2x client update. Request for 2x support

[mauricedorris]

This is a request for the programmers and support people at 2x. Please try to understand.


Today, all of my users got a message asking if they wanted to upgrade their client software. They agreed to do that. However, it did not save their usernames and passwords that they use to connect to the terminal servers.

It reset the username and password to the current computer logon settings, which is not what we use. So all of our users were down today until we could get everyone's username and password plugged back in. It took us a while to contact everyone and to personally visit all of the computers to fix them.

Now, we constantly get the message that the certificate is not signed. I think it may go away once we upgrade the server. But, rebooting our main server in the middle of the day is not something we can easily do.

So now the users think that we do not know what we are doing.

I would like to request that we be given the ability to control when the clients should check for an upgrade. This way, I won't have any surprises.

This seems like a minor issue, but it really has a big effect on users and how they feel about the 2x client.

Our users are already upset by the recent 2x printing issues. I know that it was much better in build 275, however, you guys never told anyone about that build unless they asked. Then we had no way to push out that build and had to manually update each computer.

Please help us out make sure that the username and password in 2x remains after an upgrade. Also give is server side control over pushing updates.

Thanks

 

[tech92117]

I agree wholeheartedly. This should be controlled 100% by the admins.

Also, we are still getting the certificate signing error after upgrading clients, servers and rebooting. That is a big issue for us.

 

[mj23449]

Being able to push out updates via the server console would be a great idea. Or tell the server to update the client on the computer when the user logs into the 2x client to bring it up to the same version as the server.

 

[nixu]

Hi Guys,

First of all we fully understand your issues...

1) For a client to be notified of a new client & to be able to upgrade, the user MUST be an administrator. In corporate environments, normal users do not have such rights, so the 2X client does not check for any new version.

2) An administrator can modify the properties in the client MSI file. One of these properties is "CHECKUPDATELAUNCH". If you change it to 0, the client does not check for updates. An other MSI properyty is "UPDATECLIENTXML". Usually this is "http://downloads.2x.com/appserver-loadbalancer-client.xml". If you place a copy of this xml file on a local web server and replace this MSI poperty, your clients will check for updates on your web server. (In the xml file the new msi URL is located. Change this to point to your web server too.)

3) If you need to push the 2x clients on you machines we suggest that you use AD's GPOs.

4) Regarding the Username, In the msi an administrator can enter a default username, by default this is empty. When the user installs the client the user' username is updated. (User's settings are stored in the registry under the Current User. If the msi is installed under UserA, the Username of UserB is unaltered). We will try to modify this.

5) I cannot understand what are your concerns with the certificate not being signed. If you create a self signed certificate, that certificate is not signed by any trusted certificate authority. Users ALWAYS must be notified if a certificate is not signed. If you want users to always accept this certificate you can modify the MSI property "SSLNOWARNING".

Thanks for your feedback.

Nixu

 

[mauricedorris]

Nixu,

thanks for your responses. You guys are doing a great job with your product. However you DO NOT fully understand our issues. You are close, very close. We are just trying to help you with the small details.

Here are my responses. Please understand I must be very direct so you understand my position as well as the others who have responded.

1) In large corporate environments, users have a variety of privileges. The truth is that many of them have administrator privileges. This is necessary because many users have laptops and also need to be able to load various unique programs that the corporate administrators do not know or do not care about. Also, in many environments with less than 15 computers, everyone has administrator privileges. The 2x software works very well in these environments. Your assumption is not at all correct.

2) Most administrators do not want to edit an MSI file or build a setup program. You guys do a good job of explaining it. But I would think that very few would do it. Many of us want it to work right the first time.

3) Using GPO's only apply to large corporate networks. This is not always a good approach for remote users on laptops. Again, most administrators do not have the time and many do not have a full understanding of GPO's.

4) again you are talking about editing the MSI. Although it is a nice thing to do, many of us do not want to ever do that. Because many users have admin privileges, your software is prompting the users to upgrade. When they do, the login information is not saved and they cannot access their published applications. Please do something about this. Its wednesday and i am still dealing with this issue. This is why we want to control it.

5) Let me explain about the certificate problem. On Monday morning, many of our users who have admin privileges got a message to upgrade their client software. They did. However, the administrators had no idea that there was an upgrade available and did not have a chance to upgrade the 2x server software. My server is on version 5.0 build 275 and the client is on version 5.1 build 303. They get the certificate error message every time they open up their applications. I cannot load software upgrades or reboot my server during the day because there are many, many users on it. All day long, I am getting calls about the certificate message. The next night, I do get a chance to download the 20mb server upgrade and install it. Then the message goes away. But the user is affected.

This is why we would like to be able to first upgrade our server and then have our server upgrade the clients. Right now, YOU are controlling our upgrades remotely and that is very, very bad for us.

Please do be upset by my comments. But we all are trying to tell you how us administrators really think. So before you start telling us what we should do, please have a discussion with yourselves and try to make it easier for us.

On the other hand, we use 2x software to help us deliver hosted applications to various companies. We can now provide windows based applications to various companies without having to port them to the web. 2x is very valuable to us. We deal with small companies of 10-12 users who have no administrators on site. We provide hosted applications which allows them to remotely access programs from anywhere they can get a internet connection.