
© Copyright IBM Corp. 2003. All rights reserved. 3
Chapter 1. Remote Control sessions 
overviewSystem administrators often need to manage servers or workstations in distant 
secure locations — for example, in an outsourcing project. If a problem on one of 
these machines requires attention, the administrator traditionally has two 
options: try to resolve the problem over the telephone with an author ized person 
(with a high chance of miscommunication); or relocate to the  user’s location for 
problem determination (which is often impractical). IBM Tivoli Remote Control 
allows an administrator to control the keyboard and mouse input and monitor the 
display output of a remote machine even in zones protected by any kind of 
network controlling process like firewalls. In addition, the administrator can just 
monitor, reboot the PC, or transfer files in a really simple way.
In this chapte r we cover the follow ing topics:
Business perspectives for a solution using IBM Tivoli Remote Control across 
firewalls
An overview of the IBM Tivoli Remote Control functionality
A detailed description of the IBM Tivoli Remote Control components that will 
help to manage machines inside secure areas
A detailed description of each type of communication used to exchange 
information between the different zones
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