Computer management tools
When you need to perform standard Windows computer management tasks, you can do it without leaving the RAS Console. The tasks include Remote Desktop Connection, Computer Management, Service Management, Event Viewer, PowerShell, Reboot, and others. To perform these tasks, use the Tools menu, which is accessible from the Site menu and individual Parallels RAS infrastructure servers and session hosts.
Requirements for using computer management tools
Some of the tools require an appropriate target host configuration before you can use them in the RAS Console. Please read the following requirements and make sure they are met.
To use Remote Desktop, remote connections must be enabled on a target host. You can verify that by using the standard Windows Remote Desktop Connection application and see if you can connect to a remote server.
PowerShell related tools require PowerShell remoting enabled on a target server. To enable PowerShell remoting, run the Enable-PSRemoting
cmdlet on a target computer in PowerShell window with administrator privileges. Please note the following:
The cmdlet configures a computer to receive PowerShell remote commands.
The cmdlet starts the WinRM (Windows Remote Management) service, among other tasks. To see if the WinRM service is running, use the
Test-WSMan
cmdlet.When you execute the cmdlet, it will ask you to confirm every task that it wants to perform. To execute the command silently, use the
-Force
option.If you receive an error saying that "WinRM firewall exception will not work since one of the network connection types on this machine is set to Public", you can try to execute the cmdlet with the
-SkipNetworkProfileCheck
option, or you can change the network connection type on this host to Domain or Private.
To use PowerShell to manage a remote host, you also need to add the host to the TrustedHosts list on the computer where you have the RAS Console installed. To view the current TrustedHosts list, execute the following command in PowerShell window:
To add a host to the TrustedHosts list, use one of the options described below. Please note that all examples below, except the last one, always overwrite an existing TrustedHosts list. To add a specific computer to an existing list, use the last example (the one with the -Concatenate
parameter).
Add all computers to the list:
Add all domain computers:
Add specific computers:
Add a computer to an existing list (this is the only example that will not overwrite an existing TrustedHosts list):
Available tools
The table below describes the tools available in the Tasks > Tools menu and their execution strings.
Remote Desktop | mstsc.exe /v:<selectedRDShostName>:<port> /admin | Launch a standard RDP connection to the selected RDS host. |
Computer Management | compmgmt.msc /computer:<selectedRDShostName> | Launch Computer Management locally with connection to the selected host. |
Service Management | services.msc /computer:<selectedRDShostName> | Launch Services Management locally with connection to the selected host. |
Event Viewer | eventvwr.msc /computer:<selectedRDShostName> | Launch Event Viewer locally with connection to the selected host. |
Shared Folders | smgmt.msc /computer:<selectedRDShostName> | Launch Shared Folders locally with connection to the selected host. |
Powershell | Enter-PSSession –ComputerName <selectedRDShostName> [-Credential username] | Launch Powershell locally with connection to the selected host. |
IPconfig | - Powershell remote connection to selected host - Get-NetIPConfiguration | Provides network configuration for the selected host. |
Ping | - Powershell remote connection to selected host - Test-NetConnection -ComputerName www.microsoft.com | Select -ExpandProperty PingReplyDetails | FT Address, Status, RoundTripTime | Provides ICMP reply with status and RTT for the selected host. |
Netstat | - Powershell remote connection to selected host - Get-NetTCPConnection | Displays network connections for Transmission Control Protocol on the selected host. |
Reboot | shutdown /m \\<selectedRDShostName> /f /r /t 0 | Reboot the selected host. |
Shutdown | shutdown /m \\<selectedRDShostName> /f /s /t 0 | Shutdown the selected host. |
Note that individual tools availability depends on the server type. For example, HALB has only Ping in the Tools menu.