MeshCentral Blog

MeshCentral 2 is a free open source web-based remote computer management solution allowing administrators to setup new servers in minutes and start remotely controlling computers using both software agent and Intel® AMT. The server works both in a LAN environment and over the Internet in a WAN setup. Now, I just released a new version with support for server-to-server peering allowing for improved fail-over robustness and scaling. Some technical details: Servers connect to each-other using secure web sockets on port 443. This is just like browsers and Mesh agents, so you can setup a fully working peered server installation with only port 443 being open . Server peering and mesh agent connections use a secondary authentication certificate allowing the server HTTPS public certificate (presented to browser) to be changed. This allows MeshCentral2 peer servers to be setup with different HTTPS certificates. As a result, MeshCentral2 can be setup in a multi-geo configuration...

Quick note to say that lots more updates and fixes are going on with MeshCentral2 . Updates are coming pretty much every day. Yesterday, I added server self-update capability. You can now update the server with just a few clicks on the web site (if you are administrator). Hopefully, we are getting close to Beta2 that will be quite usable for day-to-day use. Also, at work this morning, I had MeshCentral2 cupcakes. Figured I share a picture since they look so yummy! Ylian http://www.meshcommander.com/meshcentral2

MeshCentral 2 development keeps moving forward. So much is going on, we have to just make a list of new features and changes. MeshCentral2 is still very much in beta , lots work still to be done before it is ready for day-to-day use. This said, much progress is being made. Here is a main recap of the last few weeks: Location and mapping support . The MeshAgent 2 can now attempt to get its location using its public IP address. MeshCentral 2 then records this information and can display location information on a live map along with colored pins showing the connectivity status of the device. Default mapping information uses OpenStreetMap . Network interface information . The latest MeshAgent 2 and MeshCentral 2 now cooperate to gather device network interface information. This is useful for all sorts of usages including remote device wake-up. Server Wake-on-LAN support . When MeshCentral 2 is not in WAN-only mode, it will not send out wake-on-LAN packets upon request. ...

MeshCentral2 development keeps moving forward and this week, we got two really interesting new features added. As you will see, MeshCentral2 is positioning to be a server that can be used in a wide array of usages. From small networks with a few computers on a local network to larger deployments on a commercial cloud services. MeshCentral2 is being designed to handle both and everything in between. Added support for LAN and WAN modes . This is one of the big innovations that will get MeshCentral2 noticed. Historically, you always needed a fixed IP/Host to setup MeshCentral, making things difficult for small deployments. Now MeshCentral2 has a new “LAN mode” where mesh agents discover the server location using multicast. For small deployments, it’s easier than ever to get a management solution setup. Let’s take a look at the differences between the two modes noting that it’s possible to run MeshCentral2 in both modes simultaneously, offering both feature sets at the same...

Quick blog post to say that both MeshCentral2 and MeshCommander now fully support the RMCP discovery protocol for Intel® AMT . For a long time now, Intel® AMT has had the ability to respond to UDP discovery packets, but this is the first time I made full use of this feature in the two big open source tools. You can now quickly scan the network for Intel® AMT computers, select them and add them to the list of managed computers. In addition, you now get an almost live view of what computers are present on the network. This is really nice, you don’t need to guess anymore what computers are present. MeshCentral2 : When it comes to the internet/intranet management web site, RMCP is used to detect the presence of Intel® AMT computers day and night, accumulating data on when the computers are present on the timeline when they show up and go away. It’s also a wonderful way to get a birds eye view on what computers are present on the network at any time. Because MeshCentral2 us...

A quick post to say that I just uploaded a new YouTube video on how to compile MeshCommander for use as a firmware web application for Intel AMT 11 and above. Starting with Intel AMT 11, you can now upload a web application into the firmware that will replace the built-in index.htm page. This is super useful because you can upload a fairly complete Intel AMT management console into the firmware and access it using a browser. MeshCommander was built to do this, you can also read my previous blog on this topic . In this new video, I show how to download the MeshCommander source code and use the Web Site Compiler to build a compress .gz file that can be uploaded into the Intel AMT 11 storage area. Because MeshCommander is open source, your welcome to change and re-brand it anyway you like, in fact, I encourage it. Hope it's helpful, Ylian meshcommander.com

MeshCentral2 development is moving forward at a swift pace and this week, there was plenty more going on. In my view, MeshCentral2 is probably the easiest way to setup your own open source remote device management web site. it is still in beta, and easily available on the NPM site . I am updating MeshCentral2 many times a week and this time around, wanted to highlight a few notable new features: Added support for Linux x86, for both 32bit and 64bit . A few days back I released the first version of MeshCentral2 with Linux support. Improving upon the previous version of MeshCentral, the Linux installation will be a bit different this time around. A script will be downloaded on the Linux computer, that script will attempt to automatically identify the computer and download and install the correct MeshAgent. Makes installing the Linux mesh agent easier since you don’t need to select what port of the agent you need anymore. However, there are only two ports of the Linux agent...