Aloaha Remote CSP
In some case it might be very useful to separate the local CSP Interface from the local smart card service and use a remote smart card service.
For example if a smart card should be shared across the network between multiple machines and users.
Another scenario might be the Windows Terminal Services behaviour of disconnecting the reader connected to the server as soon someone logs on via terminal services. That Windows behaviour can be very disturbing.
For example if on the server process a batch process is signing files and the card readers are being disconnected. It could also be that it is wished that all users on the terminal services machine should use the locally connected reader.
Since readers accessed by the local system account are not disconnected it would make sense to run the Aloaha remote CSP on the local terminal services machine to avoid disconnections.
Installation
The Aloaha remote CSP Server and the Aloaha remote CSP Client are both part of the Aloaha Smart Card Connector.
To activate the Server just follow the steps below:
- Open the registry editor and browse to HLM\Software\Aloaha\csp
- Create the key ListenIP and enter as value either the local IP or the localhost IP 127.0.0.1
- Open the services control panel and start the service “Aloaha Card Service”
- The service will start the actual server NetProvider.exe. Obviously you can start that process also manual without involving the “Aloaha Card Service”
To configure the client to use the remote CSP please follow the steps below:
- Open the registry editor and browse to HLM\Software\Aloaha\csp
- Create the key RemoteIP and enter as value the server IP.
- Create the key UseRemote and enter as value the number 1
- Make sure that a key port exists and matches the value on the server.
- Make sure that the processes CertInstaller.exe are being restarted.
Now the CSP will send all commands to the remote CSP to be executed. Please consider that it might be that your local system account cannot display the PIN dialog so you need to make sure that either the software itself transmits the PIN to the CSP (as it is being done by the windows logon dialog) or that you use the Aloaha PIN Caching. If you use a card reader you do not need the PIN Dialog since the PIN is entered via the PIN Pad of the reader.
In case you do not want to run the "Aloaha Smart Card Service" under the localsystem credentials you need to create some extra registry keys. Please contact our support for those.
If you have further questions please do not hesitate to contact our support department or just use the support forum.