Action1 - RMM tool recommendation

[nikaso]

Copied from my ANME post for visibility but I wanted to recommend a particular RMM tool I've been using.

 

Just wanted to share my experience of using Action1, if you are looking for a stunningly easy-to-use RMM tool I can highly recommend this.

 

Long story short, when I started as a Network Manager the school employed 2 ICT techs, 1 roaming ICT tech and an AV tech. This dwindled through years of budget cuts and redundancies, the IT team now reduced to just me and one tech.

 

I started looking for an RMM tool about 8 months ago as we were struggling to manage all the various responsibilities that get piled on IT nowadays, we eventually started an extended trial of Action1.

 

MSI client, easy to deploy and you instantly get a list of vulnerabilities and one click remediations for these vulnerabilities. They are a relatively new player but are very keen to work with schools and grow and I can highly recommend them. Honestly the best money I've spent on an IT product in years.

 

If you want to know more you can check out the website above or contact their UK chap Dru Vadgama ([email protected]) who is very helpful.

[smithson83]

I second this, great tool. Simple and effective, and you get 100 free clients.

[Zammo]

How is it priced after the first 100?

[paulellam]

Action 1 works well for me, takes no real learning to use, and can control updates to OS and apps really well, the 100 free licences are a bonus.

[DGardiner]

How is it priced after the first 100?

 

interested in this too!

[TheHyperTechie]

I have been using Action1 for about a year on 50 of our Windows devices. I have nothing but good things to say about it. I use the features all the time, PowerShell scripting, checking for vulnerabilities, and the remote desktop feature which is super handy. Their support is great too, if I ever had a question or wanted advice on the correct setting to apply, they were always happy to help.

 

I also use it for deploying generic apps to newly built devices too, like MS Teams, Adobe, Google Drive, Chrome etc.

 

Hope this helps

[Arthur]

👎

 

CrowdStrike eyes Action1 for $1B amid fallout from Falcon update mishap

 

Cybersecurity giant CrowdStrike is in talks to acquire Action1, a cloud-based patch management and vulnerability remediation company for close to $1 billion.

 

According to a source close to the matter who requested anonymity, Alex Vovk, CEO and co-founder of Action1 shared this news with employees in an internal email. This potential acquisition could be a strategic move for CrowdStrike, especially in the wake of the recent Falcon update error that caused a global Windows outage.

[pete]

👎

 

CrowdStrike eyes Action1 for $1B amid fallout from Falcon update mishap

 

FFS. Well, nice while it lasted I suppose.

[locksat]

👎

 

CrowdStrike eyes Action1 for $1B amid fallout from Falcon update mishap

 

And to think only a few weeks ago we were discussing with our Action1 sales representative how bad the CrowdStrike incident was. Not happy about this at all.

[Dru]

[h=1]Action1 Will Remain Founder-Led to Execute Its Long-Term Vision[/h]More Info: https://www.action1.com/action1-will-remain-founder-led-to-execute-its-long-term-vision/

[Steve21]

That's an interesting choice of phrase, founder "led" rather than owned/controlled etc. As in does that mean it's still being sold but run by the original founder?

 

Steve

[Dru]

After carefully evaluating various options, we concluded that remaining founder-led is the best path to achieving our vision. While turning down significant financial opportunities is emotionally hard, we believe that our future is far brighter by staying independent.

[tjbland]

Good for them. Action1 has been around a minute and has improved a lot over the years.

[Steve21]

All the drama coming out today it seems

 

VP of corporate development, Gur Talpaz calling out Action1 today for "outrageous claims" https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7232114274838396928/

 

In the M&A game, rumors are currency. We accept that, and my general response is to ignore them. But what I’ve seen over the past few weeks from a company called Action1 goes far beyond anything I’ve ever experienced in my career, and I feel compelled to set the record straight.

 

CrowdStrike had one, 45-minute group conversation following RSA with Action1. Not one single senior member of the CrowdStrike team was a part of this conversation – me included. Action1 signed no NDA. We did not receive a single diligence item of any kind and disengaged after a surface level conversation.

 

Nearly three months later, false reports of an offer and process emerged in the press, driven by a ‘leaked’ email with outrageous claims, including a valuation that was never discussed and an M&A process that never happened. This behavior destroys trust and undermines the credibility of our industry.

 

 

Steve

[snagrat]

Action1 with the response:

 

Regarding the post by Gur Talpaz, Action1 disagrees and feels it must now do so publicly. Otherwise, Action1 has no public comment at present while our lawyers are in discussions.

[snagrat]

Didn’t someone post Action1 pricing on here the other day? But now removed?

 

I’m always interested in new solutions but the 100 client limit for the free version is a limitation.

[smithson83]

The 100 free licences are always free however... So if you need 120, you'd only pay for 20. We use it for around 350 staff laptops and servers etc and pay for 250, with an Education discount.

 

You can prove the concept with the free licences, then go to the purse holder afterwards... The recent updates make it an invaluable tool for us.

Edited August 22, 2024 by smithson83

[Steve21]

Didn’t someone post Action1 pricing on here the other day? But now removed?

 

I’m always interested in new solutions but the 100 client limit for the free version is a limitation.

 

Last time I saw prices it was $2 per month per machine (packs of 50 upgrade), so after 100 for free, you'd be on $1200 a year for 150 etc, $2400 a year for 200 etc, but not sure if it's changed now they're getting more customers (or whether they have Edu discounts)

 

Steve

[GeneMoody-Action1]

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/action1corp_in-the-ma-game-rumors-are-currency-we-activity-7232420887487004672-FKtV/

[Zammo]

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/action1corp_in-the-ma-game-rumors-are-currency-we-activity-7232420887487004672-FKtV/

 

This is all very undignified

[pete]

This is all very undignified

 

Let's do social media for business, what could possibly go wrong?

 

Oh wait, yes - employees posturing and genital measuring because they think they're on Twitter, but this time they're linked to our brand. Awesome.

[Planehazza]

A silly question perhaps, but does Action1 have a ticket logging system? We currently use Spiceworks hosted (and it's really bad now) and Veyon for the junior techs to use, but it's also crap.

 

I use SCCM to take over clients for remote support but I'm not opening that up for the young'ns.

 

A singl tool that would allow for remote support, asset management (registers), and patching/vulnerability scoring and fixing would be ideal.

 

Any ideas how much it is per endpoint once over 100? We have 1500+ windows devices.

[cheekycharly]

After seven days of testing on a few test machines, I decided to roll it out to our Intune environment because I really liked it. I just had a problem with a laptop, so I figured I would just delete the user profile and let it restart. However, I discovered that I was no longer able to delete users. I deleted Action1 and reopened after a few heart-pounding minutes of considering any recent changes, and discovered that I could now delete profiles once more.

 

Does anyone know if it does the same? I dislike losing my access without warning.

 

 

Additionally, if you are aware that it does this, could someone kindly explain its reasoning?

 

Regards

[cheekycharly]

After seven days of testing on a few test machines, I decided to roll it out to our Intune environment because I really liked it. I just had a problem with a laptop, so I figured I would just delete the user profile and let it restart. However, I discovered that I was no longer able to delete users. I deleted Action1 and reopened after a few heart-pounding minutes of considering any recent changes, and discovered that I could now delete profiles once more.

 

Does anyone know if it does the same? I dislike losing my access without warning.

 

 

Additionally, if you are aware that it does this, could someone kindly explain its reasoning?

 

Regards

 

Action1's support on this has been rapid and they have already put my mind at ease. Response below for anyone else wondering and thanks again to Dru.

 

Hello,

 

Thank you for reporting this!

 

Sometimes Action1 locks user profiles. The way that Action1 operates, it is required that we load each user profiles' registry hive to make sure we have an accurate inventory of installed software. Action1 isn't necessarily locking the profiles, its the way Microsoft is designed when a user profile is accessed. Unfortunately, this is the only way we can confidently provide recommendations based on security vulnerabilities, as we require to see any/all installed applications on an endpoint. Security is something we take very seriously and without being able to access a users registry hive, we cannot receive the information necessary to make sure we have visibility into all installed software. We understand that this can cause issues when attempting to delete user profiles, which is why we added the Remove user profile script into our script library.

We understand, that isn't an ideal solution, but unless Microsoft changes the way a user profile behaves when it is accessed, there's not much Action1 can do in terms of keeping them 'unlocked'. Also, there is a temporary workaround to disable the Action1 service and that should "free up" the profile, allowing manual deletion.

[GeneMoody-Action1]

I am glad support got you sorted out before I even got out of bed, they are good!

 

Personally when I had to delete a profile, I just spun off a process in the background that temporarily disabled Action1, deleted the profile, and started the service back.

Not something do often as most the systems I manage are single user, and policy is to wipe between users. Only done it through Action1 once as a diagnostic step.

They were spot on with the holding of profiles, that is just how they function.

And is pretty common in other systems that search the systems for malware/software/etc.

 

The penalty of trying to get clever like making occasional copies and loading the copies is

 

A. is introduce an inaccuracy / race condition

B. To actual in them for any remediation process, then means you have to load them anyway.

 

Just so you know as well in the future, if you want to see what is holding any file handle on the system, Microsoft sysinternals makes a tool called "handle", you can run it elevated, redirect its output to a text file, and search for the offender.

It is real helpful when you are trying to do file operations and it tells you something is in use!