Managed IT Services Dream
July 17, 2015

Managed IT Services Dream

Marc Cummings | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with DameWare Remote Support

Our company chose to go with DameWare Remote Support for it's centralized management and feature set. We are in the business of managed IT services, and the majority of our support is executed remotely. Different clients of course have different security needs so we have found that the various connectivity options within DameWare have more than met the call.

It's currently utilized by every administrator in our company and recommended to every client that we support.
  • First and foremost, the Mini Remote Control is a lifesaver. It offers a robust set of connectivity options and a snappy console to manage the machines while you're connected. You're able to connect to multiple platforms (Windows, Linux, and MAC). I find these to be a huge benefit especially when it comes to BYOD environments and remote users. As long as there's an internet connection, you can support them.
  • System monitoring and information is another feature that is done particularly well by DameWare Remote Support. You can get an in depth view of all services, scheduled tasks, event logs, and much more at the click of a button. This provides a huge benefit to systems administrators by allowing them to query any information necessary to address a problem or apply simple fixes without having to log into the box directly.
  • The export tool allows for quick and easy reports to be produced about various information that you select. Whether it's active directly overview or a software inventory for each machine, this proves to be a beneficial tool. Our company utilizes it for software queries and inventory purposes.
  • We have had issues with credentials saving for specific domains and/or machines. I would like to see a credential manager in place, especially given that my system administrators manage a portfolio of clients.
  • When connectivity is lost for a particular machine, whether it's a reboot or network connection failure the screen just goes blank. It would be nice to have an auto ping show so that you know when the machine is back online.
  • I'm sure it's in development, but it would be nice to have a cloud based console or implementation with various firewall vendors adding to their UTM software suite. It would be ideal to VPN to a firewall and authenticate a session with a DameWare client installed on that box.
  • DameWare has allowed us to maintain our non-traditional approach to IT support. It allows our administrators to work from anywhere and has extended their reach to clients domestic and abroad.
  • Return on investment was realized as soon as we purchased the licenses. We don't have to maintain a large office space or overhead costs due to the flexibility it allows our administrators.
  • First call resolution has increased drastically since implementing DameWare company-wide. The user no longer has to wait to reproduce an error. We can screen share and view it as it happens and mitigate the issues.
I have used a few remote support options over the years, but always come back to DameWare when it's all said and done. RealVNC was something that we tried out for remote desktop support at one point. It allowed for the connectivity to the devices fairly smoothly, but was lacking the full feature set of a product like DameWare. I am able to do as little as I need to or as much as necessary when using DameWare.
I would definitely recommend the software to a colleague, as I already do now. I have found it suitable for most environments, even locally in an air gapped environment. Questions that I tend to ask center around the number of users, types of devices and clients, security preference, and network access. Deploying the client service to machines is as simple as a batch service install and they're up and ready to go.

SolarWinds Dameware Remote Support (DRS) Feature Ratings

Screen sharing
10
File transfer
8
Instant message
Not Rated
Secure remote access with Smart Card authentication
8
Access to sleeping/powered-off computers
10
Over-the-Internet remote session
8
Initiate remote control from mobile
6
Remote management of servers & workstations
10
Remote Active Directory® management
10
Centralized management dashboard
10
Multi-platform remote control
10