Performance and other issues
I'm evaluating Remote Desktop Manager with an eye towards purchasing it to replace mRemoteNG for a dozen or so seats (MSP helpdesk). I really want to like it, but there are some issues that are just... ugh.
1. Every time I connect, disconnect, or reconnect an RDP session, it cycles through all open windows. With a couple dozen sessions open, this can take 20-30 seconds.
2. Sometimes - not always, but fairly often - when I disconnect or reconnect a session, my entire machine freezes for several minutes. Task manager performance tab stops updating, then shows 100% CPU utilization by RemoteDesktopManager64.exe for the elapsed period. For the reference, I'm running it on a Core 2 Duo E7300 with 8GB RAM and Windows 10.
3. The active RDP session frequently loses keyboard focus - I can click on things, but typing has no effect until I switch to another window (i.e. not Remote Desktop Manager) and back.
4. The Remote Desktop Manager icon in taskbar randomly migrates between other buttons, with no rhyme or reason to it.
5. SSH sessions show the PuTTY window, including the title bar and window borders, inside the Remote Desktop Manager window, reducing available screen area.
6. With sessions arranged into multiple tabs, whenever I open a new session, it opens in the currently active tab, even if it's assigned to a different tab - I have to switch back and forth between tabs to sort it out, which sometimes also takes 10-15 seconds.
7. The web form fill extension in Firefox (haven't tested IE or Chrome yet) disables the browser's internal password manager.
8. The FortiClient VPN extension does not support the current version of FortiClient for SSL VPNs, only for IPsec. It is impossible to have the lightweight FortiSSL client and the full FortiClient that supports IPsec installed simultaneously.
Is there anything that can be done about these problems, or should I keep searching for a viable replacement for mRemoteNG?
All Comments (6)
Hello,
I will try to help you today but our office are closed for an Holiday in Canada. I will start with few simple questions. Which RDM version do you use? Could you send me a small video for the #1? For the Forticlient issue I will need your help. Could you verify if they have a command line we could use? You should try our SSH connection instead of Putty. It's based on the Putty code.
Regards
David Hervieux
I sent you a PM with a video showcasing the first issue. The version I'm using is 11.5.1.0 64-bit. I'll look into FortiClient CLI, but Remote Desktop Manager simply doesn't list the configured SSL tunnels as available for connection, only IPsec ones. Thank you for the suggestion to use the embedded SSH - I assume you mean the 'SSH Shell (Rebex)' type - so far it appears to be working better than the PuTTY implementation.
Hi,
Thank you. I will check the video. This should help me profiling the application and find the bottleneck.
Regards
David Hervieux
I looked into FortiClient 5.2.4 admin guide here:
http://docs.fortinet.com/uploaded/files/2523/FortiClient-5.2.4-Admin-Guide.pdf
...and page 173 has the following:
'You can operate FortiClient VPNs using the COM-based FortiClient API. The API can be used with IPsec VPN only. SSL VPN is currently not supported.'
The admin guide for version 5.4.0 mentions the same, and neither have anything about CLI access. Therefore I have to conclude that this issue is on Fortinet's end - they're not exposing the necessary functionality. In any case, this is a minor issue - the deal-breaker is the constant waiting for the client to refresh.
Hi,
I will do more test tomorrow but I think that most of your issues are related to the Tab group feature. I did a tweak in the version 11.5.2.0 but I'm not sure if it will help you. Could you give it a try?
Regards
David Hervieux
I upgraded to 11.5.2.0 - it's still cycling through all the open windows, but seems to be doing it a little bit faster, although I'm not sure whether that is due to version change or simply from the program being started afresh. I will keep working with it throughout the day and see how it goes. I PMed you another screen recording that shows how it's doing right now.