N-central 2022.6.0.23
What’s new in N-central 2022.6
New MacOS Agent is now GA!
N-central 2022.6 includes the rebuilt-from-scratch MacOS agent! This new agent includes:
- All the functionality of the previous Agent, including deploying EDRi and Take Control
- Apple Silicon (M1) native
- Fixes nearly 70 documented and long-standing bugs
- Existing features tested to ensure they work consistently
- Real-time comms with N-central server (same as Windows, sets stage for most Tools)
- Decoupled from Server version for more frequent Agent updates
- Improved installation experience using Apple-native standards for deployment and security
- Shared code with RMM Mac Agent libraries
More Granular Device Permissions
N-central 2022.6 separates the permissions that allow the ability to add/edit/delete devices from the ones allowing agent and third party software downloads. Please review Permissions dictionary & menus to learn more about the current permissions dictionary.
Continuing Preview of External Identity Providers
Using external identity providers with N-central has proven to be a very popular feature in preview! We’re continuing the preview in 2022.6, with several fixes added:
- NCCF-30836 – System Audit Log doesn’t show any failed/successful logins
- NCCF-30527 – Mask Client Secret Related Fields for SSO Providers
- NCCF-30422 – Azure/Generic IDP Login Name/Email is CASE SENSITIVE
- NCCF-29040 – Bulk User IDP Link and Unlink not working
If you would like to preview and help us field test this feature, please email NCPreview@n-able.com
Continuing Preview of Custom UI Port
2022.6 includes even more fixes related to our feature allowing you to run N-central’s UI on a custom port, separate from the port the agents and probes use. If you’ve thought about trying this before, but held off because of the existing bugs, please review the known issues list and consider trying this feature again. If you have questions about this feature or want to try it out, please email NCPreview@n-able.com
Upgrade paths and notes
IMPORTANT
After the upgrade to N-central 2022.6, an additional restart of the Windows Agent Service, Windows Agent Maintenance Service, and Windows Software Probe Service (Manually or Scheduled Task) or a full device reboot (not hibernate or sleep) may be required on Windows devices with misconfigured AMP based services in order for them to go back to Normal state.
To upgrade to N-able N-central 2022.6, your N-able N-central server must be running one of the following versions:
View versions:
- N-able – N-central 2021.1.0.32+
- N-able – N-central 2021.1.1.305
- N-able – N-central 2021.1.2.391
- N-able – N-central 2021.1.3.428
- N-able – N-central 2021.1.4.467+
- N-able – N-central 2021.1.5.526
- N-able – N-central 2021.1.6.727+
- N-able – N-central 2021.1.7.830+
- N-able – N-central 2021.1.8.881
- N-able – N-central 2021.2.0.140+
- N-able – N-central 2021.3.0.79+
- N-able – N-central 2022.1.0.47+
- N-able – N-central 2022.2.0.77+
- N-able – N-central 2022.3.0.46
- N-able N-central 2022.4.0.6+
- N-able N-central 2022.5.0.16+
- N-able N-central 2022.5.1.33
- N-able N-central 2022.5.2.35
- N-able N-central 2022.5.6.0.20+
Note the following when upgrading N-able N-central.
Scheduled Tasks may expire if the agent on an associated device is being upgraded when the task is scheduled to be completed. Agent upgrades are normally short in duration but may be delayed if a restart of the device is pending.
Fixed Issues in N-able N-central
Release 2022.6
The following table contains a list of Automation Manager fixed issues for 2022.6 and cover AM 2.40 and AM 2.40.1.
| Category | Description | Bug |
| Automation Manager | AMP script showing forcibly terminated when run as a task, however AMP runs successfully through Automation Manager when run locally | AM-2943 |
| Automation Manager | AM RPC server issue: No protocol sequences have been registered | AM-2923 |
| Automation Manager | Create hotfix version for AM 2.40.0.4 (initial assembly copy) | AM-2837 |
| Automation Manager | Run AM 2.40 Regression | AM-2821 |
| Automation Manager | Add to RMM code-drop manager -> AutomationManager.Engine.Update.dll assembly | AM-2817 |
| Automation Manager | The “Remove Local Profiles” Object Throws A Error Message | AM-2815 |
| Automation Manager | AM separate installer version must accept new N-able certificates in assembly validation check | AM-2814 |
| Automation Manager | Update help section for Reboot Prompt | AM-2803 |
| Automation Manager | Click result for Reboot Prompt is wrong when user is allowed to postpone past the limit | AM-2802 |
| Automation Manager | Reboot prompt fails from N-Central for standard user (logged on user) | AM-2789 |
| Automation Manager | Prompts are not working from designer without RMM/NC Agent starting 2.20 | AM-2787 |
| Automation Manager | Support HTTP compression in Download file from URL object | AM-2768 |
| Automation Manager | NC: Add Settings.xml file to NC Win Agent and Probe installers | AM-2758 |
| Automation Manager | Get OS type policy fails when using custom credentials with standard user | AM-2755 |
| Automation Manager | The “Get N-able RMM Agent Information” Object Doesn’t Return Information About the Group Policy Advanced Monitoring Agent | AM-2753 |
| Automation Manager | When Saving a New Copy Of An AMP, Automation Manager Doesn’t Open The New Copy | AM-2750 |
| Automation Manager | AM Designer Launches with a SW Software Publisher | AM-2747 |
| Automation Manager | Separate Installer – Add support for dependency changes | AM-2746 |
| Automation Manager | [Automation] Meraki Get Clients Connected to Host Device failing | AM-2733 |
| Automation Manager | [Automation] Empty Recycle Bin object fails on Windows 10 | AM-2732 |
| Automation Manager | The “Reboot Prompt” Object Doesn’t Force The Reboot To Occur After The Specified Time Delay | AM-2675 |
| Automation Manager | The “Uninstall Software” Object Fails To Uninstall The PME “File Cache Service Agent Application | AM-2593 |
| Automation Manager | The “Get Logical Disk Information” Doesn’t Return Information If There Is Only One Logical Disk | AM-2589 |
| Automation Manager | Loading wrong dll files when executing Import-Module in run PowerShell script | AM-2573 |
| Automation Manager | F-Secure AV Definition checks failing after 2020.1.5.425 (HF5) upgrade | AM-2575 |
| Automation Manager | Check and update all of the NC stock services to use the new AM Run PowerShell object | AM-2585 |
| Automation Manager | Error during AM installation on Win10x86 Enterprise | AM-2281 |
Core/Other
| Category | Description | Bug |
| Core | runNCLI will leave support account password in Bash History | NCCF-6672 |
| Core | Scheduling daily non-recurring tasks | NCCF-13664 |
| Core | System Error after user initiated refresh | NCCF-13916 |
| Core | Stored XSS via Add Service Template | NCCF-14240 |
| Core | When an appliance is removed from N-central the agent can stay permanently installed, till manually uninstalled | NCCF-14577 |
| Core | Scheduled Tasks Use The Value Of Custom Properties When The Task Was Created, Not The Current Custom Property Value | NCCF-14741 |
| Core | ServerEI2 Error Logging Doesn’t Surface the Root/Inner Exception | NCCF-15499 |
| Core | Pool Threads Are Not Being Ended After RDP/SSH/Web Page Remote Control Sessions Are Closed | NCCF-15714 |
| Core | NaUpdate needs to abort update on detection of asset map file read error | NCCF-16037 |
| Core | Scheduled Task Profile not sending attachment | NCCF-16289 |
| Core | Appliance data gets dropped for creationtime being empty | NCCF-16518 |
| Core | NaUpdater should update itself and run the updated version for the rest of the update | NCCF-17954 |
| Core | FEATURE UPDATE – Granular Device Management Permissions | NCCF-18558 |
| Core | Including the Support Tools Role Locks Product Admin from being able to Change the Role | NCCF-18986 |
| Core | Registration token is excluded from “customerList” and “customerListChildren”, if there is IP Address blocking | NCCF-19764 |
| Core | Missing the word “Microsoft” from Server 2022 Datacenter discovery | NCCF-20107 |
| Core | Settings not retained for Connectivity Service Details when SNMP enabled | NCCF-21344 |
| Core | Slow Performance On the “Actions -> Run a Script” Page | NCCF-21814 |
| Core | Ensure Existing Agents continue to Function in Newer N-central Versions | NCCF-22824 |
| Core | Failures Logged In dmsservice.log When Modifying the NTP Server Used By N-central | NCCF-23534 |
| Core | Custom UI port not reflected in the password change email URL | NCCF-23536 |
| Core | ManagementLink for PSA Does Not Include Port Number | NCCF-24461 |
| Core | Automated N-central OS Package Update – May 15, 2022 | NCCF-24823 |
| Core | When there is a backlog of events in queue that have not been processed turning off eventing freezes | NCCF-24891 |
| Core | Deep link assembly with custom UI port fix – Remote Control Link | NCCF-25060 |
| Core | XMPPManager Cannot be restarted if Openfire is restarted | NCCF-25374 |
| Core | Deep link assembly with custom UI port fix – Netpath Graph Service | NCCF-25722 |
| Core | Azure Specific Kernel for CentOS 7 Has Been Deprecated and is No Longer Updated Upstream | NCCF-25971 |
| Core | ssh remote control forks the second nagent process which continue running until disconnect request, second nagent process set monitoring services to the stale state | NCCF-26037 |
| Core | Upstream Linux Kernel Changes Can Cause Problems Rebuilding the GRUB2 Boot Image During N-central Upgrade | NCCF-26098 |
| Core | Probe Not Upgrading | NCCF-27733 |
| Core | Automation test – Mac OS 10 Agent failing – Mojave did not appear | NCCF-28053 |
| Core | Multithread table processing in event production scraper | NCCF-28149 |
| Core | Can’t read “Server_ro” from nagent configuration file for Linux and Mac agent | NCCF-28585 |
| Core | CentOS 7 java-1.8.0-openjdk Update – RHSA-2022:1487 | NCCF-28658 |
| Core | Update all MacOS Agent download links to list MacOS Agent both decoupled and legacy with updated names. | NCCF-28681 |
| Core | Domain User Management missing password status. Password Status column does not show time of last password reset | NCCF-28710 |
| Core | The ecosystem Integration Management page does not work with custom UI port. | NCCF-28747 |
| Core | Sign In with Google button show up with the new Login flow on login page | NCCF-28824 |
| Core | Scheduled task is not retaining the settings for Missed Executions. | NCCF-28827 |
| Core | PM-4 inaccessible after upgrade, azure-core dependency failed on legacy version | NCCF-29026 |
| Core | Bulk User IDP Link and Unlink not working | NCCF-29040 |
| Core | Excessive Logging Causes Thread Block on I/O Operations | NCCF-29500 |
| Core | Limit the number of concurrent SO processing in event production scraper | NCCF-30133 |
| Core | Event Production Throttle should allow for a 25% buffer before opening | NCCF-30136 |
| Core | Azure/Generic IDP Login Name/Email is CASE SENSITIVE | NCCF-30422 |
| Core | Legacy Azure Single VHD Image Instances Must be Migrated to an Azure Managed Disk Instance | NCCF-30458 |
| Core | Mask Client Secret Related Fields for SSO Providers | NCCF-30527 |
| Core | System Audit Log doesn’t show any failed/successful logins | NCCF-30836 |
| Core | Agent updater process is timed-out after 10 minutes | NCCF-30875 |
| Core | Xmpp Initialization Can Sometimes Timeout on Jetty Startup | NCCF-30909 |
| Core | Xmpp Not Reconnecting When Going Down for Whatever Reason | NCCF-31595 |
| Core | XMPPManager is not Automatically restarted if Openfire is restarted | NCCF-31658 |
| Core | System Errors on Device when Xmpp goes Down | NCCF-31909 |
| Core | RemoteExecution Trigger Sending Large Requests to Agents | NCCF-32069 |
| Core | TypeError: null has no properties Loading Physical Drive (HP) and Others | NCCF-32490 |
| Core | Google SSO Provider – Create Google SSO Provider page is broken | NCCF-33150 |
| Core | ruser package bug | NCCF-33636 |
| Core | Increase Jetty Timeouts | NCCF-34190 |
| Core | Nko Xmpp Check Getting NullPointerException on access to “xmppconfig” | NCCF-34755 |
| Core | File Ownership on Openfire and Envoy are Different Depending on Upgrade or New Install | NCCF-35500 |
| Core | Azure: missing the ‘Fresh Installation’ description in the ‘versionhistory’ table | NCCF-36532 |
| Ecosystem | Logging only – N-Central sync task to log Orphaned Devices when integrations installed | KUIP-3841 |
| Ecosystem | As an integrated EDR user I want the ability to migrate to Standalone without tripping on the TakeOver feature in Ecosystem (NCentral) | KUIP-3856 |
| Ecosystem | Ecosystem Agent configuration record should only change last_updated field when changed | KUIP-3586 |
| Ecosystem | Integration Management page does not work with custom UI port. | KUIP-3887 |
| Patch Management | DevicePatchAssetInfoGetCall causing Performance Issues | PMCM-1736 |
| Patch Management | Revert PMCM-886 from main branch | PMCM-1740 |
Release 2022.5 HF2
| Category | Description | Bug |
|---|---|---|
| Core | File Ownership on Openfire and Envoy are Different Depending on Upgrade or New Install | NCCF-35500 |
Release 2022.5 HF1
| Category | Description | Bug |
|---|---|---|
| Core | ruser Package Bug | NCCF-33626 |
| Core | RemoteExecution Trigger Sending Large Requests to Agents | NCCF-32069 |
| Core | DevicePatchAssetInfoGetCall Causing Performance Issues on NCOD Instances | PMCM-1736 |
| Core | Legacy Azure Single VHD Image Instances Migration to an Azure Managed Disk Instance Prior to Upgrading to N-central 2022.4 and Newer | NCCF-32686 |
| Core | Xmpp Not Reconnecting When Going Down for Whatever Reason | NCCF-31595 |
| Core | Xmpp Initialization Can Sometimes Timeout on Jetty Startup | NCCF-30909 |
| Core | System Errors on Device when Xmpp goes Down | NCCF-31909 |
| Core | Increase Jetty Timeouts | NCCF-34190 |
| Core | Nko Xmpp Check Getting NullPointerException on access to “xmppconfig” | NCCF-34755 |
Release 2022.5
| Category | Description | Bug |
|---|---|---|
| Core | Scheduled task is not retaining the settings for Missed Executions | NCCF-28827 |
| Core | Azure-core dependency failed on legacy version | NCCF-29026 |
| Core | Security Profile Switching Scripts for Modern and Legacy profiles have their UI config profiles reversed. | NCCF-28132 |
| Core | N-central GUI inaccessible after restore despite services running | NCCF-28131 |
| Core | Remote Desktop with Custom UI Port Does Not Work with HTTPS tunnel | NCCF-25585 |
| Core | MDM Connections Being Blocked by Custom UI Port | NCCF-23257 |
| Core | reboot_dialog_logo.png Not Download When Using Custom UI Port | NCCF-23196 |
| Core | Direct Support user actions fail if Custom UI Port is enabled | NCCF-23139 |
| Core | Direct Support disabled on Mac devices after license mode change | CALM-455 |
| Core | Windows Agent not upgrading when file handle is left open | NCCF-25018 |
| Core | The Certificate Chain for Envoy is not Getting Updated when a New Certificate is Uploaded to N-central | NCCF-24464 |
| Core | The “Take Control Is Not Installed” Warning Message Appears Even Though The Take Control Viewer Is Installed, if a Custom UI Port is enabled | NCCF-22915 |
| Core | Custom Protocol Handler is crashing on client PC when WMI service is turned off during RDP connection attempt | NCCF-21702 |
| Core | Unable To Access N-central With The Safari Web Browser | NCCF-19768 |
| Core | Add Missing Security Headers to Static Envoy Pages | NCCF-17521 |
| Core | Version Number Missing from Security Manager Hover-over I | IAV-1888 |
| Core | Further integration and introduction of the new Mac agent | NCCF-20017 |
| Core | Upgrade Openfire to Version 4.7.x | NCCF-9527 |
| Core | Correct Login Flow | NCCF-28828 |
| Core | Login flow with branded URL | NCCF-29182 |
| Core | Misconfigured Automation Manager Services | AM-2885 |
| Core | AM Agent service should be stopped on NC Agent/Probe shutdown for N-central version 2022.3 | AM-2893 |
| Core | Probe Upgrade Improvements | NCCF-27733 |
| Core | Release Request: CT2 – Bug fix for Custom UI port not reflected in the password change email URL | NCCF-28192 |
| Core | Java Security configuration update rejects SHA1RSA Root CA certificates | NCCF-29752 |
| Core | Update to Upgrade Paths | NCCF-29601 |
| DNS Filter | The Content F and Block Page entries are not deleted & replaced when assigned to a Profile used to a deployed & running Roaming Client | INT-813 |
| DNS Filter | Profiles are not replaced after deletion on a Deployment Site | INT-893 |
| DNS Filter | DNS Filter Trial Experience | INT-854 |
| Ecosystem | Intune Logout | KUIP-3171 |
| Patch management | Auto approval with explicit “No Approval” set on a target looks the same as rule that does nothing to the target. | PMCM-412 |
Known Limitations
These items for the current version of the N-able N-central software is composed of material issues significantly impacting performance whose cause has been replicated by N-able and where a fix has not yet been released. The list is not exclusive and does not contain items that are under investigation. Any known limitations set forth herein may not impact every customer environment. The N-able N-central software is being provided as it operates today. Any potential modifications, including a specific bug fix or any potential delivery of the same, are not considered part of the current N-able N-central software and are not guaranteed.
Active Issues
| Description | Bug |
|---|---|
| When exporting a large list of Active Issues items to PDF format at either the System or Service Organization level, the server may fail. Exporting to CSV format does not cause this problem. | 62860 |
Agents and Probes
| Description | Bug |
|---|---|
| Communication issues may be encountered for N-able N-central Probes installed on Windows servers that have multiple NICs. For more information, refer to “KBA20020: Configuring A Server With Multiple NICs” in the online Help. | 67778 |
Automation Manager
| Description | Bug |
|---|---|
| Running Automation Manager Policies created using Automation Manager 1.6 or earlier may result in Failed to create an EndDate … errors if the Policies are run on a computer using a different date format. This issue does not affect Policies created using Automation Manager 1.7 or later. | 65712 |
AV Defender and Backup Manager – D2D
| Description | Bug |
|---|---|
| The About Backup Manager dialog box no longer indicates if the Backup Manager software is licensed. | 68226 |
Custom Services
| Description | Bug |
|---|---|
| Custom services may appear as misconfigured when the system locale of the device is not set to English. For example, in Portuguese the default decimal in c#/.net is not a period, “.”, it is a comma, “,”. If you are having this issue, please contact N-able Technical Support. | 65288 |
Core Functionality
| Description | Bug |
|---|---|
| Installing N-able N-central on Servers that have an Nvidia Video Card Due to a bug in CentOS 7 with Nvidia’s “Nouveau” driver, installing N-able N-central on servers that have an Nvidia video card may result in the N-able N-central console showing a blank screen, or displaying an Anaconda Installer screen with an error message about the video card driver. | NCCF-11842 |
| HDM doesn’t not work with the “Last 5 Tickets” widget. | NCCF-10855 |
| Warranty information might be inaccurate when determining the warranty expiry dates of devices that are not located in the USA. | NCCF-3649 |
| URL with embedded username and password prompts for Java upgrade, logging in manually does not prompt. | NCCF-2415 |
| Chrome 42.x does not support NPAPI plugins which means that Java and Direct Connect will not function with that browser version. When attempting to open remote control connections in Chrome 42.x, users will be repeatedly prompted to install either Java or the NTRglobal plugin with no successful connections made. To resolve this issue, perform the following: 1. In the Chrome address bar, type chrome://flags/. 2. Under Enable NPAPI, click Enable. 3. Restart Chrome. | NCCF- 73359 |
Dashboards
| Description | Bug |
|---|---|
| Modifying a Dashboard that is associated with a large number of services may cause performance issues when using the Firefox browser. | 70326 |
PSA Integration
| Description | Bug |
|---|---|
| In some instances, tickets closed in PSAs are not being cleared in N-able N-central. This is likely because the ticketing recipient profile in N-able N-central has Do not change the Ticket Status selected (in order to manually configure tickets). Then, when the ticket is removed in the PSA, N-able N-central will not be able to update/resolve the ticket’s status and new tickets cannot be created for the same issue. Until a solution is available through the UI for this situation, the work around is to set a Return to Normal status and set a non-used status in the ‘updatable statuses’ section or set the same status as the return to normal one. This will cause N-able N-central to add a note to the ticket on return to normal but will not alter the ticket’s status. This will allow the stale ticket check to remove the ticket from the system. | 65620 |
UI
| Description | Bug |
|---|---|
| After re-naming, the Names of files or Registry entries may not be displayed properly in the File System window and the Registry window of the Tools tab when using Internet Explorer. | 68149 |
| The main N-central login page will fail to load when accessed from the Safari web browser. To work around this issue, please use a supported browser, such as Chrome, Edge or Firefox, or access N-central via https:///login. | NCCF-19768 |
User Access Management
| Description | Bug |
|---|---|
| Login window reappears when new tab is loaded. When already logged into N-central and a user opens a new tab and browses to N-central from this new tab, the login screen reappears yet the user is already logged in. The left hand navigation is functional. | NCCF-29648 |
Available Ciphers for Non Agent/Probe Communication with N-central
View ciphers
TLSv1.3:
TLS_AKE_WITH_AES_128_GCM_SHA256
TLS_AKE_WITH_AES_256_GCM_SHA384
TLS 1.2:
TLS_ECDHE_ECDSA_WITH_AES_256_GCM_SHA384
TLS_ECDHE_ECDSA_WITH_AES_128_GCM_SHA256
TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_256_GCM_SHA384
TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_128_GCM_SHA256
End of support
The following are being deprecated in a future release of N-able N-central:
| Linux Agent Support | Due to declining usage in the field, the N-able N-central Linux agents will stop supporting CentOS 6, Ubuntu 14.04 and the 32- bit version of Ubuntu 16.04, in a future release. |
| Internet Explorer 11 | Due to declining usage in the field, a future release of N-able Ncentral will drop support for the Internet Explorer 11 web browser. |
| AV Defender 5.x | As of next major release for those of you still utilizing the AV5 Bitdefender Antivirus be advised that monitoring from our AV5 agents will no longer continue. As a result this will leave your environments in a vulnerable state. We encourage you to review your agents to ensure you are now utilizing our latest AV6 agents. Reminder that our online help for Security Manager is available for your reference. |
| Windows 8.1/Windows Server 2012 R2 | As older Windows Server and Desktop Operating Systems transition into Microsoft’s Extended Support Phase and beyond, they are no longer receiving OS level TLS version and cipher updates (SCHANNEL). As the .NET Framework relies on SCHANNEL for TLS based communications, and as newer vulnerabilities are discovered in the ciphers available to these older Operating Systems, the available Strong Cipher list for these devices continues to shrink. We continually review the ciphers used by N-central’s Modern Security Profile, to ensure we offer only secure ciphers. At this time, there are only two (2) secure RSA key based ciphers available to Windows Server 2012 R2/Windows 8.1 and older. N-central will endeavor to support these two ciphers in our Modern Security profile for as long as they remain secure, but there may come a time where we will need to drop Official support for these Windows versions before the end of their Extended Support Phase. If/when this does occur, they will still be able to connect if you switch to the Legacy Security Profile, but this will reduce the security of all devices connecting to your N-central server. If you monitor Windows Server 2003/2008/Windows XP/Vista devices, we would like to advise you that we will be dropping support for the “TLS_RSA_WITH_3DES_EDE_CBC_SHA” cipher in a future release. Coming changes to the web front end that will support TLS 1.3, have been identified as also disabling “TLS_RSA_WITH_3DES_EDE_CBC_SHA” due to the required version of OpenSSL. Fully patched Windows Server 2008/Vista devices should be able to connect to N-central on the Legacy Security profile, using one of the newer, but still weak ciphers. Windows Server 2003/XP will no longer be able to communicate over TLS/HTTPS at that time (using a site-to-site VPN between your firewall devices, and connecting over HTTP may still work). |
| 32-bit versions of the Windows, Linux and macOS operating systems | The number of 32-bit Operating Systems monitored by Ncentral has continued to drop over the past few years. Windows Agents/Probes have historically been 32-bit, with some 64-bit specific components. In a future release, we intend to convert the Agent and Probe code base to be a native 64-bit application; this will mean a hard deprecation of support for 32-bit Windows versions. N-central’s Linux and macOS agents will follow a similar path. |
N-able N-central System requirements
The following requirements are for typical usage patterns, acknowledging that some patterns may require greater system resources for a N-able N-central server than others.
If you have any questions about how your needs affect the system requirements of your N-able N-central server, contact your Channel Sales Specialist or email n-able-salesgroup@n-able.com.
| Processor | Server class x86_64 CPUs manufactured by Intel or AMD (i.e. Xeon or EPYC). Please refer to the Red Hat Hardware Ecosystem for further details |
| Operating System | You do not need to install a separate Operating System to run N-able N-central. The N-able Ncentral ISO includes a modified version of CentOS 7, based on the upstream Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7. |
| Physical Hardware | The physical server used to install N-able N-central in a bare metal environment must be certified to run Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.7 (x64) by Red Hat, or the hardware vendor, without any additional drivers. Please check the Red Hat Hardware Ecosystem for details. Server Grade hard drives connected to a RAID controller with a Battery/Capacitor Backed Cache are Required. Examples include 10K+ RPM SCSI or SAS drives, Enterprise Grade SSDs or NVMes for bare metal and virtualized hosts, or a Fibre Channel connected SAN with Enterprise Grade hard drives for virtualized hosts (Fibre Channel cards can be used for bare metal if they are configured in the pre-boot environment and do NOT require vendor-provided drivers). Although Desktop Hard Drives will work with the Operating System, they do not meet the minimum throughput required for the back-end Database of N-able N-central. |
For more details, please refer to the Red Hat Hardware Ecosystem to see if your current hardware will work with our customized version of CentOS 7.
System requirements by number of devices managed
The table below lists the minimum specifications required to manage the number of devices indicated (based on average usage). Performance can be improved by exceeding these requirements. When determining your hardware requirements, consider any growth in managed device count that may occur over time.
View more
| Number of devices | CPU Cores | Memory | Storage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Up to 1,000 | 2 | 4 GB RAM | 80 GB RAID |
| Up to 3,000 | 4 | 8 GB RAM | 150 GB RAID |
| Up to 6,000 | 8 | 16 GB RAM | 300 GB RAID |
| Up to 9,0000 | 12 | 24 GB RAM | 450 GB RAID |
| Up to 12,000 | 16 | 32 GB RAM | 600 GB RAID |
| Up to 16,000 | 22 | 48 GB RAM | 800 GB RAID |
| Up to 20,000 | 28 | 64 GB RAM | 1 TB RAID |
| Up to 24,000 | 34 | 80 GB RAM | 1.2 TB RAID |
Notes
- Server Grade hard drives connected to a RAID controller with a Battery/Capacitor Backed Cache, are required to ensure performance and unexpected power-loss data protection.
- In a virtualized environment, hard drives for the N-able N-central server must not be shared with any other applications or VM guests that have significant I/O workloads. For example, Report Manager, SQL Databases, E-Mail Servers, Active Directory Domain Controllers, SharePoint, or similar should not be installed on the same physical hard drive as N-able N-central.
- N-able recommends two or more hard drives be placed in a redundant RAID configuration. With two drives, RAID 1 must be used. With more than two drives, RAID 1+0 or RAID 5 are recommended. RAID 6 is an option on servers with less than 1,000 devices (the additional write latency of RAID 6 becomes an issue above 1,000 devices).
- N-able recommends more, smaller disks in a RAID array, as opposed to fewer larger disks. Databasebacked applications, like N-able N-central, have better write performance with an increased number of parallel writes (hard drives).
- If using Solid State Drives (SSDs), N-able requires Enterprise Grade, SLC based (or better) SSDs with a SAS interface, or Enterprise Grade NVMes. SSD and NVMe drives must have an endurance rating of at least 0.2 DWPD (Drive Writes Per Day), and at least 2 physical disks in a redundant RAID array. On Bare Metal servers, the RAID array must appear to the operating system as a single Block or NVMe Device. Currently, many PCIe and NVMe drives do not meet this last requirement and would only work in a virtualized environment.
- Configure the RAID controller to use the default stripe size and a Read/Write cache of 50%/50%.
The underlying customized version of CentOS 7 has certain hardware limits that are consistent with the upstream Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 distribution. Of note are the following:
| Subsytem | Limit |
|---|---|
| Minimum disk space | 80 GB |
| Maximum physical disk size (BIOS) | 2 TB |
| Maximum physical disk size (UEFI) | 50 TB |
| Required minimum memory | 4GB for 4 or fewer logical CPUs 1GB per logical CPU for more than 4 logical CPUs |
| Maximum memory | 12 TB |
| Maximum logical CPUs | 768 |
Due to the ecosystem of different hardware, N-able does not certify specific hardware configurations. Instead we rely on the upstream Red Hat Enterprise Linux and hardware vendor testing and certification.
Examples of servers that have been Red Hat certified include HPE ProLiant DL360 Gen10 and Dell PowerEdge R620.
Please consult with your hardware vendor to ensure that any server to be used for a bare metal installation meets the above requirements, and is Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.7 certified, without the need for additional
drivers.
N-able recommends that for any Bare Metal server, two or more SAS 10k or faster hard drives be placed in a RAID array to improve redundancy. RAID 1+0 or RAID 5 are supported (at the hardware RAID BIOS level). RAID 6 is an option on servers with less than 1,000 devices (the additional write latency of RAID 6 becomes an issue above 1,000 devices).
Support for virtualized environments
N-able supports VMware ESX Server 6.0 or newer and Windows Server 2012 R2 Hyper-V or newer LTS versions. N-able recommends use of the latest stable versions of VMware or Hyper-V in order to ensure the best performance, feature set and compatibility with N-able N-central.
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Hyper-V on Windows Desktop Operating Systems not Supported.
N-able N-central installed on a virtual machine running on a Desktop Operating System (such as HyperV on Windows 10, Virtual Box, Parallels, VMWare Fusion or similar) is not a supported configuration. If
you are using Windows Hyper-V, it must be installed on a supported server class Windows Operating
System.
Windows Server Semi-Annual Releases are not Supported.
Only Long-Term Support (LTS) versions of the Windows Server Operating System are supported as a
Hyper-V host for N-able N-central. Microsoft currently releases “Semi-Annual Release” versions of
Windows Server as a technology preview for the next LTS version. Due to their technology preview
status, these “Semi-Annual Release” versions of Windows Server are not supported as Hyper-V hosts
for N-able N-central.
About virtualization
Virtualization provides an abstraction layer between the hardware and the Operating System which permits the operation of multiple logical systems on one physical server unit. The table below includes considerations when using this deployment method.
| System Performance | It is impossible to guarantee the scalability or performance of a N-able N-central server deployed on a Virtual Machine due to: 1. Variability in field environments resulting from host server configurations, 2. The number of virtual guests run on the host server, and 3. The performance of the underlying host hardware. |
| Supportability | N-able supports N-able N-central software deployed on VMWare ESX/ESXi 6.0 or newer, Windows Server 2012 R2 Hyper-V or newer LTS releases, Microsoft Azure and Amazon AWS EC2 in the same way that we support N-able N-central deployed on Bare Metal. This support is limited to the components (Software and Operating System) shipped with Nable N-central and does not include the troubleshooting of virtualization systems nor of performance issues related to environmental factors. N-able recommends reaching out to your hardware or virtualization vendor for support on the underlying virtualization and hardware components. Any assistance provided by Nable Support for virtualization or hardware issues is on a best-effort basis only. In the event of serious performance problems, we might ask you to migrate a virtualized N-able N-central system to a physical hardware deployment. |
| Virtual Hardware Support | In Windows Server 2016 Hyper-V or newer deployments, it is recommended to create a new Generation 2 VM. When configuring the VM virtual hardware, if you choose to enable Secure Boot, please select the Microsoft UEFI Certificate Authority template. For VMWare ESX/ESXi deployments, it is recommended to select the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 guest OS template, then under the Boot Options, select the UEFI Firmware. |
| Network Adapters | N-able recommends using the VMXNET3 network card in VMWare. When the VM is configured as Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7, it will use VMXNET3 by default. Unless you are using Network Interface Bonding, N-able N-central requires only one (1) network adapter added to the VM configuration. Multiple network adapters that are not used in a bonding configuration can cause connectivity and licensing issues. |
| MAC Addresses | By default, most virtualization environments use a dynamically assigned MAC address for each virtual network card. As your N-able N-central license is generated in part by using the MAC address of its network card, it is required to use a statically assigned MAC address in order to avoid becoming de-licensed. |
Recommended configuration for the virtualized server
Although provisioning virtual disks as “thin” or “thick” results in nearly-identical performance, thick
provisioning is recommended, particularly when more than 1,000 devices will be connected to your Nable N-central server.
- Assign the highest resource access priority to N-able N-central, as compared to other guest VMs.
- Do not over-provision resources (Memory, CPU, Disk) on the virtualization host. Over-provisioning these resources can causes memory swapping to disk, and other bottlenecks that can impact guest system performance.
- Ensure that the system has enough RAM and hard drive space to provide permanently allocated resources to the N-able N-central guest.
Supported Software
Browsers
N-able N-central supports the latest versions of:
- Internet Explorer®
- Microsoft Edge®
- Mozilla Firefox®
- Desktop versions Google Chrome®. Mobile phone browsers are not supported.
N-able N-central is not supported on Internet Explorer in Compatibility View mode.
Remote Control
Remote control connections require the following software on the computers that initiate connections:
- .NET Framework 4.5.2 on Windows devices
- Oracle Java 1.8 versions that include Java Web Start
Report Manager
To use Report Manager with N-able N-central, ensure the you upgrade to the latest version of Report Manager.
Automation Manager
Automation Manager requires .NET Framework 4.5.2 and PowerShell 3.0 to run AMP-based services with N-able N-central.
SNMP Community String
On HPE ProLiant Generation 9 or older Physical Servers, when monitoring the N-able N-central server using SNMP, the community string used for SNMP queries to the server must use N-central_SNMP, not public. SNMP is only enabled on HPE ProLiant Generation 9 or older Physical Servers. All other installs do not enable SNMP on the N-able N-central server.
Supported Operating Systems
This section describes the supported operating systems for N-able N-central.
Windows Agents
- Microsoft .NET Framework 4.5.2 (or later)
Windows Server 2022
- Windows Server 2022 Standard
- Windows Server 2022 Datacenter
- Windows Server 2022 Datacenter: Azure
Windows Server 2019
- Windows Server 2019 Datacenter
- Windows Server 2019 Standard
Windows Server 2016
- Windows Server 2016 Datacenter
- Windows Server 2016 Standard
- Windows Server 2016 Essentials
- Windows Storage Server 2016
- Windows Server 2016 MultiPoint Premium Server
- Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2016
Windows Server 2012
- R2 Datacenter
- R2 Essentials
- R2 Foundation
- R2 Standard
- Datacenter 64-bit Edition
- Essentials 64-bit Edition
- Foundation 64-bit Edition
- Standard 64-bit Edition
- Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2012
- Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2012 R2
- Storage Server 2012 Enterprise 64-bit Edition
- Storage Server 2012 Express 64-bit Edition
- Storage Server 2012 Standard 64-bit Edition
- Storage Server 2012 Workgroup 64-bit Edition
Windows 11
- Microsoft Windows 11 Enterprise & Professional
- Microsoft Windows 11 Education editions
- Microsoft Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
Windows 10
- Microsoft Windows 10 Enterprise & Professional
- Microsoft Windows 10 Education editions
- Windows 10 Pro for Workstations
Windows 8 and 8.1
- 8.1 Enterprise
- 8.1 Professional
- 8 Enterprise
- 8 Professional
Windows 7
- Microsoft Windows 7 Enterprise & Professional
- Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate
macOS Agents
- 12.0 (Monterey)
- 11.0 (Big Sur)
- 10.15 (Catalina)
- 10.14 (Mojave)
- 10.13 (High Sierra)
- 10.12 (Sierra)
Linux Agents
Independent Agents are required for 32-bit and 64-bit Linux OS installations.
The probe performs an SSH connection a Linux device. To discover a Ubuntu/Debian OS device, the
device must have openssh installed.
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux/CentOS 8 (64-bit)
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux/CentOS 7 (x86_64 and i686)
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux/CentOS 6 (x86_64 and i686)
- Ubuntu 20.04 LTS (64-bit)
- Ubuntu 18.04 “Bionic Beaver” (x86_64)
- Ubuntu 16.04 “Xenial Xerus” (x86_64 and i686)
- Debian 8.7/Ubuntu 14.04 “Trusty Tahr” (x86_64 and i686)
AV Defender
Workstation Operating Systems
- Microsoft Windows 11
- Microsoft Windows 10
- Microsoft Windows 8, 8.1
Tablet And Embedded Operating Systems
- Windows 10 IoT Enterprise
- Windows Embedded 8.1 Industry
- Windows Embedded 8 Standard
- Windows Embedded Enterprise 7
- Windows Embedded POSReady 7
- Windows Embedded Standard 7
- Windows Embedded Compact 7
Server Operating Systems
- Microsoft Windows Server 2022
- Microsoft Windows Server 2019 Core
- Microsoft Windows Server 2019
- Microsoft Windows Server 2016
- Microsoft Windows Server 2016 Core
- Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2
- Microsoft Windows Server 2012
For Microsoft Windows Embedded Standard 7, TCP/IP, Filter Manager, and Windows Installer must all be
enabled.
Patch Manager
Workstation Operating Systems
- Microsoft Windows 11
- Microsoft Windows 10 version 1607 and later
- Microsoft Windows 8.1
- Microsoft Windows 8
- Microsoft Windows 7
Server Operating Systems
- Microsoft Windows Server 2022
- Microsoft Windows Server 2012
- Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2
- Microsoft Windows Server 2016
- Microsoft Windows Server 2019
The following operating systems are not supported with N-able N-central patch manager:
- Microsoft Windows XP
- Microsoft Windows Vista
- Microsoft Windows 10 Home Edition
- Microsoft Windows Server 2003
- Microsoft Windows Server 2008
- Microsoft Windows 11 Home Edition (Monitoring status is supported)
Windows Update Agent
The minimum version of the Windows Update Agent (WUA) needs to be greater than 7.6.7600.320. The base NT build version of Windows should be 6.1 or later. Older versions of the base NT build cannot upgrade past version 7.6.7600.256 of the Windows Update Agent.
Automation Manager
Workstation Operating Systems
- Microsoft Windows 11
- Microsoft Windows 10 (32/64-bit)
- Microsoft Windows 8.1 (32/64-bit)
- Microsoft Windows 8 (32/64-bit)
- Microsoft Windows 7 (32/64-bit)
Server Operating Systems
- Microsoft Windows Server 2022
- Microsoft Windows Server 2019
- Microsoft Windows Server 2016 (32/64-bit)
- Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 (32/64-bit)
- Microsoft Windows Server 2012 (32/64-bit)
Disk Encryption Manager
| Hyper-V Server 2012 R2 | Hyper-V Server 2016 |
| Windows 7 Enterprise | Windows 7 Home Premium |
| Windows 7 Professional | Windows 7 Ultimate |
| Windows 8 Enterprise | Windows 8 Pro |
| Windows 8 Pro with Media Center | Windows 8.1 Enterprise |
| Windows 8.1 Pro | Windows 8.1 Pro with Media Center |
| Windows 10 Education | Windows 10 Enterprise |
| Windows 10 Enterprise 2015 LTSB | Windows 10 Enterprise 2016 LTSB |
| Windows 10 Enterprise for Virtual Desktops | Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC 2019 |
| Windows 10 Pro | Windows 10 Pro Education |
| Windows 10 Pro for Workstations | |
| Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise | Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter |
| Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard | Windows Server 2008 R2 Foundation |
| Windows Server 2012 Datacenter | Windows Server 2012 Essentials |
| Windows Server 2012 Foundation | Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter |
| Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials | Windows Server 2012 R2 Foundation |
| Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard | Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard Evaluation |
| Windows Server 2012 Standard | |
| Windows Server 2016 Datacenter | Windows Server 2016 Datacenter Evaluation |
| Windows Server 2016 Essentials | Windows Server 2016 Standard |
| Windows Server 2016 Standard Evaluation | |
| Windows Server 2019 Datacenter | Windows Server 2019 Essentials |
| Windows Server 2019 Standard | Windows Server 2019 Standard Evaluation |
| Windows Server Datacenter | |
| Windows Small Business Server 2011 Essentials | Windows Small Business Server 2011 Standard |
Port access requirement
N-central Server
Supported operating systems for remote control
The availability of remote control connections will vary depending on the operating systems of both the client and target devices. The table below outlines the operating systems and their compatibility with various remote control types.
Licensing and Customer Support
Agent/Probe Installation Software
N-able N-central 2022.3 uses the 7-Zip file archiver for installing agents and probes. 7-Zip is free software redistributed under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation. For more information, see http://www.7-zip.org.
Customer Support
Contact N-able to activate your N-able N-central server.
| Web Page: | http://www.n-able.com |
| Technical Support SelfService Portal: | https://success.n-able.com/ |
| Phone: | Toll Free (U.S./CAN): 1-866-302-4689 International: +800-6225-3000 Local: (613) 592-6676, select option 2 for support |
Download release notes
For a PDF version of the latest release notes, or to view historical release notes, please use the following link:
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