New Assets View, a Seismic Change to N‑central

Paul Kelly introduces the new Assets View for N‑central: it’s more than just a visual upgrade, it’s a transformational change in how you interact with and manage your devices.

Over my years at N‑able, I must have done thousands of demos on N‑central. I could conservatively estimate that on 99% of those demos I started showing N‑central from the All Devices screen — it’s a pretty obvious place to start really as by default it’s the landing screen when you log into N‑central. Also, as it is the first screen most people see when evaluating N‑central, it is the first area that draws questions. These tend to include things like: “Can I reorder the columns” and “Can I change the width of the columns”. Although a lot of people wouldn’t know why they might want to do this, these questions seem instinctive starting point. A good solutions engineer should always try to avoid saying a direct “No” to prospects’ requests, at least without offering an alternative, but when it came to the All Devices view in N‑central, there wasn’t much you could offer to address these questions.

If you attended Empower this year, an N‑able roadshow, or maybe one of our online webinars, you no doubt will have heard us mention the Ecoverse concept. Up to this point you might be wondering if this was just marketing fluff, but wonder no more, the Ecoverse is here, and the first signs of that in N‑central is the new Assets View.

What does the new N‑central Asset View give you?

What’s so special about the new Assets View? For starters, my colleagues in the Solutions Engineering team will no longer be struggling to find answers to questions regarding reordering or resizing columns, as you’ll be able to do it to your heart’s content. But there’s more, much more, so let’s take a look at some of the other features of the new Assets View that have, as I personally believe this new view is going to have the biggest impact of any enhancement to N‑central in recent years.

More Data Available

Although the existing All Devices view got a few extra columns recently, it is still pretty limited to what you can see here, this will not be the case though with the new Assets View. Initially it is slated to have 16 data columns available during the first preview, with a host more being added over time. So if you want to know the OS build version, how many CPUs in a device, or what’s the total memory of a given device, you can choose to see the information that is relevant to you.

Create Filters On-Demand

As the device count in your environment grows, filters become more and more important so that you can focus on specific devices. In N‑central today there is a large number of filters available straight out of the box, and you also have the ability to create your own custom filters as well. But if you are working in the All Devices view and you need to filter on what you are seeing, you’ll have to go to Filters on the lefthand navigation, create your filter there, then go back to the All Devices screen and apply the filter. This isn’t the best workflow, which is why in the new Assets View you’ll be able to create filters on demand using the Filter Builder option, allowing you to easily see what you are looking for.

Save Your Views

It’s great to have more detailed information on the devices you manage, with real-time filtering to help you find exactly what you need. Even better, the new Assets View keeps your customizations across different levels and sessions, so you won’t have to redo your setup every time. Looking ahead, you’ll also be able to save multiple views tailored to your role and even share them with colleagues, making it even easier to access critical information when you need it.

Managing Multiple N‑central Instances?

For those managing multiple N‑central instances, the multi-instance feature in the Assets View provides a unified view across your entire estate. This means you can seamlessly view and drill into devices across multiple N‑central instances, giving you centralized visibility and control without needing to switch between instances, this makes managing multiple instances even more efficient.

But Wait…There’s More To Come

As good as these enhancements are, there’s still more to come! N‑central’s new Assets View will soon include powerful graphical widgets, allowing you to keep a close eye on what’s most important to you at a glance. You’ll also have the ability to reboot devices, whether immediately or scheduling them for later, a much-requested feature to make maintenance more convenient.  Furthermore, we’re introducing the ability to create tags, giving you greater control to organize, search, sort, and filter devices with ease. Plus, with the new quick-view details pane, you’ll be able to see a concise device summary and key information without leaving the view, streamlining your workflow even further.

Conclusion: A transformational change

The new Assets View is more than just a visual upgrade, it’s a transformational change in how you interact with and manage your devices in N‑central. With the ability to customize columns, build on-demand filters, save views, and access detailed device information at a glance, you’ll find that the new Assets View not only enhances productivity but also makes managing large environments far more intuitive. And this is just the beginning, N‑central continues to evolve in ways that empower you to do more, faster, and with greater flexibility.

If you have questions join me on the N-Central office hours at www.n-able.com/events.  For more insight on how you can get the most out of N‑central, you can attend our N‑central Boot Camps, recordings of which are available in the N‑ableU, alternatively keep an eye on www.n-able.com/events to register for the live sessions.

 Paul Kelly is the Head Nerd at N‑able. You can follow him on Twitter at @HeadNerdPaul, LinkedIn and Reddit at u/Paul _Kelly. Alternatively you can email me direct.