Comparing MeshCentral 2 to ScreenConnect

scottalanmiller

0.3.0-n

Lots of updates today!

NashBrydges

Realize this thread was comparing to SC but wondering how would this compare to Apache Guacamole? I haven't yet had time to try to set this up but thought I'd ask.

CloudKnight

@NashBrydges said in Comparing MeshCentral 2 to ScreenConnect:

Realize this thread was comparing to SC but wondering how would this compare to Apache Guacamole? I haven't yet had time to try to set this up but thought I'd ask.

Guacamole is more a perimeter gateway interface for accessing machines inside of the LAN.
Meshcentral has client agents that you can install on machines and can access these machines across WAN. it's very much more like an RMM product.

scottalanmiller

@NashBrydges said in Comparing MeshCentral 2 to ScreenConnect:

Realize this thread was comparing to SC but wondering how would this compare to Apache Guacamole? I haven't yet had time to try to set this up but thought I'd ask.

Quite different overall. Guac is a "gateway" product. It sits in front of a number of RDP, NX, X, VNC connections and presents them over web. It's a proxy type service.

SC is a remote access and control system for support. It does not sit (necessarily) in the same infrastructure and is meant for giving you access to machines "anywhere."

So one is to enhance and aggregate existing protocols. The other is a replacement and different kind of architecture to those protocols.

scottalanmiller

0.3.0-p out now.

scottalanmiller

0.3.0-r we just updated.

pmoncho

Auto-Update through "Check Server Version" has become an issue as of (roughly) 0.3.0-i. Prior to that all was well.

Syslog would show (when running auto-update):

Update completed...
MeshCentral HTTP redirection server running on port 80.
MeshCentral v0.3.0-p, WAN mode.
MeshCentral HTTPS server running on domain.net:443.
SMTP mail server smtp.gmail.com working as expected

As you can see, MC is still on v0.3.0-p

**Edit - Also, there are no errors when clicking "show server error log"

To update, I connect via SSH

cd mc
sudo systemctl stop meshcentral
sudo npm install npm
sudo npm install meshcentral
sudo systemctl start meshcentral

If I don't run sudo npm install npm MC will not update. No clue why I need the extra step.

bnrstnr

Are there ever agent updates that need to be done with MeshCentral?

scottalanmiller

@bnrstnr said in Comparing MeshCentral 2 to ScreenConnect:

Are there ever agent updates that need to be done with MeshCentral?

Haven't seen any cases for that yet.

Ylian

@bnrstnr When you update the MeshCentral server, it will auto-update all the agents when needed.

Ylian

@pmoncho Arg. I need to investigate this NPM issue. I have not seen this problem on my own servers, but it may be an issue with a specific NPM version. I will take a look.

Ylian

You guys get an premiere, I am posting this here first. I just published the all new MeshCentral Router for Windows. Allows TCP port mapping thru the MeshCentral server. Requires v0.3.0-t or later. You can RDP, PuTTY, WinSCP to remote computers. Youtube video demonstration here. Feedback & bug reports appreciated.

scottalanmiller

@Ylian oh way, that's some awesome stuff! Thanks!

FATeknollogee

Fired up a quick Win10 vm & tested MC2Router....pretty damn cool :thumbs_up: :thumbs_up_medium-dark_skin_tone:

pmoncho

@Ylian said in Comparing MeshCentral 2 to ScreenConnect:

@pmoncho Arg. I need to investigate this NPM issue. I have not seen this problem on my own servers, but it may be an issue with a specific NPM version. I will take a look.

Thanks Ylian.

As an FYI, I am running Ubuntu Current with current updates as of 03/18/19. If that helps anything at all.

NashBrydges

@Ylian said in Comparing MeshCentral 2 to ScreenConnect:

You guys get an premiere, I am posting this here first. I just published the all new MeshCentral Router for Windows. Allows TCP port mapping thru the MeshCentral server. Requires v0.3.0-t or later. You can RDP, PuTTY, WinSCP to remote computers. Youtube video demonstration here. Feedback & bug reports appreciated.

Now I HAVE to find time to get this server setup and test it. Very cool feature.

scotth

I have 4 tasks on the front burner today all of which require the better part of a day each and then I see a new toy released that's causing an itch between my shoulder blades. Thanks Ylian. It looks quite nice.

scottalanmiller

@NashBrydges it's the best support tool I've ever used.

scottalanmiller

Just went to 0.3.0-t

FATeknollogee

@scottalanmiller said in Comparing MeshCentral 2 to ScreenConnect:

@NashBrydges it's the best support tool I've ever used.

That be a serious understatement...