remote administration

What is remote administration?

The practice of administering network resources from a remote location. Remote administration capability is essential in an enterprise-level wide area network (WAN) environment and for network administrators who are on the road. Networking and software vendors offer many types of solutions for remote administration, including the following:

• Remote access devices, which allow administrators to dial in to their corporate networks from remote locations using a laptop and a modem. They can then use various software tools to administer different aspects of the network. For example, in a network based on Microsoft Windows 2000, administrators can use Microsoft Management Console (MMC) with suitable snap-ins installed to remotely administer servers running Windows 2000 from any computer running Windows 2000. They can also use remote control software such as pcAnywhere to run any administrative tool from a remote platform.
• Programs such as Telnet, which administrators can use over remote access links to configure devices such as routers and Ethernet switches from the command prompt. Many of these devices support another form of management called out-of-band management (OBM), which allows administrators to directly dial in to the device through a modem connected to an RS-232 serial port on the device and configure the device using a program such as HyperTerminal.
• Secure remote administration through the Internet. Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS) on Windows NT - Internet Information Services on Windows 2000 - includes a remote administration tool that is implemented as an Active Server Pages (ASP) application on the server. Using this tool, administrators can use a simple Web browser such as Microsoft Internet Explorer to remotely configure World Wide Web (WWW) and File Transfer Protocol (FTP) servers running on Windows NT Server and Windows 2000 Server.
• Code-operated matrix switches, which are useful if remote devices need to be rebooted. A switch is connected to a device’s power supply and can be controlled from a remote location via a computer and a modem.