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N-central

Remote Network Monitoring Software

Overview

N-central is the industry's top-performing remote monitoring and management (RMM) automation platform and has been deployed worldwide by thousands of MSPs and IT service departments worldwide to dramatically lower the costs of managing hundreds of thousands of IP-enabled devices. Partners achieve substantial productivity gains and the highest technician utilization rates possible.

“WITH N-ABLE, IT IS TRULY A PARTNERSHIP, NOT JUST A VENDOR CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP.” - Don Reed, CEO and Chairman, Unicom

Its unique hybrid licensing model eliminates the barriers to deploying RMM tools by offering 100 percent IT coverage and N-central provides the most advanced and affordable solution for delivering IT services remotely.

Available as on-premise or hosted software. N-central is trusted for the management of over 50,000 remote networks more than any other RMM automation platform.

Product In Action

N-central is the industry's top-performing remote monitoring and management (RMM) platform and is deployed worldwide by thousands of MSPs and IT service organizations to dramatically lower the costs of managing hundreds of thousands of IP-enabled devices.

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Features

N-central provides everything required to deliver a range of IT services remotely and report on those services with unprecedented detail to small and mid-sized businesses or across corporate networks.

N-central provides a feature-rich, end-to-end platform that gives IT service providers the power to:

  • Manage multiple networks and sites from a single interface,
  • Control access any device remotely—anytime, anywhere,
  • Monitor and manage hardware and software in virtual environments,
  • Mobile access N-central console from IOS4 or Android devices
  • Monitor every desktop, server, and network device,
  • Utilize automated warranty expiry monitoring,
  • Protect all Windows devices with enterprise-class endpoint security,
  • Automate routine tasks with self-healing functionality, and;
  • Integrate the solution into existing escalation workflow process.

Plus, safeguard critical business data with optional fully-integrated remote backup and recovery.

Reduce your costs and risk with industry-proven services, sales and marketing support that come free with N-central.

Architecture

The N-central architecture is designed to provide simple and scalable remote management of multiple networks, each owned by different clients across dispersed locations., N-central's refined architecture offers secure, scalable, and effective management of your clients’ infrastructure at the lowest possible cost.

Multi-Level Management

Whether you need to manage at the customer, organization, division or department level the N-central product delivers the appropriate level of control.

Remote Monitoring

N-central console provides the ability to easily onboard and monitor the availability and performance of any IP-enabled device and take control when required.

Remote Management

N-central provides tools for securely connecting to and performing scheduled and ad-hoc management tasks over a range of device classes.

Cloud-Based Remote Control

Securely connect directly to the desktop of the remote device using NTR’s agentless cloud technology, eliminating the need to use SSH tunnels, reducing connection times and uptime.

Remote Automation

With advanced filtering that maps to IT processes and efficiently automates routine IT tasks including defragging, auto restart, back-ups, and end point security and other manual tasks.

Remote Support

Tools to provide the core functionality required to effectively manage end-users and deliver more than 90 percent of services remotely

Integrated Data Backup and Restore

Backup Manager is now fully integrated with N-central. This simplifies the tasks of deployment, monitoring, and management of customers data protection needs. Additional services and reports have been added to simplify the management and reporting of backup activities.

Virtual Machine Management

Detect, manage and monitor VM-Ware instances. N-central monitors the key hardware components of ESX and ESXi servers to proactively warn you when a hardware-related problem may occur. This enables you to identify and fix the problem before it affects the guests being hosted on your customer’s virtual infrastructure.

N-central is the only RMM automation platform to have achieved VMware Ready certification—a rigorous series of tests done by VMware that ensures the highest level of compatibility between N-central and VMware’s products.

Technician Mobility

Technicians can access N-Central from any iOS4 or Android device. Enabling them to log in and ability to drill down to see and respond to all alerts and activities without being next to the N-central console, increasing their efficiency

Tactical Reporting

Fingertip access to a library of more than 40 pre-built real-time reports that automatically collect and display data on a broad range of operational IT issues

Self Healing

N-central takes services automation to a new level with a self-healing capability that automatically resolves issues on remote devices— so that technicians don't have to.

Administrators can preconfigure responses to specific types of failures. When a specified failure is detected by N-central, the system will automatically execute a service restart or script that has been configured by the administrator to remediate the issue.

The Result—your business is more proactive, efficient, and profitable.

Patch Monitoring, Management and Reporting

N-central distributes patches on Windows devices through its integration with Microsoft’s WSUS application. With the integrated solution, you get the best of both worlds—a centralized, Web-based patch monitoring, distribution, and reporting system combined with the ability to manage patches across multiple end users in multiple locations.

Task Automation

Powerful script execution allows you to schedule and execute remotely any task that can be automated through a script. N-central supports Batch Files, VB Scripts, and Powershell Scripts, and ships with a large library of preconfigured scripts.

Software Distribution

Automatically distribute software to Windows devices under management – instantly or at a scheduled time. Software distribution can be conducted on devices both inside and outside the network.

Interoperability

Leverage the functionality of leading third-party tools and N-central’s multi-tenant management capabilities to drive efficiency, optimize workflows, and provide centralized reporting.

Advanced Reporting

N-compass™, N-central’s optional high-performance reporting system, generates reports that enable IT departments to demonstrate the performance of network infrastructure under their management and the value of the services they deliver.

Cross-Customer Management

N-central delivers "Service Organization" level management of client sites. This means you are able to define dashboards and see critical information across all of your clients or departments at a glance, view all of your clients’ devices with a single click, create filters to show you only what you want or need to know, and to execute tasks across your base of managed devices.

Desktop and Server Monitoring

Monitoring is critical to the effective delivery of IT management services that keep your clients’ IT infrastructure up and running. An effective infrastructure and systems monitoring program enables you to detect and respond to critical availability and security issues before they become critical. It also empowers you to become more proactive and make better infrastructure planning decisions based on historical trending and detailed usage analysis.

Reliable monitoring is the only cost-effective method to achieving critical insight into network and systems operations and providing value-focused managed services.

Network Monitoring

N-central supports monitoring of a broad range of services on virtually any network device. It ships with pre-defined monitoring settings for more than 160 services based on industry best practices.

IT Security

N-central plays an important role ensuring IT infrastructures are secure and running smoothly while improving compliance and transparency.

Alerts

One of the keys to ensuring scalability in a service business is to manage client issues by exception. At a high level, this means keeping staff working proactively to raise service levels, repair issues before they lead to downtime and complete proactive project work to minimize the number of client issues that arise.

Device Management

N-central is the most powerful, cost-effective, and flexible remote network, security, desktop, server, and environment management solution available. No other solution combines best-of-class monitoring capabilities with industry-leading management functionality.

A comprehensive set of remote management tools are included in N-central and provide the core functionality that all IT service providers require to manage clients effectively and deliver over 90 percent of services remotely.

Asset and License Management

One of the biggest challenges IT service providers face is tracking and managing their clients’ IT assets. N-central gives you control over your clients’ IT infrastructure using automatic asset discovery, comprehensive reporting, application control, and license management.

Effective asset management provides improved corporate transparency and governance, reduces the cost of support, increases network security, and improves budget and upgrade planning. Using N-central's asset management features, you will dramatically improve your ability to manage the assets.

Automated Warranty Expiration Monitoring

N-central automatically gathers the warranty expiry date of your clients’ HP, Dell, Lenovo, Toshiba, Acer, Apple, and Gateway devices. N-central will automatically alert you in advance of any pending warranty expiries. Generating a warranty expiry report makes it easy to track the devices whose warranties have expired, and the devices whose warranties will be expiring in the near future.

Attended/Unattended Remote Control

N-central delivers integrated remote-control tools that allow busy IT technicians to securely connect to a wide range of remote devices in seconds, from anywhere in the world.

N-able’s innovative technology allows connections to devices on other networks, located anywhere on the Internet. This is done without compromising security, and requiring only an Internet connection, not a public IP. Technicians can use N-central to take control of virtually any device and start troubleshooting and fixing issues immediately and securely through a Web-based management console.

Unlimited Attended Remote Assistance

N-central is integrated tool that remotely controls devices that are not under management. Using this functionality, you can remotely access any Windows-based device simply by having a user connect to the N-central login page and complete a brief online form to request help. There is no preinstalled software required; all connections are made on the fly.

This powerful feature includes point-to-point file transfer, remote chat, and the ability to share the screen with the user, making it ideal for training as well as support.

For situations where you require advanced remote-control features including support of MAC, Linux and mobile devices, as well as advanced administration and branding features, N-able offers a service desk remote control and support tool.

Automatic Script Execution/Software Distribution

A key way to drive organizational scalability and productivity is by creating efficiency. You can achieve this by automating routine IT service activities, which dramatically reduces manual tasks and time-consuming customer site visits. N-central provides a number of powerful features to empower IT service providers to automate service-related activities in a timely and cost-effective manner.

Tactical and Operational Reporting

N-central's built-in tactical reporting tool enables you to easily troubleshoot by providing insight into your clients’ IT infrastructure. Tactical operations are supported through utilization, detailed status, capacity, and event reporting. N-central's reporting tool simplifies the process of troubleshooting by providing "on-demand" reports.

High-Availability Deployment

N-central features an optional high-availability mode that protects against hardware failure by supporting the use of two systems in a Hot/Warm standby mode. This configuration requires a second, identical server at the same location that is configured as a standby. All data transmitted to and from the primary server is replicated to the standby in real-time. In the event of a hardware failure, the standby server would take over automatically and becomes the primary server —preventing downtime.

Hybrid Licensing Model

N-central is the first and only remote monitoring and management platform with a hybrid licensing model that addresses the key challenges of providing 100% IT coverage across all devices by delivering a subset of device information.

Optional Components

Audit Manager

Audit Manager provides an efficient scanning and reporting solution that enables you to provide an assessment of and guidance over vulnerability, configuration, and compliance management.

Security Manager

Fully integrated in to N-central, Endpoint Security Manager provides maximum protection for Windows machines against current and future today's and tomorrow's threats. Based on a combination of the most advanced proactive technologies for endpoints and periodical in-depth audits, it offers comprehensive enterprise-class security for all Windows devices.

NetFlow Manager

Netflow Manager enables you to deliver critical business services by managing enterprise-wide application and network performance.

Backup Manager

Based on CA Technologies (CA ARCserve® D2D), Backup Manager is a disk-based backup solution that makes protecting and recovering critical business data on both physical and virtual servers, quick and cost effective.

N-compass

Report Manager is the premier solution used by managed service providers and other IT service companies to report on the performance of IT infrastructure under their management and communicate network and systems information to a wide range of report consumers. Use it to manage networks more cost-effectively and help customers make better, more informed IT investment decisions.

Advantages

The N-central remote monitoring and management platform gives IT service providers a comprehensive toolset to deliver remote services. With its flexible, “a-la-carte” service offering, N-central creates an unprecedented opportunity for IT service providers to increase the number of IP devices they manage.

Key advantages include:

Industry-first hybrid licensing model

N-central offers the industry's ONLY hybrid licensing model, with Essential and Professional Licenses to give IT service providers the maximum flexibility in delivering IT services. This model also enables providers to demonstrate the value of a comprehensive RMM solution by acquiring critical asset information from all devices.

Own the data and own the customer

Essential Licenses allow N-able MSP partners to roll out managed services to new clients and gather critical network and systems information. They can demonstrate the value of RMM services by pro-actively identifying and remediating problems.

Self-healing automation

N-central automatically runs scripts to resolve issues on remote devices. It can retry multiple times before escalating an issue so that technicians focus only on real problems.

Managed endpoint security

Using N-central you have the power to monitor more devices, more services and more operating systems, from more vendors, with greater scalability than any other available solution.

Breadth and scalability

With N-central you can quickly and easily produce reports that demonstrate the unique value of your services.

Monitoring with agents and probes

N-central's flexibility enables you to provide monitoring using local agents, or network-based probes providing unparalleled flexibility for mobile devices and network devices like servers, desktops, laptops, virtual machines, switches, routers, recalls, gateways, VoIP platforms and phones, printers, and copiers etc.

VMware Monitoring

N-central monitors the key hardware components of ESX and ESXi servers, such as power supplies, fans, and RAID-related hardware and provides in-depth profiling of the performance of an ESX/ESXi server’s disk sub-system. This enables N-central administrators to quickly identify and address both hardware and performance issues before they affect users hosted on a company’s virtual infrastructure.

Automated Warranty Expiry Monitoring

N-central automatically gathers the warranty expiry date from HP, Dell, Lenovo, Toshiba, Acer, Apple, and Gateway devices and will automatically alert you of any pending expiring warranty.

Automated Deployment

N-central's industry-leading automated configuration process eliminates manual steps and enables you to deploy monitoring to customers in minutes. Learn more about automated deployment.

Ease of use

N-central’s clean, intuitive interface makes it quick to grasp and use, minimizing training time.

End-to-end device lifecycle management

The N-central product family delivers a complete, integrated solution that aligns to the IT process lifecycle in order to:

  • Assess networks for potential vulnerabilities and compliance issues,
  • Onboard new devices through automated discovery and classification,
  • Monitor every desktop, server and network device,
  • Manage any device, anytime, anywhere,
  • Protect against spam, viruses and malware,
  • Optimize the network to achieve maximum operational efficiency,
  • Backup systems and data to ensure business continuity, and;
  • Report on all network, system and device usage.

No end-user interruption

Using N-central's unattended remote-control tool, all interactions with a remote machine can occur in the background without the user’s work being interrupted.

Powerful reporting

N-central supports daily operations, troubleshooting and capacity planning with a single reporting solution..

Business process transformation support

N-central is supported by industry-leading business transformation services that give IT service providers the fastest and easiest on-boarding process and the ability to quickly generate new billable services.

System Requirements

N-central® 8.1 On-Premise Software and N-compass™ 3.1 Advanced Reporting Software

The following describes the server requirements for N-central 8.1 and its optional advanced reporting tool, N-compass™ 3.1. N-able Technologies® provides two tiers of hardware support for N-central – certified systems and compatible systems. The certified systems have been tested by N-able Technologies to ensure software compatibility as well as software performance. The compatible systems are supported for software installation and operation but have not been tested for performance and scalability..

N-central On-Premise Software

Server SpecificationsUp to 1,000 DevicesUp to 3,500 DevicesUp to 7,000 DevicesUp to 10,500 Devices
HP ML-150G6 E5502*one Xeon 5502 processor 4 GB RAM 160 GB HDDn/an/an/a
HP DL-360 G7 (605881-005)one Xeon processor 4 GB RAM 60 GB HDD**one Xeon processor 8 GB RAM 146 GB HDD**one Xeon processor 16 GB RAM 300+ GB HDD**one Xeon processor 24 GB RAM 1 TB HDD**
Dell R710
PERC H700 Integrated RAID Controller, 512MB NV Cache
CD-ROM or DVD Drive
one Xeon processor 4 GB RAM 60 GB HDD**one Xeon processor 8 GB RAM 146 GB HDD**one Xeon processor 16 GB RAM 300+ GB HDD**one Xeon processor 24 GB RAM 1 TB HDD**

Note: US Robotics Performance Pro modem (USR5610C) is required in any system where you plan to use SMS or Pager Notifications.

N-central Compatible Hardware

Base Configuration
Processor: Intel Xeon 55xx series or better
Network Card: 100Mb/s or better
Modem: US Robotics USR5610C or a serial modem is required to use paging or SMS notification features
OS: System must be certified to run Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 (x64) by RedHat or the hardware vendor (for more information, refer to https://hardware.redhat.com/)


Up to 3,500 DevicesUp to 7,000 DevicesUp to 10,500 Devices
one Xeon processorone Xeon processorone Xeon processor
8 GB RAM16 GB RAM24 GB RAM
146 GB HDD**300+ GB HDD**500+ GB HDD**

Footnotes
The HP ML150G6 (Part #: 466131-011) ships with a single SATA drive by default. Under this configuration, the Smart Array B110i SATA RAID controller is supported under "compatible mode" ONLY. If you require RAID support, you will need to purchase the Smart Array P410 RAID controller and applicable drives.
N-able Technologies recommends that two or more hard drives be placed in a RAID to improve redundancy. RAID 1+0 is preferred, but RAID 5 is supported.

N-able Technologies Support for Virtualization Environments

N-central and N-compass support the following virtualization environments:

  • VMware ESX Server 3.5
  • VMware ESX Server 4.0
  • VMware ESX Server 4.1

Note: Due to the limited Disk I/O performance of Linux-based Guests in Hyper-V, N-able Technologies does not recommend or support running N-central as a Hyper-V Guest. While N-central can be successfully installed as a Hyper-V Guest, this should only be carried out for nonproduction N-central servers and only if no other virtualization environments or physical resources are available.
N-able Technologies is committed to providing support to customers running in these virtualization environments in the same manner that we support other N-central certified hardware.

Important Notes
Because virtualization, by its nature, provides an abstraction layer between the hardware and the operating system that permits the operation of multiple logical systems on one physical server unit, there are two important considerations that you must be aware of when using this deployment method.
System Performance
It is impossible to guarantee the scalability or performance of an N-central server deployed in a virtual machine, due to these factors:

  • Variability in field environments resulting from virtualization server configurations
  • The number of guests being run on the virtualization server
  • The performance of the underlying VMware system

Supportability
N-able Technologies supports the N-central software deployed in VMware in the same way that we support N-central deployed in other environments. This support is limited to the components (software and operating system) shipped with N-central and does not include troubleshooting of virtualization systems or performance issues related to environmental factors; these areas will be supported on a best-effort basis. In certain circumstances, particularly in the event of serious issues with performance, we might ask that you move the system to a known physical hardware deployment to aid in troubleshooting and resolution.

Recommended Configuration
Virtualization Server

  • We recommend that N-central be assigned higher resource access priority than competing systems to ensure performance
  • Memory on the host system should not be over provisioned. This causes disk based swapping which significantly reduces N-central system performance.
  • The system must have sufficient RAM and hard drive space to provide permanently allocated resources as outlined below.

N-central Guest Configuration (minimum)

  • Guest Type: Typical
  • Guest Operating System: Linux
  • Version: RedHat Enterprise Linux 5 (64 bit)
  • Number of Virtual Processors: 2 minimum
  • Memory: 6,144MB (6 GB) minimum
  • Network: 1 network interface card required
  • Virtual Disk Capacity: 140 GB minimum
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