New Feature in ControlUp: Connect On-Demand

ControlUp ConsoleControlUp Insights

ControlUp Connect On-Demand: Search thousands of records instantly, conserve resources, and improve EUC efficiency.

Did you hear? ControlUp recently released ControlUp Console 8.1.5.619! This update includes a new feature that gives ControlUp greater scalability, and will be a game-changer for Enterprise-level ControlUp environments and also allow smaller environments to run ControlUp more efficiently.

The new feature is called Connect On-Demand. It enables the ControlUp Console to to connect to machines on an as-needed basis, thus preserving the resources on which the console runs. This allows IT to monitor more machines with the same amount of resources or, conversely, monitor the same amount of machines using fewer resources.

Once you have connected to an EUC environment, you can double-click a desktop in the organization tree to automatically connect to the ControlUp agent, which allows you to view the processes and resources being used on that machine.

In the example below, you can see that the desktop CALLCENTER001 shows as Disconnected under the Status column, and doesn’t show any metrics that come from the machine, such as the CPU column; however, it will show metrics under the CPU Ready column, which come from the hypervisor, as well as the HZ State column, which come from the connection server.

It will show metrics under the CPU Ready column, which come from the hypervisor, as well as the HZ State column

By double-clicking on the machine, the ControlUp Console will connect and start to collect and display its metrics; this will continue until either the machine is disconnected or the ControlUp Console is restarted.

ControlUp Console will connect and start to collect and display its metrics.

Connect On-Demand is, perhaps, most useful when you’re looking for a particular user session. When you connect to your EUC environment, ControlUp will pull down any users in that service, allowing you to quickly search thousands of records instantly. And once you are connected to the machine that the user is using, you can perform actions such as Chat, Manage Programs and Updates, view the users processes, log the user off, or any of the other functions that make ControlUp such a valuable tool for help desk professionals. With Connect On-Demand, all it takes is a double click on a session to gain these features.

When you connect to your EUC environment, ControlUp will pull down any users in that service.

Perform actions such as Chat, Manage Programs and Updates, view the users processes, log the user off, etc.

One of the reasons the ControlUp Console is so responsive is that it uses an in-memory database for all the objects that it monitors. By using the Connect On-Demand feature, you can preserve the RAM on the system where the console is running for only the machines that you are concerned about.

If you are using ControlUp Insights to collect historical data, this new feature will not affect your historical data as your ControlUp Monitor(s) will still collect metrics from your machines as it always has.

This feature shouldn’t be confused with the Auto Connect feature, which the ControlUp Console also supports. Auto Connect will reconnect objects being monitored on initiating the ControlUp Console. You can enable this feature by right-clicking an object and selecting Auto Connect. To see if an object has this feature enabled, you can click the Show auto-connect state checkbox. If you want to use Connect On-Demand, you will need to disable Auto Connect on the machines where you want to use Connect On-Demand.

To use Connect On-Demand, disable Auto Connect on the machines where you want to use Connect On-Demand

If you haven’t installed ControlUp yet, download it now and use it FREE for three weeks with a trial license. And If you’re already a ControlUp user, you can update your existing environment by opening the Help tab and clicking Check for updates.

Update your existing ControlUp environment by opening the Help tab and clicking Check for updates

Whether your VDI environment is large or small, conserving resources is always a good thing. ControlUp’s new Connect On-Demand feature is a useful addition that will conserve resources without limiting your ability to efficiently monitor your environment. It’s just one more way we’re helping EUC administrators reduce IT downtime, ensure business continuity, and keep end-users productive.

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Tom Fenton

Tom Fenton is a Technical Marketing manager here at ControlUp (in addition to an all-around great guy). He’s THE subject matter expert for Edge DX, our physical endpoint monitoring solution, as well as an expert in all things VMware (FACT: he used to work at VMware, teaching their employees about their technology). He creates valuable, educational content for the ControlUp blog, leads deep-dive webinars, and educates our sales teams and other IT professionals with tips and tricks about how to use ControlUp solutions. In his spare time, he writes for StorageReview.com and Virtualization Review magazine, and enjoys outdoor sports in the Pacific Northwest. Connect with him on Twitter @vDoppler.