Cloud-based Wake On LAN service for the work-from-home times

Learn how you can remotely power on selected computers at your office - or provide a WFH user with a custom link to do it from their browser! With the new free service from AdRem, admins no longer have to commute to press that button or be on call 24/7 for such tasks.

What is Wake on LAN

Wake on LAN (WOL) is an Ethernet or token ring computer networking standard that allows a computer to be turned on or awakened by a network message. The message is usually sent to the target computer by a program executed on a device connected to the same local area network. It is also possible to initiate the message from another network by using subnet-directed broadcasts or a WOL gateway service.

Wake On LAN or Remote Desktop?

Remote Desktop sessions operate over an encrypted channel, preventing anyone from viewing your session by listening on the network. However, there is a vulnerability in the method used to encrypt sessions in earlier versions of RDP. This vulnerability can allow unauthorized access to your session using a man-in-the-middle attack.

Opening RDP and port 3389 facing the Internet on production servers is a bad idea for security. The best practice would be RD Gateway with 2-factor authentication.

Wakeonlan.net does not require exposure to the Internet of specialized ports or services because it uses a secure tunnel between the office based-agent and Wakeonlan.net.

Prerequisites for enabling WOL on your network

• ensure that computers you wish to power on have access to the Internet
• configure/verify Wake-on-LAN support on the to-be-managed computers based on their manufacturer's instructions (here's an example for Dell PCs).
• check/follow additional instructions from the respective operating system, for Windows or for Mac OS.
• have a Windows computer where a Wake-on-LAN service agent will be installed.

Enabling wakeonlan.net service

1. Go to wakeonlan.net and sign up for the service, defining login and password. If you already have an AdRem account profile, you can use it to log in - no need for new registration for you.
2. Download the installation file of the wakeonlan.net agent and install it on a Windows machine that has access to the subnetwork (VLAN) where computers you wish to manage are located.
3. Run and configure the agent - enter the login and password that you defined during your registration on wakeonlan.net
4. Verify that Wakeonlan service is running (please check if the list of Windows services on the machine where the agent is installed includes a service called Wakeonlan and that it is in the Running state).
5. Add computers that you want to manage to the list.

Using wakeonlan.net service

You can power on the computer remotely yourself or you can create and send an URL to the person who is using a specific desktop remotely. The person needs to copy the link into the browser and then they can power on their desktop at the office remotely.

Limitations

• Right now the service does not support powering on computers connected via WI-Fi.
• You can add up to 10 managed computers to be managed - please contact us if you need more!
• Only a single agent is allowed per profile. If you need multiple agents (for multiple locations for example), please contact us.

We'd be glad to get any feedback, comments, or questions related to this service. If you wish for wakeonlan.net to grow out of its pilot phase, please make some noise :-).

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