Configuring WRA

Customize WRA to do these things:

  • Help users find their computers if they are not sure of the computer name, such as allowing wildcard searches.
  • Configure parameters to comply with organizational IT policies, such as disabling browser cookies.
  • Specify how many computers are returned in the search results.
  • Modify the browser pages that users see to:

– Match your organizational branding.

– Modify the help tips to reflect application customizations you make or add other tips that would help your users.

Customizing Application Parameters

Home Page Customizations

When users go to the WRA home page, they can enter search criteria to find the computer that they want to wake.

Figure 2-1 Search Form on the WRA Home Page

 

 

By default, these search features are enabled:

  • Support for wildcard characters (* and _), for finding similar computer names.

Note By default, users must enter at least three characters in the search form. If they try to use a single asterisk to return all clients, they get a message to try again.

  • The option to save the search criteria that the user last entered.

I To disable either of these options or to change the minimum number of required characters and other parameters, see the “How to Customize Application Settings in IIS Manager” section.

Search Results Customizations

When users include wildcard characters in their searches, the first five matching computers are returned. If a computer is not listed, users can add more characters (not wildcards) and search again.

You can use the IIS Manager to change the maximum number of computers that are returned in search results. For information about customizing information returned with the results, see “Customizing the WRA Browser Pages” section.

Note Search results return only computers on which a Orchestrator client agent is installed and licensed.

How to Customize Application Settings in IIS Manager

How you access application settings depends on which version of IIS you use.

Note For a description of each setting, see “Application Settings and Descriptions” section.

To Customize Search Options in IIS 6 Manager

Step 1 On the IIS server, open the IIS Manager from the Windows Start menu.

Step 2 Right-click WRA, and choose Properties .

Figure 2-2 Displaying the Properties of the WRA Site

 

 

Step 3 In the Properties dialog box, click the ASP.NET tab, and click Edit Configuration .

Step 4 Customize the settings. See “Application Settings and Descriptions” section.

Figure 2-3 Editing a WRA Application Setting

 

 

Application Settings and Descriptions

 

Table 2-1 IIS Manager Settings

Setting
Description and Values

AllowWildCardSearch

Allows the * and _ wildcards in searches. The default is true . If set to false , users must enter the computer name.

If you disable wildcards, edit the Tips content in the Default.aspx page so that it does not describe how to include wildcards in searches. For information, see the “Customizing the WRA Browser Pages” section.

AutoPing

Verifies that the computer is awake before sending the awake request. The default is true .

For more information, see “Timeouts during the wake process” in the “Connection Issues” section.

MaxReturn

Maximum number of results displayed by the search. The default is 5.

MinSearchLength

Minimum number of characters to enter in the Search form. The default is 3 (including wildcards).

Refresh

Number of seconds to wait before refreshing the status on the wake results page. The default is 2.

This setting excludes the page-loading time, so the actual refresh time can be longer than the specified time.

ServerName

Text string showing the power-management server for WRA communication.

ShowCookieCheckBox

Specifies whether to allow users to save their search criteria. Set to true by default. If you set this to false, the check box and label do not appear on the home page.

SupportText

Default message: “If you continue to receive this error, please contact your support department.”

Note This message can be changed by the IIS manager.

This message appears on the search results page if the WRA service has a problem communicating with the power management server when a user searches for a computer.

This can occur, for example, if the server is offline, or the server name setting is not correct in the IIS Manager.

Timeout

Number of seconds to wait before determining that the computer is not reachable. The default is 9300. If you want to change this, we recommend using 1.5 times the Device check-in interval set on the Server settings page of the Orchestrator Administrator console (default is 10 minutes).

Customizing the WRA Browser Pages

WRA includes three pages that users can see on their browsers. If you have experience with XHTML and CSS, you can customize these pages. For example:

  • Disable wildcard characters in searches and remove the Tips text that describes how to use them.
  • Create pages that better reflect your company branding.
  • Adjust information that appears in search results.

This section includes these topics:

Browser Page Location

The web pages are in the root of the WRA site: Inetpub\wwwroot\wra .

  • Default.aspx (home page)
  • SearchResults.aspx
  • WakeResults.aspx

Each page has XHTML code that contains the Tip text and other page elements, including code that inserts the WRA application.

The header logo and title bar text for the browser window are specified in the MasterPage.master file.

The .css style sheet defines the header background image and other style and layout attributes.

Caution Create a backup copy of the .aspx, .master, and .css files before you edit them. Edit them at your own risk. Cisco technical support cannot troubleshoot errors that you receive after customizing these pages.

Editing Tip Text

Step 1 On the IIS server, go to Inetpub\wwwroot\wra , and open Default.aspx in a code or text editor.

Step 2 Search for the text that you want to edit, and change it to reflect what you want your users to know, incorporating any XHTML code for the desired display.

 

You can do the same to edit the Tip text on any of the pages that users see.

Editing Information Returned with Search Results

Search results include each computer name and IP and MAC addresses. The page also includes the option to wake or ping any listed computer.

If you want to restrict information that appears in search results, you need to edit the XHTML code that displays the information. For example, you can remove the Ping button or the IP or MAC address.

To remove information from the search results tables:

Step 1 After you have created your backup copies of the .aspx files, on the IIS server, go to Inetpub\wwwroot\wra, and open SearchResults.aspx in a code or text editor.

Step 2 Under <ItemTemplate>, look for the table row with the information that you want to remove, and delete that row.

For example, to remove the IP address, remove this code block:

<tr>
<td><strong>IP Address</strong></td>
<td><%# DataBinder.Eval(Container.DataItem, "IP") %>
</td></tr>
 

Step 3 Save and close the file, and then test the page to make sure your changes give the expected results.

 

Changing the Header and Logo

To do this, edit these files in Inetpub\wwwroot\wra:

  • MasterPage.master

You can remove or replace the logo and text that appear in the page header section.

  • Styles\wra.css

You can change the banner, body, or content background and customize colors, fonts, and other style and layout attributes.