Remote Desktop Software

[loon3y]

Logmein Central Plus is ridiculous expensive this year as they doubled the price. It is now $3000 per year where it used to be $1500.


We need at least 200 computers as we have many client's servers and workstations. All we really use is Remote Access and File Transfer.

Logmein's speed is very efficient, but as our company is going through some rough times we cannot afford this.

Can anyone suggest a cheaper but solution without the drop in quality? Or maybe a file transfer solution because we need to update customers source code on the servers and at times test (because windows/network configuration or who knows what is different).


Right now they've got us by the balls and I'm a bit stressing out and not sure what to do.

 

[hobowankenobi]

You are talking about remote machines, that are not on your local network, correct?

There are lots....but will need to test in your environment. Many free/low cost can do remote access, but without the file transfer feature.

All I can say is: Test, test, test!

 

[hobowankenobi]

I look at these options about every 6-12 months, and although I have not used it, this would be at the top if my paid tool list to test:

https://www.screenconnect.com/Remote-Support-Features

$420 per year for each tech, and unlimited clients ain't too shabby....for the rich feature set of the standard license. With unlimited clients, growth is not penalized. $35 per month (per tech) is probably less than 1/2 of a billable hour. Seems tempting, if it is as good as it is billed.

 

[960design]

Logmein Central Plus is ridiculous expensive this year as they doubled the price. It is now $3000 per year where it used to be $1500.


We need at least 200 computers as we have many client's servers and workstations. All we really use is Remote Access and File Transfer.

Logmein's speed is very efficient, but as our company is going through some rough times we cannot afford this.

Can anyone suggest a cheaper but solution without the drop in quality? Or maybe a file transfer solution because we need to update customers source code on the servers and at times test (because windows/network configuration or who knows what is different).


Right now they've got us by the balls and I'm a bit stressing out and not sure what to do.

Apple Remote Desktop ($79US if all macs ) would be the clumsy way, but possibly the most familiar way to do what you are attempting or TeamViewer Business ( $850US )

I would script out a shell access that would automate the updates to all 'active' clients. ( $time )

To be honest, I would have written the source code to look for updates and automatically pull them. That way you just create a single push point ( obviously, after pushing to a staging server for evaluation and to prevent from crashing your entire client base ) and let the clients automagically take care of the rest.

It seems very error prone to remotely log into 200 clients to copy/paste source code updates. Remote log in to our systems would not be possible and would seem to limit your client base. Whereas our servers can reach out to an API endpoint for updates.

 

[Sbarnesvta]

We had the same pricing issue with LMI about a year ago. We switched over to team viewer and have been very happy. It is expensive up front, but the license is good for as many end points as you want for the particular version you purchase the license for. IE we purchased 5 concurrent connections for Version 11 as long as we stick with version 11 we are good to go.

 

[loon3y]

Apple Remote Desktop ($79US if all macs ) would be the clumsy way, but possibly the most familiar way to do what you are attempting or TeamViewer Business ( $850US )

I would script out a shell access that would automate the updates to all 'active' clients. ( $time )

To be honest, I would have written the source code to look for updates and automatically pull them. That way you just create a single push point ( obviously, after pushing to a staging server for evaluation and to prevent from crashing your entire client base ) and let the clients automagically take care of the rest.

It seems very error prone to remotely log into 200 clients to copy/paste source code updates. Remote log in to our systems would not be possible and would seem to limit your client base. Whereas our servers can reach out to an API endpoint for updates.

it is very error prone, and very hard to keep up with updates. But I'm very afraid of auto updating clients, because of faulty code. Especially since we deal with EDI


[doublepost=1478527321][/doublepost]most likely going with team viewer or screen connect

 

[960design]

it is very error prone, and very hard to keep up with updates. But I'm very afraid of auto updating clients, because of faulty code. Especially since we deal with EDI

That is always a fear. The best you can do is the best you can do. I build to a staging server, test several use cases ( client dependencies that cannot fail ) and still mess up little things. Last one was a client server running a very old PHP version that failed to handle the newer code: something like their server was updated and had a default version of PHP, which was less than the 5.3 namespace requirements. Sure the requirements are listed, but.... it is still my fault when clients lose time and money. I have learned my lesson and have the code display the requirements. This would have immediately notified the client of the need to 'update' instead of a scary error message.

Modularize your code as much as possible. Fix and optimize each module, but we all know this.

[doublepost=1478527321][/doublepost]most likely going with team viewer or screen connect[/QUOTE]Good luck, it is better to have something work, than nothing at all.

 

[loon3y]

That is always a fear. The best you can do is the best you can do. I build to a staging server, test several use cases ( client dependencies that cannot fail ) and still mess up little things. Last one was a client server running a very old PHP version that failed to handle the newer code: something like their server was updated and had a default version of PHP, which was less than the 5.3 namespace requirements. Sure the requirements are listed, but.... it is still my fault when clients lose time and money. I have learned my lesson and have the code display the requirements. This would have immediately notified the client of the need to 'update' instead of a scary error message.

Modularize your code as much as possible. Fix and optimize each module, but we all know this.

[doublepost=1478527321][/doublepost]most likely going with team viewer or screen connect

Good luck, it is better to have something work, than nothing at all.[/QUOTE]


Thank you man, I really appreciate the advice.