Citrix Access Suite 4 for Windows Server 2003: The Official Guide, Third Edition

In addition to providing tools for managing application publishing, MetaFrame delivers a utility targeted at reducing administrative costs by enabling the remote support of users of published applications. Session Shadowing enables the administrator (or help-desk personnel) to remotely join, or take control, of another user's ICA session. When activated, Session Shadowing displays the user's screen on the administrator's console. Optionally, the administrator can assume control of the remote user's mouse and keyboard, which enables demonstrations.

In addition to facilitating help desk and troubleshooting processes, Session Shadowing can also be used in online interactive teaching and call-center applications.

Additional security has been added to MetaFrame XP to limit or disable shadowing during installation that cannot be reversed. Administrators can disable shadowing of ICA sessions on all servers in a server farm if legal privacy requirements prohibit the shadowing of users' sessions. Alternatively, it may be necessary to disable shadowing on servers that host sensitive applications, such as personnel or payroll applications, in order to protect confidential data. MetaFrame XP Setup provides options on the Shadowing Setup page for an administrator to limit or disable shadowing at installation time. When shadowing is enabled, an administrator has the option to select the following restrictions:

• Prohibit remote control of ICA sessions. By default, MetaFrame XP gives administrators the ability to input keystroke and mouse control during session shadowing. Select this option if you want administrators to be able to shadow without input. In some cases, shadowing without input hides administrator presence.

• Prohibit shadow connections without notification. By default, MetaFrame XP notifies users with a prompt when an administrator is attempting to shadow their sessions. Select this option to deny administrators the ability to shadow sessions without sending this notification.

• Prohibit shadow connections without logging. Events such as shadowing attempts, successes, and failures can be logged in the Windows event log and examined using Event Viewer. Select this option to enable logging.

• Do not allow shadowing of ICA sessions on this server. This option permanently disables shadowing by anyone of all ICA sessions on the server.

Configuring Session Shadowing

Session Shadowing is configured at the time of connection configuration. The shadowing settings in the Advanced Connection Settings dialog box control the behavior of shadowing for all sessions on the connection. Setting options include

• Enabled Specifies that sessions on the connection can be shadowed.

• Disabled Specifies that sessions on the connection cannot be shadowed.

• Input On Allows the shadower to input keyboard and mouse actions to the shadowed session.

• Notify On Specifies that the shadowed user gets a message asking if it is OK for the shadowing to occur.

Session Shadowing Initiation

The initiation of Session Shadowing can be accomplished via the Shadow taskbar, the Citrix Management Console, or from a command line. Each interface is well documented and reasonably self-explanatory.

Citrix MetaFrame Conferencing Manager

Citrix MetaFrame Conferencing Manager adds intuitive application conferencing to MetaFrame XP. This application is a new member of the MetaFrame Access Suite and can be purchased as an individual package or bundled with the Suite. Conferencing Manager integrates three components: a Microsoft Exchange/Outlook calendar form; a new Conferencing Manager interface that initiates, cancels, and manages the users and applications of the conferences; and MetaFrame XP's session shadowing features. These three components create an intuitive interface by which users create and join a collaborative conference session among multiple people. Because shadowing cannot occur across multiple MetaFrame XP servers, each conference is limited to the number of sessions that one server can support (typically about 100 people on a four-processor MetaFrame XP server running Microsoft PowerPoint).

Conferencing Manager eliminates the geographical distance between team members, increases the productivity of meetings, and allows easy collaboration. Teams can utilize Conferencing Manager to share application sessions, work together on document editing, and conduct online training, regardless of the location of individual team members or the access devices or network connections they're using.