Initialization deploys (if it doesn’t exist) and starts the Quest Data Collector Service (pndcsvc.exe). This also writes the farm and computer group identity into the computer’s registry. Initialization happens automatically when a computer is created or imported into the vWorkspace Management Console. The Computer Administrative Account defined on the properties of the computer group is the account responsible for the installation. The main responsibilities of the Quest Data Collector Service are:
- To send heartbeats to the broker (every 5 minutes, by default) to say I’m alive and able to accept connections.
- To collect information via WMI like IP Address, hostname, OS (all of the 20 or so columns listed in the vWorkspace Management Console).
- To manage the Remote Desktop Users, Administrators and Power Users groups’ membership.
If one removes a computer from a group in pnconsole, the broker instructs the datacollector service to remove the farm and computer group identity from the registry so it can join a different group. The computer in question must be on for this to work.
Quest Tools for the Managed Desktop, otherwise known as pntools is installed to provide the following features:
- Credentials Passthru
- Universal Printer Driver
- Seamless Windows Engine
- USB Virtual Hub
- Multimonitor Support
- Local Text Echo
- Graphics Acceleration
- Bi-directional audio
Since installing pntools replaces the Microsoft GINA with pngina.dll, and because there are 32 and 64 bit desktop OS, we choose to not automatically deploy pntools at computer initialization. Pntools can however be deployed as part of the computer template, via automated task or by right clicking on a single desktop, multiple desktops or an entire group of desktops and choosing to install pntools.
Pntools is only available for Managed Desktops, i.e. VDI. For Terminal Services / Remote Desktop Services, one must run the full vWorkspace installer on the server and install vWorkspace Enterprise Edition to ge the equivalent functionality.
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October 2nd, 2009 at 12:57 am
Is there a 64 bit version of PNTools for Vista/Win7? When I try to deploy PNTOOLS from the console, I get an error that I need a 32bit version of windows? My VAS broker server is running Windows 2003 32-bit. I downloaded the 64 bit server installation, but don’t see it in the sip file, not sure if I can extract it though.
Thanks!