I’ve been on the lookout for a Remote Administration Tool / Managed Service Provider software for remotely managing my computers and servers.

No, I do not want a Remote Access Trojan or botnet solution. Unless..?

I wanted something that could give me access to a terminal, remote desktop, and file access.
Additionally, I would like to access local services remotely through means of tunnelling.
Remote deployment of softwares and software updates would also be great!

Though with a shell you can do everything, with ngrok, VNC, SFTP, and a VPN…

Below are my musings during this investigation

The Contenders

Dataplicity

• Free for up to 1 device
• Remote terminal
• Website forwarding
• Portforward ONLY SSH (22) and VNC (5900)
• HTTPS termination
• 512.0 MB per day 10MBps+ burst
• Up to 1.5Mbps* sustained

Will I try it: No
The one device limit is a deal-breaker

Cloud4RPi

• 10000 packets to the Cloud4RPi server
• Unlimited devices
• Unlimited packets rate
• Unlimited control panels

Will I try it: No
There is a limit of 10000 packets per month.
But I’m not sure what it means by a ‘packet’ - an Ethernet packet (max 1500 bytes), a TCP packet (max 65535 bytes), or perhaps each TCP frame (limited by an Ethernet packet, 1500 bytes).
 
This changes my limit to 14.3 MB a month if the maximum packet size is 1500 bytes, or 625 MB if the packet size is 65535 bytes

remote.it

• API Access
• Secure Connections
• Web Access
• Mobile Access
• Device Sharing
• Raspberry Pi Support
• P2P Connectivity
• Bulk Scripting
• Bulk Device Management
• Auto Registration
• Client Libraries
• As many devices as you need subject our fair use policy

Will I try it: Yes

Remote IOT

• Free for up to 5 devices
• Device Management
• Remote SSH Connections
• 500 MB data transfer

Will I try it: No
500 MB becomes a limit to any large operations.

MeshCentral

• Remote Desktop
• Remote Terminal
• File Access
• Self Hosted
• Free and Open Source!

Will I try it: Yes!
Might have to re-skin the interface though, it looks very 2013-like.

Balena Cloud

Balena Cloud operates more for the deployment of the same application package, rather than for the management of devices with different roles

• Free for up to 10 devices

Will I try it: Yes, for mass deployment

Comparison

remote.it

To me, remote.it comes off as an on-the-go developer’s tool.
Its main (and sole) functionality is to securely tunnel ports to your machine.
But a VPN could also do easily do that

It is easy to create and connect to assigned ports, and you can also easily share devices to other users. It doesn’t offer any remote control of the device though, and is more focussed on supporting other software that are on your device.
If I were to use it, I would install it onto one device on a network - as you can access other devices on the network through the software.

It supports Windows, Mac OS, Linux, and even has an image for quick Raspberry Pi installation.

Verdict: I’ll pass on it.
It’s more for just port tunnelling than for any remote deployment or management role.

MeshCentral

MeshCentral is a “complete remote computer management website”.

You have the (better) choice of self hosting or (worser) using their online platform.
I deployed this server onto my Docker server, and wrote a Dockerfile for it. This was the hardest bit to set up, but once it was running…

It looks quite antiquated with its Windows XP UI vibes - especially the icons.
Even so, it offers a fully functional remote desktop, terminal and file access service.

It is cross platform: Windows, Mac OS and Linux variants

Verdict: Yes Yes Yes!
MeshCentral probably best fits the bill, for being a software solution that gives me access to the computer.
Not as featured as Pulseway - A software I used to use for RMM, but given its price (free!) it’s hard to beat.

Balena Cloud

Balena Cloud is unlike the rest.

Instead of being a remote administration tool, it is a framework to remotely deploy and manage IoT devices on a large scale.
It runs a Docker host on it, allowing you to develop and deploy software through Docker images.
Your IoT devices will then be able to pull the image and execute it.

Verdict: Yes Yes Yes!
I included Balena Cloud here, as it will be quite useful for administering fleets of IoT devices, as some of my work entails.
It runs solely on IoT devices (i.e. Raspberry Pis), rather than desktop operating systems.

Conclusion

For desktop systems (and the occasional microcomputers), I immediately took a liking to MeshCentral.
It looks old, and integrating it into my system took forever, but functionally it works wonders.

For IoT appliances and devices used for mass deployment, Balena Cloud is an excellent choice to push the same application image to all devices.