Hundreds of remotely-administered Windows computers commandeered via TeamViewer; is PDQ Deploy for me?
Hello,
I am a recent IT Support hire at a small company. I have inherited a measure of responsibility for literally hundreds of Windows machines, deployed on-site at clients' homes and businesses. They are all connected to the clients' residential and non-commercial Internet service, typically with dynamic IP addresses. (They are all running DDNS clients.) All of those computers have TeamViewer installed, which we use to log in and control those computers as necessary; but they are not on a VPN, they not on a Windows domain, and they are not grouped together or linked with our office in any way (other than with TeamViewer).
I would like to have the ability to install Windows programs on all 400 computers in a timely and cost-effective manner, but I am not totally sure whether PDQ Deploy is the right tool to do that. Running through the PDQ Deploy installer (and viewing some support forums), it appears that the only way to run PDQ Deploy is to have the computers on a Windows domain. Is that correct? If so, is it feasible or possible to do that in our situation?
Comments
You don't have to have a domain, but it certainly makes things easier. If you don't have a domain you will have to manage a list of accounts that have Administrator access to each PC. Also, you will probably have to put all those PCs on a VPN. You need some way for PDQ to reach them and for them to download files from your server.
Seconding what Colby said but also pitching in my two cents:
PDQ Deploy is definitely worth it to manage them once you've solved how PDQ can reach them all. I'm a software person and not a network person so I can't pitch in much about staying connected outside of TeamViewer. Do some research and see what steps might be the best for you, and perhaps take a look at the documentation for Deploy and Inventory to see what they can do.
For your needs in particular, Inventory might be worthwhile, too, so you can make collections of who needs what so you don't end up bogging down performance unnecessarily by pushing through extraneous software to people who don't need it. With 400 computers to manage, I wouldn't recommend going without Inventory for too long if you go for Deploy right off the bat. If you do decide to check out Deploy, consider a trial of Inventory to see if it can make your job any easier. If you're an organization freak you'll love it. Plus Inventory has remote assist, remote commands, and all sorts of other tools to make administration easier.