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System Monitor
You launch System Monitor by selecting Start, Programs, Accessories, System Tools, System Monitor. To monitor a remote computer's performance, choose File, Connect from System Monitor. Type the name of the computer you want to monitor, and click OK.

You use System Monitor to monitor the target computer's performance. You can monitor dozens of variables, including file system, CPU, memory, and network-performance variables. You can also watch as many variables as you like at one time. Click the Add button on the toolbar to watch additional variables for this computer. Figure 13.5 shows System Monitor while it's monitoring a remote computer.

Figure 13.5


***callout:
1. Add button***

You can open multiple instances of System Monitor so that you can monitor more than one computer at a time.

Other Registry programs support remote administration, too. The Norton Registry Editor allows you to connect to a remote computer's Registry, for example, by choosing Registry, Connect Network Registry.

Net Watcher
Net Watcher has requirements similar to those of the other administration tools. You must be using user-level security and have enabled remote administration. You must also use File and Printer Sharing, but you don't have to install the Microsoft Remote Registry service.

Launch Net Watcher, shown in Figure 13.6, by selecting Start, Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Net Watcher. The left pane shows you each user who is using a resource on this computer. The right pane shows you the shares to which the selected user is connected and the files he has open. Besides inspecting the shares on a remote computer, you can also add or remove shares.

Figure 13.6


***callouts:
1. Users connected to this computer
2. Shares to which the selected user is connected***

Net Watcher is the only tool in which you can see the hidden shares IPC$ and ADMIN$.

Note these restrictions on using Net Watcher:

• If the administrative computer is using share-level security, it can only monitor other computers that are also using share-level security.

• If the administrative computer is using user-level security, it can monitor other computers regardless of the type of security they're using.

• If the administrative computer is using File and Printer Sharing for NetWare Networks, it can only monitor other computers that are also using the same service.

• You can't close files on a remote computer participating on a NetWare network.

If after enabling remote administration and the Microsoft Remote Registry service, you can't connect to the other computer using System Monitor, make sure that you enabled remote administration and the Microsoft Remote Registry service on both computers. That is, you must enable the Microsoft Remote Registry service on the computer from which you're administering, as well as the computer you are administering. If you've successfully administered a particular computer many times, but recently you weren't able to connect to it, realize that Remote administration works only if someone is logged on to the remote computer. Thus, make sure someone is logged on before you administer the computer.

How Remote Administration Works

RPC (Remote Procedure Calls) is the technology behind remote administration. It allows developers to build distributed applications. An application on one computer can invoke code running on another computer on the network, for example.

The Microsoft Remote Registry service uses RPC. The Registry Editor on the administrative computer calls the Registry API on the remote computer. If you use the Registry Editor to remove a key from another computer's Registry, for example, the Registry Editor running on your computer invokes code on the remote computer that carries out the task. RPC access to a remote computer's Registry is secure and gives the administrator full access to the remote computer's Registry.

Each workstation running the Microsoft Remote Registry service has an RPC client and server. In this case, the administrative computer acts as the RPC client, and each remote computer acts as an RPC server. The client invokes code on the server, and the server returns the result to the client.