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To create a new remote agent click the Create RA link or to configure existing remote agents click the Configure RAs link, as circled in the image above.
Creating a Remote Agent
Click here for a plug-in comparison table.
The first step in creating a remote agent is to choose the test you want it to perform. This can either be a predefined test or an already created custom test, as shown below:
The next stage is to choose how the Remote Agent acts once it has been run. The options are shown in the image below:
This section will show you a list of all the remote agents currently deployed by the MyConnection Server. Each Remote agent has various shortcut links to help quickly access settings and results.
The first option is to continuously perform connection tests are regular intervals. The interval length (in minutes) can be specified in this section. There is also an option to install the remote agent as a service so that it resumes testing even after a system reboot. To stop testing the agent will either have to be deleted at the users end or the servers end.
The second option is to run test a number of times, then stop. With this option you can specify how many tests you want the agent to perform, how long the pauses are between tests and what the remote agent should do when the testing period is over. These options include shutting down, which will uninstall the remote agent, or you can choose to wait for further instructions. This way if new tests are added to the agents workload on the server then the agent will pick up the workload next time it connects and begin testing with the new parameters.
Click submit when finished.
The next section is how you want to deliver the agent to the end user.
This page is split into three sections:
1 - Remote Agent Name - The name you specify in this section will be used throughout MyConnection Server to refer to this agent.
2 - Download URL - This section is where you choose how the end user downloads the agent. The first option is to serve a page from the server you are running at the moment. To use this option simply enter a page name and continue to the next section. If you want to create a web page on a third party server to server the agent then choose the second option. MyConnection Server will, in this case, provide a zip archive of the files you need to place on the third party server to server the page correctly.
3 - Results Tag - This section is used to specify how you want to tag the results. When a remote agent posts results to the MyConnection Server database a tag is needed so you can easily identify which agent produced the results. There are three options for this. The first is to ask the user to enter a certain piece of information. The second option is you choose what the tag for the results are and the third option is to tag all the results with the clients machine name.
Upon clicking the submit button you will either be asked to download the zip file containing the third party server files or you will be given a link to the download page.
This page will vary slightly depending on the tag method you chose. The above image represents asking the user to enter a certain piece of information, in this case their name. Once that has been entered click the download button to download the agent. You will be prompted to download the agent and save it to your hard drive.
When the remote agent is run (double click the downloaded file, note you may be asked to allow the agent by any firewall software, the agent must be allowed to run correctly) it will look similar to the image below:
The agent can be shut down at any time using the button shown above.
Once the agent has finished testing, or has performed at least one test you can look up the results in the database, searching by the publish name and the tag name, as shown below:
The Session ID is the parameter you need to search for. The publish name chosen in this case was test and the tag name was dan. So the session ID will be test/dan. If you have numerous agents running under the same publish names you can just search for test/ and it will display all results for all users using that agent.
Mac OS X Instructions
Step1
Click the Download RA (Mac OS X) button as shown in the image below.
Step2
Click the Mac OS X RA installer link, as shown in the image below, to download the DiskImage required.
NOTE: Keep this web page open as the identity text will be needed once the RTA is installed.
Step3
Once downloaded open the DiskImage and run the RTA installer, as shown below. Just follow the installation instructions through to competition.
Step4
The installation process will place a MyConnection Server RA in the applications folder. Double click the icon to run the RA, as shown below.
Step5
The RA will launch and require you to copy and paste the identity text. This text was shown in step 2 after initially clicking the Download RA button mentioned in step 1 above. It is also shown in the image below.
Step6
Once the identity text has been entered and the ok button has been clicked the RA will begin to run, as shown in the image below.
Simply click the shut down button when you want to remove the RA.
Linux Remote Agent Instructions
• Download the Linux RA from MyConnection Server.
To do this click the Download RA (Linux) button as shown in the image above. This will pop up with some instructions to follow to start the download.
• Extract the .tar file:
tar -xf unixrta.tar
• Run the installation script:
sudo sh rta_configure.sh
• Use the MyConnection Server to download a Windows RA (rta.exe file).
This
contains all the relevant settings to allow the Unix RA to connect back to the MyConnection Server. Place
the rta.exe in the installation directory chosen in the point above.
• Run the RA by changing to the installation directory and typing:
sudo sh start_rta.sh
The RA can be stopped by typing "sudo sh stop_rta.sh".
Configure Remote Agents
The configure remote agents page looks similar to the image below:
The currently created remote agents are listed at the bottom of the page, as shown above.
There are a few options at the top of the page. Clicking the Create and Publish New RA will take you through the creation process, as described above.
The create RA manually (advanced) link will take you through the remote agent creation in a more advanced way, allowing you to choose some more advanced options. Each step is explained in detail as you go.
The View all connected users link takes you to a list of remote agents that are currently in connection with MyConnection Server, this can contain agents that are running tests or agents that are awaiting further instructions.
The published pages allows you to view all the current remote agent download pages running on the server.
Each listed remote agent has numerous options available, these are circled in the image below:
These options are explained below:
1) Delete
Click this link to delete the remote agent. If any of these agents try and connect with the server they will be deleted from the users machine.
2) Advanced Options
The advanced options allow you to change certain ways in which the remote agent operates. The first whether or not to:
a) Allow MyConnection Server admin's to perform one-off tests using this remote agent (This feature allows MyConnection Server administrators to take control of an RA and perform different connection tests through it) and
b) Whether to allow applet users to perform one-off tests using this remote agent (This feature allows users of MyConnection Server test web pages to run tests from this remote agent. Whilst the remote agent is running, users of certain connection tests (for example MyRoute) will be able to select this RA as the source of the test).
The next section is whether to make this agent a zero install or an installed agent.
A zero-install remote agent runs once on an end user's desktop, performs some tests, then shuts down and removes itself from the system.
It's good for distributing to customers or clients for one-off batches of tests.
An installed remote agent runs continually on the target system. It restarts itself automatically when the system reboots and can be uninstalled from the Manage RAs page.
Installed Remote Agents are good for constant connection monitoring between two network devices.
The third option is simply whether the remote agent should run a list of tests and then shut down or run concurrent tests until the agent is shut down.
Click save changes when finished.
3) Change Workload
The change workload option allows you to add new test schedules to the remote agents list of tests to perform. As you can see below each test in the workload is listed.
To start with you can modify or delete an existing work order by using the modify and delete links, shown above. The configure test link allows you to change the actual test being performed, more info.
An example of the modify test page is shown below. This is the same page you will get when adding a brand new concurrent task, link shown in the image above.
This page is fairly self explanatory. You simply choose the test you want this task to perform, followed by the server you want to test to and post results to and then the time you want to pause between tests.
Important note: When choosing a different server to test to or send results to it's important to leave the http:// prefix off any host / IP you choose. For example entering http://152.134.232.162 would fail, but entering 152.134.232.162 would succeed.
Once the changes have been made click the save test button to continue.
4) Show connected
The show connected page shows you the last connections made by this remote agent to this server, as shown below:
5) Publish - This button takes you to the publish agent options described above.
6) Download
This option allows you to download the agent there and then without going to the a specific download page. Useful if you want to quickly download an agent and send it to a user via email or burn it to a Cd for later distribution. The download options are shown below:
7) Results - This option simply takes you to the database and displays the results received for this agent. Similar to the screenshot shown above.
Testing to another server location
For a flash demo of the process click here.
It is possible to set up a remote agent to test to another server. This server can either be a Satellite server, an AccessCM server or another MyConnection Server.
1) Click the Change Workload link for the remote agent you wish to change:
2) Click the Modify link next to the workload you wish to change:
3) From the test to drop down menu choose "Another MyConnection Server". This will display a URL and password text box. Simply enter the address/IP of the server you want to test to followed by the password. Click the save test button when done:
Removing a remote agent
There are two ways to remove a remote agent.
1) Delete the remote agent from the server.
Click on the configure RA link in the administration section of the MyConnection Server GUI as shown below:
You can then either delete the entire remote agent section (the delete link shown in the image below) or if you have more than one remote agent in use you can uninstall individual instances by clicking the show connected link, also shown below:
If you click show connected you will get the screen below:
To uninstall an individual agent click the uninstall link as shown above. This will remove that agent from the users machine when it next connects to the server.
2) Delete the remote agent from the users computer directly.
To do this you first have to stop the service on the machine running the agent. To do this right click on the My Computer icon on the desktop (or start menu) and choose Manage.
Now click on the services menu option to view the list of services, then locate the Visualware MyConnection Server RA in the list of services, right click and choose Stop. As shown below:
This will stop the service.
The next step is to uninstall the agent. To do this you need to find the installation path of the agent. To do this click the properties link, as shown in the image above to bring up the dialog box below:
The next step is to open a DOS prompt, browse to the directory shown in the path to executable section and type msrtainstall.exe -uninstall and hit enter, as shown below. This will uninstall the agent from your services list.
NOTE: to open a command prompt go to the start bar, choose the run option, type cmd and press the enter key on your keyboard.
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