What is an RMM tool? Remote monitoring and management, explained

• An agent on each PC that checks in, reports its state and runs jobs, even when nobody is signed in or watching.
• Monitoring and alerts: a PC went offline, a disk is nearly full, CPU or memory stayed high, a restart is pending, an update failed.
• Scripts and commands on many PCs, with each PC's output and result, run now or on a schedule.
• Patching: checking for and installing Windows updates, often in a maintenance window.
• Software: installing, updating and removing apps across PCs.
• Remote access for the problems that need a person: remote desktop, a command prompt, files.
• Teams and records: who can reach which PCs, what they may do there, and a log of what was done.

Larger RMM suites add ticketing, backups, antivirus management, documentation and billing, and are often sold together with a separate ticketing system (a PSA).

Managed service providers (MSPs), who look after other companies' computers for a monthly fee; in-house IT teams; and anyone who looks after more PCs than they can walk to: a small office, a school lab, or a family spread across a few houses. The more PCs, the more an RMM tool saves over connecting to each one.

Remote desktop is one person on one PC, seeing its screen. RMM works across all of them without opening each: it notices problems, tells you, and runs fixes in bulk. Most RMM tools include remote desktop, and most remote desktop tools add a little management, so the line is blurry. The question is where your time goes: if you mostly help people with their screens, you need good remote desktop; if you mostly keep many PCs healthy, you need the management side.

• The operating systems you have: Windows only, or Linux too.
• Which alerts it has, and how they reach you (app, push, email, chat).
• Scripts: does it show each PC's output and exit code, and keep a library you can reuse?
• Updates and app installs: what it can patch, and whether you can schedule it.
• Access control: roles and per-PC permissions for each technician, two-step sign-in, and a log of who did what.
• What the person at the PC sees: are they told when someone connects or a job runs?
• Pricing per technician or per device, and whether there's a free tier that covers a real trial.

RemoteAccessApp started as remote desktop and support, and its Console now covers much of the management side too. What it does today:

• Remote desktop, unattended access to your own PCs, file transfer and chat, with a banner at the PC whenever anyone is connected.
• Windows tools: processes, services, sign-in sessions and the Event Log of your PCs, side by side.
• Management: tag your PCs, keep a library of saved scripts, and run a script on many PCs at once with each PC's output and exit code.
• Restart many PCs, or check for and install Windows updates on them, the same way. The exact command and the PCs are shown first, and every run shows a notice at the PC.
• SSH, SFTP, RDP and VNC to your servers in the same app.

All of that is free for up to 5 PCs. Pro adds the parts larger fleets need:

• Monitoring alerts: a PC offline, high CPU or memory, low disk space, a pending restart or a failed update Pro
• Scripts on a schedule with maintenance windows, and app installs and updates with winget on many PCs Pro
• Teams with roles and per-PC permissions, approvals for big jobs, and an activity log Pro
• Unlimited PCs and time tracking per client for invoices Pro

For the day-to-day, see how to manage multiple computers and how to run a script on multiple PCs. Small teams start with remote IT support for small business.