Chances are you've heard of DameWare, two of their main products; DameWare Remote Support (DRS) and DameWare Mini Remote Control (MRC) are both popular tools and have been around for a long time. For those who haven't heard of DameWare before, or those that just want a refresh; I'll be looking at both of these products below.
DameWare Remote Support
DameWare Remote Support (DRS) provides a simple, efficient console that integrates various tools and features into a single point. To give you an idea, you can do all of the following (and more) from the console:
- Remotely reboot servers and notebooks
- Start and stop Windows Services
- Clear and view Windows Event Logs
- Copy and delete files on remote computers
- Manage Windows® Active Directory
- Quickly take full control of the end-user’s desktop
- Take screenshots of remote desktops
- Automatically install agents as you need them
As soon as I opened the interface it felt familiar. The console is well laid out, and intuitive to use- I was using the software within a matter of minutes without having to refer to a manual or similar. As you can see from the screenshot above, you can view and expand Active Directory, Workgroups and favorite machines. Favourite machines will allow you to add a single machine via FQDN, or a scope of machines via IP. If you cast your eye over the components above, you'll begin to see what's available to you.
Managing services from DRS, is as simple as clicking on Services view.
Want a remote console? That's as simple double click on RCmd View, or RCmd Console- or, if your preference is to use PSEXEC, you can actually add system tools to the menu.
DRS also enables you to administer Active Directory, in pretty much the same way as you would with Active Directory Users and Computers. You can even control Group policy, although it's not quite the full GPMC experience. It's essentially what you'd get in ADUC (think Server 2003 Group policy editing, without GPMC).
One thing I haven't mentioned is remote control from within DRS, this is because this essentially spawns a copy of Mini Remote Control, which I'll cover in a little more detail below.
To get some of the additional features, you will need to install the DameWare Service (especially when looking at Mini Remote Control). You'll be pleased to know that you can install the Service from within DRS or via an MSI. DameWare provide an MSI builder with various options for this purpose, if only every software company provided a nice way to build MSIs... I've had no issues with the Service(s), after leaving them running for a few days memory usage is low- which is good to see.
I could go on and provide more examples, but, well... it all just works. Remotely viewing processes, disk drives, or the event logs is just as you'd expect- there are no surprises.
DameWare Mini Remote Control
DameWare Mini Control is a part of DRS, or can be purchased by itself. It provides a quick and easy way to provide remote control to Windows, OS X and Linux. Here are some of the main features.
- Quickly and easily connect to and control remote desktops, laptops and servers
- Provides remote control for Mac OS X, Windows and Linux
- Deploy agents “on the fly” and start remote control sessions without rebooting
- Connect to unattended computers without the need for remote user interaction
- Easily configure and install agents in bulk with the included MSI package builder
- Complete security, including smart card authentication
- Chat with the end-user and exchange files as you troubleshoot problems
If you want to connect up using the MRC viewer you will need to install the service on the remote machine. Failing that, you can fall back to plain RDP, VNC or Intel's AMT KVM. MRC viewer gives you the most functionality, adding things like chat, file transfer, requiring permission from the end user, taking a screenshot, printing the current screen and the ability to lock the remote keyboard and mouse which if you've ever done remote support will appreciate. You can limit access client side to particular security groups, or IPs.
Pricing and Finishing Up
DameWare Remote Control is currently priced at £230 per administrator, and Mini Remote Control alone comes in at £65- the time saved by having all of these tools and functions in one console makes these prices attractive. DameWare software is licensed per administrator, and each license allows you to install on 3 computers. The DRS Client Agent Service is not licensed and there are no additional fees for installing the service on remote systems. For example, if you have 10 computers running DRS and you use DRS to manage 10,000 remote systems, you only need to license the 10 DRS computers to maintain compliance. I really like this licensing model.
DameWare provide fully functional 14 day trials for both of these products, so if this review inspires you to have a play please head over to:
DRS Trial Download
MRC Trial Download
The post Dameware – Remote Support & Mini Remote Control [Sponsored Review] appeared first on The Sysadmins.