Enter the details for this new TotalAccess connection type

How do I get here?

The Enter the details for this new TotalAccess connection type page provides all the parameters required to add a new connection type. Connection types are required for remote sessions through a TotalAccess Server with assets that are running Axeda IDM Agents. Once the connection types have been created, they need to be bound to assets that are running the IDM Agents. To bind connection types to assets, use the Model wizard of the Axeda Configuration application. The Connection Bindings step allows you to select the connection type, Initiate property, and State property for the model.

Note: This page must be enabled by your Platform administrator. These connection types are NOT for assets that are running Axeda® Gateway and Axeda® Connector Agents.

How to add a connection type

Specify the following information for the connection type (an asterisk indicates that the field is required). Click the Best Practices links to display additional information about the fields; click the link again to hide the information. When ready, click Submit to create the connection type.

• Type Name -- Type the name of the connection type (up to 50 characters). This name should reflect the type of connection, such as VNC, Telnet, SSH, and so forth. This field is required. This name is shown in the first column of the table in the View and manage TotalAccess connection types page. In the table, the name is a link you can select if you want to edit the connection type information.

• Connection Name -- Type the name of the connection (up to 50 characters). This field is required. In addition to free-form text, this field may contain several keyword values that will be substituted at runtime. Asset information keywords:

1. • [Reg:MemberName] - The member name of the asset.

   • [Reg:NetworkAddress] - The network address of the asset.

   • [Reg:SerialNumber] - The serial number of the asset.

   • [RegExt:<extpropname>] - The value of an extended profile property.

TotalAccess information keywords:

1. • [TA:Port] - The port number used for the client-side tunnel.

   • [TA:DownloadDir] - The client-side directory where the TotalAccess control is downloaded.

Best Practices for Connection Name

• Description -- Type additional information about the connection type, using up to 100 characters. This information appears in the table in the View and manage TotalAccess Connection Types page.

• Contactable Cmd -- If applicable, type the command used to start the client program in a mode where it can establish a network connection directly to the asset. Assets on the same LAN or accessible through a Virtual Private Network (VPN) with a known IP address are considered contactable. The text in this field should be a valid command for most client computers. The value of this field may be overridden on the client computer using the "Local Settings" option if necessary. In addition to free-form text, the field may contain several keyword values that will be substituted at runtime. These keywords are the same as those for Connection Name above.

Best Practices for Contactable Command

• Non-contactable Cmd -- If applicable, type the command used to start the client program in a mode where it must establish a network connection to a TotalAccess tunnel rather than directly to the asset. The text in this field should be a valid command for most client computers. This value of this field may be overridden on the client computer using the "Local Settings" option if necessary. In addition to free-form text, the field may contain several keyword values that will be substituted at runtime. These keywords are the same as those for Connection Name above.

• Num Ports To Try -- Type the number of ports to try when searching for an available port for the client-side TotalAccess tunnel. A typical value is 10, but it must be set to 1 if the client program has a hard-coded port number. The default value is -1, which means it will try as many ports as it necessary to find an available port.

• First Port To Try -- Type the number of the first port to try when the client-side tunnel is attempting to be established. In general, the number should avoid commonly used port numbers (for example, 80, 443) to minimize conflicts. In some cases, the client program "hard codes" the port number. In these cases, the value specified in the client program must be used. The default value is -1, which means any port.

Best Practices for First Port to Try

• Attributes -- Select the check box to enable an attribute. Clear the check box to disable the attribute. The table in the View and manage TotalAccess connection types page shows whether an attribute is enabled (black) or disabled (dimmed). The attributes you can enable or disable are

• • On Demand -- Enable this attribute if an automatic request to publish the connection should be made for this connection type

  Best Practices for On Demand

  In most cases, assets poll frequently enough (for example, every 5 to 10 minutes) that the On Demand feature is the best way to connect to the asset. Some assets may poll much less frequently than that (for example, every 4 hours) and may not be configured to publish the connection periodically. For those assets, consider creating a per-minute, scheduled task to request the connection-initiate property (or properties) at a specific time for a 15-minute duration. The connection associated with the requested initiate properties will be available at or around the start time for that 15-minute window.

  Use the On Demand feature rather than the "always on" model of TotalAccess to avoid unnecessary network traffic. This practice works especially well with assets that have a poll rate that is within the tolerable response time.

   

  • Multi-Connect -- If the connection type requires a series of short-lived, potentially concurrent network connections rather than a single long-lived network connection, enable this attribute. An example of a multi-connect protocol is HTTP (web browsing).