Fractalia Manager solution is not invasive and is easily adaptable to any environment.

Fractalia Remote Systems recommends following the installation steps indicated

below.

5.1 Analysis and/or definition of the communication network

Before installing the solution it is necessary to ensure that the communication

network meets the minimum characteristics described above:

Connection speeds in the client and server.

Allowing the exchange of information by means of HTTP over TCP/IP. It is

therefore necessary to allow connectivity in the entire network over the port

configured in the server. Verify whether it is necessary to configure the proxy agents to access the server and to know the credentials thereof.

According to needs of the company, analyse whether there should be a single

central server controlling all sites or a server that controls one or a number of

sites.

Prepare an agent with the desired configuration (server URL, browsing configuration and credentials, if necessary).

5.2 Possible alternatives for installation in client computers

The installation of the Fractalia Manager solution consists of two differentiated

parts:

The installation of the remote management platform on the central server(s).

The unattended installation of the Fractalia Manager agent on the client computers. This agent is responsible for periodically querying the server to

download new contents and play them once the system's idle time has been

exceeded.

For implementation in a corporation, the critical point is precisely the installation of the software in all client computers in a fast and efficient manner. Possible

alternatives for the installation of the Fractalia Manager agent are indicated below.

5.2.1 By means of remote software distribution tools

The following options make the remote and unattended installation of software

easier without the need for any operator to interact with the piece of equipment at the time of installation.

Active directory

If the terminals are integrated in a directory such as Microsoft's Active Directory,

the features included in this type of tools for distributing and installing software can be used.

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Software installation tools of the company itself

If the company has any software distribution tool such as SMS, Tivoli, etc., it may

opt for distributing the Fractalia Manager agent’s installation file by means of these

tools.

Fractalia LAN Installer

Fractalia Remote Systems can provide the company its own tool for the massive

installation of software by means of a probe.

This tool is capable of discovering PCs in a provided range of PCs knowing the

administrator login and password of each piece of equipment and installing any type of software in a remote and unattended manner.

It is valid for LAN environments (including over VPN) or “full IP visibility” networks.

5.2.2 Without remote software distribution tools

The following options are valid for companies that do not have tools or a directory

for the remote distribution of software and do not know the administration credentials of their PCs.

In these case, it is required that someone manually run the installation programme

on each PC.

Distribution via e-mail

By using e-mail it is possible to have users collaborate in the distribution of the

software to the entire organisation.

Attached application: It is possible to distribute an e-mail message with an

attached executable file and request the recipients to proceed to install it.

Web download application: The e-mail message can just include a link to a web address with the executable file; said link must be accessed and the “Run”

button on the Windows dialogue box pressed.

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6 CONCLUSIONS Fractalia Manager is a platform for the remote control administration, control and

maintenance of distributed microcomputing systems, allowing the industrialisation of IT services.

It ensures equipment stability as well as application availability at all times.

It guarantees the correct use of the applications installed on the equipment.

It maintains hardware and software inventories constantly updated.

It increases the productivity of both terminals and users, significantly reducing down time.

It reduces the complexity of administering and managing the network of terminals.

It allows eliminating on-site assistance in case of software problems.

It optimises helpdesk resources and reduces the costs associated with the maintenance of information technology.

It allows to simultaneously provide services to different companies, the possibility

of generating different types of permits at the read/write and modular levels and

the option of creating dynamic groups.

It allows controlling bandwidth to prevent the use of all network resources when

downloading starts in a terminal.