About Remote Control

Remote control enables you to connect to client devices using various methods (services), including Remote Desktop.

All Barracuda RMM remote sessions take place over HTTP or HTTPS, so you don't have to forward any ports to your Service Center or worry about the port being allowed outbound on your clients' networks. Because the standard web ports are used, sessions succeed even when a proxy server is present on the remote network.

There is no connection limit to the number of remote control sessions.

What You Can Do

You can

Use the shortcut icon in device lists so you can connect instantly without having to access the Device Overview page.
See the device and site connected to in the top left-hand corner of the Remote Desktop window, which is useful if you have more than one session open.

Remote Control Requirements

The computer on which you initiate a remote control session must have the following installed:

Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 or higher.
Client software for the selected protocol.

To use remote control and the remote tools, you must ensure the user account and role are set up to have permissions to device management for remote control access. By default, Administrators, Technicians, and Service Managers are set up with these permissions. See Setting Permissions for a Role.

Remote control does not work in Safari and Opera.
Remote control does not work on non-Windows operating systems.

Browser and Operating System Support for Remote Control and Remote Tools

This table identifies what feature works in which browser:

Browser	Remote Control	Remote Tools	Premium Remote Control	Premium Remote Control On Demand

Browser	Remote Control	Remote Tools	Premium Remote Control	Premium Remote Control On Demand
Edge	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Google Chrome	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Mozilla Firefox	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Apple Safari	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Opera	No	Yes	Yes	Yes

Remote control will fail if you are prompted for a plugin and choose not to install it. If you also select the Don't Show this Message Again check box, you are not offered the choice to install the required plugin on subsequent attempts, and the connection fails without further messages.

To be prompted for plugin installation again, you must remove the cookies for the Service Center site and then install the plugin when prompted.

This table identifies what feature works in which operating system:

Operating System	Remote Control	Remote Tools	Premium Remote Control	Premium Remote Control On Demand
Windows	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
macOS	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Linux	No	Yes	No	No

The remote tools are not supported on Windows 2000 computers because .NET 3.5 is required on the target device. Windows 2000 does not support .NET 3.5.

Selecting Which Remote Control Option to Use

In addition to the following remote control options available with Barracuda RMM, you can set up an additional remote control link to launch a third-party remote control tool. See Setting Remote Control Options.

Remote Control Option	Description

Remote Control Option	Description
Premium Remote Control	Uses ISL Light technology to remotely connect to a Windows or Mac device, allowing you to take control of the local computer. Premium Remote Control is built into Service Center, and deploys automatically to all managed devices, allowing for seamless integration with minimum configuration. To use Premium Remote Control, Windows devices must have the Admin share open, and Mac devices must have SSH enabled and the SSH credentials must be on the sudoer's list. Premium Remote Control requires that you download a client to your computer. Service Center detects if you have the Premium Remote Control client installed, and if it is not, a link will be available on the Device page for you to download the application.
Premium Remote Control - On Demand	Some devices are not always managed by Barracuda RMM. In this scenario, Premium Remote Control On Demand is available to connect you to the customer's unmanaged device.
Remote Desktop	Uses the Microsoft Terminal Services client, commonly referred to as RDP client, which is present on all Windows operating systems. You can connect to the console session or share local and remote resources.
Remote Desktop	Allows you to take control of the remote computer without first requesting access. To do this, you must have administrator rights on the local machine. After you log in, you will have complete control of the local computer. Use Remote Desktop when a user is not on the other end. This option is useful for performing a routine maintenance task on a workstation. Remote Desktop uses the smallest IP address available (comparing each subnet class sequentially).
Remote Assistance	Starts the Windows Remote Assistance tool that lets you view the client's screen and chat about what you both see. Barracuda RMM provides a one-click launch for Remote Assistance that is initiated by the technician. There is no need for MSN Messenger. The end user does not have to launch the request (although the end user does have to accept the connection request). Use Remote Assistance when a user is on the other end to allow access or requests for control. This option is useful for teaching or showing a user how to perform a task. Remote Assistance works on any Windows device that is WMI-enabled (and where Onsite Manager is able to access the admin file share).
VNC	Uses a VNC client to connect to a remote VNC server that has been previously installed. The main advantage of VNC over RDP is VNC is supported across all modern operating systems, including Macintosh, Linux/UNIX, and Windows. When initiating a VNC session to the Onsite Manager computer, loopback must be enabled for the VNC server. Refer to the documentation for the VNC Server product for instructions on how to configure this.
Telnet	Uses the default Windows Telnet client to connect to devices supporting this protocol. Telnet is no longer installed by default on modern Windows operating systems. Users must ensure that the Telnet client is installed by following the instructions in their operating system's help.
PuTTY	Uses the PuTTY client to handle Secure Shell (SSH) connections.
Other	Attempts to connect to remote devices with the client application configured as the "other" options in System Settings. See Setting Remote Control Options.