Review: Rove Mobile Admin 4.0
[rating:9] 9/10
Link: www.rovemobile.com
Cost: $495 per user with unlimited number of servers
The good folks at Rove (formerly Idokorro) have recently released Mobile Admin 4.0. Mobile Admin allows you to manage pretty much every system on your corporate network right from your BlackBerry. You can manage Microsoft Windows, Active Directory, Exchange, IIS, SQL Server, DHCP, DNS, Cluster Server; Lotus Domino, Novell, Oracle, BlackBerry Enterprise Server, Citrix, HP iLO, Backup Exec, VMware and RSA. Quite an impressive list of systems and possibilities. Imagine being able to disable a BlackBerry user or kill a handheld while driving home from work. Well for a geek like me it is a dream come true ! Not only can I mange my BlackBerry users but I can do Domino stuff or mange my Active Directory. Heck I can even manage my Novell servers for those of you who remember what they are…. ooh I’m getting all tingly !!! 🙂 This version also gives you a web interface which allows you to manage your environment from and desktop or laptop computer in your enterprise. BONUS !
The product is very easy to install and for the most part just works. It uses SQL as a back end or you can use the included MSDE. Getting the BES part to work was a bit of an issue, mainly because it depends on the BlackBerry User Admin Service from the BRK (BlackBerry Resource Kit). Which some may know can be a bit ill behaved at times. After a bit of fussing around and some help from Rove’s tech support I got it up and running. I tested as many features as I could in the past few days. So far I have tried BES, SQL, AD, IIS, Novell, Windows Server, Microsoft DNS, Microsoft DHCP and Domino. I will ask some of the guys in my department to give Citrix ,VMWare and HP iLO a whirl. Everything I tried seem to work pretty darn well. I don’t really have a whole lot of complaints. Here is a quick breakdown of some features and their capabilities:
Active Directory Administration
Features
• Browse the Active Directory tree
• View, create, edit, delete users and groups
• Reset user passwords
• Add or remove users from groups
• Disable, enable and unlock users
• Create or delete group email addresses
• View and delete computers
• Edit profiles, home folders, dial-up and VPN
permissions
Windows Administration Features
General
• Use the command prompt, dial-up connections,
and NSLookup
• View and clear event logs
• Run programs
• Restart or shutdown servers and computers
• Ping IP addresses
• Trace routes
• View and kill processes
• View system and performance data such as
available memory, disk space, CPU usage, and
hardware information
• Use Net Send to send a pop-up message
File Explorer
• Manage drives, folders and files
• View drive, file or folder properties
• View disk space usage
• Browse or delete files and folders
• Create new folders
• View or change permissions
• Add or remove trustees
• FTP, email, copy, and move files
• View image files, view and edit text files
Printers
• View printers and print jobs
• Cancel print jobs, pause and resume printers
Scheduled Tasks and Services
• View, create, edit and delete tasks
• View, start and stop services
• Pause, resume and restart services
• Change the startup mode for services
Shared Folders
• View or edit shared folders and drives
• Share or stop sharing folders or drives
• Change permissions, maximum users and
trustees
Users and Groups
• View, create, and rename users and groups
• Reset user passwords and edit settings
• Add and remove users from groups
BlackBerry Enterprise Server
Administration Features
• Stop, start, restart, enable and disable Mobile
Data Service (MDS)
• View, add, search for, and delete users
• Clear user statistics
• Lock or kill handhelds
• Set new passwords, activation passwords, and
owner information
The list goes on and on…. check out thier website to see the full list of features www.rovemobile.com.
OK so I bet you are wondering if this is secure ? That was one of my first concerns. I certainly wouldn’t want to expose my corporate network for the sake of convenience. Well it looks like Rove has that covered. Encryption options include TDES or AES on the BlackBerry network, and VPN or HTTPS encryption. Authentication options include Windows username and password, Mobile
Admin-specific username and password, device-level password and RSA SecurID or RADIUS authentication.
Rove also offers other products like Mobile SSH which will allow you to telenet to routers, switchs and UNIX servers. Other offerings include Mobile Desktop, Mobile Citrix Client and PCMobilizr. There are also two free tools. Mobile Viewer for BlackBerry which allows you to display your BlackBerry screen on your PC, which is great for presentations and training and Mobile File Manager. I will review all of these products in the next few weeks so be sure to check in.
So I have to say that this product I highly recommend. If you work in corporate IT it will be an invaluable tool. As far as cost I think $495 a user with unlimited servers to manage is a fair price. Especially given the time it will save you.
