DCAF has two operating states: monitoring and active.

Monitoring State: When a DCAF session is in this state, the controlling workstation displays an image of the target workstation's display. The target workstation user, however, retains complete control of operations on the target workstation.

Active State: When a DCAF session is in this state, the user of the controlling workstation, referred to as the controller, operates and controls the target workstation. Any keystrokes typed by the controller, and the resulting screen image, are displayed on the target workstation, just as if the target user had typed the keystrokes directly. As in the monitoring state, the controller sees an image of the target workstation's display. In the active state, keystroke input from the target workstation is not accepted. However, if the hot key combination is enabled for the target workstation, the target user can use the key combination to regain control of the workstation and change the session state.

Concurrent sessions can be established on multiple target workstations by a single controlling workstation. On the other hand, a target workstation can be connected to only one controlling workstation session at a time, even though multiple controlling workstations can be defined within the network.

For more information about DCAF, see Distributed Console Access Facility (DCAF) Architecture in Display Drivers, as well as the individual functions in Mandatory and Simulated Graphics Engine Function Reference.