Mastering Software Management Across Multiple Platforms with RMMmax Software Manager Agent View

Package Managers

As a technology manager, you’re well aware of the complexities involved in managing software across different platforms. Each package manager—whether it’s Chocolatey for Windows, Homebrew for Mac OSX, Apt-get for Debian-based Linux, Yum for Red Hat-based Linux, or Zypper for SUSE Linux—has its quirks and nuances. Keeping them all in check across multiple agents can be quite the juggling act for your RMM.

RMMmax’s Software Manager supports all of these package managers in a single fluid view.

Software Manager (Agent Views)

The agent view of the software manager happens when you select an agent from the agent list and then select the Software Manager tab in the bottom panel.

Agent Status

The agent status area displays key information about the status of the agent under management.

Last Sync: The last time RMMmax collected data from this agent about the current package status.
Agent Enabled: RMMmax is allowed to query and send commands to this agent for the software management tool.
Last Install: The date RMMmax last attempted an install of a package on the agent.
Last Update: The date RMMmax last attempted an update of packages on the agent.
PM Version: The version of the package manager is installed on the agent.
Updates: The current number of updates available for agents.

Agent Menu Bar

The agent software manager contains a menu bar that holds the settings and commands menus. Each of the menus are loaded with menu items that focus on the control of the agent’s installed package manager and may vary from agent type to agent type.

Windows Agents:

Windows agents have several extra options that you may not see under Mac or Linux agents.

This includes the following:

Site Cache: Allows you to set the agent to either standalone or to use a site configured at the client level for the default package repository. Standalone will use the public repository by default.
Sources: Displays the list of sources the agent currently has assigned. You can add sources to Windows agents at the client level.
Installed Software: Displays the list of Installed Applications from the Windows Application list. This is outside of the list of packages installed by Chocolatey.

All Agents:

All agents will have the following software manager controls at the agent level.

This includes the following:

Rescan Agent: Tells RMMmax to request fresh data from the agent. Depending on RMM type, this may take a few seconds or a few minutes.
Update Agent: Tells agent to update installed packages now.
Install Software: Allows you to install any software package available on repositories or select from the list of approved software.
Enable / Disable: Enable or disable the ability for RMMmax to query data or send commands to the agent for this tool.