Secure Global Desktop 4.40 Administration Guide > Getting Started > Using Shadowing to Troubleshoot a User's Problem

Using Shadowing to Troubleshoot a User's Problem

Problem

A user is having difficulty with an application and they want you to troubleshoot their problem.

Solution

Use the SGD Administration Console to find the user's session and then shadow it. Shadowing allows the user and a Secure Global Desktop Administrator to see and use the application simultaneously.

Case Study

Graham Green is working from home today and using Sun StarOffice Impress through SGD to create a Marketing presentation. He is having trouble with the presentation template and has contacted you for help. To fix the problem, you need to shadow Graham's application session.

You are logged in as a Secure Global Desktop Administrator and have the SGD Administration Console running. You know two things about the session you want to shadow: who is running it (Graham Green) and what application is involved (StarOffice Impress ). You can use either of these to locate the session. In this example, we use the person. In the SGD Administration Console the application sessions a user is running are shown on the Application Sessions tab for their user profile object.

Solution

1. In the SGD Administration Console click the User Profiles tab and select the user profile for Graham Green. The General tab displays.
2. Click the Application Sessions tab.

   The Application Sessions tab shows all the applications that Graham is currently running.

3. In the Application Session List, select the check box next to the StarOffice Impress application session.
4. Click the Shadow button.
5. Graham sees a dialog box, asking whether he wants to allow you to shadow the session.
6. Graham clicks Yes.

   A new window appears on your screen, showing Graham's running StarOffice Impress application.

   Both you and Graham can control the mouse pointer and use the application.

7. You fix Graham's problem and then close the shadowing window (do not close the application).
   

   Graham sees a dialog box telling him that no-one is currently shadowing the session.

Next Steps

• You could also have found Graham's session by selecting the StarOffice Impress application object and clicking the Application Sessions tab. This shows everyone who is currently running StarOffice Impress.
• The Application Sessions tab shows other session information such as the date and time the session started, and whether the session is suspended or currently active.
• You can only shadow Windows and X applications. The session must not be suspended.
• If the user has application sessions for two or more applications which are using shared resources, all applications that are sharing resources display when you shadow the session. The button bar on the shadowing window allows you to toggle between the applications.
• You can also shadow a user's session from the command line, using the tarantella emulatorsession shadow command.

Copyright © 1997-2007 Sun Microsystems, Inc. All rights reserved.