Customer Service is our largest department here at Escape Technology. We feel this is the most important work we do. We are always looking for ways of improving our level of service to our customers. One of the most effective and critical methods the Escape support staff has to solve problems and assist our customers is through remote access of our customers' systems. This document describes setup of remote access for Escape support.
Remote access is "taking control" of a PC on your network from a remote location via a telecommunications link and some special "remote control" software. When the remote user is an Escape Customer Service Rep, the rep's pc becomes a local client - keystrokes from our end are sent to the remote access PC, and screen updates are sent back to us.
Just as if we were on site, we are able to diagnose and resolve problems, or perform routine maintenance. We can also immediately send or receive files. This capability is invaluable because attempting to solve problems via someone relaying what they see on the screen - and leaving out the tiniest detail can lead to hours of frustration (for both customers and Escape) without remote access.
Remote access is so important for Escape and Escape customers that it is specified in each software license agreement!
This PC should be a good performer, as our work can only proceed as quickly as the PC allows. Please see below for minimum workstation requirements. Technology has advanced quite a bit. Several different remote access programs are in use. Modems, although much faster than they once were, are now slow compared to Internet access. The worst situation is we often have to call in order to have someone "set up the remote access PC" which can waste 30 minutes or more of valuable time for both district employees and Escape representatives. Worse yet, if there is nobody who knows how to set it up, it means Escape cannot sign in to correct the problem! These situations mean our respective staffs are inefficient. Time and money is being wasted! The resolution is easy and the cost is quite small.
What is the future of Escape support? This section describes where we are going and what you need to get there.
Instead of using modems and phone lines, we can now use the Internet to provide the telecommunication link between the two machines. It also results in the elimination of phone charges! Here is what you need for this:
This will result in the most efficient result for both Escape and each customer.
If a customer does not have Internet connectivity, a dial-up connection will have to suffice. Here is what is needed in this case:
Other configurations include the following:
No other configurations are supported for Escape Online. For all other customers, we would like all customers to transition from any of these configurations to the first or second desired configurations as soon as possible. Valuable time for employees of both organizations is "a wasting!" How secure is this… What would a "hacker" need to know to get in? The Internet support setup is as secure or more so than the current dial-in setups. Why? Because the same type of security is available - user id's passwords for both PCAnywhere and the LAN, validation of connecting PC, etc.
Below is a chart showing exactly what information someone would need to know to successfully connect to a dial-in PC and sign into your network:
| Requirement | Current Support | Internet Support |
|---|---|---|
| IP Address of the PC | N/A | √ |
| Valid IP Address of Connecting PC | N/A | √ |
| The same communication software as you have (i.e., PCAnywhere, CoSession, VPN/Terminal Client, etc.) | √ | √ |
| A valid User ID and password for all required software and hardware (LAN, SQL, IIS, etc.) | √ | √ |
| Communication software’s User ID & Password | √ | √ |
| Telephone number of the modem | √ | N/A |
Additionally, with the Internet access method, someone will have to know the actual IP address of the PC that is set up to "dial in." In addition, they must be dialing from a specific PC (or range of PC's) and have a user id and password on your LAN and a PCAnywhere password! PCAnywhere32 uses two ports, 5631 and 5632, which must be left open by the system administrator to allow connections through the firewall. This is no less secure than an open phone line with no user name and password (like some have now). Our IP address for dialing in is 66.60.176.50.
Below is a checklist of tasks that need to be completed before remote access can be accomplished:
| Remote Access Requirements | √ |
|---|---|
| Dedicated Pentium PC running Windows98 or NT (Available to Escape 24 Hours/Day) |
|
| Permanent Connection to the Internet via district's LAN | |
| The IP Address of the PC to Escape (must be STATIC!) | |
| Valid IP Address of Connecting PC from Escape | |
| PCAnywhere version 8.0 for Windows PCAnywhere version 9.0 for Windows or VPN/Terminal Client (for Escape Online) |
|
| A valid User ID and password for all required software and hardware (LAN, SQL, IIS, etc.) | |
| The communication software's User ID & Password |