| MosaicAnywhere Remote Desktop Workstation Lab Mosaic Computing Services William States Lee College of Engineering University of North Carolina at Charlotte Availability and Status Web Page |
- What is Mosaic Anywhere?
- How to use
- Mosaic Anywhere Usage Notes
- Where to get remote desktop client software
- Notes
MosaicAnywhere is a way to run a Mosaic windows session without being on a Mosaic workstation from almost anywhere a good internet connection can be found. The technology that MosaicAnywhere is based on is Microsoft's Remote Desktop system which allows you to connect to a PC system remotely via the Microsoft Terminal Services Client, or MSTSC.EXE.
Click Here for Mosaic Anywhere System Status List
The icons that are displayed on the status list page represent the status of our pool of remote desktop systems. Clicking on any image starts the download of a configuration file called an "RDP" file for the Microsoft terminal program that will connect you to that particular remote desktop system.
If you choose "Open" a remote desktop window will open that covers your screen and looks like this and you will see the normal Mosaic XP logon screen. (Note the small bar at the top of the logon window has the usual Windows minimize/maximize, full screen/window and close icons.) You may also choose to save the RDP file to your local computer, then double-click on it to connect to the remote desktop system.
Your computer must have the MSTSC.EXE program installed. If you are already running Windows XP Home Edition, Windows XP Professional, or Vista, then your PC should already be configured correctly. Otherwise see "Where to get remote desktop client software" tab for information on how to obtain the Microsoft Terminal Services Client (MSTSC.EXE). There is much more very important usage information that you should read before using MosaicAnywhere.
Instructions for UNIX users, click here.
Instructions for Linux users, click here.
* You can start MSTSC.EXE manually to take advantage of all the features of the remote desktop client such as access to your local disk drive and printers. When you choose a system, you must type in the full remote desktop hostname into the MSTSC "Computer:" textbox. For example, if you chose "rws1", then you would type in "rws1.uncc.edu".
* If your web browser allows META-REFRESH tags, then the Systems Status List will update every 15 seconds giving you a reasonable opportunity to find and select an open workstation. However, there is no guarantee that a workstation will be available to you when you try to connect. Many Mosaic users may click on an available workstation at the same time which can lead to a race condition.
* If you see a workstation that is open, try to connect, if someone else has logged on first, then try another workstation.
* Quickly pressing the refresh button on your browser does not guarantee that you will catch an open workstation sooner. This is because the web server does not actually scan the workstations on the page with every refresh. A background process updates the availability status of each one of the workstations for the web server. The background process has built-in refresh time of 30 seconds. Because of these conditions, the actual status of a workstation may be unknown for as much as 30 seconds.
* Please don't leave your remote desktop session in a "disconnected state". A disconnected state is when you logon, then you choose to close "your end" of the connection, by closing the MSTSC window, without logging off. When that happens you are using up a valuable resource that others may use. This is one reason an idle timeout has been implemented. (See: Policies and Time Limits) If you disconnect from your session, you will be automatically logged out after an idle time has elapsed. The automated logout doesn't save any documents that you may have had open. Please remember to properly logout when finished using the remote desktop system.
* If you are accidentally disconnected due to a network problem, you should remember which remote desktop machine you were connected to earlier and try to reconnect. If you can't remember, and try to connect to another machine, then the logon on that machine will deny your logon and should indicate which machine you were originally logged on to. At that point you can reconnect to your original machine
Unix, Linux, Solaris Remote Desktop Client
Apple Macintosh Remote Desktop Client (OS X)
MS Remote Desktop Client (Win95,98,Me,2000)
MS Remote Desktop Client (XP-SP2)
Instructions for running or configuring MSTSC.EXE manually in order to use your local hard drive and/or printer may be found here. You must make the configuration changes before connecting to the RWS machine in order for them to be effective.
Instructions for running or configuring MSTSC.EXE manually in order to improve performance may be found here. (Instructions will open in a new window.) You must make the configuration changes before connecting to the RWS machine in order for them to be effective.
Note: This is a rather old security issue and has already been fixed by Microsoft if your machine's patch level via Windows Update is already up to date.
Hotfix for security issue.
Auto-scaling your desktop: To auto scale your desktop, add the following line to your remote desktop RDP file with a text editor. smart sizing:i:1
The same usage policies that apply to the regular Mosaic Lab machines also apply to the MosaicAnywhere system.
You may not logon to more than one remote desktop workstation at a time. This policy is enforced at logon. Note: As in most other cases, you should make sure that you have logged out of the system that you use on campus, before using another system, including the remote desktop Mosaic lab.
Because MosaicAnywhere is a resource limited service, specific time limits have been established for use. The two time limits are called the "session time", and the "idle time". The session time limit is the maximum amount of time that you can use the system. Near the end of your session time you should save all files and logoff, or you will be automatically logged off. The idle time refers to the amount of time the system can be left alone without keyboard, or mouse use. If you logon to a remote desktop system and don't move your mouse, or press a key on the keyboard for a period extending beyond the idle time, then you will be automatically logged off.
You will be given a 5 minute warning within these time limits, so these time limits include the 5 minute warning time as follows:
The current session time limit is:
1 hour 55 minutes + 5 minute warning.
Total Time = 2 Hours1.
The current idle time limit is:
10 minutes + 5 minute warning.
Total Time = 15 Minutes2.
1. Only if all remote desktop workstations are in use.
2. Only if there are more than 5 other available workstations.
(Up to 1 hour max, see Idle Time Extensions below.)
Mosaic has added session time extensions to the MosaicAnywhere service. Session time extensions are added at the end of your session time at the 5 minute warning. You will be provided 5 extra minutes per available MosaicAnywhere workstation. This means if no workstations are available, then you will not get any extension time, and you will be logged off after your 5 minute warning time has elapsed. If at least one workstation is available, you will be given 5 extra minutes before the 5 minute warning time to logoff. If two workstations are available, then you will be given 10 extra minutes before the 5 minute warning time to logoff, etc. If you are the only one using the MosaicAnywhere service, then you will receive 5 minutes for every available machine. At the end of every session time extension, another session time extension will be evaluated for you. This will allow you to stay logged on as long as there are open machines and your idle time has not expired (see next). The session time extensions operate to make sure that everyone has equal access to the system.
Mosaic has added idle time extensions to the MosaicAnywhere service. Idle time extensions are added at the end of your idle time at the 5 minute warning. You will be provided 5 extra minutes of idle time if at least 5 other remote desktop workstations are free, otherwise you do not get any extra idle time. At the end of every idle time extension, another idle time extension will be evaluated for you. When the total idle time reaches 1 hour, you will be logged out. This will allow you to stay logged on up to 60 minutes if there are 5 free workstations, and as long as your session time is being extended. The idle time extensions operate to make sure that everyone has equal access to the system.
* The remote desktop system is not intended to replace the on-campus desktop systems. It can be fairly snappy at some tasks, and horribly slow at others.
* Running of Graphic intensive applications such as ProEngineer or most 3D or CAD software from Mosaic Anywhere is not advised.