GFI Max Remote

[orinoco]

Currently evaluating this with a view to MSP, only 36 hours in, but finding it a little clunky, I have setup 5 VMs including a Mac Client, I have installed some of the scripts kindly provided by others. It just seems slow to me? Remote booting a machine knocks a machine off the console page for an hour, there are lots of awaiting synchronisation messages, run an automated now task doesn't seem to mean that. Am I expecting too much? Some cases it appears it would be quicker for me to drive to a local clients house before waiting for the console to update?

Is this what others experience, as previously mentioned this is only with 5 clients on an internal network, does adding WAN clients and greater numbers further impact on the performance?

 

[Jeffreynya]

I have trialed it a few times and my biggest issue is you can't just run something when you want to. If I want to kick of a check or a script at any given time I should be able to do it and have it run now, not in 30 minutes or a hour.

 

[Moltuae]

That was one of my gripes with it too.

That, and the rep was too pushy .... phoning and emailing every few days.

I can see the appeal, and it has some nice features, but I can already do much of what it provides by scripts, remote access or other means.

And, while I'm a big fan of automation, I'm not too keen on blindly automated tasks. I prefer to monitor updates, etc as they install, especially when it comes to business-critical server systems. While it can tell you whether an update was successfully installed or not, it can't check that all of the important LOB software applications still work correctly afterwards.

It also didn't really suit my business model either to be honest. I prefer a more hands-on approach, actively monitoring and maintaining systems, charging by the hour, rather than a monthly monitoring fee.

 

[AndyM]

You can change the reporting time to 30 mins. Sounds like you've just installed it with the defaults. Whatever you choose, there is an upper limit on the amount LogicNow (GFI's new name) will charge you. This will be set out in your T&C's.

As for rebooting, and it not appearing for an hour, you can still take remote control.

When you run an automated task, the request syncs at the next agent check-in. The dashboard tells you the last time the agent synced.

It's not perfect. It's not real time. But in terms of bangs for bucks, it's spot on.

If you want something that is fairly instantaneous, then there are a lot of people on here using N-Able. But you'll need a fair whack of dosh up front though.

Andy

 

[orinoco]

Thanks Andy, I thank I need to play with it a bit more. I am in the testing phase so this probably why I am noticing the delays more, I'm setting things up and trying things, but further along the line I would guess that once I have my setup nailed down and configured I shouldn't really need to run the amount of stuff I am trying

 

[ODITS_Russell]

Thanks Andy, I thank I need to play with it a bit more. I am in the testing phase so this probably why I am noticing the delays more, I'm setting things up and trying things, but further along the line I would guess that once I have my setup nailed down and configured I shouldn't really need to run the amount of stuff I am trying

I'm on my third week of playing with it myself. I can definitely see some use cases for it, but I'm not overly impressed. Pretty disappointed that there is literally no online community for it either, at least that I've found.

I do have to say that the cost for it is very reasonable though. I still haven't truly made the call on if I'll end making it a primary tool, but I do see that with some smaller clients it could be cost effective.

 

[4ycr]

The online community for GFI is quite active on linkedin in a group called maxfocus, there a a lot of people willing to help with GFI staff going in there as well.

 

[allstarit]

I have been using GFI for a couple of months mostly on home pcs. I have about 34 pcs in my console at the moment and its doing ok so far. Once you install the agent you need to let it do the initial sync first and after that its not too bad. After a bit of tweaking im happy with it so far.

There is http://www.fixitscripts.com which has alot of GFI scripts and as mentioned by others check out the linkedin group.

 

[AndyM]

In addition, GFI is very open about their products, and have an open ideas forum, where you can submit ideas about improvements that you would like to see, in addition to voting for ideas already submitted by other members:

http://ideas.gfi.com/

Andy