1

Hey Guys,

I need to deploy remoting software accross 50 to 60 computers which allows me to offer remote assistance from another phsyical, (not mental, lol) state.

The only requirment is that it must be free.

I have came up with a solution below, if you can please critique it and if possible, anyone else who’s been in the same boat please let me know what you use to achive offsite IT support.

I am looking at a few candidates:

  • Logemein Free.
  • Ultra VNC.

Both seem good choices, logmein Free with a little bit of “hacking” does silent installs and is as logmein is designed to be, easy, simple and great.

Ultra VNC has allot more functionality and is in my opinion better suited.

  • Only downside is, I’ll need to manually setup port forwarding from the router to each computer, post GPO deployment with Ultra VNC.

I will also utilize the awesome in built heldesk within spiceworks for users to lodge a ticket which I can then investigate.

Is this the common thought pattern? is there better alternatives out there which are free?

Thanks for your advise guys.

@Microsoft @GoTo

19 Spice ups
2

I try to never have one solution, so it sounds like your on track with the two you’ve mentioned.

We centraly manage most of our routers, so the port forwarding is not too much work. Having a VPN between sites or using WIndows 7 Access anywhere lets you do a lot more, like monitor with Spiceworks.

Currently I use tight VNC, PCanywhere, and RDP. We’ve modified the registry so PCanywhere and VNC work in safe mode with networking.

I think you wil be happy with your choices.

3

I’m a fan of the VNC flavors. Are you able to use VPN to get on the same subnet as the end users? I would be reluctant to expose VNC directly to the world (not that I know of any specific problems, but unless it’s SSL with a secure pass I’d be hesistant). We use RealVNC on XP, UltraVNC on 7 and Vine on OS X.

4

LMI is free for business use.

1 Spice up
5

Hey Guys,

Thanks for your advice, I can indeed dial a direct VPN connection and then only allow local VNC connections if the software do.

Is this best practice?

A quick google search states that with some addons ultravnc supports SSL connections which will keep it nice and secure, although they are in beta stage.

LogmeIn Free offers SSL right out of the box.

I’m looking at Intel AMT aswell for diagnosing bios post\boot issues, I’ve set it up on a test machine and it seems very handy.

I think I might go with Ultra VNC with plugins to allow SSL connections and as a backup have WinRDP in place.

On the server I will setup a copy of Logmein and Ultra, so if any issues(worst case scenario) I will be able to get in that box, providing the internet is still there.

Does that sound good?

The only issue I have with LMI, is that it relies on their servers for it to function properely.

Cheers guys

6

what kinds of machines are you assisting with ? if they are all windows , then i would just use the built in remote assistance feature instead of a third party application .

7

Hey Kendall.

I’ve completely over looked windows remote assistance functionality, but I will check it out and set up a test for personal review.

If, in future people are using UltraVNC, there is an awesome tool someone has released:

You set the settings of the server and then build an msi package direct with those setting embedded for silent installs and rollouts with GPO… very handy indeed.

I’ll check out Windows Remote Assistance now, thanks for that sugestion.

8

NOT FREE (but useful - maybe): http://www.spiceworkstutorials.com/user-portal/portal-advanced-customization/integrating-skyfex-remote-support-with-spiceworks-and-special-offer-for-spiceworkstutorials-members/

"I wanted to share with you a new tutorial that I’ve published on SpiceworksTutorials.com - Integrating SkyFex Remote Support with Spiceworks.

*Click to view the tutorial: Integrating SkyFex Remote Support with Spiceworks *

Skyfex is a great client-less tool for providing end users (and customers) with instant support.
Skyfex is extremely easy to use and to integrate into Spiceworks,
In this tutorial I’ll take you through the integration process step-by step.

*Click to view the tutorial: Integrating SkyFex Remote Support with Spiceworks *

In addition,
As a SpiceworksTutorials member you can enjoy an exclusive discount on Skyfex Pro Service.
Instead of the usual $29.95 per month, SpiceworksTutorials members get the following discount:

  • First month for just $15.95
  • Annual subscription for $299.5"
1 Spice up
9

i am a big fan of TightVNC and its cousins, but there has been at least one significant security flaw which allowed access without credentials. I still use it, but I tunnel it over a ssh connection. The only inbound port open on my firewall is port 22. I use ssh with a self generated key pair - no password and then either use one of the VNC programs (port 5900) or Windows mstsc (port 3389) or, for that matter a web browser to look at my FOG server tunneling port 80.

10

+1 Logmein. Its what I use and it works great. Another great option is Ammyy and you can always use join.me (another great freebie logmein provides).

11

I use TeamViewer and it’s by far my favorite and RDP as well. Our company bought the corporate license so I’m at least using TeamViewer according to theri terms of agreement.

12

You could test http://join.me too.

13

Lots of remote options. If you can VPN into these remote network and they are all windows I would use Windows Remote assistance, built in, free and RDP is a pretty good remote desktop software package. Remote assistance will allow you to work with the user and RDP will allow you to remote in when no one is at the terminal.

That said I have also used VNC over SSH and over VPN, I would never expose VNC ports SSL encrypted or not directly on the Internet.

I did see where if you do not know who you will be assisting one of the VNC vendors, I think it might have been UltraVNC, had a user downloads file and then you can remotely connect to them via SSL connection, this I would use because the ports are not left open and the VNC server is removed from their PC when the session is over.

14

I use a few different versions of VNC including Real VNC thats a paid version and ultra vnc. Ultra VNC is great and works on all versions of windows and mac. Ran into problems using Real VNC on some windows 7 machines as well as mac osx.

If you want to do a little more then just remote control ie event logs and remote management you may want to look into Dameware Utilities and Remote Control. Great Program. I really use it daily on all our desktops and laptops. Allows deployement/removal over lan or wan. Like tony says its GREAT!!!

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Hey Kendall.

I’ve completely over looked windows remote assistance functionality, but I will check it out and set up a test for personal review.

If, in future people are using UltraVNC, there is an awesome tool someone has released:

http://vnced.sourceforge.net/

You set the settings of the server and then build an msi package direct with those setting embedded for silent installs and rollouts with GPO… very handy indeed.

I’ll check out Windows Remote Assistance now, thanks for that sugestion.

Thanks for this link. I have uVNC on 50%-70% of our PCs and have never found a good tool for deployment.

16

We use http://www.mikogo.com/ and it has worked wonderfully.

17

Dameware remote control is great for deployment. The paid version of real vnc does to. Used both over the years.

1 Spice up
18

Hey Guys,

It’s very interesting to see there is no general one software solution everyone uses, everyone uses what is right for them, or what they know or what they have gotten to work.

I’ve tested out Windows Remote Assistance, and that seems to work perfect, it’s built in with the Windows Platform, and works fine, even on limited accounts - and most importantly it is very easy to use.

I also have, for when the user is away RDP setup to access the machine.

As a backup too, join.me(something which I’ve never heard of before, but bloody awesome) suits perfectly incase anything goes wrong - added bonus is that it works on limited accounts.

On the Server I just RDP into it, but I will also install an instance of logmein on it to allow me to get in there incase of any issues.

I’m going to setup aswell Intel AMT to diagnose boot/bios issues on the slight chance they could happen, latter versions of AMT allow full control from boot to OS level, although sadly, not all Motherboards are compatible…

Worst case, I’ll just catch a flight to where the company is located hahahhaha, always good to go for a “holiday”

I really think GPO is great, aslong as the package is msi, but even then… if the program isn’t there is always the batch file to trigger a silent install on most software packages.

WSUS takes care of the updates…

This has really been a good discussion guys.

Cheers!

19

I have always been a big fan and supporter of Open Source options for solutions. I have always used one flavor of VNC or another Ultra VNC is my current choice for support of users both locally and remotley.

That said I agree with you that the initial setup to allow VNC on the routers is a pain but lets examine the other option. I have also used logmein and think it is wonderful product. My concern with using logmein in a large environment is paranoia, using a website to install and run support from has a cost, if you use say IE for your browser we are all aware of the vulnerabilities in IE that Microsoft continually update but are exploited daily. Firefox is a great solid product that does not suffer the same downfalls of attack that IE does but the few exploits that affect Firefox can be used to gain access to serviceslike logmein or webmail for example.

That said Logmein is as secure as a web service can be and I have never personally ran into any issues in its use and only have read documented examples of hacks.

The reason I stick with the VNC flavors is “control” I open the ports I set all the options and I control access. Other services out there cannot offer the same in my opinion.

When you have a budget I highly recommend SmartCode VNC Manager Enterprise edition. once installed it can give you all the control you will need to your workstations and more.

Hope this helps…

20

I have been testing out Join.me over the past few weeks and really like it.