Toolbar

The functions described in the following sections are available in the Remote Control toolbar.

New session

Click add session icon to add a compute node to the list of nodes that you are managing. When you click , a window with a list of available chassis and nodes opens. The list of available chassis and compute nodes is based on all chassis and compute nodes that have been discovered and are under management by the management software and that your user ID has permission to manage.

In addition, you can choose to connect in single-user mode. Select single-user mode to establish an exclusive session with the selected compute nodes. All other Remote Control sessions to the selected compute nodes will be blocked until you disconnect from the selected compute nodes. This option is available only if there are no other Remote Control sessions established to the selected compute nodes.

Select the chassis in which the compute node is installed and the compute nodes that are to be managed, and click Connect.

Tip: If no compute nodes are shown in the list of compute nodes to select, see Solving Remote Control problems for procedures to potentially resolve the issue.

Toggle thumbnail

Click toggle thumbnail icon to toggle between displaying and hiding the thumbnail area.

Video

Click video icon to perform one of the following tasks:

Toggle on full screen: The application window is displayed at a maximum size on your system.
Screenshot: You can click Screenshot to take a screen capture of the currently selected compute node session and save that screen capture in a variety of formats.

Power

The power icon is green if the selected compute node session is currently powered on. Click to perform the following power-management functions for the compute node:

Power® on the compute node
Hard power off the compute node, which is the equivalent of pressing and holding the power button on the nodes
Shut down the operating system and power off the compute node
Restart the compute node

Note: The specific functions that are displayed in the list depend on the permissions defined for the user ID that was used to start the Remote Control application.

Softkey programmer

You can define your own custom key sequences, which are called softkeys. Click Add softkey > New to add a softkey.

Softkey definitions are stored on the system from which you started the Remote Control session. Therefore, if you run the Remote Control application from another system, you will have to define the softkeys again.

You can also choose to export user settings, which includes softkeys from the User Settings page (see the Preferences section in this topic for more information).

Click Softkey programmer icon to display a list of softkeys that are currently defined.

Sticky keys

Some operating systems intercept certain keys instead of passing them to the remote system. Use the sticky key buttons to send keystrokes directly to the compute node that you are managing. To send a Ctrl or Alt key combinations, click the Ctrl or Alt button, place the cursor in the video session area, and press a key on the keyboard. For example, to send a Ctrl+Alt+Del key combination, complete the following steps:

Click the Ctrl key button.
Click the Alt key button.
Left-click anywhere inside the video session area.
Press the Delete key on the keyboard.

Note: If mouse-capture mode is enabled, press the left Alt key to move the cursor outside of the video session area. Although mouse-capture mode is disabled by default, you can enable it from the Toolbar page (see the Preferences section for more information).

When you click the Ctrl, Alt, or Shift button to make it active, it will remain active until you press a keyboard key or click the button again.

Keyboard keys

Click keyboard keys icon to use the keyboard keys.

Remote media

Use the remote media feature to mount a CD, DVD, or USB device that is on the client system to the selected compute node. You can also specify to mount a disk image or CD image (ISO). In addition, you can choose to upload an image to the local storage that is available on the IMM.

Click to perform the following actions for remote media:

Mount remote media: This action makes local media resources available to the currently selected compute node. A media resource can be mounted to only one compute node at a time within a single Remote Control session.
Move remote media: This action moves a previously mounted media resource between compute nodes.

Limitations:

Only one user at a time can mount and upload data to the local storage on the IMM. Other users are prevented from accessing the local storage on the IMM while it is being mounted or data is being uploaded to the local storage.
From a Linux client, mounting a CD, DVD, or USB device is not supported. An ISO image can be mounted, but mounting multiple ISO images is not supported.
On a compute node running the Linux operating system, mounting more than one ISO image is not supported.
From the local KVM on the IBM® Flex System Manager, mounting a CD, DVD, or USB device is no supported. An ISO image can be mounted, but mounting multiple ISO images is not supported.

When you click Mount remote media, the following options are available:

Select an image to be mounted. The image will be available for the currently selected compute node until you unmount the device or close the Remote Control session.
Multiple images can be mounted to a single compute node, but each image can be mounted to only one compute node at a time.
Select a drive, such as a CD, DVD, or USB device, that is to be mounted. The device will be available to the currently selected compute node until you unmount the drive or close the Remote Control session. Multiple devices can be mounted to a single compute node, but each device can be mounted to only one compute node at a time.
Note: If you select a drive, be sure to unmount the drive before you remove media from the drive.
Upload the image to the IMM. Use this option to store an image in local storage on the IMM for the selected compute node. The image will remain on the IMM even if you end the Remote Control session, or if the compute node is restarted. You can store approximately 50 MB of data on the IMM.
You can upload multiple images to the IMM provided that the total space that is used for all images is less than 50 MB. Each image that is uploaded to the IMM is automatically mounted to the compute node. After you have uploaded an image to the IMM, you can also move that uploaded image to the IMM for a different compute node. When you move the image, the previously uploaded image is removed from the compute node and uploaded to a selected compute node.

To make a resource available to a compute node, select one or more resources and click the Add button to move the resources to the Selected Resources list. Then, click Mount to mount the resources for use by the compute node. When you click Mount, the Remote Control application defines a device for the resource and maps that device to a mount point for the currently selected compute node. You have the option to write-protect the mounted media.

Preferences

Click

to modify the preferences for your Remote Control session. You can modify the following settings.

Note: Any changes that you make in Remote Control Preferences take effect immediately.

On the KVM page, the following settings are available:
- Percentage of Video Bandwidth. Increasing the bandwidth improves the quality in the appearance of the Remote Control session, but can potentially affect the performance of the Remote Control session.
- Percentage of Frames Refreshed. Increasing the frame-refresh percentage increases how often the Remote Control session is updated but can potentially affect the performance of the Remote Control session.
- Keyboard type. Select the type of keyboard that you are using for the Remote Control session.
  Note: If you select an international keyboard and you need to enter key combinations that require the Alternate Graphics key (AltGr), make sure that the operating system on the workstation that you use to invoke the Remote Control application is the same type of operating system as the one on the compute node that you will remotely access. For example, if the compute node is running Linux, make sure that you invoke the Remote Control application from a workstation that is running Linux.
- Scale image to window. Select this option to scale the video image received from the compute node to the size of the video session area.
- Enable FSM tunneling. Select this option to access a compute node through the management node. You can use this option to access a compute node from a client that is not on the same network as the compute node.
  Note: The Remote Control application will always attempt to connect directly to the compute node from the client workstation. If you select this option, the Remote Control application will access the compute node through the FSM if the client workstation cannot access the compute node directly.
On the Security tab, the following settings are available:
- Prefer single-user mode connections. Specify whether single-user mode connections should be the default choice when connecting to a compute node. When a connection is made in single-user mode, only one user can be connected to a compute node at a time. If this box is not selected, the default function is to connect to the compute node in multi-user mode.
- Require (secure) tunneling connections. Select this option to access a compute node through the management node. You can use this option to access a compute node from a client that is not on the same network as the compute node.
  Note: The Remote Control application will always attempt to connect directly to the compute node from the client workstation. If you select this option, the Remote Control application will access the compute node through the management node if the client workstation cannot access the compute node directly.
On the Toolbar page, the following settings are available:
Note: Click Restore defaults to restore all settings on this page to the default settings.
- Pin the toolbar to the window. By default, the toolbar is hidden above the FSM Remote Control session screen; it appears only when you move your mouse pointer over it. If you select this option, the toolbar is pinned to the window and is always displayed between the thumbnail panel and the Remote Control session screen.
- Show keyboard buttons. Specify whether to show the keyboard button icons (CapsLock, NumLock, and ScrollLock) on the toolbar.
- Show power control. Specify whether to show the power control options on the toolbar.
- Show sticky key buttons. Specify whether to show the sticky key button icons (Ctrl, Alt, and Delete) on the toolbar.
- Hide local mouse pointer. Specify whether or not to show the local mouse pointer when you position the cursor in the compute node session that is currently displayed in the video session area.
- Enable mouse-capture mode. By default, mouse-capture mode is disabled. This means that you can freely move the cursor into and out of the video session area. If you enable mouse-capture mode, you must press the left Alt key before you can move the cursor out of the video session area.
  If mouse-capture mode is enabled, you can specify whether to use the Ctrl+Alt keys to exit mouse-capture mode. The default is to use the left Alt key.
- Specify toolbar background opacity. Lowering the opacity percentage enables more of the video session area to show through the toolbar background.
On the Thumbnails page, the following settings are available:
- Show thumbnails. Select this option to show the thumbnail area in the Remote Control session.
- Specify thumbnail refresh interval. Decreasing the interval for refreshing thumbnails increases how often the compute node thumbnails are updated.
On the Softkey Programmer page, any defined softkeys are listed. You can also click New to create additional softkeys.
Note: If you use an international keyboard, and you set up softkeys that require the Alternate Graphics key (AltGr), make sure that the operating system on the workstation that you use to invoke the Remote Control application is the same type of operating system as the one on the compute node that you will remotely access. For example, if the compute node is running Linux, make sure that you invoke the Remote Control application from a workstation that is running Linux.

Softkey definitions are stored on the system from which you started the Remote Control session. Therefore, if you run the Remote Control application from another system, you will have to define the softkeys again.

You can also choose to export user settings, which includes softkeys from the User Settings page.
From the User Settings page, you can choose to import or export user settings. When you export user settings, all user settings for the current Remote Control session are stored in a properties file on your system. You can copy this properties file to another system and import those settings into the Remote Control application to use the settings.
On the General page, the following settings are available:
- Debug mode. Specify whether to set debug mode for the Remote Control application. The settings determine the granularity of events that are logged in the log files. By default, only severe events are logged. See Logs and traces for more information about log file locations.
- Inherit system appearance settings. This setting changes the appearance to match color schemes that are configured for the client system (running Windows). You must restart the Remote Console application for these settings to take effect.
- Create desktop icon. This setting creates a desktop icon on your system so that you can start the Remote Control application directly from your system. You must still have access to the management software from your system.
- Synchronize with management software. This setting ensures that the compute node data that is displayed in the Remote Control application matches compute node data that is displayed from management software.