Comparing MeshCentral 2 to ScreenConnect

Ylian

@smartkid808 Yes, you can change the port, however you need to do this before installing agents as existing agents will not be able to find the server anymore. The "port" setting in config.json will change the port used by MeshCentral, "aliasport" will change the port MeshCentral tells the agents to connect to. So, if you have a port map in front of MeshCentral, use "aliasport" to indicate the "real" port that will be used. Hope it makes sense.

{
  "settings": {
    "Cert": "devbox.mesh.meshcentral.com",
    "Port": 4430,
    "AliasPort": 444
  }
}

smartkid808

@Ylian said in Comparing MeshCentral 2 to ScreenConnect:

. The "port" setting in config.json will change the port used by MeshCentral, "aliasport" will change the port MeshCentral tells the agents to connect to. So, if you have a port map in front of MeshCentral, use "aliasport" to indicate the "real" port that will be used. Hope it makes sense.

Hi Yilan,

Sorry for the late reply. Thanks, yea I know I will have to reinstall agents.. Not a big deal. Do I need the aliasport? or can I just set the port to say 4430?

and one more question. If I get a real (not private) cert will I have to redeploy agents? I was thinking about getting a cert later thats why. thanks

Ylian

You don't generally have to use "aliasport" unless the external port that agents will see if different from the port MeshCentral uses. This is not common.

As for the real certificate, you will not have to reinstall the agents. Agent use a special system to authenticate the server using a second certificate within the TLS connection, it's explained in Section 8 of this guide if you want to look at the details. So you can swap the HTTPS certificate when you want as long as the DNS name and port stays the same.

Also, MeshCentral has built-in support for Let's Encrypt and will auto-renew the certificate. You can find help on this in section 11 of the User's guide.

Hope it helps,
Ylian

smartkid808

@Ylian Awesome, THanks Yilan, I knew I saw somewhere about that.. Thanks again. Have a nice week

Ylian

FYI. MeshCentral just hit 500k downloads on npm-stat.com in about 2 years of being available.

dafyre

@Ylian said in Comparing MeshCentral 2 to ScreenConnect:

FYI. MeshCentral just hit 500k downloads on npm-stat.com in about 2 years of being available.

Sweet! Congratulations!

You guys are doing an awesome job with it! Keep it up!

scottalanmiller

Just updated to 0.4.0-b

scottalanmiller

And now 0.4.0-f

srsmith

I currently use Splashtop Personal / Teamviewer Free for the occassional remote assistance that family members need. I'm a big fan of free and open-source projects, and since this looks like it has an awesome set of features, I figure it is about time I finally check it out.

One thing I can't seem to find (or I missed it above / in the user guide) - is it possible to connect from an Android phone to one of the managed computers? Occasionally, someone needs assistance when I can't get to my desktop but I have my phone.

scottalanmiller

@srsmith said in Comparing MeshCentral 2 to ScreenConnect:

One thing I can't seem to find (or I missed it above / in the user guide) - is it possible to connect from an Android phone to one of the managed computers? Occasionally, someone needs assistance when I can't get to my desktop but I have my phone.

Probably can from the web page, but I bet it is awful to do.

srsmith

@scottalanmiller said in Comparing MeshCentral 2 to ScreenConnect:

Probably can from the web page, but I bet it is awful to do.

Hmmm... looking at the GitHub repo, I see that @Ylian has been working on a mobile site. I'll have to experiment this weekend. I have a spare Raspberry Pi 3 I can use as a local test server.

scottalanmiller

@srsmith said in Comparing MeshCentral 2 to ScreenConnect:

@scottalanmiller said in Comparing MeshCentral 2 to ScreenConnect:

Probably can from the web page, but I bet it is awful to do.

Hmmm... looking at the GitHub repo, I see that @Ylian has been working on a mobile site. I'll have to experiment this weekend. I have a spare Raspberry Pi 3 I can use as a local test server.

Cool.

Ylian

@srsmith MeshCentral developer here. There is no Android application for MeshCentral, it just going to be the mobile web site. It's not a feature full as the desktop site, but should get the basics (and supports NFC/Bluetooth two-factor authentication on Android Chrome). Let me know if you try it and what you think of it.

travisdh1

@Ylian said in Comparing MeshCentral 2 to ScreenConnect:

@srsmith MeshCentral developer here. There is no Android application for MeshCentral, it just going to be the mobile web site. It's not a feature full as the desktop site, but should get the basics (and supports NFC/Bluetooth two-factor authentication on Android Chrome). Let me know if you try it and what you think of it.

That should be all that's needed. Bothering with dedicated mobile apps seems like a waste of your time.

srsmith

@Ylian said in Comparing MeshCentral 2 to ScreenConnect:

@srsmith MeshCentral developer here. There is no Android application for MeshCentral, it just going to be the mobile web site. It's not a feature full as the desktop site, but should get the basics (and supports NFC/Bluetooth two-factor authentication on Android Chrome). Let me know if you try it and what you think of it.

Nice - I was only looking for the basics on mobile for those "OMG I NEED HELP RIGHT NOW" instances when I am away from my desktop. Will hopefully be experimenting with it sometime later today, so I'll let you know how it works out.

srsmith

@travisdh1 said in Comparing MeshCentral 2 to ScreenConnect:

That should be all that's needed. Bothering with dedicated mobile apps seems like a waste of your time.

Agreed. If the basics are available on mobile, that should be good enough for the few "OMG PLEASE HELP RIGHT NOW" instances where I'm not around my desktop / laptop.

Reid Cooper

@Ylian said in Comparing MeshCentral 2 to ScreenConnect:

@srsmith MeshCentral developer here. There is no Android application for MeshCentral, it just going to be the mobile web site. It's not a feature full as the desktop site, but should get the basics (and supports NFC/Bluetooth two-factor authentication on Android Chrome). Let me know if you try it and what you think of it.

Awesome progress!

scottalanmiller

Updating to 0.4.0-k

srsmith

I have this setup on a $5 Vultr instance running Fedora 30, complete with a subdomain, Let's Encrypt and 2FA. I've also got it running as a systemd service running under a limited user account.

I'm only testing with a handful of personal computers right now, but everything just seems to work, and does so quickly. Having secure, easy access to a computer's desktop, files and terminal through a web browser is fantastic! I'm still learning all the features and capabilities, but I'm very impressed with what I have seen so far. Awesome stuff @Ylian!

srsmith

@Ylian said in Comparing MeshCentral 2 to ScreenConnect:

@srsmith MeshCentral developer here. There is no Android application for MeshCentral, it just going to be the mobile web site. It's not a feature full as the desktop site, but should get the basics (and supports NFC/Bluetooth two-factor authentication on Android Chrome). Let me know if you try it and what you think of it.

Unfortunately, my experience with desktop access from mobile was not so great. I tried using Firefox and Chrome on Android and couldn't do much. When the phone is in portrait mode, the desktop is too small to use for me, and in landscape, the screen is cutoff. Am I missing an option to zoom / pan somewhere? If this is something that you can easily add, I'd love to see it added. Mobile access is by no means a necessity, so please don't take time away from the core product if you think this would be fairly involved to implement.

On a positive note, the group/computer list, general and files sections worked perfectly from mobile.