Apple Releases Apple Remote Desktop 3.5

Apple today released a pair of updates to its Apple Remote Desktop management system aimed at administrators who oversee large numbers of computers, allowing them to assist users remotely, administer their systems, and deploy software updates.

Apple Remote Desktop 3.5 Admin (25.27 MB) and Apple Remote Desktop 3.5 Client (3.74 MB) improve the stability of the software and also add new support for Lion screen sharing, as outlined in the support document on the release.

When using Apple Remote Desktop to control a client machine running Lion, you may share the current user's session or log into a separate session which will not be shown on the user's display and will not interrupt the current user.

The Screen Sharing service is enabled in the Sharing Pref pane by turning on either Screen Sharing or Remote Management. In Lion, the service under which Screen Sharing is enabled affects the authorization required for sharing the display.

If the Apple Remote Desktop administrator authenticates with a name that is different from the user logged on at the remote computer, the following applies:

- If the service was enabled by turning on Screen Sharing, the screen sharing user is presented with the option to request sharing access from the user logged on at the display.
- If the service was enabled by turning on Remote Management, the screen sharing user can simply choose to share the display.
- The screen sharing user can always choose to log in to their own session.

If a Apple Remote Desktop administrator authenticates with the same name as the user logged on at the display then they will share the display. This is equivalent to how screen sharing works in earlier versions of Mac OS X.

If the remote computer's display is at the login window, the Apple Remote Desktop administrator will simply share the display. This is equivalent to how screen sharing works in earlier versions of Mac OS X.

A third party VNC viewer will always be connected to the login window. If the login window is not on the display, a new login window is started that is not shown on the display. The screen sharing user can then log in with any valid account on that computer.

Apple has also released an updated Apple Remote Desktop Dashboard Widget to give administrators quick access to details on their remote machines.

Apple Remote Desktop is a $79.99 purchase through the Mac App Store.