Whilst there's certainly
no shortage of network management software on the market today
many products try to cover as many angles as possible; with
the end result being that they merely become a jack-of-all-trades.
Not so with RemoteScope as it focuses specifically on three
areas - asset management, software deployment and help desk
functions.
The first comprises
hardware and sof tware inventory but adds real-time monitoring
as well - a rarely seen yet highly valuable feature.
The RemoteScope hierarchy consists of
a central console and
agents for each workstation and server to be included in the
management scheme.
This simplicity makes installation a cinch,
although we would have liked to have seen agent deployment
tools within the central console. As it is you can install
the agent locally, email the executable to a user or pull
the software from the central server, which only takes a few
seconds for each system. Two different agents are provided,
with one allowing full access from the console and a VIP version
which requires local user permissions to be granted whenever
a RemoteScope user wants to access their system.
The Master Console is a tidy affair, with
all options neatly arranged in an Explorer-style tree in the
left pane for easy access.
You start off by adding IP address range
details for monitored network segments and then you can run
an auto-discovery routine which looks for installed agents
and adds their details to the console.
Groups make agent
management easier and clients can be members of multiple groups.
Local access to agent properties is supported but this can
be restricted
with the use of usernames
and passwords which are all managed from the central console.
Inventory details
are gathered from each system's registry so accuracy is going
to
be
good. Sure enough, on our five test clients we found RemoteScope
provided
comparatively high
levels of information about installed hardware and software.
The hardware rundown
is similar to that provided by the Windows System Properties
so you can see all installed devices along with system resources
including IRQs, DMA and I/O assignments. For software, if
there's an entry in the registry then the Console can display
its details - so there isn't much that will slip through this
net. The new
inventory
monitor tool gets our vote, as you can create policies to
watch over
specific
hardware and software components for selected groups or individuals.
If anything gets added or taken away you'll know about it
as RemoteScope can warn you via a local prompt, a network
broadcast to a designated system and an email to one
address.
Software distribution uses ISS and MSI packages,
and these can be deployed from the Console to selected groups
or individuals. Once the package has been created you can
send it out immediately or use the task scheduler to run it
when convenient. The ability to search the inventory database
pays dividends here as you can, for example, create groups
that have the required hardware specification to run the new
software.
Help desks features
are plentiful and include a good remote control tool, file
transfer between local and remote systems and the facilities
for scheduling backups of critical files. Text-based chats
can be had with clients to help sort out problems and the
new meeting room rounds it all off nicely as you can extend
this facility to multiple clients.
By specialising in
particular areas of network management RemoteScope avoids
the danger of spreading itself too thinly. Help desk and inventory
features are particularly good whilst software distribution
is simple to carry out making it ideal for deploying security
patches as well as new applications.
A fully working 30 day trial version
can be downloaded at:
www.micro2000.co.uk/products/remotescope/downloads.htm
Reprinted From
Network Computing - www.networkcomputing.co.uk
Call
us now on +44 (0)1342 301 001
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