Introducing PDQ Link

Over the past few months, your workforce has likely changed. You’ve got more remote workers and offsite machines to keep track of, keep up-to-date, and keep connected. As system administrators ourselves, we understand that technology needs to evolve to handle new challenges. That’s why we created PDQ Link.

PDQ Link is a two-part tool that enables remote users to link to your private network and access internal resources anywhere they have an internet connection. Oh, and it just so happens that PDQ Deploy and Inventory work seamlessly with PDQ Link.

Automated Setup

The first part of PDQ Link uses tested baseline settings to automate the setup of two Microsoft server roles, Remote Access Server (RAS) and Network Policy Server (NPS), saving you time and potential headaches. RAS is configured to use the firewall-friendly Secure Socket Tunneling Protocol (SSTP) because it communicates on port 443. This does require an SSL certificate to be created and installed on each connecting client, but the PDQ Link setup will either make one for you, or allow for you to use an existing SSL certificate. A new policy is then created with NPS to ensure that only the users included in the specified AD group are allowed network access.

At the second part, a custom installer is created that handles configuring the client connection with your server-side settings, and automates the client connection for your users, so that a secure connection is established as soon as your users log into the computer, typically known as an “always on” connection. The PDQ Link client installer works by installing the certificate created earlier into the appropriate certificate store, creating the network adapter that points back to the server, and creating a scheduled task to initiate the connection when a user logs in.

Simply put, PDQ Link is easy for you and easy for your end-users.

Existing VPN

PDQ Link works alongside or replaces your existing VPN. All you need is a Windows Server that meets the system requirements, no additional hardware or licensing necessary.

AD Networking

PDQ Link configures the server and client side connections to integrate seamlessly with Active Directory networking. The client will register and deregister with the DNS servers on the network, which in turn, greatly increases the reliability of remote management with PDQ Deploy and Inventory over traditional VPN solutions.