Remote Monitoring and Management packages provide the tools that enable technicians to support an IT system without having to go to those locations. The assets under management could be in the same room or in another building, and they can even be the property of another company. A Remote Monitoring and Management bundle is more commonly known as an RMM.
What’s in an RMM?
The utilities of an RMM are divided into two categories: monitoring tools and system management tools. The “management” division is a little elastic because the term is vague. For example, many network monitoring systems include a discovery service that automatically populates a hardware inventory. Listing all the equipment on a site is an asset management task, Therefore, any network monitoring system can claim to be an RMM.
The contents of any RMM will vary, so let’s first define what we expect from our do-it-yourself RMM:
- Network monitoring – including discovery, inventory creation, and topology mapping
- Endpoint monitoring – including process scanning and software discovery
- Network device configuration management – backup a config, scan for changes, and restore the backup
- Software inventory management – maintain a list of licenses, record how many are in use and when they expire
- Automated patch management – including scans to detect current patch statuses and new patch availability
- System maintenance scripts – these should be launched automatically on a schedule, they mainly operate on endpoints
- Log management – collects, consolidates, and stores log messages
Of these tasks, the easiest to set up is the network monitoring. The functions that operate on endpoints can create security weaknesses because they require access credentials to be stored and accessible to automated processes. That creates a potential gold mine for hackers.
What isn’t in an RMM?
There are two important utilities used by support technicians that you will be surprised to learn aren’t officially expected in an RMM. The first of these is a Help Desk ticketing system. Ticketing systems are part of a PSA package. PSA stands for Professional Services Automation, and it is a bundle of systems that are needed by the management of a managed service provider. Some RMM packages, such as NinjaOne, include a ticketing system, while others do not. In the N-able brand, N-sight includes a ticketing system, but N-central doesn’t.
The other tool that you would expect should be in an RMM, but isn’t, is a remote desktop system. This is actually a separate category of tool because its main purpose is to facilitate manual access by a technician rather than to provide automated functions. Many RMM bundles include a remote desktop unit; some just provide a license for a third-party tool: Atera and Datto just give you a license for Splashtop as part of their RMM packages.
When you are in the market for an RMM, it is important to examine exactly what is included and what isn’t. Many RMMs don’t include a network configuration manager; some don’t have a patch manager. RMMs are not all equal, and you could find yourself having to buy extra utilities even after you signed up for that RMM that is supposed to provide you with all the tools that a technician would need.
Free Help Desk ticketing systems
We have given ourselves a way to reduce the task of building an RMM by excluding the inclusion of a Help Desk ticketing system. However, we are not going to leave you adrift in the task of finding a ticketing system. Here is a list of free ticketing systems that you can add on to your customized RMM:
- SolarWinds Free Ticketing Software Includes a self-service portal for end-users, ticket routing, Active Directory integration, available for Windows, Linux, and Mac. A big problem with this tool is that it only allows one technician account.
- Spiceworks Cloud Help Desk This Web-based system doesn’t have a limit on the number of technicians that you can create accounts for and you don’t need to install the software. It includes an end user portal, automated ticket routing, consoles for team members and the manager, deadlines with alerts, and mobile device apps for both users and workers.
- Freshdesk Free Provides multiple technician accounts, automated routing, and a user self-service portal that includes a knowledge base template. Tickets can arrive by email or social media chat. The cloud-based system also provides analysis and reporting features.
- Zoho Desk This is a cloud-based system that is similar to Freshdesk. It provides a self-service portal for users that integrates a knowledge base system, a ticket routing system, consoles for technicians and managers, and facilities that support collaboration between technicians. You get three technician accounts for free; more can be added for a per-technician price.
If you are prepared to pay, you can find a longer list of Help Desk ticketing systems in our report, The Best IT Help Desk Software and IT Support Tools.
Free remote desktop tools
We are also going to recommend a list of free remote desktop systems that you can give to your technicians so that they can troubleshoot and support users.
- ManageEngine RemoteAccess Plus – Free Edition This is the free version of a full, paid package offered by ManageEngine for remote desktop, remote control, and unattended remote access. Get to workstations running Windows, macOS, and Linux. Features include file transfers, Wake-on-LAN, reboot, and shutdown. Remote desktop sessions include a diagnostic tool plus voice, video, and text chat. Five technicians can use the free service.
- AnyDesk – Free Edition Atera offers the full AnyDesk system in some of its plans as an alternative to Splashtop. This free version is limited to three technician accounts. It is hosted in the cloud and can access remote endpoints running Windows, macOS, or Linux or mobile devices running Android or iOS. The service can access attended or unattended devices, and it provides a file transfer utility, which opens the possibility of maintenance task automation.
- AnyViewer – Free Edition This package competes well with AnyDesk, but it is limited to one technician account. The system is based in the cloud and the technician accesses the remote device through any standard Web browser. The system can access mobile devices as well as workstations. Remote devices can be attended or unattended, and the package allows file transfers.
- Zoho Assist Free A cloud-based system that can integrate with the Zoho Desk service. It provides access to computers running Windows, macOS, and Linux that have users sitting at them but doesn’t include unattended access facilities. Utilities in the package include a live chat window and clipboard sharing. You can only get this Free edition for one technician.
You can find some more free remote desktop suggestions in The Best Free Remote Desktop Software.
RMM creation strategies
Datto and Atera give us an interesting strategy to use in order to assemble a custom RMM: include third-party tools. There is no need to reinvent the wheel and if all we want is a package of necessary tools for IT technicians, we could just assemble that bundle from pre-existing tools. This is an appealing strategy because it enables a “best-of-breed” selection process rather than being trapped into taking all of your tools from one brand.
Your motivation for creating an RMM could be that no company gives you exactly what you need. You could have a unique business and even standard monitoring tools just don’t service you well. Fortunately, there are some exciting data processing tools that you could use to assemble your own service without having to code any data collectors or screens.
Another issue that you will need to consider is whether you need to manage sub-accounts to keep the data of different sites separate. This is necessary for managed service providers. It could be possible that a client has multiple sites that need to be grouped together.
One other factor that needs to be taken into account is budget. RMM packages are attractive because they are generally cheaper than the sum of the prices of all the elements that they include.
Best-of-breed RMM assembly
You can assemble tools from a pick list and create a package of all of those systems that we listed as necessary components of an RMM. As a reminder, these are:
- Network discovery
- Network device status monitoring
- Network traffic monitoring
- Endpoint monitoring
- Application monitoring
- Network inventory
- Network topology mapping
- Network configuration management
- Software license management
- Patch management
- Maintenance task automation
You can shortcut the search for all of three tools if you are prepared to opt for a bundle from one of the major providers. Here are some suggestions:
1. ManageEngine OpManager Plus
This is a megapack of ManageEngine units, and it provides network, workstation, server, and application monitoring services. I noted that it also gives you IP address management, log management, firewall management, and network device configuration management.
Provides:
- Network discovery
- Network device status monitoring
- Network traffic monitoring
- Endpoint monitoring
- Application monitoring
- Network inventory
- Network topology mapping
- Network configuration management
Lacks:
- Software license management
- Patch management
- Maintenance task automation
Breaking down the package further, these functions are all available in individual modules. So, you could decide to get just some of these services from ManageEngine instead of taking on the whole bundle. Those units are:
- OpManager – Monitors network devices, servers, and virtualization. Provides discovery, inventory creation, network topology mapping, and Syslog management.
- NetFlow Analyzer – Traffic flow monitoring and VoIP quality management.
- OpUtils – Switch port mapping, TCP port scanning, IP address management
- Network Configuration Manager – Network device configuration standardization, backup and restore. Scanning for unauthorized configuration changes with automatic change reversal.
- Applications Manager – Scans servers for running processes and tracks them, creating an application dependency map. Monitors application performance, storage server resources and activity, and website performance.
- Firewall Analyzer – Helps create security policies and then implement them by generating and applying firewall rules. Also provides a log manager.
2. Site-24×7 All-in-one plan
The cloud-based Site24x7 platform provides many modules but doesn’t offer subscriptions to any of them individually. I determined that this plan provides website monitoring as well as many of the RMM functions that we are looking for.
Provides:
- Network discovery
- Network device status monitoring
- Network traffic monitoring
- Endpoint monitoring
- Application monitoring
- Network inventory
- Network topology mapping
- Network configuration management
Lacks:
- Software license management
- Patch management
- Maintenance task automation
3. Zabbix
A free system monitoring software package. I learned that it is open source, so you can alter the programs for it if you want. The software will run on Linux, Docker, a VM, or a cloud platform but not Windows. If you already have task automation scripts, you can load them into the Zabbix system and set them up to run on an alert trigger or a schedule.
Provides:
- Network discovery
- Network device status monitoring
- Network traffic monitoring
- Endpoint monitoring
- Application monitoring
- Network inventory
- Network topology mapping
- Maintenance task automation
Lacks:
- Network configuration management
- Software license management
- Patch management
4. Action1 Free Edition
This cloud-based system is a free tier that any business can access because it provides all the features of the full paid version. I discovered that any buyer gets the first 100 endpoints managed for free. As well as the services listed below, this package lets you set up a software library, define role profiles, and on-board devices automatically. New software can be rolled out to multiple endpoints.
Provides:
- Endpoint monitoring
- Network inventory
- Software license management
- Patch management
- Maintenance task automation
Lacks:
- Network discovery
- Network device status monitoring
- Network traffic monitoring
- Network configuration management
- Application monitoring
- Network topology mapping
5. ManageEngine Patch Manager Plus
ManageEngine creates its own central library of new patches, so each instance of Patch Manager Plus only has to check in one place for patch availability. I found that to be highly efficient.
Provides:
- Endpoint monitoring
- Network inventory
- Software license management
- Patch management
Lacks:
- Network discovery
- Network device status monitoring
- Network traffic monitoring
- Network configuration management
- Application monitoring
- Network topology mapping
- Maintenance task automation
6. Zapier
This is a cloud-based orchestration package. It lets you string together different applications into a workflow. The service has a list of well-known apps that it can easily connect together for you – all you have to do is pick them and link them together, visually, in a flow editor. I figured this can be useful for creating automated responses, running automated maintenance tasks, or sending notifications. There is a limited free edition of the package.
Provides:
- Maintenance task automation
Lacks:
- Network discovery
- Network device status monitoring
- Network traffic monitoring
- Endpoint monitoring
- Application monitoring
- Network inventory
- Network topology mapping
- Network configuration management
- Software license management
- Patch management
7. WinSCP
This free file transfer system has a secret power because it can set up scheduled tasks. This means that you can use the package to run maintenance scripts automatically on multiple endpoints. The WinSCP package is free to use, but as I observed it only runs on Windows, but the remote endpoint can have other operating systems.
Provides:
- Maintenance task automation
Lacks:
- Network discovery
- Network device status monitoring
- Network traffic monitoring
- Endpoint monitoring
- Application monitoring
- Network inventory
- Network topology mapping
- Network configuration management
- Software license management
- Patch management
The cost of your self-assembly RMM will vary greatly, depending on the combination of elements that you choose and the capacity that you require.
Build an RMM from scratch
You don’t have to become a programmer to create an RMM. There are a number of data platforms available that will do all the backend work for you. All you need to do is work out what data to feed in, what searches to perform, and how to represent the results. In fact, many of the well-known system monitoring tools use these platforms.
This isn’t a step-by-step guide in writing an RMM. We aren’t going to go through the stages that you need to perform in order to set up an RMM with these platforms ; we are just going to point you to the systems. When you investigate these systems, you will find there are already guides available on how to process data to create a monitoring system. Some of these platforms have even created pre-written monitoring tools on their own platforms that are available as add-value modules.
Data processing platforms are well suited for the creation of monitoring systems, but they are not very useful for the creation of system management processes. However, you can focus on creating your remote monitoring system and then use Zapier, WinSCP, or some other task automation engine, for remote management systems.
Here are some of the most prominent data processing platforms that will help you create an RMM.
1. Splunk
Splunk is the most prominent data processing platform in the world. The system is available as a software package, called Splunk Enterprise, and as a cloud-based option, called Splunk Cloud.
There are three parts of a Splunk system:
- Inputs
- Data processing
- Data display
The Splunk platform includes guides and connectors to get data into the system. Essentially, the Splunk system works on files. However, in reality, all data streams need to be written to temporary files just to transfer them from remote devices into the central data processing tool.
Network devices can be discovered and monitored by feeding SNMP responses into the tool, traffic data can be sent by a NetFlow agent, and endpoint activity can be monitored by scanning Windows Events and Syslog messages.
The Splunk project is set up with processing rules for different data inputs. Some system messaging standards, such as SNMP, already include an alert function and any arriving alert can automatically be passed through to the front end. Another examination strategy is to compare each incoming reading, such as traffic volumes coming into a switch interface, to upper and lower range numbers. If the incoming number is above or below the two range numbers, the tool should generate an alert.
As well as calculating alerts, Splunk can just pass through readings, putting them in order and using them to plot a graph. The data display part of Splunk is provided by a dashboard editor.
You can create a workflow for each type of data – network device status, network traffic volumes, endpoint resource availability, and application response times. Each data type can be processed through to a different screen. Thus, you would build up a dashboard of many screens. There is no free edition for Splunk.
If you don’t have the time to create a monitoring system, Splunk has already done it for you. Splunk Observability provides remote monitoring for networks, servers, and applications. This package is not free.
2. Elastic Stack
There are many system monitoring tools on the market right now that have the Elastic Stack at their core. So, if you create one yourself with this platform, it will be just as good as one that you might otherwise have paid for. Just as Splunk has three key components, so does the Elastic Stack, which is also known as ELK. Those initials come from the three main components of the Stack:
- Logstash – is a log server and prepares data for processing
- Elasticsearch – performs data processing
- Kibana – A front end designer
Elastic Stack started out as a free package. However, the company needs to make a return on its innovative work, and they have been gradually introducing money spinning products. The first stage in this process was to move the software to the cloud. You can now subscribe to the Elastic Stack and use it on the ELK cloud server. The company added more value by providing more integrations to third-party packages.
The original on-premises ELK is still available, and you can get it for free as long as you download each element individually.
3. Prometheus
Prometheus is a software package that you can host on Windows, Linux, or Darwin. This is a similar package to Splunk. It ingests and processes data and is particularly strong at managing time-series data. The process of displaying data relies on third-party tools. You can use Kibana from ELK to build a dashboard or another package called Grafana.
This software is open source, so you could modify the programs. However, that shouldn’t be necessary. The package comes with a library of data collectors, which are called “exporters.” There are exporters available for SNMP and log messages, such as Syslog.
This platform isn’t as easy to set up as ELK. However, it works in roughly the same way as that package and Splunk. You set up comparison tests with upper and lower expectation numbers for each metric, and then point a particular collector to the Prometheus server. As each unit in a metric series arrives, the server assesses it according to the rules you set up and displays it in the format that you defined.
Planning your RMM system
Putting together your RMM system can be complicated and, even though you can use a lot of pre-written elements, it is still going to take a while to get the system set up. Using a number of different tools has the disadvantage of presenting you with separate consoles. You will also end up dealing with alerts from different sources.
You could create a blend of the two strategies by using pre-written packages and then designing your own console with Grafana or Kibana, using an orchestration tool, such as Zapier. You could also get all of the monitoring and management systems to send their data to a single, custom-created dashboard.
Why bother?
Assembling your own RMM is going to be a lot of work, and it probably isn’t worth the effort. If you choose pre-written systems, you are going to end up paying more than you would for an off-the-shelf RMM package of the same standard.
It is possible to assemble an RMM by selecting free tools or by assembling your own. However, you also have to calculate how much your time is worth or allocate a staffing budget if you have a team, and you are going to get them to write it for you. Thus, your customized RMM won’t be free.
