Remote Desktop - Alternative?

After installing some updates on a remote Windows Server 2003 box and restarting, we are no longer able to Remote Desktop to that box ("This computer can't connect to the remote computer"). The web sites on the server are running fine, and everything else seems to be running fine as well (SMTP, FTP). This box is being hosted, so I have to have a (hosting company) engineer go over to physically check things out - that's a little awkward (and I'm sure my boss doesn't want to see the bill).

I guess relying only on RDC wasn't the most business continuity-proof idea, so my question is this: do you have an alternative to RDC in case you can't RDC? I'm considering installing LogMeIn (as soon as I can connect to it again, that is :s), but wanted to check here first :)

Check the firewall and the Remote settings in My Computer>Properties>Remote.

There is an update that sometimes knocked this back to default.

MLF

Was that a warm or a cold restart? I have known LogMeIn require a cold reboot before it would work again, so it isn't bulletproof either.

Nothing changed on the router????

There is an internet connection wizard that comes with 2003 SBS that sometimes needs to be rerun after updates.

MLF

It looks like the Remote Administration service was hanging - the remote tech restarted it and we're back up and running again.

Nihil > warm. I think I'm going to install LogMeIn - I hope it won't require a cold reboot :s

I have only come across that once, and the client in question has been using LogMeIn for some time now.

:)

Thanks, both :) I have installed LogMeIn, and it's working just fine (without a reboot) - I've previously had it hang on me a few times during installation (when it says "Your screen may go blank" or whatever), requiring a reboot... not this time, luckily :)

If it happens again and there is nobody physically available in the data center, try connecting to the server from another server via Terminal Svcs Manager and reset/logoff any disconnected sessions. That has worked for me in the past when I was unable to TSC directly to the box.

Look into realvnc, it's cheap efficient and if configured properly secured.
It's also much faster then rdp.

We use a program called GoverLan. I am not sure how much it costs, as it was already in use when I started. I have been very pleased with it though.

I've always used RDC and/or VNC, any VNC app will do, there are even free ones :-)

I must say that between RDP, VNC, LogMeIn, GoToMyPC and the alternatives that I definitely prefer RDP.... RDP over VPN is great but RDP itself works just fine.

Have you considered setting up VPN (even if it's just PPTP) to the system as a backup and continuing to rely on RDP? That way after you reboot, even if RDP doesn't come up (although I work from home a couple days a week (RDP into 2 boxes on those days) and have a remote Windows server that I RDP into and I can say that I've only had a problem once... The issue turned out to be a ATI driver update)... anyways back on track... if RDP doesn't come up you can jump on the VPN and restart services, access the registry and perform any management sort of things that you desire remotely in order to restore RDP.

Thanks for the different scenarios and hands-on tips, everyone :) I'll definitely keep using RDP as my main connection option - I'll look into setting up a VPN, which would have solved our problem (the RDP service not starting correctly) this time.

UltraVNC works great for me from home to work. Was abit of a pain to setup to my vista workstation however eventually got it working.

I still need to setup a VPN on our hardware here at work.

For customer support i use teamviewer which costs quite abit but you dont need to configure any ports / forwarding.

Dont know how it gets passed all our hardware but anyway :)

Quote:

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Dont know how it gets passed all our hardware but anyway

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It uses an encrypted (AES 256) http session on ports 80 and 5938.
You could probably stop it by blocking outbound on 5938.

FYI...Was written by the same guys that wrote TightVNC (another decent and free VNC solution).

Heh, thanks for the info.