Provide remote desktop assistance to your customers by operating your own support center. With PlanetRemote Standard or Plus editions on their computers, your customers can transfer control of their stations to the computer you designate as the support center for your organization.

A PlanetRemote support center is ideal for:
 

• Network administrators who need to provide efficient and cost-effective remote desktop support to their customers, and

• IT professionals who want to offer their customers convenient, value-added remote desktop support for their products and services

Benefits of setting up your own support center:
 

• No router or firewall configuration is required on the customer's computer

• Works with any connection type, even through corporate firewalls and proxy servers

• Convenient and easy for customers to use - to initiate a service request, they simply click on the support icon you have placed on their desktops

• PlanetRemote Standard Edition is required only on the customer's computer.

Step 1 - Designate a Master Computer for Your Support Center

Designate one computer as the support center. Each request for support will be automatically directed to the master computer, where you can access your customer's desktop and files remotely to provide direct and immediate assistance.
 

Step 2 - Install PlanetRemote Plus on the Master Computer

Install PlanetRemote Plus Edition on your support center's master computer.

Step 3 - Create an Internet Name for the Master Computer

PlanetRemote Plus Edition includes PlanetDNS Client, which will enable you to create an Internet name (domain name) for the support center computer. The Internet name will allow your customers to activate a request for support on your support center computer from anywhere on the Internet.

Step 4 - Run PlanetRemote Viewer in Listening Mode

PlanetRemote includes PlanetRemote Viewer, which will also need to be running as you set up your support center.

1. Click Start -> Program Files -> PlanetRemote -> PlanetRemote Viewer
   
   
   
    

2. Right-mouse click on the PlanetRemote Viewer icon in the system tray (along the bottom of your screen against the right corner) and select Properties...
   
   
    

3. Select the Defaults tab
   
   
    

4. Enter a password in the Password field.
    

5. Check the Accept incoming connections option.
    

6. Click the Apply button.
    

Step 5 - Configure your Router

As noted on the Ports used by PlanetRemote page, TCP Port 5500 is used when running your own support center. The process of establishing the appropriate connections between the Internet and your LAN computers is typically referred as by the terms Port Forwarding (Linksys), Virtual Servers (D-Link) and Pinholes and may be completed by using your router's control panel. You will need to configure your router to accept incoming connections on TCP Port 5500 and direct the connection to your master computer's LAN IP address. For more details, see Setting up your Router to Work with PlanetRemote.

Step 6 - Configure your Firewall (if applicable)

Configure the firewall on your master computer, if you have one installed, to allow incoming connections on TCP Port 5500. For more details, see Setting up Your Firewall to Work with PlanetRemote.

Step 7 - Install PlanetRemote Standard on Your Customers' computers

Install PlanetRemote Standard Edition on each customer computer.

Step 8 - Add Support icon to your customer's desktop

Create and place the support icon on your customer's desktop.

1. Right-mouse click on a blank part of the desktop
   
   
    

2. Select New -> Shortcut from the menu.
    

3. In the Type the location of the item: field, type rns://yourname.planetremote.com (In the following example, jsmith.planetremote.com has been used as the master computer's Internet name. You will need to use the unique Internet name you created for your master computer in Step 3, above).
   
   
    

4. Click the Next button to continue.
    

5. In the Type a name for this shortcut: field (shown below), enter a short description of your support center. For example, Your Support Center.
   
   
    

6. Click the Finish button.
    

7. The support center icon (shown below), named as you have selected, will be created on your customer's desktop.
   
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Step 9 - Requests for Assistance to Operating Support Center

When your customers require assistance, they double-click the desktop support icon to alert and transfer control of their computers to your support center operator.

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