Why Does OutBand Sometimes Make Me Wait 10 Seconds Before Connecting Remote Desktop?
Intel AMT on some hardware has some interesting interactions with the network interface when Remote Desktop or Serial-Over-Lan Terminals are active during a power cycle. This can sometimes result in the NIC remaining in the lower power 10Mbps setting resulting in abysmal throughput.
This has to a large extent been mitigated in the latest AMT 12.1.1 (at least on my test machine, HP EliteDesk G4 mini) but it does still happen occasionally. It’s mitigated in so far as a full power cycle with no RD or SOL connected will now reset the speed back to 1000Mbps whereas previous versions required a hard unplug from the wall.
Nevertheless, to try to mitigate this from OutBand we now wait 10 seconds after a power cycle before we allow a RD / SOL connection. It’s unlikely you’d miss anything overtly interesting in this 10 seconds.
There is a setting under the RD Settings button to force OutBand to allow you to connect if you know your hardware doesn’t suffer this problem, or you’re prepared to take the risk.
Why Won’t My AMT Reboot The Device if a Remote Desktop Is Connected
I have no official confirmation of this, but I suspect that it’s an artefact of the above condition. Intel never used to block a power down when a RD / SOL connection was active but it does seem they may have done so with the latest AMT. This is probably related to the 10Mbps NIC issue mentioned above.
This is not something that OutBand enforces and we have no control over whether your AMT or your OS interferes with this unfortunately. It is, what it is.
OutBand Froze My AMT Dead When I Enabled TLS
I experienced this, and it was very frustrating indeed. AMT simply stops responding. It appears that for older versions of some AMT devices, when enabling TLS the AMT firmware requires a client certificate to be presented.
OutBand does not support client certificates (and I can’t see any evidence that MeshCommander does either, but I could be wrong) so when AMT requests it and we send back a null certificate AMT gets its knickers in a knot.
To the point where it covers its ears and refuses to speak to us ever again.
Later AMT firmware fixes this issue. If you experience AMT lockups when you enable TLS I recommend you upgrade to the latest AMT available for your device.
MeshCommander also gives the very same lockups when enabling TLS so this isn’t just an OutBand phenomenon.