N-central: an overview of key features released in 2022 - N-able (2024)

As 2022 draws to a close, I thought it would be a good time to look back at the past 12 months and highlight some of the great new features we’ve seen added in N‑central. I got the idea for this blog recently when I was helping a partner and was shocked to find discover how old the version they were running was.

Of course, I get that not everyone wants to jump onto the latest release straight away. But it’s important that you keep your server reasonably up to date, and that you’re aware of what’s been released in each version. As well as new features, each release can also contain fixes for bugs and vulnerabilities.

An easy way to keep track of what’s happening in each version is to sign up for the release notes here: https://status.n-able.com/release-notes/. (At the time of writing this blog, the current version of N‑central is 2022.8.)

The N‑central product management team have certainly been busy this year, so let’s look at the great new features that have been added this year.

For full visibility of recently released features along with what is currently being developed and researched, visit the N‑central product roadmap.

Automation Manager Updates

We were quick out of the blocks in January with N‑central 2022.1, with an update for Automation Manager that added some new cmdlets for Microsoft Azure, including:

• Install Azure PowerShell Module
• Create Blob Storage Container
• Upload File to Blob Storage
• Download File from Blob Storage

Also included were key updates to several third-party components that N‑central is built on. All of this put together has helped to further N‑central RMM’s automation capabilities.

Pendo Integration

Jump forward to March, and we saw Pendo integrated into N‑central 2022.2. Pendo is a tool that is used throughout the majority of N‑able’s products, and it’s great that we have it in N‑central now as well.

Some of the key benefits of Pendo are:

• It allows our UX and Product Management teams to understand how and where our partners use the product, and where friction points might exist—such as confusing or incomplete workflows.
• It also allows us to provide in-UI messaging when there are important changes, new features onboarding, or other critical messages that we need to tell you about.

Automation Manager as a Standalone

In May we saw the release of N‑central 2022.3. Key here was the update to Automation Manager 2.40, which saw it become a separately releasable feature, meaning that once its installed, it will update itself with the latest bug fixes, new objects, and new features, without requiring an upgrade to your N‑central server.

A welcome boost for Mac Management

They say all good things come to those who wait, and for those N‑central users that support Macs, there were two key additions this autumn. First up, in September N‑central 2022.6 saw the release of the new N‑central MacOS agent, this was followed in October by N‑central 2022.7 which brought in Device Management for Apple.

Device Management for Apple is going to be a game changer in terms of how you manage Mac devices in N‑central, it brings a range of great features including:

• PPPC profiles for N‑able products: once a Mac is enrolled in Device Management, our service automatically pushes Configuration Profiles that grant macOS Security and Privacy permissions for the N‑central Mac Agent, Take Control, EDR, Backup, and more.
• Custom Configuration Profiles: Once you have a push cert setup, and devices enrolled, you can upload thousands of configuration profiles. We have a number of samples already available in the N‑able Automation Cookbook.
• Tools Tab: Feature parity with Windows gets even closer as Mac workstations now have a Tools tab. Although it’s currently populated with the Processes table, it will be built out in future N‑central releases.

The addition of these new Mac management updates is helping to take N‑central’s network and device management functionality to new heights.

New Linux agents

On top of the new Mac agent, we’ve also seen two new Linux agents supporting Ubuntu 20.04 (N‑central 2022.3) and Ubuntu 22.04 (N‑central 2022.8).

A glimpse of things to come

Another great addition to N‑central this year are previews of upcoming features including:

• Customizing the Port on Which The N‑central UI Runs 2022.2
• Support for External Identity Providers 2022.5
• Access to N‑central’s Administration Console as part of the regular user interface 2022.8

Finally, if you’re sitting there on a 2021 or older version of N‑central and still thinking you can live without some of these, remember: updating your N‑central server not only gives you new features, but is also key to ensuring your N‑central server is secure and perform at its best.

If you have questions join me on the N-Central office hours at www.n-able.com/events. For more insight on how you can get the most out of N‑central, you can attend our N‑central Boot Camps, recordings of which are available in the MSP Institute, alternatively keep an eye on www.n-able.com/events to register for the live sessions.

Paul Kelly is the Head Nerd at N‑able. You can follow him on Twitter at@HeadNerdPaul,LinkedInand Reddit atu/Paul _Kelly

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