Three hidden RMM features that are underutilized
By N‑able
Over my time as a Sales Engineer and Partner Success Manager, I quickly learned that there are a few under-utilized features of N‑sight RMM. While performing RMM dashboard audits, three of these features routinely came up in conversation with our partners. They include the Site Concentrator, Data Overdue Cross-Check, and Monitoring Templates. In this blog series, we will briefly cover uses in your day-to-day work and implementation of the features. The first blog will focus on the Site Concentrator and Data Overdue Cross-Check. The second will focus on Monitoring Templates as that is a much more in-depth topic.
How to use N‑sight RMM Site Concentrator
As MSPs, we have all had to worry about patches and the resources used to download and deploy those patches, whether we are dealing with an end-user that has very limited resources, the end-user is unable to acquire the needed resources to efficiently install patches for various reasons, or we are just looking to be as efficient as possible due to end-user requirements giving us a small window for patching.
My favorite example that I have dealt with in the real world was a manufacturer that lost significant revenue when their equipment was not running at optimal speeds. So, patching and rebooting the server that controlled multiple CNC machines really taxed this end-user.
To solve this problem, or at least alleviate some of this issue, I set up a Site Concentrator. This feature allows you to not only designate a server to function as the primary device that downloads and pushes patches, it also will allow the designated server to serve as a centralized cache location for various files needed by other features as well. A good example here is threat definition updates required by Bitdefender.
To set this feature up in N‑sight RMM it is as simple as right-clicking on the Client’s Site in the West Pane of the RMM and selecting Edit Site. This will allow you to control which device is designated as the Site Concentrator, Open Windows Firewall, specify a cache path to make sure storage is properly designated (the concentrator will want about 2GB of space and I always recommend going a little overboard with 10GB), and set any Proxy information needed. This creates a simple and easy way to leverage this feature. Please note that if a device is not connected to the same network as the Site Concentrator or there is no Site Concentrator found for the device it will download patches itself as normal.
All that being said, a common response MSPs would give me regarding their resource-starved end-users is that while the Site Concentrator is very useful, these particular end-users don’t have a server as they are a small business that does not require one. The necessity of a server aside, N-Able offers a solution here. You have the ability through manual installation to “promote” a workstation’s agent to a server agent at the time of installation (note: you cannot “demote” a server agent to a workstation). This will allow you to utilize this feature when a server is not present. Do keep in mind that a workstation promoted to a server agent should be a Site Concentrator for more than 5-10 devices depending on the power of that workstation. Another good suggestion for the end-users that are utilizing the Site Concentrator, especially those who are resource-starved, is to close the concentrator’s port through a VPN so the traffic is better balanced.
How to use Data Overdue Cross-Check
This one is simple, connectivity is key and knowing when your mission-critical machines are running is paramount to MSPs. N‑sight RMM has a couple of features that we will touch on to assist you here. The most commonly used features are the Offline and Overdue alert settings for servers that can be found with a simple right-click on the server in the North Pane and selecting Edit Server. This will allow you, under general settings, to set up alerts for servers that have not checked into the RMM in “X” minutes and set servers to be put in offline mode if gracefully shutdown.
MSPs do tend to forget that this setting does work best with our Data Overdue Cross Check. The Data Overdue Cross Check is designed to provide needed information when a server goes offline. Just like the Site Concentrator, Data Overdue Cross Check settings are found in the Edit Site section of the RMM. These settings will allow you to designate two network devices to be pinged once the server goes offline. Depending on the response from the ping actions, the RMM can send alerts stating that the site is down (network devices unable to be pinged) or that the server is down (Offline and Overdue alerts), giving you as the MSP quick and easy alerts regarding uptime and productivity for your end users.
In the next post we will look at the final piece of this series, a discussion on monitoring templates and how to utilize them.
Joseph Ferla is one of our Head Nerds. You can follow him on Twitter @headnerdjoe or LinkedIn
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