FAQs

What are the broad areas of network and systems management that TeksOnline covers?
TeksOnline covers the management of desktops, servers, applications, network and security devices. Hence, there is no need to buy multiple administration tools for different tasks. More specifically, following are the functionality covered in TeksOnline:

• Monitoring and Reporting of Servers (Windows, Linux, UNIX)
• Monitoring and Reporting of Applications (support for most popular applications like Exchange, SQL Server, Oracle, Terminal Server, IIS, Citrix, Lotus Notes, Veritas and Norton Anti-virus)
• Monitoring and Reporting of Network Devices via SNMP
• Monitoring and Reporting of Security Devices
• Asset and Inventory Management
• Remote Control and Administration
• Patch Management
• Malware/Spyware protection and removal
• Self Healing
• Software Distribution
• Trouble Ticketing

How fast can I get started with TeksOnline? Is there any manual software installation on machines?

Step 1:
TeksOnline will supply a desktop machine for the client. Once connected to the client's network the software is installed remotely. Installation time required is about 30 min.

Step 2:
Relevant configuration of TeksOnline modules to monitor and manage the infrastructure. This may take a 1-2 hours depending on the size of the network. Overall the complete software installation can be completed in half a day and can be carried out remotely.

Step 3:
Remote deploy agents on desktops & Laptops.

What protocols does TeksOnline use for management and communication?

Within the client network we use a host of methods over TCP/IP for management such as SNMP, WMI, PerfMon, Event Logs/Syslogs, Net8 (if managing Oracle). In a TeksOnline implementation the communication between the client and the NOC is via outbound SSH2.

How secure is TeksOnline?

TeksOnline has a host of security features to make remote monitoring and management secure.

• The entire communication between the management node and the data center as well as between the engineer and the data center is encrypted using a 256-bit AES encryption software.
• All the work done by an engineer is audited by the system automatically and is available to a supervisor at the NOC’s office.
• All communication takes place using outbound connections hence inbound access is not needed.
• The strong role based access control technology allows fine grained definition of the access rights of a NOC engineer.

Do I need to open any ports on my firewall? Do I need to allow in-bound connections?

TeksOnline uses SSH for communication, which works on port 22. Normally most firewall keep port 22 open, at least for outbound communication. TeksOnline does not need the firewall to allow for in-bound connections.

Is there any customer “data” transported out of customer's premises?

TeksOnline does not transport any customer data out of the premises of the customer. Even the web portal dynamically requests trend, asset and patch related data when a request for viewing such data is made.

Can TeksOnline work through a NAT? What configuration changes are required to do so?

TeksOnline can work transparently through the NAT. It does not require any NAT reconfiguration to work.

Does the TeksOnline Management Node need to be placed before the firewall/NAT and does it need a fixed public IP?

No. The TeksOnline Management Node is placed behind the firewall/NAT and does not need fixed public IP. It connects to the Directory and Authentication Server which maintains its own addressing method. All communication between the NOC site/engineer and the TeksOnline Management Node on the client LAN occurs via the Directory and Authentication Server. This makes the entire implementation extremely secured as the TeksOnline Management node is not accessible directly without going through the Directory and Authentication Server.

What is the encryption implemented in the communication between the TeksOnline Management Node, Directory and Authentication Server and the NOC site/ engineer?

TeksOnline supports 3DES, AES, BlowFish, TwoFish either using a 128-bit or a 256-bit key.