Starting own IT consultancy - Gathering list of tools required and recommendations
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I am still confused about which tool to choose for remote support.
Used screenconnect almost 3-4 years ago, remember few things about it, and i wanted to start with that, but not the hosting one for now at least. I like the approach for Max Focus, as it does more than just remote support. Could offer more things like patch management, av (again, not a big fan of bitdefender/viper though!), and some automated maintenance task. Main issue with Max focus is it doesn't have a MAC client yet, but the contact person in GFI told me that they are planning to release MAC version by Jan 2016. Good thing about GFI as far as i understood is it starts billing only when you install agent, so no upfront cost and first 3 months are also free.
Read few good things about http://www.naverisk.com/features-and-benefits/ and labtech (most people say labtech is difficult to configure) too. If screenconnect is your tool, how do you manage other things like patch management, just autoupdate?
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I think most people in the MSP business use a RMM (remote monitoring and management) tool which takes care of all of that.
We use N-Able by Solarwinds. They have remote control built into the software. You can also add on a standalone option for new clients on which you do not have the monitoring software installed.
Everything you were asking about is included in their package. They also help you do pricing, and services offered, and marketing. Though I am pretty sure most RMM companies do the same.
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@BRRABill said:
I think most people in the MSP business use a RMM (remote monitoring and management) tool which takes care of all of that.
Exactly, if you are going the MSP path, make use of the existing tools already on the market. It is highly unlikely that you can mix multiple tools and be more cost effective.
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So I am planning to start with ScreenConnect for now, with the monthly package till the time Maxfocus comes up with MAC support- supporting MAC is very crucial for me, (my contact person in GFI told me that MAC support would be released very soon, I've invited him to ML so we can get more details). After MAC support is released I will reconsider the right tool which is why for now only planning to go with month-month subscription with screenconnect.
Not sure if comodo's product is useful enough, need to test this as well, its a free solution, might as well give a try! https://one.comodo.com
And upgrading my freshbooks account to the paid one as i really like it, easy and simple, can manage estimates, has built in ticketing system.
For emails, i am sticking with the current free google apps account and go with $8 office 365 which gives me full MS office desktop apps.
Laptop, decided to go with MAC Pro with Parallels for MAC installed for Windows side by side. -
I have Comodo One setup (only on my home computers at the moment) and it seems to work well enough for what it does. I haven't mucked around with the helpdesk or anything else in it much, yet.
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@dafyre Hows the remote support in that, and does it support MAC?
I really need to spend few days on testing all these and finalise. But for now as i said going with screenconnect
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The remote support seems to be usable. It ain't super fancy, but it does work. I don't know about Mac support as I don't have tone to test with.
Edit: Shiney Donations accepted.
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@Ambarishrh for Mac remote desktop look at Apple Remote Desktop
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@larsen161 said in Starting own IT consultancy - Gathering list of tools required and recommendations:
@Ambarishrh for Mac remote desktop look at Apple Remote Desktop
That's for controlling MAC which is on the same network
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Yes, I would presume you have access to the local lan via VPN and then access is available to those 'local' machines.
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@larsen161 said in Starting own IT consultancy - Gathering list of tools required and recommendations:
Yes, I would presume you have access to the local lan via VPN and then access is available to those 'local' machines.
that would suck, you never want to be on a VPN with clients.
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I got to know of Anydesk, recently, by a local Sophos channel partner .. I quite liked it ... While, it's not as polished as Teamviewer, it has small foot-print, and work pretty smooth ...
@scottalanmiller said in Starting own IT consultancy - Gathering list of tools required and recommendations:
@larsen161 said in Starting own IT consultancy - Gathering list of tools required and recommendations:
Yes, I would presume you have access to the local lan via VPN and then access is available to those 'local' machines.
that would suck, you never want to be on a VPN with clients.
Why would one, never want to be on VPN with clients ?
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@Veet said in Starting own IT consultancy - Gathering list of tools required and recommendations:
I got to know of Anydesk, recently, by a local Sophos channel partner .. I quite liked it ... While, it's not as polished as Teamviewer, it has small foot-print, and work pretty smooth ...
@scottalanmiller said in Starting own IT consultancy - Gathering list of tools required and recommendations:
@larsen161 said in Starting own IT consultancy - Gathering list of tools required and recommendations:
Yes, I would presume you have access to the local lan via VPN and then access is available to those 'local' machines.
that would suck, you never want to be on a VPN with clients.
Why would one, never want to be on VPN with clients ?
There is a significant amount of risk involved.
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@Veet said in Starting own IT consultancy - Gathering list of tools required and recommendations:
that would suck, you never want to be on a VPN with clients.
Why would one, never want to be on VPN with clients ?
Okay, there is an obvious exception to the "never" which is... when you have a dedicated work station for each client (this could be a VM.)
The reason that you never want to VPN with clients is that you don't want to be exposed to anything that they might have on their networks, you don't want to expose them to anything that might be on your network and you certainly don't want the legal liability of cross exposure between clients. It's a security risk and a management nightmare.
And it's not effective in any case, because there are no systems that effortlessly transition from network to network. If you are using a Windows desktop, for example, you will not be able to join the AD at different client sites, so the value and logic of VPNing in is lost.
VPNing is slow, cumbersome, ineffective, insecure and potentially causes legal exposures that no IT firm should want to have. And I know companies that will fire MSPs for even accepting VPN connections from customers because it means there is a security risk across the board. The MSP can't secure themselves if they are at the mercy of the least secure of all of their clients, combined.
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Okay, I kind of agree to the part about the security risk ... But, steps can be taken, at both ends, to reduce this type of exposure... All our clients, have most of the recommended/necessary layers of security, and the same holds true, at our end ...Agreed, none of that is %100 fool-proof .. But, then, by that same definition your or your client's network could get infected/attacked, even without VPN ...
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We use VPN extensively, to provide remote support to our clients... We have an 8mbps Internet connection, but a lot of our clients have connections as low as 2 mbps; but we've never found VPN to be slow, cumbersome, or ineffective ..
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@Veet said in Starting own IT consultancy - Gathering list of tools required and recommendations:
Okay, I kind of agree to the part about the security risk ... But, steps can be taken, at both ends, to reduce this type of exposure... All our clients, have most of the recommended/necessary layers of security, and the same holds true, at our end ...Agreed, none of that is %100 fool-proof .. But, then, by that same definition your or your client's network could get infected/attacked, even without VPN ...
Absolutely, but that risk is multiplied, and fast, when you use a VPN. It's a totally unnecessary exposure. I can't believe that any customer, anywhere even allows it, yet many demand it.
The only real step that you can take is having dedicated machines (or VMs) per customer. As someone who has worked in finance, I can tell you, any vendor that tries to use a VPN is an ex-vendor. In the SMB space it is common. I have no idea why, but it is. In the enterprise, it's frowned on very strongly.
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@Veet said in Starting own IT consultancy - Gathering list of tools required and recommendations:
We use VPN extensively, to provide remote support to our clients... We have an 8mbps Internet connection, but a lot of our clients have connections as low as 2 mbps; but we've never found VPN to be slow, cumbersome, or ineffective ..
Can you work on many clients at the same time? if so, how do you isolate them from one another effective? How do you make it fast and efficient to connect when they all use different VPN technologies (ZeroTier, Pertino, OpenVPN, Cisco IPsec, etc.).
We use direct remote access technologies and often can be working on two clients faster than client with VPNs can even connect. Maybe there is some cool VPN management system out there, but to do VPN you need two steps for any action rather than one. You can't make any connection or do any work until after the VPN is in place. And the number of security processes that must be maintained at both ends is big and it means that you must have 100% control of 100% of the clients (that use VPNs) or you take on way too much risk.
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@scottalanmiller said in Starting own IT consultancy - Gathering list of tools required and recommendations:
@Veet said in Starting own IT consultancy - Gathering list of tools required and recommendations:
Okay, I kind of agree to the part about the security risk ... But, steps can be taken, at both ends, to reduce this type of exposure... All our clients, have most of the recommended/necessary layers of security, and the same holds true, at our end ...Agreed, none of that is %100 fool-proof .. But, then, by that same definition your or your client's network could get infected/attacked, even without VPN ...
Absolutely, but that risk is multiplied, and fast, when you use a VPN. It's a totally unnecessary exposure. I can't believe that any customer, anywhere even allows it, yet many demand it.
The only real step that you can take is having dedicated machines (or VMs) per customer. As someone who has worked in finance, I can tell you, any vendor that tries to use a VPN is an ex-vendor. In the SMB space it is common. I have no idea why, but it is. In the enterprise, it's frowned on very strongly.
Not common in just SMB space, I've seen it with Large Enterprises too ..
Would say that the same risk applies, when an employee working from a remote location, connects via VPN ?
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Yes, 100% control of 100% clients (If the client approves of it, and most do) ... We do this for remote support for most of our clients, where we have setup their IT infra... The VPN technology used is same for most, but yes, some are different .. But, no host ed VPN, for sure ..
We are comparatively a smaller company, with a comparatively smaller client-base .... For, most parts, one person from our end, is connected to just one client.. However, I think multiple simultaneous VPN connections have been made... I recollect, a colleague doing something with routing table to accomplish this ...
