In our next release, we’re pleased to announce a significant update to Apple Mac support in the MAX RM Dashboard, with the new Release Candidate Agent for Macs, v2.0. The new Mac agent will allow us to extend the real-time architecture that was rolled out earlier in the year to include the Mac ecosystem, as we continue to deliver on our strategy for parity between Windows and Mac devices.

In addition, we’re enhancing the Dashboard’s ‘Site Concentrator’ feature, a key component that you can use to manage internet communications between the Dashboard and a client’s network and its devices, making it more versatile and useful tool.

Mac Agent 2.0 (RC)

This is a significant milestone in our quest to make MAX Remote Management the only ITSM solution of choice for MSPs who support the Apple platform.

Mac Agent 2.0 catches up to the Windows Agent v10 with its use of the Dashboard’s real-time architecture. That means:

• Actions related to Checks take place in real-time.
• Deploying user-defined scripts takes just a few minutes instead of waiting two check cycles to see results.
• Checks edits and additions will be applied and run immediately, uploading real-time results to the dashboard.

More importantly, it gets the Mac Agent in line with the rest of the MAX RM technology portfolio, so that in the near future we can start to incorporate Mac data in great features like executive summary reports and LOGICcards. It also sets the stage for bringing Automated Tasks and Patch Management over from the Mac-MSP platform and into the main RM Dashboard.

As part of the Agent’s RC period, we’ll also be revising the Daily Safety Checks and 24×7 Checks performed by the Mac Agent to make them more relevant and valuable to you.

This is a fundamental step for Mac support at SolarWinds MSP, and finally puts the Mac on equal footing with Windows in terms of systems infrastructure. This update opens the door for everything we want to bring you for Mac support in the coming months, throughout 2017, and beyond.

P.S. Since the operating system for the Mac is no longer called “OS X”, you may have noticed we’ve also changed the name, and it’s now simply “the Mac Agent”.

Improvements to Site Concentrator

Note these updates require the new Windows RC Agent v 10.5.1.

We’re also delighted to introduce a couple of highly requested updates to the Site Concentrator feature, which you’ll find on the Edit Site dialog. These are designed to make Site Concentrator easier to deploy, more robust, and ultimately more useful.

The first change we’re introducing is the ability to open the local Windows Firewall port:

With this option enabled, Site Concentrator will automatically open the local Windows Firewall on the port you’ve specified, so that when the setup process has completed, all downstream clients can start to use this feature without the need to perform additional systems configuration changes.

The next set of additions we’ve made to Site Concentrator is the ability to support an upstream proxy server:

When enabled, this feature will instruct Site Concentrator to send all requests to the upstream proxy on the configured port. Optionally, you can also set authentication credentials to handle more secured environments.

We very much hope you’ll take advantage of these upcoming enhancements. As always, we’ll let you know as soon as the new features become available.

Summary for Service Release
– New Mac Agent, improvements to Site Concentrator
– Dashboard v6.31
– New Windows RC Agent v10.5.1, new Mac RC Agent v2.0, no change to GA Agent

Dashboard v6.31
UPDATE: Ability for Site Concentrator to support upstream proxy server (requires RC Agent v10.5.1)
UPDATE: Optional Support for Site Concentrator to pass authentication to upstream proxy (requires RC Agent v10.5.1)
UPDATE: Option to automatically open Windows Firewall port for Site Concentrator (requires RC Agent v10.5.1)
UPDATE: Improved Site Concentrator configuration auditing

Agent v10.5.1 RC
UPDATE: Site Concentrator enhancements to support proxy environments and Windows Firewall ports
BUGFIX: Correct issue so the Advanced Monitoring Agent doesn’t go overdue after updating the Agent to a new version
BUGFIX: Improvements to asset scan to resolve duplicate software entries and unknown characters issue related to DWORD type
BUGFIX: Ensure the Event Log Check doesn’t fail due to quotation marks or square brackets passed in the message string
BUGFIX: Correct issue with Kaspersky Endpoint Security 10 in AV Check to ensure it’s updating its defs

Agent 2.0.0 RC – Mac Agent
UPDATE: New RC Agent for Apple Macs, introducing real-time architecture support for Apple computers, available for supported OS X and macOS systems: 10.7 ‘Lion’ and above
UPDATE: Faster processing of Check edits and of new Script Check additions
UPDATE: Option to set the Mac Agent to 120 minute monitoring