Smart Control

From Automation

How to use the new Smart Control TM (centurion guard) tool.

This new piece of software replaces the hardware modules of Centurion Guard, and the control center that was installed on your computers. The network portion runs off the PC Reservation PC and all of the patron computers know about it.

To start with opening the application. This should look like a flower on the desktop. To to right you can see the icon. When the program opens you will probably not see any computers listed in the middle area. This is fine. Make sure you have “All Machines” selected on the left list. If you do not see “All Machines” then you must expand the 127.0.0.1, or 10.1.X.147 drop down till you do. Once you have all machines listed in the middle area you can then interact with them the same way you did in the past.

There are two ways to access the normal options of enable, disable, shutdown and restart. There is the right click menu, which is accessed by right clicking on any of the PCs, or by selecting the option from the menu bar.

Above you can see the Enable, and Disable buttons highlighted. The enable button is Green and has a check mark, the disable button is red and has an “X” in the middle. These offer the same functionality as the old Network Controller.

The image above is highlighting the Restart, Shutdown, and Wake On LAN buttons. These allow you to shutdown with a delay, restart with a delay, and even turn on computer which are not currently on. The wake on LAN, or WOL, feature works if the computer has been shutoff for a period of time. The exact amount is different per computer, but overnight should be plenty for all of them. These options along with any of the other options on the menu bar can be used on one or many computers at once. The computers on the list show their connection status, and protection status. The status can quickly be seen by looking at the green or red shield icons next to the computer name.

Windows update. The new Smart Control TM has support for scheduling. This will allow us to schedule a disable and reboot then shutdown the machines at night. The final setup for this has not yet be hammered out, but it should help keep the windows machines updated, and not force them to be. If the scheduler is not running or an update is forcing the computer to constantly reboot, just select the computer from the list when it comes up and then choose disable. Every branch and main will have the same password once the deployment is done.