Settings

Access from Control Panel

Use this module to:

Configure the way MetaLAN operates.

Operation mode:

MetaLAN can operate in two modes, Stand alone.and Server. In Stand alone mode all information about client computers is collected real time from the computers on the network. In Server mode MetaLAN will collect the information from a computer running ProbeServer. This is faster than Stand alone mode as the information has already been collected by ProbeServer. Also, information about computers that are not currently on the the network such as computers that are turned off or laptop computers that are away from the office will still be displayed in an off-line status.

ProbeServer is available for download at http://dl.hammer-software.com/

ProbeServer uses the same license at MetaLAN.

Click [Search for a ProbeServer] to automatically configure MetaLAN.

If MetaLAN's running in stand alone mode the data collected can be cached by checking the [Cache stand Alone Data] check box. If you want to clear the cache click the [Clear cache ] button. This will also clear any data currently displayed by MetaLAN.

Stand alone mode settings

[Find computers using ADSI] When checked MetaLAN will find the computers on the network by enquiring Active Directory. When not checked MetaLAN will use the browser service. The browser service is generally faster because Active Directory will return all computers that have joined the domain even though they may not be online. Unchecked is the default.
[Cache Stand Alone Data] When checked MetaLAN will cache the results of Network Probes. When MetaLAN is started it will load the data from the cache. Computers that are in the cache but not currently on the network will be shown as offline.

Network Operations:

Because network operations have no guarantee of success (computers are not always reachable on a network). It helps greatly to have multiple operations taking place simultaneously. If one operation fails or worse stalls the others can continue. The [Maximum threads] setting specifies how many simultaneous network operations you wish to perform. A higher setting will cause a higher network and CPU utilization. The default is 20

The verify by pinging setting causes MetaLAN to ping a computer before attempting any network operation. This ensures that no operations are attempted on a computer that is not currently on the network and avoids the considerable network time-out period that would normally happen.

The Ping timeout is the amount of time to wait for a computer to respond before assuming it off the network. This is measured in milliseconds. The default is 800ms.

The Low Bandwidth setting is for low speed connections such as modems. It causes less data to be collected from the computers and an optimized number of threads to run.

Exclude IP ranges

Any computers with IP addresses inside the ranges entered here will be ignored by MetaLAN when a Network Probe takes place.

Remote Control:

If the Request permission from client selection is checked, each remote control session will need to be authorized by the client before the VNC session starts. If the client does not authorize the session within 60 seconds the session will be canceled. This setting is password protected. The default password is "BCareful2".

If the "Use VNC to control XPPro" check box is checked, VNC will be used to remote control XP clients. If this selection is not checked Terminal services client will be used. If the Auto Port Selection is checked then VNC will use the default port to handle remote control sessions. If this is unchecked then the user can nominate a port between 1023 and 65366 that will be used for remote control sessions.

Password

Click [Password] to change the MetaLAN password or optionally disable it. The default password is BCareful2. The “Request permission from client” setting is protected by the password. The password is system-wide so when the password is changed it will apply to all users of the computer.