ManageEngine RMM Central is a software designed for MSPs to effectively perform real-time remote monitor and alerting, conduct remote maintenance and perform troubleshooting, and automate routine IT tasks. This helps boost technician productivity, cut labor costs, and solve complex tasks efficiently. Few of RMM Central's key capabilities include network performance monitoring, fault management, Configurations, Inventory Management, Patch Management, Service Pack Installation, Software Installation, Desktop Sharing etc. Click here to know more about RMM and it's capabilities.
This document will explain the architecture used in RMM Central. The components used in RMM Central are as follows:
RMM Central Server has to be installed in your head office and has to be configured as an EDGE device. This means that the designated ports, 8090 and 8091 (configurable) should be accessible through the Internet.
To manage your devices, RMM server pushes the RMM Central agent to the client machines, deploys configurations, initiates scanning for Inventory and Patch Management to manage the desktops in the customers network effectively. It is advised to keep the RMM Central server always running to carry out the day-to-day remote monitoring and management activities.
The Network Monitoring feature of RMM consists of two distinct server components, the RMM Central server and the Probe. As the names suggest, the RMM Central server that is installed in the NOC or the central location is where the administrator can take control of all the distributed resources over the LAN/WAN. The Probe is installed in the site which it is required to monitor and report the fault and performance to the Central server.
RMM Central server periodically collects health, performance and fault data across all Probes and consolidates the information in one location.
The Probe-Central architecture lets you manage multiple remote locations and is designed to scale the network monitoring needs of large enterprises. By adding probes at remote locations, RMM's Central server offers a centralized console to visualize performance hiccups across every client location. You can monitor critical performance metrics like CPU and memory utilization, availability status and metrics related to storage and bandwidth.
All these actions can be initiated from a web-based administration console in a few simple clicks.
To leverage the complete functionalities of an AD based setup to perform day-today management activities since the RMM Central server is outside the network, RMM Central has come up with a component called the AD Connector which acts as a communicator between the RMM Central server and the Domain Controller of an organization. It is mandatory for the AD connector to be one of the Distribution Servers (DS) within the organization. When a customer with multiple remote offices is managed by RMM Central server, one of the Distribution Server is configured as the AD connector.
RMM Central Distribution Server is light-weight software that is installed in one of the computers in the Customer Offices. This agent will communicate with the RMM Central Server to pull the information for all the computers in that customer's branch office. The agents that reside in the branch office computers will contact the Distribution Server to get the information available to them and process the requests. This results in low bandwidth utilization as only one agent will contact the Server periodically. When there are multiple Distribution Servers for a customer, one of the Distribution Servers will act as an AD connector.
RMM Central Agent is light-weight software that is installed in the client systems that are being managed using RMM Central. It acts as a worker to carry out the operations as instructed by the RMM Central Server. RMM Central agent can either be installed manually or through the Distribution Server in all the customer computers that are being managed using RMM Central.
For computers in customer branch Offices, the agent will contact the Distribution Server to pull the configurations available for them, deploys them and updates the status back to the Server.
The Notification Server is a component which is residing in the RMM Central Server. Notification Server is a TCP connection which used the port 8057, when an on-demand task is to be executed. When an on-demand task is initiated, the Notification Server communicates with the RMM Central agent regarding the on-demand action to be performed in the particular client machine.
The web console provides a central control point for all the RMM Central functions. It can be accessed from anywhere:- LAN, Remote Offices, and Home through Internet/VPN. No separate client installations are required to access the web console.
The Probe periodically polls the devices in the local network and updates data to the central server. The Probes are deployed in a remote location and is registered with the Central Server. The Probes can be deployed even behind firewalls or proxy servers.
The Secure Gateway Server (SGS) secures communication between the RMM Central Server when the server communicates with probes or agents installed in remote offices over the internet. The SGS shields the server from being exposed to the internet and prevents possible threats and covers vulnerabilities. Click here to know more about the SGS.