Using Alternate Credentials

Goverlan has an Alternate Credentials Engine which can prompt you for alternate credentials if a connection fails for security reasons. You can also pre-configure alternate credentials for a machine or a domain using the Alternate Credential Manager. Once alternate credentials have been specified, they are re-used for subsequent connections. The Alternate Credential Database is encrypted and very secure.

Note:
> All credentials are saved to the local disk in an encrypted file and can only be used by the account which was used to create them.
> The Alternate Credential Database is shared by all products in the Goverlan Remote Administration Suite, which includes: Goverlan Remote Control, WMIX, Goverlan Scope Actions and Goverlan Command Line.

You can enable (default) or disable the Alternate Credentials feature under View >> Settings >> Network Settings >> Alternate Credentials

Enable Automatically prompt for alternate credentials to have Goverlan monitor
security related connection failures and automatically prompt you for alternate
credentials when needed.

Alternate Credentials

If Goverlan is configured to automatically prompt for alternate credentials, you will be prompted for credentials when Goverlan receives an Access Is Denied while connecting to a remote machine.

Entering Credentials:

Authority:
The Authority is used to perform the authentication. For domain credentials, the Authority is the domain name. For computer credentials, the authority is either a domain name (for domain accounts) or the computer name (for local accounts).
User name:
The user ID to use for the credentials. The user name is either a domain account (if Authority is a domain name) or a local account (if Authority is a computer name).
Password:
Password to use for the authentication.
Save Credentials
When entering alternate credentials, you have the option to save the credentials for future re-use. Check the Save Credentials options to have validated credentials saved for the next time you close and reopen Goverlan.

Managing Alternate Credentials

You can manage the currently configured credentials using the Alternate Credentials Manager.

The Alternate Credentials Manager displays the currently configured credentials. You can configure credentials for computers as well as Windows NT and Active Directory domains. Each credential type is nested within its own category. For each set of credentials, the following information is displayed:

Target - Represents the target object for which to use alternate credentials upon connection. A target can be a computer or a domain.
Credentials - The configured credentials to be used when a connection is made to the target.
Active - Displays the current status of the credentials. Credentials are active when a connection has been made to the target using the alternate credentials.
Once a set of credentials are active, any subsequent connection to the machine's IP address will use the registered credentials. This is true even for connections outside of Goverlan. All registered connections are deactivated when Goverlan closes.
Save Credentials - 'Yes', if the configured credentials are saved to disk for future re-use. 'No', if the configured credentials are only used until Goverlan closes.

Opening the Alternate Credentials Manager

To open the Alternate Credentials Manager, either:

Select View >> Credentials Manager from the main menu.
Select View >> Options >> Network Settings >> Alternate Credentials and click on the Credential Manager button.
Click on the button in the main toolbar.
Use the context sensitive menu of any computer object:

Adding Domain Credentials

You can specify a set of credentials to use for a Windows NT or Active Directory domain. Domain credentials are used when performing domain related transactions, such as account administration or Active Directory hierarchy management. Domain credentials can also be inherited by all computers which belong to the configured domain. This allows you to specify a single set of credentials for all domain and machine administration needs on a particular domain.

Click on the Add button and enter the NetBIOS name or DNS name of the domain, then select 'Domain' as the Target Type. Click on OK.
Select the scope of the domain credentials:
Do you want to use the credentials for domain account administration only - select 'Use credentials for account administration only', or
do you want to use the credentials for domain account and machine administration (inherited credentials)?

Click on OK.
Enter the alternate credentials to use (see Entering Credentials earlier in this article).

Once you have entered domain credentials, they are displayed in the Credentials Manager. Domain credentials are shown with their scope just below the domain name.
The scope of domain credentials is either:

Scope: Accounts only
use these credentials only to perform domain account administration
Scope: Accounts & Machines
use these credentials to perform account domain account administration and when remote administering machines which belong to this domain.

Note:
. To change the scope of domain credentials, select them, right click on the mouse and select Change Domain Credentials Scope.
. To change the credentials, select them, right click on the mouse and select Change Credentials, or double click on them.

Adding Computer Credentials

To use alternate credentials for a specific computer, click on the Add button, enter the computer NetBIOS name, DNS name or IP address and specify the credentials to use. Individual computer credentials take precedence over any domain credentials. This means that if you have specified credentials A for domain A, and credentials B for machine B, and machine B belongs to domain A, then credentials B are used.

Note: To change the credentials, select them, right click on the mouse and select Change Credentials, or double click on them.

You can also specify computer credentials using the Connect As... option in its context sensitive menu:

Removing configured credentials

Select one or more credentials from the list. To select more than one credential entry, press and keep pressed the CTRL key and click on the items to be selected.
Click on the Remove button or press the DEL key.

To remove all configured credentials, click on the Remove All button.

Disconnecting credentials

If one or more credentials are active, you have the option to disconnect them. As mentioned, once a set of credentials are active, any connections made to the target's IP address automatically inherit the privileges of the credentials. This is true even for connections made outside of Goverlan.

To un-register active credentials, select them from the list and click on the Disconnect button. You can disconnect all active credentials by clicking on the Disconnect All button.