Advanced Questions

 

For the last few days, ISL Light Desk is really slow when getting a code. Others in my company don't have this problem. What could be the reason?

Maybe you can uncheck "Automatically detect proxy" in Internet options in Internet Explorer: Tools / Internet options / Connections / LAN settings / Automatically detect settings.

I have sessions to the client far away. Can I choose a specific server from the ISL Online Network to be used for this connection?

Please note that this feature is used for troubleshooting and some rare cases. Please do not force a specific server unless you are instructed to do so by our technical support.

To connect through a specific ISL Online Network server, create a link to the ISL Light Desk through the https://isllight.islonline.net/users/programs link and then add parameter:

--proxy-address <address>

Example: ISL Online Network - Japanese server has the address 124.108.35.57. To create the ISL Light session through this server, start ISl Light Desk with:

https://www.islonline.net/start/ISLLightDesk?branch=any&cmdline=--proxy-address%20124.108.35.57

I have a 1Mb internet connection. Still, ISL file transfer is only 50 kB/s.  It is the same bandwidth on both sides, and none of them is using the bandwidth during this test. I feel like something is eating bandwidth, I know that SSL needs some bandwidth for certificates encryption, but 50 KBps on 1 Mb line is not enough!

1Mb line equals to about 127 kB/s. And, you probably have ADSL, asynchronous connection, with 1Mb download and much less upload capacity (probably 256 kb or 512 kb, equaling 32 or 64 kB/s).

Desktop sharing might take up to half of the bandwidth. If both - file transfer and desktop sharing - demand high bandwidth they will each get 50% of the bandwidth. Nevertheless, ISL will take full use of your available bandwidth. Even more, ISL file transfer compresses files before transferring them.

How much bandwidth does ISL Light use when I'm helping a client and viewing his/her desktop?

Transfer is extremely dependant on the screen size and changes on the viewed screen. Some figures:

  • establishing the connection: 15 kb
  • first screen transfer when remote view mode is started:
    • option a. 1600 * 1200 monitor: 130 kb
    • option b. 1280 * 1024 monitor: 77 kb
  • each minute in remote desktop view mode: 2,8 kb

Note: transfer was measured without changes on viewed monitor; ISL Light Desk (showing clock!) was minimized, taskbar network icon (blinking at data transfer!) hidden, etc. You could also add additional 15 or 20 Kb each time the connection is broken and so on...

Is it possible to export session data to CSV format?

To export session data for Hosted service, perform login with your ISL Online account at www.islonline.com / My Account button, then select My account / Hosted service / Reports. Select "export to CSV" option at the bottom of the report data when report is created.

To export session data for Server license, perform login with your ISL Online account at http://localhost:7615 (if on local computer, otherwise replace "localhost" with IP or DNS name) and select My account / Reports from the dropdown in the top right corner. Select report and than click "Export" button at the bottom of the report data.

We are not able to use ISL Light to support some of our users with some Cisco network hardware because their firewall does not allow the file download from third party websites. Is there a workaround?

You can add ISL Light Client executable to zip / zip with password and put it on your web site. You can also publish it on the customer's intranet or even distribute it directly to such limited computers.

Some of our customers don`t want to let the users use the internet, but wish to allow use of ISL Light. Please tell me what to do?

A simple and fast option is to install a firewall and prohibit all applications with exception of ISL Light.

I want to prepare my firewall for ISL Light usage. Can I use DNS - it will be easier to set outbound rules?

Try to use this rule: server*.islonline.net. Sign "*" stands for ISL Online server number.

Is it possible to start ISL Light Client automatically with a parameter, so the remote client does not need to type in the session code?[****]

Yes, please call the ISL Light Client with --connect <code> parameter, where <code> is a session code. Note that parameters need to be URL encoded if you are calling the ISL Light executable from the website. To URL encode the command lines, you can use ISL Online URL encoding page: https://www.islonline.com/help/help_cmd_line_url_encode.php

By using ISL Light supporters and users connect to the internet. In our company we have strictly limited internet access so we need the addresses of ISL Online servers to setup the exceptions for ISL Light in our firewall. Can you tell me the addresses of your servers?

The addresses are *.islonline.net. To get exact IPs please visit us on live chat.

How do I force a certain transport type (e.g. HTTPS) for ISL Light?

It is possible to force a certain transport type using the following parameter:

--force-transport <transport type>

The following values are available for <transport type>:

direct
wininet-http
wininet-https
wininet-html
httpt-direct
https-direct
httpt-proxy
https-proxy

Example: This is is the URL for ISL Light Desk that will force HTTPS transport:

https://www.islonline.net/start/ISLLightDesk?cmdline=--force-transport+wininet-https

Please note that this is an advanced option and should be used for specific situations only. Default is to auto-detect the transport type.

If you experience any problems with your connection, please come to our live chat or write an e-mail to support@islonline.com - we will check the situation and provide further instructions.

Is it possible to specify a certain server within the ISL Online Network that should be used for connection?

Yes, it is possible to force a specific server using the following parameter (it must be done for ISL Light Desk and then ISL Light Client will connect to the same server - no parameters required for ISL Light Client):

--proxy-address <address>

(e.g. --proxy-address server13.islonline.net to force connection to our server #13 that is located in Japan)

This is the URL for ISL Light Desk that will connect to server13.islonline.net:

https://www.islonline.net/start/ISLLightDesk?cmdline=--proxy-address+server13.islonline.net

Please note that this is an advanced option and should be used for troubleshooting purposes only. Default connection address takes advantage of our load balancing with many parameters and automatically redirects you to the optimal server (based on your location, our server load, our optimizations etc.). If you experience any problems with your connection, please come to our live chat or write an e-mail to support@islonline.com - we will check the situation and provide further instructions.

I am using BitDefender and ISL Online products get blocked. What can I do?

To avoid blocking ISL Online tools by BitDefender Total security 2009 32b 15-May-2009 18:20, please follow these steps:

  1. Define a customized ISL Online starting location

Please refer to the GEN-41 answer for detailed instructions - here is an example:

(HKLM|HKCU)\Software\ISL Online\launch
  • name: create type: REG_DWORD data: 0x00000001 (1)
  • name: location type: REG_SZ data: c:\tmp\XlabLaunch
  1. Change BitDefender settings

Right-click the BitDefender tray icon and select "Show". Switch to advanced view and select "Antivirus" option. Check the checkbox next to "Exclusions are disabled" (it will change to "Exclusions are enabled"). Right-click in a line under Files and folders and select "Add new path".

Enter the same path that you set in the step 1 (c:\tmp\XlabLaunch in our example) and finish the procedure.


We use a web proxy. Is it possible to manually specify connect options that need to be used in our environment?

Yes, ISL Light and ISL AlwaysOn support a special registry entry where you can specify connect options for such environments. Please contact your network administrator about any required parameters such as server address, username etc. If you do not use a web proxy to connect, you should not specify these options.

To specify connect options, please create a string value called connect_options under the following registry key:

HKLM\Software\ISL Online

Value connect_options can include the following:

http_proxy=<proxy>&http_proxy_user=<user>&http_proxy_password=<password>&force=<transport>

Parameters <user> and <password> represent the web proxy username and password (if needed), <proxy> represents the web proxy server address, while parameter <force> will force the use of specific transport - the following values are available for <transport>:

direct
wininet-http
wininet-https
wininet-html
httpt-direct
https-direct
httpt-proxy
https-proxy

You should at least specify a server address and transport type, e.g.:

http_proxy=192.168.0.1&force=wininet-https

We have purchased ISL Conference Proxy and have created the DNS wildcard: *.isl4mycompany.com. Is it suitable for ISL Pronto?

Yes, that DNS wildcard is ok. If your firewall settings are ok (needed ports are open), you should be ready to install ISL Pronto.

Are ISL Online products compatible with Squid proxy?

ISL Online products are compatible with Squid proxy.

With many connections through Squid proxy the limit of file descriptors can be reached. The following error is shown in log of Squid proxy:

- WARNING! Your cache is running out of filedescriptors.

In case this happens, users will have to modify the limit of file descriptors that the Squid proxy can create. Follow the following procedure:

  1. Raise the value of LimitNOFILE in /usr/lib/systemd/system/squid.service from "16384" to "500000" ( depending on your needs ).
  2. Save the changes and reload the service by executing "systemctl daemon-reload".
  3. Restart the Squid service.

Apart from Squid proxy file descriptor limit, the kernel also has a limit on open file descriptors. To view the current limit execute the following command "cat /proc/sys/fs/file-max". To raise the limit execute the following:

  1. Edit the sysctl.conf file ( /etc/sysctl.conf ) and add the line "fs.file-max=500000" (depending on your needs ).
  2. Save the file and apply changes by running command "sysctl -p".

We have purchased ISL Conference Proxy and have created the DNS wildcard: *.isl4mycompany.com. Is it suitable for ISL Pronto?

Yes, that DNS wildcard is ok. If your firewall settings are ok (needed ports are open), you should be ready to install ISL Pronto.

How long does ISL Conference Proxy needs to restart?

Sometimes it can take a while (a few minutes) for the update procedure to complete - it depends on your server's hardware and the number of updates that need to be installed (e.g. when you install ISL Conference Proxy for the first time and then perform a full update, there are many updates that need to be installed). Please wait a while and then try to access ISL Conference Proxy administration again. Another cause for a long restart is reindexing session history - it can take a few minutes if you have a lot of sessions in your session history.

How to use other ports than 7615, 443 and 80?

In general: ports 80 and 443 can be disabled and 7615 can be changed to anything. You can setup this at ISL Conference proxy administration / Configuration / General / HTTPT ports. You can use for instance the Port 21 (FTP) instead of 7615. In HTTPT configuration in this case ports should be set to: 21, 7615. 7615 should be there to allow web administration if port 21 fails for some reason. You should therefore easily find a port suitable for full speed.

Note: when you change these settings you should download and distribute the ISL Light executables again (from http://localhost:7615/users/start, replace "localhost" with ISL CP server IP, if not your local computer).

We have an outer IP as 195.nnn.nnn.nnn and we want to use 10.0.1.124 as the inner. This outer IP Address is our router address.

Both addresses should have ports 7615, 443 and 80 available for ISL Conference Proxy otherwise it can happen that some of your clients will not be able to connect. You will need to setup port forwarding from your router to your server with internal address to enable ISL Light and other ISL products to connect to the public address.

So you will have 195.nnn.nnn.nnn as the outer IP Address or DNS Name and 10.0.1.124 as the inner IP address. Then you will need to setup port forwarding:

195.nnn.nnn.nnn:7615 -> 10.0.1.124:7615

195.nnn.nnn.nnn:443 -> 10.0.1.124:443

195.nnn.nnn.nnn:80 -> 10.0.1.124:80

Can we control the account of one user from an external program?

You can control the account from external program through XMLMSG messages - with this option you can control almost everything in the ISL Conference Proxy database, for aditional information please refer to this link.

We have restarted ISL Conference proxy, now there is a message saying "- NTP: Cannot synchronize time". What does this mean?

ISL Conference proxy server is trying to synchronize time through the Network Time Protocol (NTP) feature. If you use NTP, it requires outgoing UDP port 123 (port can also be changed in the administration).

If you do not have a private cloud of ISL Conference Proxy servers, the functionality is not of vital importance and you can either disable it or uninstall it.

Another reason to disable/uninstall it is if you already have your server set up in such a way that it automatically adjusts system time.

To disable:

In ISL Conference Proxy administration go to Configuration - Network time - Client, change the option Enable NTP client to "No" and click Save.

To uninstall:

In ISL Conference Proxy administration select Configuration - Advanced - File storage - Modules and delete the NTP module.

We have multiple IPs assigned to the server. How can I bind one to ISL Conference Proxy?

Login to the Conference proxy administration at http://localhost:7615/conf if it is installed on your local computer, otherwise replace "localhost" with IP/DNS name of the server. Select Configuration / General / Bind IP on server and add the IP which you have used for ISL Online. This will inform ISL Conference proxy to only use this IP and leave the rest.

We recently bought the ISL Conference Proxy and we have 10 licenses. We would like to cap how many licenses one domain can take. Is this possible?

Yes it's possible, please login to ISL Conference Proxy administration, go to "User management" from the menu on the left and select the "Domains tab". Select the desired domain and then "General" tab. The settings that affect the maximum concurrent usage (number of licenses taken is equal to the number of concurrent session) are "Max concurrent usage (hard limit)", which specifies the maximum amount of concurrent sessions originating from specified domain, and "Max concurrent usage (per user setting) " which limits the maximum number of concurrent sessions created by a user in the specified domain. Hard limit specified for domain will take precedent over per user setting, meaning that a user will not be able to create another session if the domain limit is reached, even though the per-user setting still allows it.

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