Apple Remote Desktop 2 'well worth the money'

Yuval Kossovsky   Today’s Top Stories   or  Other Macintosh OS Stories  

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August 19, 2004 (Computerworld) -- I've been using remote access programs for years: PC Anywhere, NetOctopus, Virtual Network Computing (VNC) and the venerable Timbuktu. These programs are indispensable for system administrators who need access to their servers and desktops without having to be physically near them. It keeps us from spending long hours in a refrigerated server room, and saves company money because we don't need to travel as often to client sites.
When Apple released Apple Remote Desktop 1.0, I was in the process of building several student labs using Mac OS X and thought this would be a good support tool. ARD 1 allowed an administrator to remote-control a machine and provide user support. After an incremental update, ARD 1.2 allowed the administrator to distribute Apple (or third-party) packages (.pkg and .mpkg files). This greatly simplified the process of patching systems and installing applications. I was able to push out a system update to all my boxes over the network quickly and relatively painlessly -- usually in the early morning hours before classes started.
ARD 1.2 had a few quirks, and I was looking forward to ARD 2 for the fixes. So, I got a copy of the software recently, and put it to the test. I liked what I found.
The first thing I noticed was that the user interface is much more elegant than previous versions. It was also oriented toward doing multiple commands in sequence, so there is a command progress window at the bottom. On the left is an option to have multiple lists, which is very handy for those who want to keep their physical locations grouped. The windows just look better.

The basis for ARD 2's system control has changed since ARD first came out. In Version 1, the product used User Datagram Protocol and operated on Port 3283. ARD 2 can use that same port but also operates using transmission control protocol on the standard VNC port 5900. ARD 2 also allows VNC devices to be controlled from the ARD interface (or for Apple desktops to connect to a VNC server). The most important change at this level from Version 1 is that the application now uses TCP ping to locate computers on the network. If your network blocks this across subnets (as many organizations do to prevent DOS attacks), you have to manually enter the IP addresses of the machines you wish to manage on other subnets or put in place a router rule allowing TCP ping from your master control workstation. The advantage of TCP versus UDP is a much faster response and fewer failures when delivering data. Note: You can also put

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