this post was submitted on 20 Nov 2023
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Remote device management for family (alien.top)
submitted 11 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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How would you guys approach managing a bunch of devices for your family? I'm the designated "IT Guy" (not in IT) so I get asked to fix issues with everyone's PCs, phones, and so on. For some family members, the most they can figure out how to do is turn on the computer... so having access without them going through any hoops is ideal.

My inclination is to use MeshCentral (MeshCommander?) and install that on everything. On a local network I've seen this work well and the multi-platform access is very appealing.

However these family members live in four different houses all over the US - so whatever connectivity gets established between me and them needs to happen remotely (I have a homelab that I can point everything to if that helps). While I could install an appliance on each of their networks, the simpler the better.

Also I've heard of headscale to create a mesh VPN between clients, although it would ideally be something where again they don't have to manually enable anything.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I'm running a local rustdesk server and have installed the client on all systems I care to administer. Works very well.

[–] ALERT 1 points 11 months ago

except for an address book

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

Don't overlook the OS default options. Quick Assist in Windows 10+, Facetime can screenshare in MacOS/iOS devices. Not sure if there's an android comparable.

If you are running chromebooks or linux for family users then it makes sense to install a client.

In my experience, this mitigates the issue of you managing software on devices and allows you to support even new/remote devices.

This assumes you're only doing ad-hoc support, and not making sure they are applying windows updates or maintaining other software updates on their behalf (which I do for my parents every 4th of July and Christmas gathering, everyone else can deal with their own).

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

I run a wireshark server, with the client installed on family members laptops/desktops to auto connect.

I then just connect from my desktop to wireshark and can connect to their devices.