This section deals primarily with Terminal Server implementations - if you have other uses for it, please let us know!

Background

Remote users of Terminal Server installations often have a challenge scanning from a local scanner, and getting the files into the remote session. This is especially true of ad-hoc remote sessions (like a single user working from home on the weekend).

Symphony Profiler provides an excellent solution for this scenario, combining the power of pre-profiling with a powerful background file transfer feature.

How It Works

The background transfer is quite intelligent. Features include:

• bandwidth throttling (though in practice we don't find this is necessary in most cases)
• automatic restart (if the user terminates their remote desktop connection half way through a transfer, it will pick up again as soon as the user re-connects)
• file transfer happens inside the secure channel of the remote desktop session itself, so there is very little special configuration required (the user does have to enabled sharing of their local disks in the remote desktop session)
• no software installation required on the remote PC (other than whatever scanning software the user wishes to use)

Here's a typical use-case:

1. User makes reservation in remote desktop session
2. User places the cover sheet on the physical paper
3. User repeats the process, accumulating a to-be-scanned stack
4. User scans the stack on their local scanner and saves the results to a standard location on their local C drive
5. The Symphony Profiler background file transfer mechanism reaches through the remote desktop session, and pulls the file from the local C drive.  The file is then placed in one of the Symphony Profiler monitored folders on the server

Configuration

Configuration is made in the settings of the user's Symphony Profiler Workstation instance running inside the remote desktop session.

• Right-click on the Symphony Profiler system tray icon (again, this is inside the remote desktop session of the user)
• Choose Background Transfer
• Check the 'Enable' check box
• In the From field, specify the source folder (this will be a TSCLIENT\ based path) on the hard drive of the user's remote PC.  We generally recommend creating a Scans folder in My Documents
• In the To field, specify one of the Symphony Profiler Processor monitored folders (this will be on your file server)

Now that you have it set up, you can monitor progress in the Background Transfer dialog, or close the dialog (click the X) to let it run in the background.

Note: To transfer files from a location on your network, that location must be accessible via a mapped network drive letter instead of a UNC path.

Test

Now, create a reservation just like you normally would. When you scan the file, save it to the My Documents\Scans folder and you can see how it transfers to the network monitored folder for fulfillment.

Note: there are other use-cases for remote scanning, including having a network scanner push the scanned document over a WAN connection to the monitored folder in the home office. If you have a full blown WAN connection, that may be easier to configure and administer than using the background file transfer feature.