Manage software over the Web
Managing software and information on remote systems is a tedious task, but
SessionXpress, from XcelleNet, can help. SessionXpress is a Web-browser-based
push/pull delivery and systems management utility. It is the first product in
the company's ESSENTIALS product line, a family of intranet system and
application management utilities for remote access. Using SessionXpress and your
existing intranet Web infrastructure, you can easily download new software and
data to entire categories of client computer systems.
Setting up SessionXpress is simple. You install a server component and
client components (browser add-ins). The server component creates a directory
tree, which includes a clientbin directory that contains the client-side
software. You install the client component by mounting the client-side software
as a share from your clients or copying it in any other way in your environment.
You can begin using the software immediately after installation.
Managing Information
SessionXpress has three categories of objects: Sendlists, Worklists, and
Groups. Sendlists contain events to automatically distribute software or files
residing on your server. Worklists are collections of events that execute during
communication between a client and server system. Worklists are similar to
Sendlists, except Worklists let you program a much broader set of events. Groups
let you organize collections of Worklists and Sendlists for execution on a
remote system.
Working with Objects
The software includes the Work Object Editor (shown in Screen 1) for
managing your SessionXpress server. This program uses a Windows NT Explorer-like
interface; the left pane of the program window contains a tree-hierarchy listing
of your objects, and the right pane contains property pages for the object you
select on the left.
To create a new object, you click an icon on the toolbar at the top of the
Work Object Editor window. At the prompt, provide a name and click OK, and the
object will appear in your list. To assign events or perform other maintenance
tasks on an object, click the object you want to edit, and the property pages
for that object will appear in the right pane of the program window.
To activate an object for remote user access, you have to copy some HTML
code to a Web page on your Web server. The HTML code contains a reference to an
ActiveX control or a plug-in. You usually perform this function at the Group
level, but you can activate objects for remote access at other object levels,
too. You click on the Group object you want to distribute and then select the
HTML property page within the Work Object Editor. On this page, you can set
several options. After you set all your options, click Copy to Clipboard at the
bottom of the screen to copy the HTML source code needed to activate the
SessionXpress code. You can then paste the HTML code into your Web documents.
Good but Pricey
I created a simple test environment: one Sendlist, one Worklist, and a Group
to house both. In the Sendlist, I selected a series of test database files to
copy to the client machine; and in the Worklist, I created a message to send to
the client computer. I used the Work Object Editor to set up these objects.
I copied the necessary HTML code onto one of my Internet Information Server
(IIS)-managed Web pages. Then I went to my NT Workstation client and launched
Internet Explorer (IE) to connect to my IIS site. When I accessed the
appropriate page, voila! I saw a new command button that said, "Click Me!"
(the label I had assigned to it.) When I clicked the command button, an
XcelleNet SessionXpress window appeared, and I watched as the SessionXpress
client component correctly executed the commands I had entered on my Worklists
and Sendlists. When the commands finished executing, I inspected the destination
directory, and everything was there.
The only drawback I see is the price, which XcelleNet clearly targeted at
the enterprise market. The cost is high for a file transfer utility. Although
the software functions well, I would seek a less-expensive solution.