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Record and Replay
Terminal, Citrix and RDP Sessions

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Frequently Asked Questions

Record & Replay Terminal, Citrix and Secure Remote access VPN SSL Sessions

ObserveIT is an easy to deploy, configure and manage software. New installations are easily performed by using 'One Click' setup procedures, and within minutes you will be able to record, replay and work with ObserveIT.

This section accumulates some of the most frequently asked questions we receive from our customers and potential clients.

If you still cannot find an answer to your question we strongly recommend reading the product's documentation and consulting with the Getting Started section. If your question is still unresolved, you are welcome to use the online support page to send your question to our support staff.

General Features and Benefits

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Q. What is ObserveIT?
A. ObserveIT is a client/server software application that monitors, audits and records all activities performed by people on an enterprises servers. The indexed, searchable, visual database allows those activities to be replayed to see exactly what is happening on the monitored servers.
Q. What business problems does ObserveIT address?
A. People, the invisible component in IT infrastructure, are responsible for more errors and failures than software and hardware put together. ObserveIT for Servers helps to: Reduce human errors Reduce mean time to repair Increase security Supervise 3rd-party projects Improve auditing, compliance and accountability Provide proof of user actions Reduce harmful activities Retain and leverage IT expertise Lower server documentation costs
Q. What type of organizations most benefit from ObserveIT software?
A. Any company that has multiple individuals with access to its enterprise servers can benefit by using ObserveIT for Servers. This is particularly true when, in addition to IT administrators, developers, project managers and consultants are able to modify server configuration.
Q. How does ObserveIT reduce human errors?
A. ObserveIT not only monitors and captures user activity on a server, it allows context-sensitive information to be provided to users while they are working at the server console. Sticky Notes can be attached at any point in a program dialog or configuration setting to provide specific information about what to do (or NOT to do) for that situation. Users can also use the Context Search feature to get a list of previous user actions related to that configuration setting. Servers can be configured to display interactive messages for the users that log on to them, alerting them about possible system issues or asking them to supply specific information (such as "Who authorized this connection"). Users are then forced to acknowledge the messages, and their action is then recorded in the ObserveIT database. Finally, ObserveIT for Servers can also issue an alert when a user makes a configuration choice that has been flagged as an error.
Q. How does ObserveIT reduce mean time to repair?
A. When a server begins to function abnormally, ObserveIT allows support staff to immediately see exactly what actions were performed on that server. Many times, a single configuration change can have unintended effects and looking through system event logs to try to identify both the problem and the cause can be time consuming. ObserveIT allows the troubleshooter to either pinpoint the cause of the problem, or rule out user error as the cause.
Q. How does ObserveIT help supervise contracted projects?
A. Because ObserveIT records exactly the actions that contracted employees and consultants are doing on the enterprises servers and when they are doing it, project managers can verify: Compliance with enterprise policies Actual working hours Documentation of deliverables and work performed
Q. How can ObserveIT retain and leverage IT expertise?
A. ObserveIT has powerful features that help document and retain an organization's IT expertise: Any time a portion of a captured user session represents a best practices method or otherwise demonstrates the correct process for repeated tasks, it can be tagged and saved for training purposes. When additional instructions are required for any particular task, Sticky Notes can be attached at any point in a program dialog or configuration setting to provide specific information about what to do (or NOT to do) for that situation. The Context Search feature is available at all times to get a list of previous user actions related to that configuration setting and see exactly what choices were made, the servers that the user touched, to track actions that should span across multiple servers. The Server Messages feature makes it possible to alert users, administrators or external contractors and vendors about possible system changes and settings. For example, a message can be displayed on all SharePoint servers during the period of a migration project, alerting the users not to perform any system changes for the next 7 days. Users will then be forced to acknowledge this message, and, if needed, can also provide input back to the ObserveIT administrator.
Q. How can ObserveIT leverage my existing monitoring and security systems?
A. ObserveIT can integrate with other network and system management systems, to receive alerts based on thresholds/rules defined within the 3rd party system. ObserveIT will link a recorded sequence to the alert event, and by using our integral MOM/SCOM management pack, integrating with Microsoft monitoring tools is made easy.
Q. How does ObserveIT differ from competitive software?
A. While ObserveIT has no direct competitors, it incorporates functionality of change management, knowledge management, and security monitoring applications. One of the most important differences is how ObserveIT compares to most change management applications. In a typical change management application, a snapshot of the monitored systems configuration is periodically taken and compared to the previous snapshot. The result is an aggregated delta of changes between snapshots including files and registry entries. For troubleshooting purposes, this can be too much information, and it can be difficult, if not impossible, to reverse engineer exactly what happened and determine how it happened. Troubleshooting with ObserveIT starts by reviewing what actions occurred instead of looking at the result of those actions. A single checkbox in a configuration dialog can result in numerous file and registry changes. By finding the cause of the changes, the action can be reversed without having to determine exactly which file and registry entries will be affected.
back to top Functionality View all answers
Q. ObserveIT has recorded many user sessions. How do I find what I'm looking for? Do I need to view each recorded session?
A. No, this is ObserveIT's main benefit and one of the fundamental reason you are using ObserveIT: The ability to easily and quickly find the information you need about what is happening on your servers. ObserveIT's unique, patented technology provides multiple search capabilities: context sensitive, free text and reports, that are specifically designed to allow you to pinpoint the exact actions you are interested in.
Q. Can I control what ObserveIT records?
A. Yes, within the Web Console it is possible to define what the Agent records. By using inclusion or exclusion, you can control many aspects of the recording policy, such as the users being recorded, the list of applications being recorded, and so on.
Q. Can I export videos?
A. Yes, an entire session or part of a session can be exported to a standalone executable of the video sequence. This can be used for offline viewing or as evidence for user actions in case such information is required by an auditor.
Q. If someone is logged in as an administrator and their actions were recorded, how do I know the name of the actual user that's logged in?
A. Part of the ObserveIT configuration is the ability to identify generic accounts like the built-in Administrator, that require additional authentication when used to login to a server. The Agent uses ObserveIT Identification Services to prompt for additional identification and authentication before the user is allowed to proceed. All actions performed on the server are then linked to the specific user account. With this feature, you can easily identify which one of your external vendors that are using the Administrator built-in account have logged on, and you can use this information to filter what recordings you'll need to watch.
Q. What types of reports are available in the ObserveIT Web Console?
A. Within ObserveIT's Web Console you can view many types of reports. These reports are created by querying from three main components - server, user, and a resource which can be any screen element that the user interacts with: menus, application dialog, files and so on. The following are examples of some of the ObserveIT reports: List users that have accessed selected servers by date and time List users that have accessed selected resources such as files, applications, configuration property pages, etc. List resources (registry entries, applications, screens, files, etc.) that were accessed on selected servers by date and time List installed/uninstalled applications on selected servers List installed/uninstalled application by selected users
Q. ObserveIT has recorded activities performed by consultants and external vendors. How can I use these videos for training and knowledge management?
A. When you identify that a portion of the captured user session correctly represents a best practices method, or otherwise demonstrates the correct process for repeated tasks, you can tag that recording and save it for training purposes. These recordings can be later accessed by using the ObserveIT Web Console without having to go through the search process again.
Q. What types of alerting mechanism are available in ObserveIT?
A. ObserveIT provides a mechanism for 3rd-Party monitoring and management software to interact with the metadata that is stored within ObserveIT's database, and through this interaction you can configure your existing monitoring tools to generate an alert whenever a specified resource is accessed. This includes access to files, registry entries, application property pages or any other screen element. These alerts can be sent by email, pager, SNMP event, SMS, based upon the capabilities of your existing monitoring software.
back to top Architecture View all answers
Q. What server-side operating systems are supported by ObserveIT?
A. All versions of Windows NT/2000/2003/2008 Server are currently supported, including 32-bit and 64-bit versions.
Q. What client-side operating systems are supported by ObserveIT?
A. The ObserveIT Agent can be installed on all versions of Windows NT/2000/2003/2008 and Windows XP/Vista/7, including 32-bit and 64-bit versions. A Agent version for Linux and Unix platforms is in the works.
Q. What versions on IIS are supported by ObserveIT?
A. All IIS versions that are part of Windows 2000/2003/2008 Server are currently supported, meaning IIS 5.0/6.0/7.0.
Q. What versions on SQL are supported by ObserveIT?
A. All SQL versions are currently supported, meaning SQL 2000/2005 and MSDE/SQL Server 2005 Express Edition.
Q. What versions of Internet Explorer does the ObserveIT Web Console run on?
A. The Web Console can be best viewed by using Internet Explorer 6,7 and 8.
Q. Does the ObserveIT Web Console run on Firefox, Safari, Chrome, Opera or other web browsers?
A. Yes, the Web Console can be viewed by using other non-IE web browsers such as Firefox, Safari, Chrome or Opera.
Q. What are the components of the ObserveIT architecture?
A. The Application Server, Management Server (Web Console) and Database Server can be installed on a single server or distributed on multiple servers, based upon the client's requirements and performance tuning. The ObserveIT Agent is deployed on any server that is to be monitored in the enterprise. The following diagram illustrates the components and their relationship.
Q. How many servers, desktops and network devices can ObserveIT monitor?
A. There is no inherent limit on the number of managed instances. ObserveIT for Servers scales up and out to support as many systems as necessary.
Q. Can I integrate my software with ObserveIT?
A. Yes, there is a published set of APIs and an SDK that developers and administrators can use to integrate functionality with 3rd party applications.
Q. Can I integrate ObserveIT with other application servers?
A. Each of the server components can coexist with other applications using the same physical hardware platform. ObserveIT has specific configuration settings to allow integration with Active Directory, CA e-Trust, Microsoft MOM, SCOM and other application software.
Q. Where are the ObserveIT videos stored?
A. Unlike other screen recording software, ObserveIT does not store the recordings in individual files. All the data captured by ObserveIT is stored within a Microsoft SQL Server database, on the Database Server. Because this information is stored along with the metadata describing what is seen on the screen, you can perform very powerful searches across your entire enterprise.
Q. How can ObserveIT scale out?
A. The Application Server is stateless and multiple Application Servers can be deployed using a load balancing network device. The Database Server is based on MS SQL Server technology which supports a distributed database architecture across multiple hardware platforms. For more information, please refer to the Implementing ObserveIT in the Enterprise white paper.
Q. Is my recorded data secure?
A. The data is digitally signed and encrypted when it is stored in the database. Access to the data is limited by permissions defined within the Web Console, and any access to this data is audited by ObserveIT.
Q. Is the ObserveIT for Servers communication secure?
A. The ObserveIT Agent to ObserveIT Application Server secure conversation implements OASIS standards for WS-Secure conversation, which allows security contexts to be created and key material to be exchanged more efficiently. Binary data is serialized and is stamped with a token key and digitally signed. In order to prevent session hijacking, ObserveIT uses a 2-minutes transaction Time-To-Live parameter. In addition to the built-in security mechanism, you can further secure the Agent to Server communication by configuring IIS on the Application server to require SSL, and the Agent to use HTTPS instead of HTTP. When using SSL, packet payloads are encrypted and protected from packet analyzers and other sniffing tools. By using SSL you can protect the communication with means of a industry strength security protocol which is widely accepted and can easily traverse firewalls and other security devices.
Q. How do the ObserveIT for Servers components communicate across the network?
A. ObserveIT's Agents communicate with the ObserveIT Application Server by using the HTTP protocol. When installing a new Application Server, by default, ObserveIT's server installation will offer to create an additional web site in IIS that will be configured to listen to TCP port 4884. However, it is also possible to use the regular HTTP protocol specifications and use TCP port 80 instead. If SSL is implemented in the deployment scenario, the data is sent over HTTPS (SSL) to the ObserveIT Application Server. This is done over TCP port 443. The Application Server communicates with the Database Server on the default SQL Server port at TCP 1433.
Q. How do I secure the communication between the ObserveIT Agent and the Application server?
A. All you need to do is to enable the security option in the ObserveIT web console. This enables secure communication between the Agent and the application server. The security mechanism for the communication includes: Encryption (Rijndael) Digital signing Token exchange You can further secure the communication by configuring IIS on the Application server to require SSL, and the Agent to use HTTPS instead of HTTP.
Q. How does the ObserveIT Agent work?
A. The ObserveIT Agent is a user-mode executable that binds to every user session. As soon as a user creates a session on a monitored server, the Agent is started and begins recording – based upon a pre-determined recording policy. The ObserveIT Agent is triggered by user activities such as keyboard and mouse events. Idle time – when a user is reading, or inactive – is not recorded. When triggered, the Agent performs a screen capture. At the same moment it captures textual metadata of what is seen on the screen (window title, executable name, date, time, user name, etc.). The captured data is packaged and delivered in real-time. No caching is performed on the recorded server, and no files are stored on the server's file system. The Agent is protected from accidental or deliberate stopping by a watchdog process.
Q. How do I know that the ObserveIT Agent is working properly?
A. There is a health check process that polls the Agents, Application Server(s) and Database Server to verify communication and functionality.
Q. Can ObserveIT use Windows Authentication to communicate with the SQL server?
A. Yes, ObserveIT can use both mixed and Windows authentication when connecting to the SQL server. However, in order to work with Windows authentication, there are some additional steps that must be performed. Please consult with the product documentation for more information.
Q. What is the difference between an Administrator and a View-Only Administrator options?
A. Administrators are Console Users that can log on to the Web Management console and view recordings, and also make changes to the ObserveIT configuration. View-Only administrator are Console Users that can log on to the Web Management console and view recordings, but cannot make any changes to the ObserveIT configuration or permissions.
back to top Captured Data View all answers
Q. What type of sessions does ObserveIT capture and record?
A. Any user interaction with the server console can be captured and monitored, whether it is via Terminal Services Client, Citrix, Remote Desktop, PcAnywhere, VNC, DameWare, Radmin or NetOP.
Q. What type of Metadata is captured with ObserveIT?
A. In addition to capturing the screen image for each user action, ObserveIT extracts information about the state of the operating system and the application being used, which allows ObserveIT to precisely identify what the user is doing in any given moment. This metadata is analyzed and encoded in a standardized format that is stored in the Database Server. Because this information is stored along with the metadata describing what is seen on the screen, you can perform very powerful searches across your entire enterprise.
Q. What is unique about the ObserveIT capturing mechanism?
A. ObserveIT's patented technology has the ability to identify each type of user interaction (dialog boxes, configuration tabs, confirmation prompts) including the result of that action, and index it as metadata for search and retrieval. In addition to the screen information, the captured metadata provides the context for each user action performed on the server. Unlike some other monitoring software, the Agent only captures during user activity and the data is compressed to conserve bandwidth and storage.
Q. What types of user activities does ObserveIT record?
A. ObserveIT captures and records all activities which require user input from either the keyboard or mouse.
Q. What types of user activities ObserveIT does not record?
A. ObserveIT does not record idle time and where there is no user input.
Q. Is ObserveIT able to audit the use of a file share?
A. You can audit and search for any action performed by any user that is logged on to a user session on the monitored server. This means that if a user accesses the server via RDP/Citrix/VNC and so on, and the server is monitored, you'll be able to record all the user's actions. However, if the user accesses the server via UNC over the network, you will not be able to record this access unless you also monitor the user's workstation.
Q. Is ObserveIT able to audit the use of remote management tools such as Microsoft Management Console (MMC), Remote Command Prompt, Remote Registry or Telnet connections?
A. You can audit and search for any action performed by any user that is logged on to a user session on the monitored server. However, if the management is done remotely by using tools that do not create a user session, then these actions will not be captured on the monitored server. In order to audit remote management operations like these you'll need to install an ObserveIT Agent on the management workstation and configure it to only capture management tools such as MMC, Command Prompt, Telnet, Registry Editor and so on.
Q. Does ObserveIT record action in Active Directory Users and Computers such as creating/modifying users, creating/modifying groups, etc?
A. The answer is "it depends on how you did it". For example, if the administrator used RDP to connect to the DC and open ADUC and perform the actions, then yes, he or she would be recorded (given that there's an Agent installed on the DC). However, if they used the local ADUC MMC snap-in on their workstation, then no, they would not be recorded as no user session was created on the monitored DC. To solve this scenario, one would look into installing the Agent on each management workstation, and configuring the Server Policy to only record administrator-based applications such as MMC, Regedit, Notepad, CMD, PowerShell and so on.
Q. Can I control what ObserveIT records?
A. Yes. The Agent recording settings are configured through policies, either at the server level, or on a group of servers. From within the ObserveIT Web Management console it is possible to define what the Agent is to capture. By using inclusion or exclusion, you can control many aspects of the recording policy: the users, applications, specific files, URLs and specific keystroke events.
Q. Where is the ObserveIT data stored?
A. Unlike other screen recording software, ObserveIT does not store the recordings in individual files. All the data captured by ObserveIT is stored within a Microsoft SQL Server database, on the Database Server. Because this information is stored along with the metadata describing what is seen on the screen, you can perform very powerful searches across your entire enterprise.
Q. What additional information does ObserveIT capture?
A. In addition to the screen and underlying metadata, the date, time, IP address, and user is stored in the database.
Q. How can I monitor activities performed by client/server applications?
A. Please refer to the ObserveIT for Workstations product information sheets.
Q. How many screens per second does ObserveIT record?
A. ObserveIT does not have a "screen per second" value. The actual capturing is triggered by user activity. If a user clicks fast and types fast, many screenshots will be recorded. If the user types or clicks once every 10 minutes, then there will be just one screenshot every 10 minutes.
Q. Are words typed by the user captured and indexed? Are passwords typed by the user recorded and viewable by ObserveIT?
A. ObserveIT is not a keylogger application. Meaning, it will not record the actual keystrokes made by the user, but instead, the screen capture action is triggered by the keystrokes, and will record what is seen on the screen. For example, if a user opens a Word document, the opening of the document will be recorded, so will the user's scrolling through the document. But when the user types a word into the document, ObserveIT will not record or index the typed word, it will capture the screen activity (because the user's typing was a keyboard event that triggered the capture). Similarly, in places where a user needs to type in a password, the typed password is not logged by the system, but the screen capture will show the dots or stars that the user sees when looking at the screen.
back to top Deployment, Sizing and Performance View all answers
Q. How can I deploy ObserveIT?
A. The easiest method to deploy ObserveIT is by using the One-click Installation. During the setup process you need to simply pick the destination SQL Server name, and click install. The setup process takes less than five minutes to complete.
Q. Can I deploy the ObserveIT Agent by using my existing software distribution mechanism?
A. Yes, the Agent has a silent installation capability that will work well with most distribution applications including Microsoft SMS/SCCM.
Q. How do I upgrade ObserveIT from a previous version?
A. Upgrades are installed over previous versions retaining all settings and configuration.
Q. What is the captured data size for an average user session?
A. The amount of captured data can be made smaller when filtering the recorded applications (i.e. only recording specific applications). As a rule of thumb, when looking at knowledge-worker type of user sessions that last 8 hours in a day, a typical session can use between 25 MB to 30 MB of data per session.
Q. I have one Terminal Server with 50 concurrent user sessions. What is your estimate for the database sizing?
A. We would recommend reading the ObserveIT Deployment Guide that is available in the documentation section. But generally, the answer depends on the type of work that these users are performing. Information workers typically perform less actions than knowledge workers, and even so, from our experience we found that most users usually make a just few clicks or keyboard operations per minute, unless they're performing very intensive typing tasks. This means that because idle time is trimmed, a typical user session can be composed of just a few hundreds, or maybe couple of thousand actions per session. This number can be made smaller when filtering the recorded applications (i.e. only recording specific applications). We would recommend to first size one typical user session, then multiply that number by the number of concurrent sessions and by the number of monitored Terminal or Citrix servers.
Q. What is your estimate for the storage size required for monitoring an organization with 1000 servers and 250 users?
A. From our experience, an existing ObserveIT client with similar resources (including systems administrators, developers and consultants) is averaging 100 GB per year with a moderate level of activity. This is achieved mostly because ObserveIT captures only user interactions with the monitored servers, trimming idle time and times when no user is logged on. This information is then further compressed to save storage space.
Q. How many monitored servers are supported per Application Server?
A. There is no pre-configured limit to this number, but we do have a current installation of a 1000 monitored servers that are all being monitored by 1 Application Server and 1 Database server.
Q. How much bandwidth does ObserveIT use?
A. The maximum network utilization by Agent-to-Application server communication per session is between 15 and 30 Kb. This communication only occurs when a user is actively interacting with the server. There is also a minimal communication for health checks during idle time.
Q. Can I configure the ObserveIT Agents to transmit their data across a WAN link?
A. Yes. Since the agents use HTTP to transmit the data, configuring Firewalls to allow for that traffic is easy. In addition, the agents do not place a large overhead on the WAN traffic because of the small amount of data that is being sent.
Q. Can I configure the ObserveIT Agent to transmit traffic on a ports other than the default port?
A. Yes. You can change the Default Website port in IIS to use any unoccupied port. If you do so, you will need to use the following URL format when installing the agent: http://observeserver:newport/observeitapplicationserver.
Q. Can the traffic between the ObserveIT Agent and the Application server use HTTPS?
A. Yes. In order to do that you need to obtain a digital certificate from a trusted Certification Authority (either internal or a 3rd-party commercial CA) and configure IIS on the Application server to use it. Next you need to configure the Default Website port in IIS to require SSL. The agents themselves need to be configured to use HTTPS instead of HTTP.
Q. Does the ObserveIT Agent store any type of information on the monitored server?
A. While all data is communicated to the Application Server and subsequently stored on the Database Server, the Agent does have the ability to store a cache of captured information on the local hard drive in case there is a communication failure with the application server (caused by network latency or disconnection of links and so on). The amount of data stored in the local cache is configurable via the server configuration policy, and can be disabled altogether.
Q. How much disk space is required by the ObserveIT Agent installation?
A. The ObserveIT Agent installation utilizes approximately 10 MB of disk space.
Q. How much CPU is used by the ObserveIT Agent?
A. The ObserveIT Agent utilizes approximately 1% to 5% CPU usage, but only while the user is actively interacting with the system. During idle time, which usually comprises of approximately 95% of the session time, there is no CPU usage impact on the monitored server.
Q. How much memory is used by the ObserveIT Agent?
A. The ObserveIT Agent utilizes approximately 10MB of memory.
Q. Can a user disable the ObserveIT Agent and prevent it from recording?
A. The ObserveIT Agent is protected by a watchdog mechanism that restarts the Agent in case the process is ended, and sends an alert to the Application Server. The health check system continually monitors all components and verifies that they are communicating properly. In case a user stops the watchdog process, it is re-started by the ObserveIT Agent. If a malicious user manages to stop both at the same time, the ObserveIT health check system will alert the administrator that an Agent is no longer recording, which might give clear indication that someone has deliberately stopped the agent.
Q. How can I be sure that the ObserveIT Agent is recording?
A. The ObserveIT health check system monitors each agent, as well as the Application and Database Servers to verify that all components are functioning and communicating properly. In case of a malfunction with the agent, the administrator can be alerted.
Q. Does ObserveIT provide a mechanism for alerting in case the Agent has stopped communicating with the Application server?
A. Yes, in case this happens during an active session. For example, if someone has managed to stop the agent, or in case the server went offline. You will need to configure SMTP and add an e-mail address to the Web Console administrator and enable the "Alert" option. In addition, custom scripts can be created by experienced administrators to remotely poll a server's running processes and alert them in case the ObserveIT Agent has stopped.
Q. Does ObserveIT provide any sort of error reporting mechanism? How do I troubleshoot issues?
A. A centralized error log is accessible through the ObserveIT Web Console. The information within it can be exported and sent to ObserveIT's Technical Support for troubleshooting assistance.
Q. How much administrative effort and overhead is required in order to maintain ObserveIT?
A. ObserveIT is designed for minimal maintenance and management, but should be included in disaster recovery and business continuity operations.
Q. Does ObserveIT provide an archiving system?
A. Because ObserveIT is based on MS SQL Server architecture, standard database practices are available for archiving and maintaining data.
Q. Is it possible to install ObserveIT without giving the installer a privileged account on the SQL server? Could the databases be created manually, and populated by the installer?
A. The installer runs a script that creates the databases, you will need at least a "Database Creators" privileges. This user is only needed during the installation process; it is not used afterwards in any way. Additionally you can run the SQL setup separately by running the SQL packager setup located in the DB directory in the setup folder. Another way is to copy the databases (detach and attach) from you dev/qa servers to the database production server.
Q. Is it possible to have redundancy for the Application server?
A. Yes. Because the ObserveIT Application Server is a stateless web application, you can use hardware or software network load balancing, or create additional DNS records (Round Robin) that point to alternate Application servers.
Q. How can I backup the ObserveIT configuration and data?
A. All the data captured by ObserveIT along with the configuration data is stored within a Microsoft SQL database. By utilizing your existing backup solutions you can easily backup your SQL server, and thus protect your ObserveIT data and configuration.
Q. How do I install ObserveIT server-side components on a Windows Server 2008 system?
A. Windows Server 2008 has introduced several significant changes in Internet Information Services (IIS). These changes require some manual modification of the IIS settings. In order to install ObserveIT server-side components on a Windows Server 2008-based computer you must follow the instructions found in the following document: Installing ObserveIT on windows server 2008 system
Q. How do I install ObserveIT Agent on a Windows Server 2008 system?
A. The installation of the ObserveIT Agent on a Windows Server 2008-based computer is identical to installing it on Windows Server 2008. However, if the ObserveIT server-side components were also installed on a Windows Server 2008-based computer, the installation of the Agent might fail. This is because Windows Server 2008 has introduced several significant changes in Internet Information Services (IIS). These changes require some manual modification of the IIS settings. Therefore, in order to install ObserveIT Agent on a Windows Server 2008-based computer you must follow the instructions found in the following document: Installing ObserveIT on windows server 2008 system
back to top Configuration View all answers
Q. How do I administer and configure ObserveIT?
A. ObserveIT has an easy-to-use Web Management Console that provides a familiar and intuitive interface to all ObserveIT configuration and administration tasks.
Q. How do I deploy configuration changes to ObserveIT Agents?
A. The Agents periodically poll the Application Server for configuration changes made in the through the web console.
Q. Can I control access to ObserveIT Management Web Console and video replaying?
A. ObserveIT has role based administration that limits and controls access to functionality and content in the web console. For example, a DBA can be granted access to only view videos of sessions on a SQL Server while being restricted from access to those from Exchange or Active Directory servers.
Q. Can ObserveIT provide an audit trail or all access and replying of videos?
A. Yes, each time a video is accessed a log is created with the user, IP, capture session and frames viewed. This allows the auditing of the administrators that have accessed the Web Console and who have replied videos, and prevents the need to design an external audit mechanism that will audit the auditor.
back to top Pricing and Licensing View all answers
Q. How do I obtain the latest version of the software?
A. The most recent software version is always available at the ObserveIT download site: www.observeit-sys.com/download.asp.
Q. How is ObserveIT licensed?
A. ObserveIT is licensed by the number of Agents installed.
Q. How do I obtain a license key?
A. To obtain a license key, please contact ObserveIT Customer Support at: support@observeit-sys.com

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