For you as a managed IT business owner, the tech team is both your main asset and your main cost driver. It's they who solve most of the daily issues and outline and manage new projects. Hence, if one of your technicians decides to leave, it will take you months to hire, if not a better, at least as good a specialist. And let's not forget that any new team member should be properly onboarded. Continue reading
IT project management has grown into a buzzword nowadays. However, you don't need sophisticated project management during routine operations, since it will make things unnecessarily complex. Nevertheless, there are certain cases when even small teams win from implementing the right IT project management frameworks. Continue reading
Download this guide to learn the best practices to follow with regard to compliance standards and disposing of hardware in general, and how to provide your customers with IT asset disposal services. Continue reading
A couple of years ago, “agile” was among the top buzzwords in IT. It was so popular, in fact, that it became a synonym for the words ”operational efficiency” and even ”success”. However, not every process can be ”agiled”. In this article, we will define the basics of the agile approach but, more importantly, we will define the areas in which you can actually benefit from being an agile MSP. Continue reading
Peer groups can be a valuable source of information both for a startup managed IT provider and for an already-grown business. There, you can typically find advice regarding your operations, gather templates for documents, and sometimes get discounts for certain solutions.
In this article, we overview more pros and some cons of participating in a peer group and discuss how to find one that suits you. Continue reading
If there’s one thing that MSPs have collectively ascertained from the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s that RMM tools are here to stay and evolve. And that includes open-source RMM software, plus both paid and free RMM solutions.
You see, while there’s no denying that the pandemic has negatively affected the business world, MSPs are seemingly experiencing some sort of a boom. Through a survey that sampled hundreds of professionals across IT security, emerging tech, and managed services fields, CompTIA established that 75% of the MSP respondents had witnessed a spike in business opportunities since the beginning of the pandemic.
Well, you can blame that on organizations increasingly shifting from on-premise to remote working environments.
It turns out that by March 2020, only 41% of companies had solid remote working capabilities. So, of course, the rest have been energetically hiring MSPs to power, manage, and maintain their remote IT capabilities. CompTIA’s survey even established that most of the new business opportunities have been coming from organizations in desperate need of switching from on-premise to the cloud. Now that’s a goldmine for MSPs all right. But, to fully capitalize on it, you need reliable RMM tools that’ll help you keep the clients happy. And, to be more specific, you might want to start with an open-source RMM software solution.
Read along to find out why, as well as discover some of the top free, open-source RMM software tools you could consider for your MSP business.
Since RMM refers to remote monitoring and management, it involves using specialized resources and tools to remotely keep tabs on your clients’ IT infrastructure.
At the center of it all is RMM software, through which IT service providers get to remotely manage their clients’ PCs, networks, software, and endpoints (Learn more about endpoint monitoring in our article: Introduction to Endpoint Monitoring and Management). They can, for instance, conduct routine maintenance checks, apply system patches, install new software, as well as introduce updates.
In simple terms, therefore, RMM software saves you the trouble of physically visiting your clients’ premises just to conduct basic maintenance checks. The most comprehensive ones even give you the privilege of attending to multiple computers at the same time.
Now, all that considered, the tools are primarily categorized into paid commercial RMM software, free RMM software, and free open-source RMM software.
At the very top, remote monitoring and management solutions are classified into:
It’s only after you’ve dived deeper that you get to further branch out into free open-source RMM and free commercial RMM.
Here’s how they all compare:
Free commercial RMM refers to the premium category of RMM software that happens to offer some of its features for free.
Make no mistake about them, though. Although they might be generous enough to grant you access at no charge, they are not built like their open-source counterparts. You see, the kicker is, free commercial RMM tools always come with a caveat. It turns out they are not entirely free of charge.
Consider Pulseway, for instance. Thanks to its free, all-in-one IT system for remote monitoring and management, you can monitor your clients’ networks in real time, take complete control of their machines, administer patches, automate maintenance tasks, as well as stay posted with instant alerts.
The only problem is, the free version covers only two client systems. Nothing more. If you’d like to accommodate additional clients, you’ll have to upscale to a premium account. All in all, therefore, this subcategory of free RMM software is only suitable for beginners who’d like to try out and get a feel of what they stand to get from the corresponding paid versions.
Unlike the free commercial tools we’ve just explored, open-source RMM software is completely free of charge. There are no caveats here. You can expect full, uninterrupted access to all the features and provisions without any financial commitment.
Hence, you should be able to run open-source RMM software on as many machines as you like. You won’t be required to pay any license fees to introduce additional client networks. And that’s not all. Since open-source systems provide access to their underlying code, you’ll be free to customize even the smallest details. All you need is adequate documentation from the developers and technical coding skills.
However, the sad bit is, you won’t be getting any technical support from the software developers. Open-source RMM software always leaves you to figure everything out by yourself, and then maintain the whole system without help from a customer support team.
On the flip side, though, that doesn’t necessarily mean that help is completely unavailable. By revealing their underlying code, the best open-source RMM software often attracts large communities of developers, who then collaborate extensively to develop the tools even further. You can reach out to them for technical tips, as well as patches and updates.
In this document you'll find a PowerShell script that checks the status of the services listed below and sends an email alert if any of them is turned off:
Paid RMM solutions are the premium tools that’ll charge you to access and use their features. There’s no standard pricing range, though. What you end up paying here depends on the specific RMM software you choose, its pricing model, plus the size of your client network. Usually, premium RMM software solutions charge users periodically, based on their volume of workstations, number of agents, and billing schedule.
Pulseway, for example, starts at about $16 per month per client system. Then the likes of Ninja RMM and SolarWinds RMM prefer to proceed with custom quotes based on your needs.
With Site24x7, however, at least you get to choose the features and pricing you want from a set of priced plans. In particular, its MSP package starts at $45 per month for 50 websites or servers.
Now, the best thing about all these paid RMM tools is they come with adequate technical assistance. You’ll find that customer support is readily offered across several contact channels. What’s more, some of their enterprise packages even provide dedicated support agents and specialized onboarding.
Then, while you use the software, you don’t have to worry about maintaining its tools. The software vendor takes care of all the core resources and infrastructure.
Further reading Top Paid Remote Monitoring and Management Tools for MSP
Formerly known as Comodo One RMM, ITarian is a remote tracking and IT management suite that helps MSPs link up with their clients’ networks to conduct operations management, troubleshooting, system monitoring, and file control.
In addition to that, the software facilitates secure resource and document access through role-based permissions plus user groups.
And, speaking of security, ITarian RMM has also proven to be quite a reliable solution when it comes to patch management. You can use it to not only analyze operating systems, but install the accompanying updates as well. It’s also possible to automatically deploy resources, implement audit logs, and control remote devices across different geographical locations.
If you’re particularly keen on tracking your clients’ networks, you’ll be pleased to know that ITarian is further capable of automatically monitoring the status of devices, plus the corresponding active services and performance levels. You also get to explore files and folders, as well as copy and paste content between remotely networked machines.
Additionally, when clients raise queries, you can count on ITarian to automatically assign their tickets to your support agents. All you need to do is set your own task-handling rules by creating a custom workflow, and then leave the software to implement everything.
Just as the name suggests, OpenNMS is indeed an open-source system that specializes in enterprise-grade network monitoring and management. “NMS” here stands for “network management system”. And yes, it’s completely free of charge.
Make no mistake about it, though. Although OpenNMS publicly reveals its code as open-source software, it’s actually a commercial solution that’s duly copyrighted.
Then, get this. OpenNMS comes in two versions: a free one, known as OpenNMS Horizon, plus a paid package called OpenNMS Meridian. Fortunately, though, there are no huge feature differences between the two. Meridian is only priced because it comes with specialized technical support. Otherwise, you should be comfortable with the Horizon version.
The software itself is built to give you well-rounded network management capabilities. It packs tools for service monitoring, performance measurement, device provisioning, and event management. Hence, you should be able to keep all your clients’ core processes running, track their overall network performance, control all their linked endpoint devices, and perhaps define the accompanying system events.
OpenRSM is yet another renowned open-source RMM software solution, but with a core that fundamentally focuses on remote asset management and network monitoring. “RSM” in this case stands for “remote systems management”, which sums up the three core modules offered by the software:
Collectively, the modules facilitate tasks like status reporting, user credential management, path distribution, server configuration, software delivery, and system auditing. All of these can be deployed on both Linux and Windows operating systems, from where the system will proceed to power remote agent-based management.
Another impressive thing about OpenRSM is its ability to bypass even virtualized resources. That means that if your clients are running virtual machine instances, you can count on this software to see through everything and query the underlying operating systems and hardware.
Unfortunately, however, OpenRSM isn’t the simplest open-source RMM software. Beginners are bound to experience difficulties learning the ropes. But then again, on the flip side, technically skilled users are sure to enjoy the extensive customization freedom the platform offers. It is, without doubt, one of the most flexible open-source RMM software solutions on the market.
For the best-possible client experience, your best bet would be combining RMM software with a remote-assistance tool. This will help you interact with your clients in real time while attending to their issues.
Well, I’m not the one to brag, but MSP360 Connect happens to be a great solution in that segment. MSPs love it because:
For an MSP, RMM tools can be the key to delivering great customer experience in an efficient way. However, not all RMM tools are equally useful for all situations. Different RMM platforms have different strengths and weaknesses, and it’s important to choose the right tool for your needs.
To help, we’ve compiled a list of the core functions and features to evaluate when selecting RMM tools. Depending on your needs and use cases, some features may be more important than others.
Ready to provide more than RMM to your clients?
Remote monitoring and management solutions can become your eyes and hands in the environment of the customer. But before they can do that, they need to be installed.
Most tools nowadays are cloud-based, but client apps -- called ‘agents’ -- should be installed on your clients' endpoints. These agents will do the most of the heavy lifting: They will track and monitor individual client systems, as well as give you remote access to them.
If agent deployment is difficult or time-consuming, you’ll be stuck having to deploy each agent tediously on every system you need to support. To avoid this, look for auto-discovery and “push-installation” features in RMM platforms. These features will help to choose the new system and start the remote installation of the RMM agent automatically. Otherwise, you’ll typically have to deploy the installation file with third-party tools, like Windows Active Directory GPO, scripts, or PSA tools.
Further reading Tips and Tricks for Remote Access Scripting and Automation Tools
Occasionally, a client’s IT infrastructure will experience issues and, most likely, it will be your job to fix these. If the impacted system is sitting next to you, this won’t be an issue, but that is highly unusual. In most cases, you need to reach the client’s machine remotely.
For this purpose, remote access is a foundational feature for remote monitoring and management tools. It means you can easily connect to a remote server system and directly complete the necessary actions as though you were accessing the server’s physical console in person. Moreover, you can skip the hassle of giving tedious phone instructions to the user to try to solve the issue remotely.
Indeed, remote desktop connection support becomes a necessity when you are managing clients from other cities. If you already have an RMM system in place, but still don't have a remote access solution, check out our free and secure MSP360 Connect.
Further reading Secure Remote Desktop with MSP360 Connect
Further reading 4 Ways to Secure Remote Desktop
Most vendors today promise to offer a “single pane of glass” dashboard. But what this actually means in practice can vary.
So, review precisely the actual functionality of the dashboard of the RMM solution you are considering. You and your employees will spend a lot of time working with it, so make sure it suits your environment perfectly.
While managing the administration routines, you will need a customized dashboard with detailed reports on all of the systems which require your attention. Opt for a dashboard panel that shows you the scope of new systems, systems that require action, lists of last errors found, etc. to minimize manual actions.
Depending on whether you already have a separate professional services automation (PSA) tool, you can choose RMM tools that integrate with your PSA platform. RMM tools can automatically create “issue” tickets in your helpdesk tracking system, set up alerting and notifications by email, map out maintenance, etc. Automation of repeatable tasks saves time, helps to troubleshoot proactively, and meet SLA requirements for various types of issues.
Nowadays it is more efficient to get rid of legacy systems that need to be controlled manually. Implementation of an automated RMM-PSA system will pay off in the first weeks, or even days, of your work.
Further reading MSP: Do You Need RMM, PSA or Both?
Reports are crucial not only for your IT team, but for customers, too. With the RMM reports created, your customers can inspect their systems’ health and whether it meets their own business SLAs.
Note that you should look for RMM tools with fully customizable reports, and flexible reporting schedules.
Remote monitoring and management tools are perfect when they are priced on a pay-as-you go model. This means that you can buy additional licenses when you get new client systems that you need to support, rather than having to pay upfront for volume licenses that you may not use fully.
Your clients may use a variety of different types of operating systems and devices. Your staff may as well. The best RMM tools will be able to support any type of environment. Look for tools that can work with all of the major operating systems -- Windows, Linux and macOS -- and that support servers, PCs, phones, tablets, network switches and any other devices you may need to manage.
Look as well at how many types of applications the RMM tools support or integrate with. Can they monitor any type of application, or only certain ones? If you need to configure application integrations manually, how much effort will that require?
Further reading MSP's Tools for Supporting Mixed OS Environments
Like everything else, your RMM tools will need to be updated from time to time. Ideally, this process will be fully automated, meaning the RMM platform will install patches for both the RMM server and its agents on its own.
In addition, the tool should provide reports on patch status, let you know when a patch installation has failed and so on. This is important in order to ensure that you know if any of your RMM tools are out of date, which could lead to security vulnerabilities or other issues.
Further reading MSP360 RMM: Patch Management for Seamless Control
Sending alerts when something is wrong is one of the core parts of RMM functionality. Look for tools that can send alerts based on both overall system status, as well as the status of individual applications. You should also be able to configure alerts not just when something fails entirely, but also when performance degrades (e.g., when an application begins taking longer to handle requests).
The ability to customize alerts is important, too. You may need different types of alerts than those that come built into the RMM tools. You may also need to tweak alert thresholds or frequencies to ensure that you don’t receive unnecessary alerts.
Further reading Monitoring and Alerting with MSP360 RMM
IT asset management, or ITAM, is the process of keeping track of the devices in your network. RMM tools can help with this by maintaining an inventory of the devices you are managing, and automatically updating it whenever new devices come online or existing devices are decommissioned.
Monitoring license status and letting you know when a license will expire is another facet of ITAM that RMM tools can help support. So is keeping ahead of device replacement needs by sending you notifications when a device is approaching the end of its useful life.
Learn the fundamentals of ITAM, the benefits for your MSP, and what software to use to simplify your asset tracking
Although RMM tools don’t always interface directly with customers, the ability to offer self-service portals where customers can view the status of their systems directly is a handy feature. Building knowledge bases that customers can access is valuable as well, as is the ability to provide customer support and communication via RMM platforms.
RMM tools are a crucial part of almost any MSP’s arsenal. But rather than simply purchasing the first tool you find, or the cheapest one, be sure that your tool excels in the areas of functionality that are most important to you.
Download this guide to learn how MSPs can change their business approaches to maintain high profits in 2021. Continue reading
In a modern-day organization, there are dozens of routine IT operations. Each simple service request or raised ticket requires you or your team members to perform a number of simple, yet mundane, actions to get it resolved. And when there are dozens of raised tickets or service requests a day, each day throughout a year, it's easy to get lost in the process. This is why the concept of IT process automation has become popular. Continue reading
You only start a managed IT business if you are already a great technician. As time goes by and your MSP grows, you typically hire another technician to help you with the clients, and a salesman to boost your prospect numbers. If your services are great and your sales are healthy, over time you will hire more technicians and more salespeople and become bigger. Continue reading
Today, technology is at the center of modern medicine, which is why IT expertise is a skill that’s growing in importance for healthcare providers. The complexity of data systems, networks, and cybersecurity continues to increase each day. With this being the case, managed IT service providers (MSPs) are poised to be more valuable than ever. Continue reading
When it comes to the world of backup, all that glitters isn’t… truly backup.
To best protect your data, it’s essential to distinguish between approaches that could truly be considered backup and those which are better amalgamated under a heading which could be termed “backup-like”. Continue reading
