MeshCentral
MeshCentral allows remote management of computers over the network and internet. It’s a web-based open source system that’s full featured and allows delegated permissions.
It looks a bit dated at this point but there are no other open competitors that match it.
Deployment Notes
Create a new linux server to host it, and provision like this:
sudo useradd -r -d /opt/meshcentral -s /sbin/nologin meshcentral
sudo mkdir /opt/meshcentral
cd /opt/meshcentral
sudo apt install nodejs -y
sudo apt install npm -y
sudo npm install meshcentral
sudo -u meshcentral node ./node_modules/meshcentral
sudo chown -R meshcentral:meshcentral /opt/meshcentral
sudo chmod 755 –R /opt/meshcentral/meshcentral-*
sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/meshcentral.service
[Unit]
Description=MeshCentral Server
[Service]
Type=simple
LimitNOFILE=1000000
ExecStart=/usr/bin/node /home/default/node_modules/meshcentral
WorkingDirectory=/home/default
Environment=NODE_ENV=production
User=default
Group=default
Restart=always
RestartSec=10
# Set port permissions capability
AmbientCapabilities=cap_net_bind_service
[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
sudo systemctl enable --now meshcentral.service
Post Deployment Stops
Mac Client
The clients look for a ’local’ server by default. Look in
/usr/local/mesh_services/meshagent/meshagent_osx64.msh
And change the matching line to something like:
MeshServer=wss://some.server.org:8443/agent.ashx
It doesn’t come up with a reboot so you have to change the launch deamon as per https://github.com/Ylianst/MeshCentral/issues/4822#issuecomment-1542789876
/Library/LaunchDaemons/meshagent_osx64_LaunchDaemon.plist
cat /Library/LaunchDaemons/meshagent_osx64_LaunchDaemon.plist
Then you have to allow the binary to screen record and remote control when prompted
To get remote logins when the user isn’t logged in, or when he login screen has reappeared from inactivity, you must enable VNC
https://github.com/Ylianst/MeshCentral/issues/1459
Feedback
Was this page helpful?
Glad to hear it! Please tell us how we can improve.
Sorry to hear that. Please tell us how we can improve.