Checking online status
Address book
An address book is a place where you can keep and organize your remote connections. Each connection represents a specific remote computer. Connections have properties such as the destination address, access password (if saved), color depth and so on.
Remote Utilities allows you to back up and encrypt your address books stored locally.
Direct connection
A direct connection is possible when the Host is in direct visibility to the Viewer, i.e. the Host can be addressed by its IP address or hostname (DNS name).
This connection type does not require any intermediary (relay) servers in-between Viewer and Host and is by definition the fastest way to access a remote Host.
Internet-ID connection
An Internet-ID connection uses an intermediary server on the Web ("Internet-ID server") to broker a remote connection between Viewer and Host.
Host
The Host is a remote module installed on a target (i.e. remote) PC. This module works for both unattended and attended access.
Checking online visibility for remote connections in your address book is different for direct connections and Internet-ID connections.
Direct connections
For direct connections you can check if:
- The remote computer is reachable — this is the well-known "ping" command
- The Host is running on the remote computer
In most cases these two checks complement each other. On the screenshot below a direct connection in the address book has a green checkmark and the ONLINE status:
The green check mark means that the computer located at that specific IP address (or DNS name) is reachable (accessible over network). The ONLINE status means the Host is installed and ready on that computer. Learn more about statuses.
Note
On rare occasions pinging a remote computer will return "not reachable" (red checkmark) whereas the computer and the Host will stil be available for connection. This may happen if ping ICMP packets are discarded/disabled on the remote side or network is misconfgured.
Manually pinging a remote computer
- Select a connection or multiple connections in the address book and click Ping on the toolbar or press the F8 key:
- If the remote computer is reachable, a small green checkmark will appear beside the connection thumbnail:
If the remote computer is unreachable, a red checkmark is shown.
Using auto-ping
Auto-ping command works the same way as manual ping except the ping is performed automatically at regular intervals. Auto-ping works for direct connections only.
Important!
Auto-ping will NOT work for Internet-ID connections because the Host isn't directly visible to the Viewer in this connection type.
To enable auto-ping and set an interval:
- Right-click on a connection in the address book and select Properties:
- In the connection properties window, go to the Auto-ping section, enable Use auto-ping and set a desired interval:
- Click OK to close connection properties.
To enable auto-ping for all newly-created connections use Default connection properties.
Enabling status checks for direct connections
By default, checking online status for direct connections is disabled to prevent network congestion. You can enable it in connection properties:
- Right-click on a connection in the address book and select Properties:
- In the connection properties window, go to the Security section and enable Check online status for direct connections checkbox:
- Click OK to close connection properties.
Internet-ID connections
For Internet-ID connections only their connection status is checked. You cannot ping remote computers via an Internet-ID connection because the remote Hosts are not in direct visibility for the Viewer.
The program automatically checks the Internet-ID connection status and notifies the user via status alerts in the system tray when remote Hosts are available. You can disable such notifications on the View tab in Viewer Options.
Manually refreshing connection status
You can manually refresh connection status by clicking on the Refresh status button on the Viewer toolbar. This command works both for direct connections and Internet-ID connections in your address book.
