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Remote Tasks Feature: Users have found the remote tasks feature to be extremely beneficial, with many reviewers stating that it has saved …
Overview
What is N-able N-central?
MSPs and IT professionals use N-able™ N-central® to monitor and manage devices and complex networks remotely. N-central provides visibility and efficiency as the user's needs scale. N-central can help users: 1. Proactively monitor everything on a customer network—not just servers and workstations—and troubleshoot. 2. Stay…
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What is N-able N-central?
MSPs and IT professionals use N-able™ N-central® to monitor and manage devices and complex networks remotely. N-central provides visibility and efficiency as the user's needs scale. N-central can help users: 1. Proactively monitor everything on a customer network—not just servers and…
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What is ManageEngine RMM Central?
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Product Details
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- Competitors
- Tech Details
- FAQs
What is N-able N-central?
MSPs
and IT professionals use N-able™ N-central® to monitor and manage devices and complex
networks remotely. N-central provides
visibility and efficiency as the user's needs scale. N-central can help users:
1. Proactively monitor everything on a customer network—not just servers
and workstations—and troubleshoot.
2. Stay on top of threats with features like MFA, antivirus, integrated endpoint
detection and response, data backup, disk encryption, email protection, and
password management .
3. Automate routine tasks using rules and filters to customize policies by customer, site, or device type to gain precision and control.
N-able N-central Features
Monitoring Tasks Features
- Supported: Remote monitoring
- Supported: Network device monitoring
Management Tasks Features
- Supported: Patch Management
Additional Features
- Supported: Remote Monitoring & Management
- Supported: Endpoint Detection & Response
- Supported: Network Topology Mapping
- Supported: Mobile Device Management
- Supported: Remote Access
- Supported: Automation Manager
N-able N-central Screenshots
N-able N-central Video
SolarWinds N-central: One Powerful IT Management Platform
N-able N-central Competitors
N-able N-central Technical Details
| Deployment Types | On-premise, Software as a Service (SaaS), Cloud, or Web-Based |
|---|---|
| Operating Systems | Windows, Linux, Mac |
| Mobile Application | Apple iOS, Android |
Frequently Asked Questions
Datto SIRIS, ConnectWise Automate, and Kaseya Traverse are common alternatives for N-able N-central.
Reviewers rate Patch Management highest, with a score of 6.
The most common users of N-able N-central are from Small Businesses (1-50 employees).
Comparisons
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Reviews and Ratings
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Community Insights
TrustRadius Insights are summaries of user sentiment data from TrustRadius reviews and, when necessary, 3rd-party data sources. Have feedback on this content? Let us know!
- Pros
- Cons
- Recommendations
Remote Tasks Feature: Users have found the remote tasks feature to be extremely beneficial, with many reviewers stating that it has saved them time and provided convenience in managing multiple devices without physical interaction.
Remote Support Functionality: The remote support functionality of the product has received high praise from users, who appreciate its efficiency in troubleshooting and resolving issues without the need for physical presence. Many reviewers have specifically mentioned how easy it is to remotely control user devices and initiate remote sessions.
Management Capabilities: The management capabilities of SolarWinds N-central, especially in terms of patch management and anti-virus management, are considered top-notch by users. Automatic approval and deployment of patches, as well as scheduling automatic antivirus scans, streamline the process and ensure device security without manual intervention.
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Poor Customer Support: Users have expressed dissatisfaction with the customer support provided by N-central, stating that the support team often gives scripted or copy-paste responses, leading to a lengthy process of back and forth before finding a real solution. Several users have mentioned that it can take more than a week for their support issues to be resolved.
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Lack of Granular Security: Some users have mentioned the lack of granular security in N-central, where users are assigned roles and everything under that role becomes accessible. This may not be ideal for all technicians who require more specific access controls.
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Prioritization of Sales over Customer Satisfaction: There are concerns among users regarding Solarwinds N-able's prioritization of sales over customer satisfaction. Many users have experienced difficulties in receiving timely responses to their support issues or concerns, while the sales team appears to be relentless in meeting its quotas.
Users commonly recommend the following for N-Central:
- Give it a try, especially with the free demos and trial period.
- Take advantage of on-boarding sessions to fully understand and set up the product.
- Spend time setting up and learning N-Central to fully experience its benefits.
- Make sure to thoroughly research and understand the options and features before implementing.
- Consider getting a trial to experience the capabilities of N-Central.
- Plan implementation and start with basic features before fully committing.
- Utilize global settings for easier use across customers.
- Build graphic charts to monitor and track performance.
- Dedicate a staff member to champion N-Central for maximum benefit.
- Review the product and talk to an MSP using N-Central before switching RMMs.
These recommendations highlight the importance of exploring N-Central through free trials, taking time to set it up properly, understanding its features, utilizing resources available, planning implementation, and seeking feedback from other users.
Attribute Ratings
Reviews
(1-21 of 21)Companies can't remove reviews or game the system. Here's why
March 30, 2023
N-Able? More like Dis-Able
Score 1 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Ideally, we wanted to utilize N-able N-central's tools to provide RMM and remote access for client systems. We sought out an application that had privileged access available (PassPortal) that also let us script solutions. The $99 price was enticing, so we gave it a shot.
- A tad easier to setup than DIY solutions
- Easier to manage many customers than a few other options out there
- Relatively inexpensive if options are disabled
- Customer support just points to online guides and I feel they aren't helpful.
- During the trial they turn on a lot of features. In my experience, if you play around with the features, they charge you for them. Keep this in mind if you move forward with N-Able - they will charge for "trialed" services.
- In my experience, some services that you're being charged for can't be disabled or monitored by you or your team. You only see them on the monthly invoice.
- In my opinion, the "Scripting Automation" doesn't provide value. You're either going to be writing your own batch or Powershell to make scripting work.
- In my opinion, monitoring software deployments is painful.
- The default monitoring template can't be duplicated, edited, or referenced. You'll find that the default monitors in an unusual way and will throw needless recurring alerts into your ticketing system. To avoid this, you need to create a template from scratch which takes many hours to set up.
- In my opinion, they're more concerned about a quick buck than customer service. "Buyer beware" company.
March 16, 2023
N-Able is more like M-abye
Score 5 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
We use N-able N-central to monitor our Windows servers in multiple data centers spanning Azure and 2 on premise data centers. We monitor things such as network connectivity, resource usage, and running services. We also use it to deploy Windows updates across the servers every month.
- Easy to deploy
- Easy to push agents to the servers
- Has a plethora of features
- Very convoluted patch management
- Sometimes the agents seem to stop working and have to be restarted/reinstalled
- Feels like it tries to do to many things so doesn't really excel in any one thing
October 13, 2022
Brilliant IT Management Portal
N-able N-central is used as a central Endpoint and individual PC
management tool that allows me a global company wide view of all IT
equipment within the company. It alerts me on non compliance of any
user\PC on AV policy as well as Hardware policies such as Disk Space,
overuse of memory or any other issues where thresholds are set
- Remote Management of Multiple PC's in an organization
- Scheduled AV Scan and Management of AV
- Limits and Threshold alerts of specific requirements such as patch management or Disk space usage
- Server Management
- More Knowledge base articles
- Lack of Online support
October 06, 2022
Good product
We use it as our RMM solution and to assist with automation. It helps with remote access and monitoring of client environments.
- Overall GUI
- Functionality and tools
- Automation platform
- Terrible support, in my opinion
- Bugs in software with no real answers from N-able N-central I've found.
- Listening to its end users
May 16, 2022
Do not use N-Central. Do not use N-Able.
Score 1 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
We were using N-Able for N-Central, MSP Backup, M365 backup, AV-Defender, SentinelOne and MSP Manager.
We have recently moved away from N-Able for all of our services except M365 Backup.
The reasons are nearly endless however the primary reasons would be:
1. N-Able are seemingly just are an acquisition company who just buys software, tacks it on until it's at a 'working' state, then forgets about it indefinitely.
2. Support have been for the most part incompetent.
3. SentinelOne and MSP Backup are just terrible, the integration for SentinelOne is the worst part, but it is extremely resource hungry, not intuitive and produces many false-positives. MSP backup backs up to the cloud, then syncs locally for the local backup, try doing that with over 1TB of data and see how long it takes. Furthermore, local backups are effectively useless, all that happens is it copies the data from the local backup WHILST uploading and verifying all of the data with the cloud anyway - useless.
4. AV-Defender is just an older version of Bitdefender, missing a lot of the newer features of Bitdefender. Changes take a long time to take effect as well.
5. MSP Manager is a joke, it's extremely slow and takes an unecessary amount of steps to get anywhere in the software.
6. N-Central is scarily unreliable with no simple way to automatically backup the database for a quick recovery. Support will not assist with Azure deployments.
7. In the worst hack of history in 2021, seemingly the only change N-Able as a company made was to change their name to N-Able, which is ridiculous.
We have a 10 page document of font size 10, dot pointed issues that we supplied to our account manager - Not a single issue was resolved.
In all of our collective years and with all of the varying software that we use, N-Able has been the worst company to deal with and we will never recommend them.
We have recently moved away from N-Able for all of our services except M365 Backup.
The reasons are nearly endless however the primary reasons would be:
1. N-Able are seemingly just are an acquisition company who just buys software, tacks it on until it's at a 'working' state, then forgets about it indefinitely.
2. Support have been for the most part incompetent.
3. SentinelOne and MSP Backup are just terrible, the integration for SentinelOne is the worst part, but it is extremely resource hungry, not intuitive and produces many false-positives. MSP backup backs up to the cloud, then syncs locally for the local backup, try doing that with over 1TB of data and see how long it takes. Furthermore, local backups are effectively useless, all that happens is it copies the data from the local backup WHILST uploading and verifying all of the data with the cloud anyway - useless.
4. AV-Defender is just an older version of Bitdefender, missing a lot of the newer features of Bitdefender. Changes take a long time to take effect as well.
5. MSP Manager is a joke, it's extremely slow and takes an unecessary amount of steps to get anywhere in the software.
6. N-Central is scarily unreliable with no simple way to automatically backup the database for a quick recovery. Support will not assist with Azure deployments.
7. In the worst hack of history in 2021, seemingly the only change N-Able as a company made was to change their name to N-Able, which is ridiculous.
We have a 10 page document of font size 10, dot pointed issues that we supplied to our account manager - Not a single issue was resolved.
In all of our collective years and with all of the varying software that we use, N-Able has been the worst company to deal with and we will never recommend them.
- M365 Backup
- Expensive software
- The support team are terrible
- Sales team will promise the world to get you over the line
- Subscription management is tedious
- Old software with very little development and the support team will not provide any further information on this - no roadmap
- Integrations galore - but none of them are effective
We are using this with our managed services practice. We have roughly 20 customers that we support through N-central. It gives you device monitoring (Workstation, server, network equipment, printers, etc) and allows for remote access to workstations and servers. You can set alerts to email or chat (we use Slack) so you can stay notified of any issues in your environment.
- Remote access through Take Control.
- Backup Manager is built-in.
- Antivirus builtin.
- Automation tool.
- A steep learning curve.
- Alerting needs some help. Alerts can take up to 20 minutes.
- It's pieced together from different software, and sometimes that shows.
October 20, 2021
Solid performer for the MSP market
We are a small MSP using and central on several thousand endpoints to manage remote access remote support patch management and other functions it is also one of our primary reporting tools for client data. We use it in both our project group and our helpdesk group. We use it regularly need to get a large amount of data from a variety of endpoints quickly.
- Remote access.
- Remote support data access.
- Patch management.
- User interface.
- Security
March 03, 2021
SolarWinds N-central Review
It is used by multiple departments, but primarily by the service desk folks that use it day in and day out. Primary function is to provide quick remote access to the endpoints. The hidden features are the patching and alerting. The automation tool is fairly good, but there are some areas [for] improvement such as using MSI. The lacking support of mac products changes with each revision, but is slowly gaining some improvements. The trust in the platform was weakened with the breach, and the endpoint clients are a bit gun-shy.
- Endpoint access.
- Patching.
- Some basic reporting.
- Apple product support.
- Scripting for apple.
- Removal tool of the agent is hit and miss.
September 03, 2020
SolarWinds N-Central Review
We use N-Central to manage AV, patching, and to provide remote helpdesk support to our clients. We also make heavy use of automation via Automation Manager and powershell.
N-Central has provided us with an avenue to increase revenue and to provide a fantastic support model for our clients. One of our clients is a bank, and they are routinely audited for both Microsoft and 3rd party patching. Since we started with them they've passed their patching audits with flying colors, and with their previous IT provider and WSUS they routinely failed.
We also make heavy use of the reporting and alerting features. We send weekly AV reports and monthly Executive Summaries to our clients. We've also integrated N-Central with Connextwise so tickets are automatically generated should a device have an issue.
- Reporting
- Alerting
- Patching
- Remote Access
- I'd love for more built-in automation manager scripts
January 19, 2020
A great RMM tool, so long as you don't need support
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
We use the SolarWinds N-able N-central product to manage all of the customers we provide IT service to. It is used to monitor our client's networks, manage and maintain their assets, and to provide remote support.
- Remote tasks - entry-level techs can run basic tasks without physically touching a piece of equipment.
- Remote support - remote controlling user devices is easy and saves a lot of time with having to initiate a remote session.
- Management of devices, particularly patch management and anti-virus management - you can automatically approve and deploy patches and schedule automatic AV scans.
- Support - their customer support is extremely lacking. This goes all the way up to management. Entry-level techs provide scripted or cut and paste answers, which is not a bad thing, but there is almost always a back and forth process that happens before you can get to a real solution. The biggest issue with this is that it seems as if they only want to respond to an issue once every day - it is not uncommon for support issues to take a week or more to be resolved.
- Security features - Ncentral does not have very granular security. Users have a role, and basically anything under that role is game. We don't want all techs to have access to a clients Active Directory, but they would still need the ability to have remote access for example - there is no way to lock down specific features.
- Solarwinds N-able seems to be more focused on sales than customer satisfaction. It feels like pulling teeth to get responses to support issues or concerns, but salesmen will be relentless when it comes to needing to meet their quota.
November 19, 2019
N-central Review
We use it to manage our clients. Through N-central I can deploy patches remote into computer run remote fixes and even manage antiviruses. I can see the status of my client's devices at a glance and resolve the problems fairly quickly
- Patch management.
- Remote support.
- 3rd party application deployment is hindered by application size.
November 14, 2019
N-central Review
We use it daily in our support department. All of our technicians and sales staff have access to the N-central console for access to company assets and current device information. Servers and workstations are monitored daily. We also use it for easy windows patch management control, third party and script deployments as well as remote control of monitored devices.
- Great deployment, training, and support with the product.
- Windows patch management is excellent.
- Great monitoring software with the added benefit of easy remote control options built-in.
- It is a large piece of software and does take some time to get set-up and configured.
- Limitations with some basic monitoring like site down/internet down and server state make it difficult to have accurate monitoring information.
- Reports and reporting are minimal, not very customizable and not pretty.
September 14, 2019
Best price for the most tools
We use it for asset management, desktop automation, patch management, and remote support.
- Patch management.
- Windows probe.
- Remotely take control support.
- Windows versioning.
- Mac automation.
- More integrated scripts/amps.
August 28, 2019
Good, scalable solution for MSP with some challenges
My organization leverages N-central for our centralized managed services hub. We leverage most components of it including automatic remediation, powershell automation, antivirus module and the basic security modules. We have found the software to overall be easy to deploy for the NOC, however, the backup module is a bit archaic and the remote agent for snot support multiple screens simulatanously which most other tempting solutions support but there is enough value in the suite that it is worth using.
- Very easy deployment, all of the modules play with each other making it simple to place AV, screen tempting and management agents all in one spot.
- Automation of powershell module is great and a feature that others in this space do not have
- Linux based appliance is great if you have security conscious.
- Very easy to brand and change the look and feel of the agents and console
- Very good multitenancy separation and ability to push policies to every tenant or selectively.
- Backup module is very archaic, does not support memory based backup or hypervisor based updates, very geared towards individual workstations
- Use within a VDI infrastructure is challenging for deployment of the agents
- Most of the AV policies that come from defender are limited to working on workstation OS and not on servers.
- Reports have a weak look and feel to them and could use some data modernization, this is a place where others in this space have a huge edge over N-Able
N-central is like a Swiss Army Knife, it is an agent-based system (monitoring can be done without the agent) with many talents and capabilities, and it is very good at what it does. It has many core features, such as:
- Remote management, control of endpoints.
- Monitoring.
- Patch management.
- Centralized anti-virus management (via Bit Defender).
- Backup.
- others...
We mostly use it for Remote management and patch management. The service desk team uses the remote management feature to provide desktop support, and the patch management team uses the patch management feature to provide fleet patching of servers and end-user devices.
Aside from addressing the two needs above, it is also a very good platform for pushing software and scripts to endpoints. This is especially useful in non-centralized environments that do not have core infrastructure, and in VPN tunnels, since the agent communicates directly over the internet. It is also very firewall-friendly.
- Robust patch management: it is easy to set up patching groups via tags, and configures patch management profiles and maintenance windows.
- Remote Control: as long as the agent checks in, it is very quick and easy to take control of an endpoint, either in a separate session (RDP, kick the current user out), or to join the existing session of the current user, to provide desktop support or collaborate remotely.
- Patch management reporting: while the patching feature is strong, the reporting side of it quite limited and can be inaccurate. There is no built-in way to easily demonstrate to the customer that you have successfully patched their endpoints, and this can result in a lack of customer confidence. In order to provide effective patch management reporting, it is necessary to export raw data into another tool and perform further analysis.
- Old UI: while the software has evolved through many versions and many features added, its UI is pretty much the same as before. There is no quick way to pull up devices which match a number of different criteria. You can do this by creating a filter, but when you have to create a filter, it is not quick anymore. The menu can be confusing to navigate. As a regular admin of the tool, I often forget exactly where to find items which are buried a bit deeper under the menu hierarchy.
- Bulk management: this is also an effort of the weak UI. Since there is no way to quickly pull devices that meet certain criteria, there is no quick way to easily make bulk changes to devices. Everything is done through rules and templates and tags, and it can take a while to set them up.
- No Access to OS: the tool is presented as an application only, and the vendor does not give you OS-level access. This can make it difficult to see the health/performance of your N-central server and to set up remote monitoring.
- Permission and Access: SolarWinds improved access granularity in version 11, but it still has a lot of room for improvements. When setting user roles and access, I often find that I can never give them the exact amount of access I want. I typically end up giving them a lot more due to the lack of granularity.
March 01, 2019
N-central deployment
We use N-central for a variety of end user/endpoint purposes. We monitor laptops, desktops, and servers. We deploy security patches with n-central. We monitor suspicious activities with n-central. We also utilize n-central for anti-virus. We group internal devices, customer-facing devices, as well as various portions of the infrastructure within the GUI interface.
- Endpoint monitoring.
- Deployment of security patching.
- Deployment of agents on new assets.
- Group policy integration.
- Initial setup/categorization of devices.
- Pricing per device.
- Holistic monitoring and AI of devices.
N-central works as a monitoring and remote access tool for managed services companies. The software allows very customizable alerting including server and workstations and their disk space, processor usage, memory usage, event logs, as well as hardware. The system is very dependable and easy to use and intuitive for the expert setting it up and the technician who utilizes it for support.
- Very customizable alerting and threshold setting to quiet noisy alarms
- Hardware monitoring is an intricate process in many monitoring tools, N-central makes it quick and easy after installing the appropriate software on the server(s).
- Easy to navigate interface that allows quick view of items needing to be addressed and the ability to drill down into clients and their devices.
- Remote desktop access tool could use some help. Several other monitoring systems have perfected the remote access process but N-central can be a bit slow.
- Patch management system could use some additional features/customizability.
January 29, 2019
Great software for computer management and remote control!
Our service desk uses it to manage internal computers and computers for our clients. We use this tool to manage and update machines. We also use N-Central to remotely connect to user's machines to troubleshoot issues or complete updates.
- Allows for easy remote connection.
- Will display statistics and information for the machines.
- Allows the ability to push out software or updates without interrupting a user who is working.
- More advanced search options for machines
- Ability to see information about pending updates for a machine
- More detailed info about hardware issues/errors
SolarWinds N-Central has been implemented across our entire organization as a single platform for hardware inventory, remote support access, and reporting needs.
It allows multiple departments access to the same IT equipment database meaning the service desk can easily access user machine profiles to access remote support options and back-end support tools while the procurement department and account managers can use the same database for hardware inventory and software licensing reporting.
It allows multiple departments access to the same IT equipment database meaning the service desk can easily access user machine profiles to access remote support options and back-end support tools while the procurement department and account managers can use the same database for hardware inventory and software licensing reporting.
- SolarWinds N-central is an excellent tool for automation and deployment across thousands of network devices using the Network probe and Agent.
- SolarWinds N-central allows for constant monitoring allowing us to resolve issues before the client knows they have occurred.
- SolarWinds N-central has excellent integration as we use it in conjunction with Autotask for automated ticket logging based on alerts.
- SolarWinds N-central could benefit from a modular or customizable user interface.
- There is a steep learning curve if you wish to truly utilize all the functionality that N-Central offers.
October 17, 2018
Great RMM for Serious Managed Service Providers
N-Central is a key product for managed service providers who want to monitor every network device available. It allows us to be more proactive with our clients and increase our revenue by fixing problems before the clients know there is a problem. The automation within N-Central is top of the line, it allows our technical staff to save time and make us more profitable.
- Actively monitors devices on the network to allow us to be proactive
- Can automate different fixes for recurring issues
- Integrates very well with our PSA client, able to create tickets and fill out notes within N-Central.
- We find the layout and configuration could be more user-friendly, seems over complicated at times
- We need to host the solution ourselves to get the Report Manager add-on.
- Dashboard needs to be cleaned up and easier to read
August 10, 2018
You won't find much better than this one!
We use N-Central solely in our MIS department. We replaced the Kaspersky Remote Administration Console as well as GoToAssist for internal remote management sessions. We have many remote plants and users and use this tool to do remote sessions, check software and hardware inventory and patching levels as well as usage and performance reports.
- Remote control sessions are seamless and quick to connect.
- Software inventory list is very complete even including windows update patch levels.
- The amount of data N-Central gathers from the end-PCs is great for a performance snapshot and makes it quick to diagnose simple RAM issues etc.
- Navigation between the view screens could be a bit simpler. Once you click a machine your list goes away and isn't simple to get back to.
- I would love to add more negative points here but really it's a well-built piece of software.