SMS: Remote Controlling a Multihomed Windows NT Client Computer (170440)

SYMPTOMS

In some situations, it may be difficult to establish a Remote Control session with a Windows NT system that contains more than one network adapter. These multihomed systems add a certain degree of complexity to the process required to establish a remote control session.

Please note that Microsoft is working to develop solutions to the variety of issues that result from the added complexity of multihomed systems. In some cases, hotfixes have been developed to resolve these issues. The workarounds described in this article should be tried as a last resort.

On multihomed systems, it is not uncommon for the Systems Management Server Remote Control agent to "listen" on a IP address that is different from the IP address that was reported in the Systems Management Server inventory. When this occurs, an attempt to establish a remote control session may fail with the following message:

Unable to locate <machine name>.

To establish any remote control session, it is necessary for the Remote Control agent (Wuser32.exe) to listen on one of the "network paths" that the Systems Management Server Administrator program will attempt to use. To achieve this, you can either make changes to the way the Remote Control agent functions (client side) or make changes in the way that the Administrator program locates the client (administrator side).

The actual change that you should make depends on the network environment and the configuration of the client you are attempting to remote control.

WORKAROUND

To work around these problems, try any one of the following (each workaround is described in more detail below):

Apply Systems Management Server 1.2 Service Pack 3.
Configure the Remote Control agent to use a NetBIOS session.
Manually override the IP address reported by the Systems Management Server inventory.

Apply Systems Management Server 1.2 Service Pack 3

Systems Management Server 1.2 Service Pack 3 contains an enhancement that allows the Administrator program to perform NetBIOS name resolution to locate the Systems Management Server client if the IP address in the Systems Management Server database fails to locate the client successfully. Try installing the service back before attempting the other workarounds.

In a situation where the IP address in the database fails to successfully establish a remote control session, the Administrator program will query on the NetBIOS name registered by the Remote Control agent. This name appears as "machine name <43h>" in the WINS database.

To gain this functionality, you must run the service pack setup on the same system that is running the Administrator utility. Doing this updates the Systems Management Server Administrator program on that system.

Configure the Remote Control Agent to Use a NetBIOS Session

By default, the Remote Control agent is configured to use IP sockets for a remote control session. You can use the Administrator program to configure this site-wide setting. To view these settings, open the Site Properties window, click Clients, and then click Options.

NOTE: You must upgrade the Systems Management Server client on computers running Windows NT to propagate any changes made to the Remote Troubleshooting Options screen. You can do this by running Upgrade.bat from the SMS_SHR share on a Systems Management Server logon server.

It is possible to override these site-wide settings on a per-client basis by changing a registry value on the client you are attempting to remote control. Before changing this value, it is necessary to determine which Lana number (a NetBIOS network path) would be suitable for a Remote Control session.

I. View the Lana numbers defined on the client computer running Windows NT.

Open Control Panel Network.
From the installed services, select the NetBIOS Interface, and then click Properties.

From the list of defined Lana numbers, you may see something like "NetBT - > El90x -> El90x1" defined for Lana 0. This can be interpreted as NetBIOS encapsulated in TCP/IP over the Ethernet adapter. This is normally the most desirable choice for a remote control session. As long as a name resolution method (such as WINS) is being used in the network environment, this is a reliable choice.

NetBT = NetBIOS encapsulated in TCP/IP
NwlnkNB = NetBIOS encapsulated in IPX
NBF = NetBIOS encapsulated in NetBEUI

For systems that use a dial-up connection as well, other Lana numbers may appear something like "NetBT -> NdisWan4".

II. Configure the Remote Control agent to listen on a specific Lana number.

Open the Registry Editor (Regedt32.exe) and find the following registry key:

         HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\SMS\Client Services
         \Remote Control\Parameters

Change the "CommandLine" value from "-IP" (IP Sockets) to "-L0" (Lana 0). To permanently override the site-wide setting, set the "Override Site CommandLine" value under the Remote Control key to a value of "1" as well. This ensures that the CommandLine value is not overwritten if the Systems Management Server client components are ever upgraded.

NOTE: Another option would be to set the CommandLine value to "-IPX". This forces a remote control to occur over NWLink IPX/SPX Compatible Transport.

Manually Override the IP Address Reported by the SMS Inventory

In some situations where it is absolutely necessary to establish a remote control session over IP sockets, it is possible to replace the IP address normally inventoried by Systems Management Server with the one that the remote control agent is listening on.

I. Determine which IP address the Remote Control agent is listening on.

At the Systems Management Server client, start the Help Desk Options utility. You will see the following message at the bottom of the window:
WUSER is listening on TCP/IP address xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
Verify that this is NOT the IP address that is recorded in the Systems Management Server database for this client. If it is, no further action is required.

Cut and paste the following text into a Notepad text file. The file should begin with the "Start Component" statement on the first line and end with "End Component" on the last line.

         Start Component
            Name = "Machine"
            Start Group
               Name = "Network"
               ID = 1
               Class = "MICROSOFT|NETWORK|1.0"
               Start Attribute
                  Name = "Network Active"
                  ID = 1
                  Access = READ-ONLY
                  Storage = SPECIFIC
                  Type = Int
                  Value = 1
               End Attribute
               Start Attribute
                  Name = "Major Version"
                  ID = 2
                  Access = READ-ONLY
                  Storage = COMMON
                  Type = Int
                  Value = 3
               End Attribute
               Start Attribute
                  Name = "Minor Version"
                  ID = 3
                  Access = READ-ONLY
                  Storage = COMMON
                  Type = Int
                  Value = 5
               End Attribute
               Start Attribute
                  Name = "Network Type"
                  ID = 4
                  Access = READ-ONLY
                  Storage = COMMON
                  Type = String(64)
                  Value = "Microsoft Windows Network"
               End Attribute
               Start Attribute
                  Name = "IPX Address"
                  ID = 5
                  Access = READ-ONLY
                  Storage = SPECIFIC
                  Type = String(24)
                  Value = "[IPX address]"
               End Attribute
               Start Attribute
                  Name = "IP Address"
                  ID = 6
                  Access = READ-ONLY
                  Storage = SPECIFIC
                  Type = String(20)
                  Value = "[IP address]"
               End Attribute
               Start Attribute
                  Name = "Subnet Mask"
                  ID = 7
                  Access = READ-ONLY
                  Storage = COMMON
                  Type = String(16)
                  Value = "[subnet mask]"
               End Attribute
               Start Attribute
                  Name = "Default Gateway"
                  ID = 8
                  Access = READ-ONLY
                  Storage = COMMON
                  Type = String(16)
                  Value = "[default gateway]"
               End Attribute
               Start Attribute
                  Name = "DNS Machine Name"
                  ID = 9
                  Access = READ-ONLY
                  Storage = COMMON
                  Type = String(128)
                  Value = "[DNS name]"
               End Attribute
               Start Attribute
                  Name = "LogOn Name"
                  ID = 10
                  Access = READ-ONLY
                  Storage = COMMON
                  Type = String(48)
                  Value = "[logon name]"
               End Attribute
            End Group
         End Component

Enter the correct values for all of the attributes. Remove all the brackets from inside the double quotation marks. For example, the IP Address value should look something like:
Value = "123.45.67.89"
NOTE: If any of the defined attributes are removed from this file, its corresponding value in the Systems Management Server database will appear as "null".
Save the file with the name Network.mif (the name is flexible, but it must end with a .mif extension).
Copy the Network.mif file to the Ms\Sms\Noidmifs directory on the client computer.

The next time this server is inventoried, this Noidmif file will be appended to its normal inventory and will override the IP address that is normally collected. This should allow a remote control session to be established.