Organizing Sessions

Manage the standalone session library: folders, favorites, recent connections, search, CSV/JSON import and export, and importing from SecureCRT.

Overview

In the standalone app, the Sessions sidebar holds your saved sessions. It has two sub-tabs: Sessions (the library described here) and Groups (saved sets of tabs, see Tabs, Split View & Groups).

The list shows a Favorites section, a Recent section and then your folders and sessions. Type in Search sessions... to filter.

Button (tooltip)	Action
New Session	Opens the session editor (see Connecting to Devices).
New Folder	Creates a folder named “New Folder”.
Local Shell	Opens a shell on your computer.
Refresh	Reloads the list.
Sort	Toggles folders first or sessions first.
Export CSV	Exports all sessions to CSV.
Import CSV/JSON	Imports sessions from a CSV or NetStacks JSON file.
Download Example CSV Template	Downloads a CSV with the supported columns.

Folders

Folders can be nested. Drag sessions and folders to move them into a folder or reorder them. Right-click a folder for:

New Session in Folder, New Subfolder
Rename Folder, Delete Folder
Expand All Folders, Collapse All Folders
Export Folder..., Import Sessions...

Favorites and Recent

Right-click a session and choose Add to Favorites to pin it to the Favorites section. Favorites are stored on this computer only.

The Recent section lists sessions you connected to recently. Right-click an entry and choose Remove from history to drop it.

Connect, Connect in New Tab
Open Console (see Out-of-Band Console)
Disconnect (closes every connected tab for the session; shown while connected)
Add to Favorites / Remove from Favorites
Open Remote Window (SSH sessions with the Linux or Auto-detect CLI flavor; deploys a NetStacks agent to the host and opens a new window bound to it)
Settings..., Duplicate Session, Export Session..., Delete Session

With two or more sessions selected (⌘/Ctrl-click or Shift-click), the menu offers Connect All (N), Broadcast Command... (see Multi-Send & Broadcast) and Delete Selected (N).

Import and Export

CSV

The CSV format has this header row:

name,host,port,folder,profile,console_host,console_port,console_protocol,console_profile,console_legacy_ssh

profile is matched by credential profile name, so create the profiles before importing.
The console_* columns fill in the Console tab.

JSON

Export Folder... and Export Session... write a NetStacks JSON file that also carries port forwards, profile and jump-host names, mapped keys, snippets and console settings.

What an export does not include

Passwords, keys and other credentials are never exported.
The protocol is not exported, so Telnet sessions come back as SSH after import. Auto-commands, CLI flavor, terminal theme, font and SFTP starting directory are not exported either. Re-check these after importing.

You can also import and export from Settings → Integrations → Import Sessions from File / Export Sessions to File.

Import from SecureCRT

In SecureCRT, export your sessions to an XML file.
In NetStacks open Settings → Integrations and, under Import / Export, click Import from SecureCRT.
Click Choose XML file and select the export.
Choose the Credential Profile to apply to all imported sessions.
Under Folders to Import, pick folders (Select All / Select None) and import. A summary lists any warnings.

The importer reads the hostname, the SSH2 port (default 22) and the protocol (sessions whose protocol name contains “telnet” become Telnet). Check the port on imported Telnet sessions, since SecureCRT stores it separately.

In Enterprise Mode Enterprise

When signed in to a Controller, the session library, folders, import/export and Groups are not used. The sidebar shows the Controller's Devices list instead, managed in the Controller inventory (see Adding Devices).