It is no longer necessary for IT department technicians to visit each desktop computer to set it up, install new software, or troubleshoot problems. As well as making IT support work easier, remote desktop systems enable the centralization of help desks on a global scale.
It is a lot easier for software companies to provide support to both businesses and the general public. The reason for this is remote desktop systems, and Managed Service Providers (MSPs) wouldn't exist without them.
As time goes on, more features are demanded and there has been stiff competition between vendors, resulting in some very sophisticated remote desktop connection managers. Examples include:
As Managed Service Providers have emerged, remote desktop connection management tools have been integrated into a suite of tools that are geared towards accessing the desktops of other companies in order to meet the requirements of a support contract. The suites of tools are referred to as Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM).
MSPs must provide excellent tools to their technicians, such as remote desktop systems, while also ensuring the security of the data and systems of their clients. A tightening of working practices and the use of secure systems are necessary to ensure that rogue MSPs can't damage client systems or steal data.
The Remote Desktop Connection Manager is an extremely useful piece of software. Your saved remote connections can be accessed from a single point. As a result, there is no need to keep a separate list of your servers.
This type of software will make your working life so much easier if you work remotely with multiple machines. As a result, we decided to review 5 of the best remote desktop connection managers.
We have selected the following remote desktop connection managers as the best:
We will discuss the different features that make each application good as well as some short comings you might want to avoid. Each of these apps will excel in a certain area, and we will find the best app for you based on this.
Let's see what's going on in the world of remote desktop connection managers and see which one we like the best.
lets users store large lists of computers that can be connected to quickly. It uses TLS 1.2 which increases safety and security. TLS follows the PCI and HIPAA standards for data security standards.
DMRC allows you to connect to different operating systems such as Microsoft Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X. You can chat with the operators and users on the other end of the connection so that you can relay information and instructions to them, and they can provide feedback so that you know what is happening on their end.
You can share screens and share files directly from within the application as well. IF you need to restart the server or computer that you are connected to then DMRC is able to send those commands remotely.
The application integrates with Active Directory so that you can connect to specific resources.
It provides management tools for 4 endpoints on a remote network through a cloud-based platform. The package can also run your remote LAN, since all networks are remote to this system. With this service, you can manage multiple networks from one account.
Syxsense Manage includes a remote desktop service among its many features. Technicians can use this to access one of the managed endpoints. When you download an agent program onto one of its hosts, the management of a site begins. This agent searches the network for devices and creates an inventory of software, as well as facilitating remote access to the desktop.
The remote desktop service is just one of the tools that technicians can use to access endpoints. The system can monitor computers running Windows, macOS, or Linux. They can be accessed through the command line as well as through the remote desktop. Using this service, you can start and stop all registered endpoints.
RDCMan gives you a single point of access for all your remote desktop tasks throughout the day. The application is quite old, so the styling and general layout are a little bare when compared to commercial products. Some people might find the simplicity of the way it works appealing. The last time this tool was updated was in November of 2014.
It works very well in Windows environments where you need to connect to Windows servers and computers since RDCMan is a Microsoft product. You can save computers into a dropdown list, as well as view a snapshot of your last activity on the computer.
The combination of all these features results in a highly functional remote desktop tool, but without some of the bells and whistles that other modern remote desktop manager tools provide, such as SSH, VNC or other popular remote desktop methods. The 2.7.1406.0 release introduced new features such as Virtual Machine Connect to Console, Smart Groups and credential encryption with certificates. With this release, Remote Action is also available for Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012.
The RDCMan tool is a free download from Microsoft, and you can get it here!
Due to a vulnerability, Download:RDCMan is no longer available - we will however keep this here for reference when Microsoft decides to patch and re-release it.
As a fork of mRemote, mRemoteNG is an interesting open source project. In many ways, mRemoteNG has succeeded in adding more functionality and different interface to the original.
As a whole, the application is very easy to use, and it gives its users a central location from which to execute all of the remote commands they need to run throughout the day.
The real strength of mRemoteNG is the support that it provides for multiple protocols. You can connect via RDP, VNC, ICA, SSH, Telnet, HTTP/HTTPS, rlogin, and Raw Socket. The latest stable release is dated April 12 2019 as of time of writing, and is available to download for free from the download link here.
The website itself offers support, documentation and posts from the developer. There is also a Source Code section where you can download the code and modify it yourself if you are that way inclined.
The ability to save your most common machines, combined with the various different connection methods aside from remote desktop connection offer most users more than enough functionality to make this a great option for using the various different remote computers.
The RoyalTS remote management solution offers a wealth of options. Remote Desktop Protocol, VNC, and SSH were used by RoyalTS. S/FTP and web-based connections are also available.
The centralized credential management system is perhaps one of its most useful features. When you log on to a system, this enables you and your team to keep your passwords safe without needing to know what they are. The result is an instant list of machines you can access instantly without having to consult your password lists.
Automated tasks include command tasks and key sequence tasks. As a result, basic and repetitive tasks become automatic processes that you don't have to worry about.
A SSH-based tunnelling protocol is used to ensure security, giving you a secure gateway that cannot be intercepted by an outside party. It is integrated into the application, so security is baked in, which makes it very secure.
You can also use RoyalTS to connect to a specific server using TeamViewer. If you cannot connect to a computer via traditional remote desktop, you can manage your TeamViewer sessions and connect to TeamViewer-equipped computers.
Last but not least, we have dynamic folders. Access to commonly used files and the ability to copy them to remote machines are provided without having to set up advanced file sharing applications.
There are two flavors of RoyalTS. There are 10 simultaneous connections and a maximum of 10 sets of credentials that can be stored in the free Lite version. An additional cost of €39,00 is charged for a single-user license.
Devolutions offers both a Free Edition and an Enterprise Edition, like most modern software products. There are different features available in each edition. It is still a fully-functional remote desktop manager with remote connection management, password management, and permission to use it in both a personal and enterprise capacity.
Sahred Database and Vaults are additional features of the enterprise version, as well as role-based access control, two-factor authentication for increased security, and access to audit and report information.
You can also automatically launch connections using Remote Desktop Manager, which is another useful feature. Privileged credentials can be used to launch highly secure connections with this feature.
In addition, RDP, SSH, VPMs, Web-based control, VNC, Telnet, ICA/HDX, ARD, TeamViewer, ConnectWise Control, and LogMeIn are supported.
You can share session information with your entire team if you have one.
Software selection is always going to be tricky depending on what you need to accomplish. As you can see, there are many options out there, and hopefully this list has helped you to think about how and where you can connect and get the job done when working on systems such as servers and desktops.