Data Source Types

Description

All sessions are saved in a data source. Remote Desktop Manager supports multiple types of data source. To start, decide which data source you’ll be using. If you’re running the Standard edition, you’ll be running from the local data source (which is an Xml database by default).

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Data source options

Data Source Types

Name

Description

Pros and cons

Amazon S3 storage

Remote Desktop Manager saves the settings in a file located in an Amazon S3 bucket.

Amazon S3 is a storage service for the Internet. It's designed to make web-scale computing easier for everyone.

Amazon S3 provides a simple web services interface that can be used to store and retrieve any amount of data, at any time, from anywhere on the web, and Remote Desktop Manager use its API to persist your session settings.

More details on cloud computing and Amazon S3 can be found at:

http://aws.amazon.com/s3/

Pros:

•	Can be shared in read-only mode

•	Backups (by Amazon) are automatic

Cons:

•	You must have an Amazon account and pay storage fees

•	No security management

•	There is a possibility for conflict or data corruption to occur

•	Doesn't support all features, such as attachments, connection logs and security access

Dropbox

Remote Desktop Manager uses the Dropbox API to retrieve the XML file from the configured repository.

Pros:

•	Can be shared in read-only mode

•	Backups (by Dropbox) are automatic

•	Storage infrastructure is free

Cons:

•	No security management

•	There is a possibility for conflict or data corruption to occur

•	Doesn't support all features, such as attachments, connection logs and security access

FTP

Remote Desktop Manager uses an FTP connection to retrieve the XML file.

Pros:

•	Can be shared in read-only mode

•	Easy to deploy online

Cons:

•	No security management

•	There is a possibility for conflict or data corruption to occur

•	Doesn't support all features, such as attachments, connection logs and security access

Microsoft Access

Remote Desktop Manager saves the settings in a Microsoft Access database on the local machine, or on a network share.

Microsoft Access is a pseudo relational database management system from Microsoft, which combines the relational Microsoft Jet Database Engine with a graphical user interface and software development tools.

Pros:

•	Easy setup

•	Can be shared

•	Easy backup

Cons:

•	Slower than SQL Server

•	No security management

•	There is a possibility for conflict or data corruption to occur

•	Doesn't support all features, such as attachments, connection logs and security access

Microsoft SQL Server

Remote Desktop Manager uses the power of SQL Server to save and manage all sessions. This is the recommended data source for a multi-user environment.

Note: SQL Server 2000 is not supported.

Pros:

•

Quick

•

Reliable

•

Secure

•	Supports all features, such as attachments, connection log, offline mode and security management

•	SQL Server Express is free

Cons:

•	SQL Server must be installed

MySQL (add-on)

Remote Desktop Manager uses a mySQL database to store session information.

Pros:

•

Quick

•

Reliable

•	The database is free and can be installed on Linux

Cons:

•	No security management

•	Doesn't support all features, such as attachments, connection logs and security access

Remote Desktop Manager Online

Remote Desktop Manager connects to Devolutions' online repository.

Pros:

•

Quick

•

Reliable

•

Secure

•	Supports all features, such as attachments, connection log, offline mode and security management

•	SQL Server Express is free

Cons:

•	Not hosted internally

•	This will not be free permanently

XML file storage

Remote Desktop Manager saves the settings directly in a file with the XML format.

Pros:

•	Easy backup

•	Can be edited manually or by an external system

•	Nothing to install

Cons:

•	No possibility of sharing

•	No security management

•	There is a possibility for conflict or data corruption to occur

•	Doesn't support all features, such as attachments, connection logs and security access

Web

Remote Desktop Manager uses a Web connection to retrieve the XML file.

Pros:

•	Easy backup

•	Can be edited manually or by an external system

•	Nothing to install

Cons:

•	No possibility for sharing

•

Read-only

•	Doesn't support all features, such as attachments, connection logs and security access

Multiple Data Sources

In the Enterprise edition, you can configure multiple data sources within the application. These data sources can be mixed, but there can only be one active data source at a time.

It's also possible to switch from one data source to another via the data source combo box. You may assign a default data source in the data source dialog. The default data source will be open when Remote Desktop Manager starts.

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Choose your current data source