Skip to main content

NightWatchman Enterprise 7.3

Web WakeUp server configuration

Web WakeUp supports a small number of administrator configurable options. To perform wake-ups, it integrates with the NightWatchman Console Service so some of the options are set in the NWM.ServiceHost.exe.config file located in the 1E NightWatchman Console service installation directory and others in Web.config found in the Web WakeUp Website installation directory, which may be on different servers. The configuration files use XML format and strict observance of the existing syntax must be followed.

Systems

NWM.ServiceHost.exe.config

Web.config

32-bit systems

C:\Program Files\1E\NightWatchmanManagementCenter\ConsoleService

C:\Program Files\1E\WebWakeUp\Website

64-bit systems

C:\Program Files (x86)\1E\NightWatchmanManagementCenter\ConsoleService

C:\Program Files (x86)\1E\WebWakeUp\Website

Changes to the service configuration options should be as follows:

  1. For options that require changes to NWM.ServiceHost.exe.config, edit the file and restart NWM.ServiceHost.exe

  2. For options that require changes to Web.config, edit the file

  3. Perform an IIS reset on the Web WakeUp server if either file is changed

Most of the configuration file provides internal settings that should not be changed from the default. The following NWM.ServiceHost.exe.config options may be changed under specific circumstances to modify the behavior of Web WakeUp.You will need to restart the NightWatchman Console Service for the changes to take effect.

NightWatchman console service options

Administrator configurable options for the NWM.ServiceHost.exe.config file are detailed below. After changing these settings, you will need to restart the NightWatchman Console Service and perform an IIS reset, for them to take effect.

Configuration

Notes

Setting the maximum number of computers returned

Results are not paged when searching for computers in the Web WakeUp website so the only way to allow users to see more results is to change the number of computers returned. The default is 30. Values range from 20 - 500 inclusive.

To increase the results returned, update the value for MaxMachines in the NWM.ServiceHost.exe.config file. For example:

...
<appSettings>
    ...
    <add key="MaxMachines" value="100"/>
    ...
</appSettings>
...
Enabling authorization

Web WakeUp supports setting the use of authorization which can be selected during a NightWatchman Management Center Console Service installation. To modify authorization after an installation, edit the NWM.ServiceHost.exe.config file and update AuthorisedMachineModule.

For example, to enable authorization

...
<appSettings>
    ...
    <add key="AuthorisedMachineModule" 
        value="N1E.WakeUp.Web.AuthorisedMachineModule.dll"/>
    ...
    </appSettings>
...

and to disable authorization

...
<appSettings>
    ...
    <add key="AuthorisedMachineModule" 
        value=""/>
    ...
    </appSettings>
...

Once you enable authorization, Web WakeUp users can only search for computers that they have permissions for. If they do not have an entry in the Web WakeUp authorization database, they will not be able to search for, or wake any computers.

Website control

You control which pages get displayed when a user visits the Web WakeUp website with DisplayPages in the <appSettings> section of the NWM.ServiceHost.exe.config file. This may be set to a comma separated list containing the following values:

  • MyComputers – displays the My Computers tab

  • WakeUpComputer – displays the WakeUp Computer tab

  • Search – displays the Search tab

  • Register – displays the Register tab

For example, you could maintain strict control over computers that their users can wake-up remotely by setting the website to display only the My Computers tab and then pre-registering all the user's registered computers by modifying the Web WakeUp database directly or by using the API.

Note

When all pages are removed from the DisplayPages option a notification will be displayed when browsing to the website.

Web options

Administrator configurable options for the Web.config file are detailed as follows. After changing these settings, you will need to perform an IIS reset, for them to take effect.

Configuration

Notes

ActiveX usage

Web WakeUp provides an ActiveX control used to retrieve local computer names for the purposes of registration. When this ActiveX control is not used Web WakeUp uses a reverse DNS lookup that relies on a correctly configured and up-to-date DNS environment. The ActiveX alternative is more reliable, accurate and efficient.

In certain circumstances, you may not want to install the ActiveX control for example, 64-bit browsers are not supported by the ActiveX control or you may have pre-determined all the users' registered computers and not want the ActiveX control installed. In these cases you can turn off the installation and use of the ActiveX control

To do this, update the value (TRUE or FALSE) for UseActiveX. For example, do disable ActiveX usage:

...
<appSettings>
...
<add key="UseActiveX" value="False"/>
...
</appSettings>
...
Remote desktop access

Web WakeUp supports the use of remote desktop access for connecting to a computer once it has been awoken. You can turn this functionality on or off by updating the value (TRUE or FALSE) for EnableRDP. For example, to disable remote desktop access:

...
<appSettings>
...
<add key="EnableRDP" value="False"/>
...
</appSettings>
...
Automatic status checking

When a user has some registered computers, the default behavior for the My Computers page on the Web WakeUp website is to automatically check the status for those computers. Given large numbers of users with large numbers of registered computers you may want to disable this feature to minimize the impact on your network.

To do this, update the value (TRUE or FALSE) for EnableStatus. For example, to disable automatic status checking:

...
<appSettings>
...
<add key="EnableStatus" value="False"/>
...
</appSettings>
...
Setting the size of the computer search buffers

The WakeMachines method takes an input argument that contains a comma separated list of computers. This limits the number of computers that can be awoken in a single call to the maximum length of the input argument string. There is an absolute upper limit of 10,000 computers that can be awoken by WakeUp in a single operation but given the default value of 65536 characters for the WakeMachines input argument string length and an average domain\computer name length of approximately 26 characters, the limit for WakeMachines is approximately 2500 computers.

To raise the limit, make a change to both config files. Change the NetTcpBinding_MachineSearchService binding in the Web.config file and the NetTcpBinding_MachineSearchServiceBindingConfiguration binding in the NWM.ServiceHost.exe.config file.

These bindings contain a number of properties, two of which are maxBufferSize and maxReceivedMessageSize which are both set to 65536 by default.

Note

When changing values you need to set both these properties to the same value otherwise the service will raise an error on startup.

Property

Default value

Description

maxBufferSize

65536

Sets the upper limit on the buffer size, this must always be set to the same value as the maxReceivedMessageSize.

maxReceivedMessageSize

65536

Sets the limit on the size of the message, this must always be set to the same value as the maxBufferSize.

Note

Changes to these properties must be made in both the Web.config and NWM.ServiceHost.exe.config files.

For example, to increase the buffer size to 131072 in Web.config:

...
<bindings>
...
    <netTcpBinding>
...
        <binding name="NetTcpBinding_MachineSearchService"
            ...
            maxBufferSize="131072"
            maxReceivedMessageSize="131072"
            ...  
            />
...
    </netTcpBinding>
...
</bindings>
...

and similarly, to increase the buffer size to 131072 in NWM.ServiceHost.exe.config

...
<bindings>
...
    <netTcpBinding>
...
        <binding name="NetTcpBinding_MachineSearchServiceBindingConfiguration"
            ...
            maxBufferSize="131072"
            maxReceivedMessageSize="131072"
            ...  
            />
...
    </netTcpBinding>
...
</bindings>
...