Remote Access to your i-Catcher System

i-Catcher Digital CCTV Systems are often installed as self-contained monitoring systems requiring little to no user access. On those occasions where access is required to adjust system settings, it is desirable to set up some sort of remote desktop access to ease adjustment. There are a few things to keep in mind when setting up such a system, which are discussed below.

Windows Remote Desktop

The Remote Desktop feature of Windows can be utilised but there are limitations. The Remote Desktop system offered by Windows Server is unsuitable, as it provides a new session for each user, causing either multiple instances of i-Catcher to run, or the original instance to be shutdown. When the session is logged off this too also causes i-Catcher to be shut down.

The Remote Desktop offered by Windows XP can be used, as this only provides one session at a time. However if the user logging in remotely is different to the user already running i-Catcher then i-Catcher will be shut down and the original user logged out. This will cause problems if the user logging in has different access priveleges as i-Catcher may no longer be able to save images or update settings. If you are using Remote Desktop in this way, be sure to always use the same user for running i-Catcher locally and logging in remotely.

When a Remote Desktop session finished you must use the "Disconnect" option rather than logging off. During the log off process, Windows will shut down any applications that were started in the session, including i-Catcher. Using the "Disconnect" option will leave all applications running.

VNC

VNC is the more preferable means for setting up remote desktop access. VNC (and its many variants) provide access to the desktop as it would be locally, i.e. you do not get a seperate session. This ensures that when you connect and disconnect i-Catcher carries on without any interruption.

The disadvantage to VNC is that it is considerably slower to use than Remote Desktop, particularly if the internet connection at either end is under heavy load.

The variant of VNC we prefer to use is UltraVNC. This has improvements over the standard version to increase speed and performance.