Enter the details for this TotalAccess connection type

The Enter the details for this TotalAccess connection type page displays the current values for all parameters required for a 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, you need to bind them 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: If you cannot see the page, consult your Platform administrator. These connection types are NOT available for assets that are running Axeda® Gateway and Axeda® Connector Agents.

How to modify a connection type

When editing 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 update the connection type.

o 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.

o 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:

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

Best Practices for Connection Name

In general the connection name should follow the convention AssetName#ConnectionTypeName. For a connection type "Telnet", this is accomplished by using the syntax [Reg:MemberName]#Telnet in this field.

o Description -- Type additional information about the connection type, using up to 100 characters. This information will appear in the table on the View and manage TotalAccess connection types page.

o 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

Leave this field blank if users will not have direct network access to the end devices. This is the most common case.

o 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.

o 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.

o 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.

Best Practices for First Port to Try

For TCP connections, use the client application's default port as the first port to try and provide a reasonably large number (for example, 50-100) of "ports to try" for applications that can use any port number. This practice maximizes the likelihood that the TotalAccess client-side component will find an available local port.

o 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).