Launching pcAnywhere From a User Context

One question as an SE that I get all the time is if it is possible to launch pcAnywhere from the context of a user as opposed to a computer. Here is an example: end user calls their help desk and reports an issue. The help desk technician needs to remote control into the user's machine but first needs to find out which machine the user is on. This can be done through the Altiris console but it takes some digging. And at that point you would then launch the pcAnywhere console and enter in the machine name or IP.

What would be more convenient is if the end user called and the help desk technician would simply look up the user's name in the Altiris console, right click, launch pcAnywhere and that user's machine is automatically entered.

I'm sure there may be other ways to do this but here is the way I did it. I used the relationships that exist in the CMDB to accomplish this. By default there exists a relationship between asset and user. I needed to create the reverse relationship (user to asset) so that the steps outlined below would work. This has to do with the attributes available to us when creating the right click action for the resource type of user. If this doesn't make sense now it should once you read the steps below.

Requirements:

• SMP 7 (or NS 7 for those new to this term)
• pcAnywhere
• CMDB Solution

Here are the steps

1. First create the new resource association. Go to Settings-->Notification Server-->Resource and Data Class Settings-->CMDB Associated Types
2. Right click on CMDB Association Types and select New-->Editable Association Type
3. Enter in the following information:
   
   1. Give it a descriptive name. I named it "User Asset Owners". You can rename the association type by clicking on the current name at the top of the screen.
   2. Reverse Display Name: User Asset Owners (Reverse) - it doesn't really matter what you put here, as long as it's descriptive
   3. From Type: User
   4. To Type: Asset
   5. Minimum Cardinality: 0 - that is what I put. You can figure out what makes sense to you
   6. Maximum Cardinality: 1 - that is what I put. You can figure out what makes sense to you
   7. Enable editing from: Resource Association Picker for Asset
      Here is a screen shot:

      

4. Next we need to create a right click action. Go to Settings-->Notification Server-->Right Click Menu-->User Defined
5. Right click on User Defined and choose New-->Right Click Action
6. Enter the following:
   
   1. Turn on the policy (top right hand corner)
   2. Give the policy a proper name by clicking directly on the policy name at the top of the screen. I named mine pcAnywhere by Ownership
   3. Resource Type: User
   4. Action Type: URL
   5. Base URL: http://{your NS name}/Altiris/pcA/RemoteControl.aspx?itemguid=%Owners Machine GUID%. This is the URL to launch the web based pcAnywhere console. What should follow the "?itemguid=" is the machine's GUID. We are going to dynamically populate this.
   6. Open in: Virtual Window
   7. Substitution Parameters:
      • i. Click add
      • ii. Select the data class that you created in step 3) a. You will find this under the Group drop down box, Resource Attributes-->Resource Associations-->CMDB Association Types
      • iii. Select GUID and press the right arrow so that GUID appears on the right hand side like in the screen shot.

        

      • iv. Press ok.
      • v. Click on the parameter you just created and click on the pencil icon. We are going to give the parameter a better alias
      • vi. I gave it a name of "Owners Machine GUID" which matches what we entered in step 6) d. You can name this whatever you like as long as the parameter name matches what is used for the URL.
      • vii. Click save changes

        

        And you're done.

To test this properly you would need to have the proper associations. There are several ways to get the associations populated. First off you can use CMDB rules as well as adding them manually. For a first quick test:

1. Go to Manage-->Users.
2. Right click on a user and select edit
3. On my machine the new resource association showed up on top. Either way navigate to the resource association you created in step 3) and click the pencil icon.
4. Select a computer and save

   

5. Now when you right click on a user you should see a User Defined menu and your new right click action underneath it. This should launch pcAnywhere with the machine name populated automatically.

   

   

My right click action appears under the "Alon" menu because I moved my right click policy to a folder called "Alon". This is optional.