Remote Alert is one those add-ins that falls into that category of what I call “This is an example of what you can do for an add-in”. Not that it is not a useful add-in. Quite the contrary, it is an add-in that performs a much needed function for WHS users who have remote access enabled. With some feature enhancements, it could very well be an indispensable add-in in the remote access arena.
What is Remote Alert? From Kentdome Technologies:
Remote Alert is a Windows Home Server add-in that provides remote access notification, additional security layers and remote access activity logging.
Readers may get tired of me stating what seems like the obvious, but some add-ins may be simple to install and less simple to get working. For this add-in, installing it is as simple as most other add-ins. Copy this msi installer to your D:SoftwareAdd-ins folder, open the WHS Setting Window in the console and install the software from the Add-ins tab, as shown below.
Once it has installed, reopen the console and click on the Remote Alert tab. Actually, not. Remote Alert does not have a tab in the console. In order to see what Remote Alert does, you have to click on the WHS Settings option, and open the Remote Alert settings tab from there, as can be seen below.
Basically, that is all there is to Remote Alert. It maintains a history of users who have accessed your WHS from the web. It does change the WHS Network icon from the normal Green Healthy to a Yellow “At Risk” alert. If you are working on your main workstation, and the WHS tray icon goes from Green to Yellow, someone on the net may be accessing your WHS computer.
Clicking on the Network icon presents you with the following warning.
It is interesting to note that if you remote access your WHS and then close the browser, Remote Access still considers someone to be accessing your server. One has to “Log Off” the WHS for Remote Alert to remove this Network Health alert.
Going back to the Settings window, the second option that you can access here is a Setting option for Remote Alert.
So, if you do not want to Network icon notifications, simply uncheck the appropriate options.
And that is the full extent of what Remote Alert can do for you. Currently. Kentdome Technologies has indicated that the feature set of this add-in will be expanded. When that occurs, only the author knows at this time.
What I would like to see in a future release is as follows.
- A Remote Alert tab in the Console Window. A much more logical place to view remote access history then the where it is at currently.
- The ability to a ascertain if a user terminates access by closing their remote browser, not just by logging off.
- The ability to clear the Notifications listings.
- Additional logging capabilities, such as files accessed.
It is my understanding if one has created a website on their WHS, Remote Alert does not have the ability to provide history data for this. Obviously, it would be nice to extend the capability of Remote Alert to this area, also
As I stated at the beginning, Remote Alert is one those add-ins that falls into that category of what I call “This is an example of what you can do for an add-in”. It is useful in it’s current version. I would be a great add-in with the features that I (and others) have suggested above.
Finally, I do one simple question for the author: what does “additional security layers” mean?
Author: Kentdome Technologies
Version Reviewed: 1.0.0.0 Beta
Release: 10Oct2008
