Radmin

Radmin (Remote Administrator) is a product of Famatech Corp. It is remote control software for Microsoft Windows which uses the Mirror Driver (Video Hook Driver) to remotely control another computer.

Principle of operation

Radmin consists of two separate modules:

• The Server module (Radmin Server): needs to be installed on the computer which you want to access remotely.
• The Client module (Radmin Viewer): needs to be installed on the computer which you want to use to access remote computer. However, the folder contents of the installed Client module can be copied and placed on any other folders and/or computers and these computers need not have the Client module installed.

All mouse movements and keyboard signals are transferred from the local computer directly to the remote computer over the network (via LAN or Internet), relaying the graphical screen updates back in the other direction. Radmin Server uses the Mirror Driver (also known as Video Hook Driver) to read the remote screen bypassing Video Display Controller. Mirror Driver allows to read only changing parts of the screen. The new DirectScreenTransfer technology was implemented in the latest version of Radmin. Developers of the software claim that the adaptation of the new video driver allows Radmin to dramatically increase the rate of screen updates with a minimum utilization of CPU.^[1] Security features may be added such as user prompt and limitations on what a user can do. Multiple user accounts can be created all with different privileges.

Version history

Remote Administrator was originally developed by Dmitry Znosko in 1999. At present he is the CEO of Famatech. Remote Administrator 2.2 was released 16 June 2004. The users and the developers shortened the name of the software to RAdmin. Current version is officially called Radmin 3 and was released 13 February 2007.^[2] The minor update Radmin 3.01 was released 3 July 2007.^[3] Version Radmin 3.1 with 64-bit versions of Windows support was released on 2 November 2007.^[4] Version Radmin 3.2 came out 25 April 2008 and supports Windows Vista SP1 both 32-bit and 64-bit editions and Windows Server 2008.^[5] In Radmin 3.3 released 19 November 2008 the support for Intel AMT features was introduced. Current version is Radmin 3.4 which supports Windows 7 (32- and 64-bit) and Windows Server 2008 R2.

Previous versions compatibility: The Radmin 3.x viewer can operate with the earlier 2.2 server software, although some new features such as chat will not be available.

Operating systems support (32-bit and 64-bit editions, version 3.2 supports Windows Vista SP1):

Radmin Viewer is functioning under UNIX-like operating systems through Wine^[6]

Features

Connection modes:^[7]

• Full Control - shows you desktop of the remote computer and allows you to control it with your local mouse and keyboard.
• View Only - the same as full control mode, but only allows you to view the remote computer screen.
• Telnet - text-mode connection to the remote computer to use system commands and launch text-mode applications without a graphical interface.
• File transfer - lets you manipulate remote computers files and folders. Supports two-way file transfer with an auto-resume feature.
• Shutdown - special connection to shut down the remote computer.
• Text and Voice Chat - lets you converse with all users who are connected to the same computer via text chat or talk using a microphone.
• Send Message - sends a text message that pops up on the remote computer.
• Intel AMT - lets you perform hardware remote control of the computer based on Intel vPro platform. Supported features include remote power on/off, cold restart, BIOS control, startup control in text mode, network boot from a local CD or disk image file.

Security

In the 3rd version of Radmin security options have been strengthened. The software's own security system can now maintain individual user passwords and permissions. The new authentication method is based on a Diffie-Hellman key exchange algorithm using 2048-bit keys. User login names and passwords are stored on the server systems for additional security. The software can still use Windows' own user authentication services, avoiding the need to maintain separate sets of user security data, with Kerberos support available as well.^[8]

Limitations

One limitation is that when connected to a remote computer the remote keyboard layout is always used. This means typing some characters on your local keyboard could result in the wrong character being printed on the remote computer.^[9]

See also

• Comparison of remote desktop software
• Remote access
• Remote administration
• Remote Assistance Software
• Terminal Services
• Virtual Network Computing
• Help desk

References

External links

• Official Website
• Public Forum at Famatech's web-site
• Editor's Review at CNET Download.com
• Editor's Review in SC Magazine
• Editor's Review in Windows IT Pro
• Editor's Review at Soft32.com