Support session

Session tools

• Click the menu icon at the top left of the session window to open session controls for your session. You can also right-click the session tab to see session controls. Several of these controls have dedicated icons elsewhere in the interface and are described below (Elevate, Transfer, Invite, Remove Participant, Deploy Support Button, Deploy Jump Client, Custom Links, Close). From the menu, select Detach Session Tab to separate the session from the console, or click the session tab and drag it away from the main window. The menu icon remains with your session even if you detach the session tab, allowing you to position the session tab anywhere, such as on a separate monitor, and retain session tool access. Reattach the session using the Attach Session Tab selection in the menu, or simply by clicking the X to close the detached window. Additionally, from the menu, select Locate Sidebar to find the sidebar for the session, which can be helpful if you have several detached session sidebars (see below) scattered on your screen. You can also rename the session or revert the name to the default.

• Collapse the sidebar to maximize your session workspace. To pin the sidebar again, hover over the collapsed sidebar arrow and click the Pin Sidebar icon.

• Click this icon to detach the sidebar. Once detached, the sidebar can be positioned anywhere on your desktop or placed on a separate monitor. The sidebar also can be resized according to your needs, or resize the panes in the sidebar for more viewing space. Click on the Attach Sidebar icon to reattach the sidebar. When the sidebar is detached, the Home icon is enabled (see below).

• This Home icon is enabled whenever the sidebar is detached. In the case where you might have several sessions going on at the same time and several detached sidebars on your screen, clicking on a sidebar's Home icon brings up the associated session, saving time and avoiding confusion when trying to identify which sidebar goes with which session.

• It is possible to reposition the different widget sections displayed on the sidebar, like the chat window, the session info pane, etc. When hovering over the title bar of a section, the cursor turns into a closed hand, allowing you to drag and reposition that section on the sidebar.

• Elevate a click-to-chat session to the full customer client, or elevate the customer client to have administrative rights by clicking the shield button. Select Prompt Customer to request admin credentials from the remote user. If you possess administrative credentials to the remote computer, select Specific User to supply an administrative username and password, yourself.
  Elevating the customer client enables switching user accounts, deploying Jump Clients in service mode, and controlling protected windows and UAC dialog boxes. Elevation does not change the user context of the active user and is not the same as logging out the active user and logging back in as an administrator.
  Elevation to admin rights is currently available only for Windows and Mac computers. Administrators can set the customer client to automatically request elevation at session initiation on Windows systems.

• Should you decide someone else is better suited to handle a session, transfer control of that session to another team or user. Remain as a participant or close your tab to leave the session with its new owner. Once you have transferred the session to a new owner, your Transfer, Share, and Remove icons become gray, and you are no longer able to perform these actions, as you are no longer the session owner. The session persists until the new owner of the session closes the session.

• Invite another user to participate in a shared session. You maintain ownership of the session but can receive input from one or more teammates or an external user. You can also request an access sponsor to perform certain actions on your behalf.

• The session owner can remove another user from a shared session. Additionally, you can disconnect the customer but remain in the session tab to add notes or review the last captured system information.

• If permitted, install a Jump Client on the remote computer, enabling you or your teammates to access that system later without end-user initiation. Uninstall the client if you no longer need unattended access to that system. To set details, including password, comments, group, and so forth, select Customize.

• If permitted, install a Jump Client on the remote computer, enabling you or your teammates to access that system later without end-user initiation. Uninstall the client if you no longer need unattended access to that system. To set details, including password, comments, group, and so forth, select Customize.

• Open a web browser on your computer to any sites defined by your administrator. This button can be configured to include detailed information about the session, the end customer, and/or the BeyondTrust user who is opening the custom link. If, for instance, the external key matches the unique identifier of a case in your customer relationship management system, clicking this button could pull up the associated case in the external system.

• When a compatible iOS device is detected, the Special Actions icon appears, allowing the representative to push iOS screen sharing instructions to the device.

• Close your session tab entirely. If you have ownership of the session, you can either uninstall the customer client from the remote machine or leave the customer in queue for another representative to resume the session. You can close the session from the sidebar, the session menu, or the session tab.

At the bottom right of the session window is information about the remote system along with any other information the customer may have provided in the issue submission form. This can include the following:

• Type: The session type.
• Priority: The priority level (Low, Medium (default), or High) of the request, depending on the support issues defined by your BeyondTrust administrator.
• Queue: The Personal queue of the representative who owns the session.
• Session Status: Waiting (no rep has joined), In Progress (rep and customer have joined), or Customer Absent (rep has joined but customer has left).
• Customer Name: This is either the name entered by the customer when starting the session, the username of the logged-in user, the hostname of the customer machine (for pushed and pinned sessions), or service (for elevated sessions).
• Computer Name: The hostname of the customer's machine as reported in System Settings.
• Platform: The operating system of the customer’s machine
• Support Issue: If an issue was selected, this reports the name of the issue the customer selected.
• Time in the System: This tracks the amount of time from the moment the session entered its first queue.
• Public Site: Typically, this is listed as Default; however, if non-default sites are present, other sites may be available.
• Required Skills: Skills associated with the specific issue selected by the customer. Skills are created and associated with issues by the BeyondTrust administrator from the BeyondTrust /login interface.
• IP Address: The public and/or private IP address of the customer’s local system.

If your administrator has enabled the XML API, you may designate an external key for use in session reports. Any custom session attributes enabled by your administrator will appear in a Custom Info tab. Click Copy to copy all information to your clipboard.

Another option that your administrator may choose to enable is the ability to log out the Windows user automatically or lock the remote computer when the session closes. When you have been working on an unattended system, for example, locking the computer is recommended to prevent unauthorized users from viewing private information. Set the action to take from the dropdown at the bottom of the pane.

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Note

For more information on iOS screen sharing, please see Screen share to view the iOS device.

Session sharing

Invite another user to join a session by clicking the Share button in the session tools. By default, only teams to which you belong will be listed.

There are several ways you can invite a representative to join a session. You can use Request Help to route your request so that it is targeted at a specific support issue. Only issues that have been configured to allow you to request help are displayed on this list.

You can select a user listed in the teams displayed to invite them to join the session.

If you select Any Representative, the invitation is sent to the team queue so that any single representative in the selected team can join the session. You can send multiple invitations if you want more representatives from the team to join your session.

Users are listed here only if they are logged into the console or have extended availability enabled.

If you are permitted to share sessions with users who are not members of your teams, additional teams are displayed, provided that they contain at least one member logged in or with extended availability enabled.

When you invite a user with extended availability enabled, they receive an email notification.

If you have sent an invitation and it is still active, you may revoke the invitation by selecting it from the Cancel Invitation menu. Only the session owner can send invitations. Invitations do not time out as long as you remain the session owner. Multiple active invitations cannot exist for the same user to join the same session.

An invitation is made inactive when one of the following events occurs:

• The inviting user cancels the invitation
• The inviting user leaves or transfers ownership of the session
• The session ends
• The invited user accepts the invitation
• The invited user declines the invitation

When an additional user joins a shared session, they are able to see the entire chat history.

Elevate the customer client

For customer-initiated sessions, the customer client runs in the context of the logged-on user. This can create challenges with Windows User Access Control (UAC) prompts during support. To address this, BeyondTrust allows the customer client to be elevated to a system service by providing administrative credentials. Elevation enables the customer client to function as a system service while keeping the active user logged in, providing support access to protected windows and UAC dialog boxes.

When elevating, a UAC prompt is generated. This prompt is not visible through screen sharing, and the customer must respond. However, it does not require credentials—only a click on Yes. Once elevated, the customer client operates as a system service, allowing all subsequent UAC prompts to be visible through screen sharing.

Elevation enables representatives to:

• Switch user accounts.
• Deploy Jump Clients in service mode.
• Control protected windows and respond to UAC dialog boxes.

It does not alter the active user's context or log out the current user. Representatives can manually log out and back in as an administrator or use Run as administrator for commands or programs requiring elevated rights.

To elevate the customer client, click the Elevate button in the session window. A prompt for administrative credentials appears. Alternatively, the customer may be prompted automatically if the representative attempts an action requiring administrative rights. Automatic prompts can be configured in the representative console under File > Settings > Support Sessions > Automatic Behavior or globally in the /login interface at Rep Console > Rep Console Settings.

In Remote Desktop Services or virtual desktop environments, representatives with an elevated session can switch between active sessions on the same machine using Terminal Sessions in the Special Actions dropdown during screen sharing. This feature is available in environments using Remote Desktop Services, provided other sessions are active and the representative has the necessary permissions for elevated actions.

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Note

For more information on elevation, see Use a Jumpoint or Jump Client for elevated session start.

Rep invite

Within a session, representatives with the appropriate permission can request external representatives to participate in a session, for the duration of that session only.

The inviting representative should click on the Share Session button and then select Invite External Representative.

A dialog opens, asking the representative to select a policy. The policies and configuration created in the /login administrative interface determine the level of permission the external representative has, and connection options.

After selecting a policy, the full description displays.

Enter the name or names for the invited representatives, and the email addresses for invitations by email. Names appear to the customer and in reports.

Next, enter comments about the external invitation. Click Add Representatives, then Send Local Email for invitations by email, if available.

Otherwise, click Create Key, and a new dialog containing the session key, direct URL, and email option, if available, appears.

Depending on the options selected by your administrator, you may be able to send the invitation from your local email or from a server side email. You also can copy and paste the direct URL.

The external user must download and run the representative console installer, which is an abbreviated process from the full representative console installation.

The invited users have access only to the session tab and have a limited set of privileges. The invited users can never be a session owner. If the inviting representative leaves the session without another session owner, the external representative is logged out. The session key for the invited user is valid for two hours or until the session ends.

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Note

Each external representative invited allocates a BeyondTrust license.