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MeshCentral
===========
# MeshCentral
## Table of Contents
[About](#about)
[Social Media](#social-media)
[Documentation](#documentation)
[Video Tutorials](#video-tutorials)
[Feedback](#feedback)
[License](#license)
## About
MeshCentral is a full computer management web site. With MeshCentral, you can run your own web server to remotely manage and control computers on a local network or anywhere on the internet. Once you get the server started, create device group and download and install an agent on each computer you want to manage. A minute later, the new computer will show up on the web site and you can take control of it. MeshCentral includes full web-based remote desktop, terminal and file management capability.
To try out this software, please go to [MeshCentral.com](http://meshcentral.com).
**NOTE:** Be mindful of adding your own MeshCentral agent machines to this server as it will be publically available!
For more information, [visit MeshCommander.com/MeshCentral2](https://www.meshcommander.com/meshcentral2).
Discussion forum on [Reddit](https://www.reddit.com/r/MeshCentral/).
Download the [full PDF user's guide](http://info.meshcentral.com/downloads/MeshCentral2/MeshCentral2UserGuide.pdf) with more information on configuring and running MeshCentral2. In addition, the [installation guide](http://info.meshcentral.com/downloads/MeshCentral2/MeshCentral2InstallGuide.pdf) can help get MeshCentral installed on Amazon AWS, Microsoft Azure, Ubuntu or Raspberry Pi.
## Social Media
[Reddit](https://www.reddit.com/r/MeshCentral/)
[Twitter](https://twitter.com/MeshCentral)
[BlogSpot](https://meshcentral2.blogspot.com/)
This is a full computer management web site. With MeshCentral, you can run your own web server to remotely manage and control computers on a local network or anywhere on the internet. Once you get the server started, create device group and download and install an agent on each computer you want to manage. A minute later, the new computer will show up on the web site and you can take control of it. MeshCentral includes full web-based remote desktop, terminal and file management capability.
## Documentation
The [User's Guide](http://info.meshcentral.com/downloads/MeshCentral2/MeshCentral2UserGuide.pdf) contains information every adminstrator should know including usage, the server configuration file, databases, TLS offloading, Lets Encrypt, IP Filtering, Email setup, embedding, server port aliasing, reverse proxy setup, multi factor authentication, branding & terms of use, HashiCorp Vault support, and SSO.
To test this server, feel free to try [MeshCentral.com](http://meshcentral.com).
The [Installation Guide](http://info.meshcentral.com/downloads/MeshCentral2/MeshCentral2InstallGuide.pdf) has detailed instructions for installing the MeshCentral Server on Windows 8.1, Windows 10, Windows 2012 R2, Amazon Linux 2, Raspberry Pi, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, Ubuntu 18, Ubuntu 16 and OpenBSD.
The [Design and Architecture Guide](http://info.meshcentral.com/downloads/MeshCentral2/MeshCentral2DesignArchitecture.pdf) is a short document that includes information on the design overview, dependencies, source code descriptions of each file, certificates, TLS security, the agent to server handshake, browser to agent relay and WebRTC and the messenger service.
Installation
------------
Make sure you have NodeJS and npm installed. If you are behind a proxy, setup npm to use the proxy:
```
npm config set proxy http://proxy.com:88
npm config set https-proxy http://proxy.com:88
```
Then, install MeshCentral by creating an empty folder and using npm to download the module:
```
mkdir meshcentral
cd meshcentral
npm install meshcentral
```
To run MeshCentral you may need to use `nodejs` instead of `node` on Linux.
```
cd ./node_modules/meshcentral
node meshcentral [arguments]
```
You can launch MeshCentral with no arguments to start it in LAN mode. In LAN mode only devices on the local network can be managed. To setup a more secure server, use --cert to specify an IP address or name that resolves to your server. This name will be used by agents to connect back to the server. So, make sure you set **a name that will resolve back to your server**. MeshCentral will not register this name for you. You must make sure to setup the DNS name yourself first, or use the right IP address. If you are just taking a quick look at MeshCentral, you can skip this step and do it at later time.
```
node meshcentral --cert servername.domain.com
node meshcentral --cert 1.2.3.4
```
On Windows, you can install MeshCentral to run as a background service, just run it using `--install`. Once running, open a browser and enter the server url. By default, a TLS self-signed certificate is created so you will need to ignore the security warning given by your browser. A link to the root certificate that can be loaded into your browser is provided on the website so you can make the warnings go away. You can run without TLS security using --notls, but this is not recommended.
Update and uninstall
--------------------
Uninstalling MeshCentral is super easy, just use npm as usual. For updating, just install over the previous version by installing again, data files will not be changed. From the parent folder of node_module, enter ether:
```
npm install meshcentral
npm uninstall meshcentral
```
Command Line
------------
Command line arguments on Windows only:
| Arguments | Description
| ------------------------------------- | -----------
| --install | Install MeshCentral as a background service.
| --uninstall | Uninstall MeshCentral background service.
| --start | Start MeshCentral as a background service.
| --stop | Stop MeshCentral background service.
Command line arguments on any platform:
| Arguments | Description
| ------------------------------------- | -----------
| --notls | Use HTTP instead of HTTPS for the main web server.
| --user [username] | Always login as [username] if the account exists.
| --port [number] | Web server port number (default is 443).
| --mpsport [number] | Intel AMT server port number (default is 4433).
| --redirport [number] | Redirection web server, redirects users to the HTTPS server (default to 80).
| --exactports | Server must run with correct ports or exit.
| --cert [name], (country), (org) | Create a web server certificate with a server name. Country and organization can optionaly be set.
Configuration File
------------------
As an alternative to using command line arguments, you can create a `./node-module/meshcentral-data/config.json` file, for example:
```json
{
"settings": {
"port": 8080,
"redirport": 81
},
"domains": {
"": {
"title": "MyServer",
"title2": "Servername",
"userQuota": 1048576,
"meshQuota": 248576,
"newAccounts" : 1
},
"Customer1": {
"title": "Customer1",
"title2": "Extra String",
"newAccounts" : 0
},
"Customer2": {
"title": "Customer2",
"title2": "Other String"
}
}
}
```
The `settings` part are for command line arguments. For example, instead of running with `--port 8080`, you can put `"port": 8080` in the `settings` portion of the `config.json` file. In addition, you can use the `config.json` file to create multi-tenancy servers. In the domains section, you can set options for the default domain (`""`) in addition to creating new domains.
For the configuration above, the root domain and two other domains will be accessible like this:
```
https://servername:8080/
https://servername:8080/customer1
https://servername:8080/customer2
```
When you setup many domains, the server considers each domain separately. Each domain has separate user accounts, administrators, etc. Within each domain, you can put a `title` and `title2` as strings that will show up at the top of the web site. `userQuota` indicates the default maximum amount of data a user can have in it's "My Files" folder. `meshQuota` is the maximum total size of files in each mesh folder. `newAccounts` indicates if new accounts can be created from the login page, `0` if not allowed, `1` if allowed. Note that if a web site has no accounts, the new account option will be available until an account is created and the first account will be the site administrator.
Other Notes
-----------
For Windows users, if you install MeshCentral globally using `npm install meshcentral -g`, it will not be able to run correctly as a Windows Service. It will immediately stop each time you start it.
For more information on MeshCentral or other tools, visit [MeshCommander.com](http://meshcommander.com).
Tutorials
---------
How to install MeshCentral2 in a few minutes.
## Video Tutorials
How to install MeshCentral2 in Microsoft Windows
[![MeshCentral2 - Installation](https://img.youtube.com/vi/LSiWuu71k_U/mqdefault.jpg)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSiWuu71k_U)
Demonstration of MeshCentral2 usages and more tips & tricks.
Demonstration of MeshCentral2 usages and more tips & tricks
[![MeshCentral2 - Usages](https://img.youtube.com/vi/1E3NqGJzYds/mqdefault.jpg)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1E3NqGJzYds)
How to setup Intel® AMT client initiated remote access (CIRA) to connect to MeshCentral2.
How to setup Intel® AMT client initiated remote access (CIRA) to connect to MeshCentral2
[![MeshCentral2 - Intel AMT CIRA](https://img.youtube.com/vi/rA2KHa2jkO0/mqdefault.jpg)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rA2KHa2jkO0)
Explaining the MeshAgent
[![MeshCentral2 - JavaScript in the MeshAgent](https://img.youtube.com/vi/oJi0zydaeH0/mqdefault.jpg)](https://youtu.be/oJi0zydaeH0)
License
-------
Microsoft ClickOnce Demonstration
[![MeshCentral2 - Microsoft ClickOnce Demonstration](https://img.youtube.com/vi/--RCkWqJ-gI/mqdefault.jpg)](https://youtu.be/--RCkWqJ-gI)
MeshCmd Router Demonstration
[![MeshCmd Router](https://img.youtube.com/vi/S38mg_BPe-M/mqdefault.jpg)](https://youtu.be/S38mg_BPe-M)
MeshCentral2 with NGINX
[![MeshCentral2 with NGINX](https://img.youtube.com/vi/ebDVAsistbk/mqdefault.jpg)](https://youtu.be/ebDVAsistbk)
MeshCommander Demonstration
[![MeshCentral2 with NGINX](https://img.youtube.com/vi/nsqF1uOCJx4/mqdefault.jpg)](https://youtu.be/nsqF1uOCJx4)
## Feedback
If you encounter a problem or have a suggestion to improve the product, you may file an [issue report](https://github.com/Ylianst/MeshCentral/issues/)
If you are filing a problem report, you should include:
* The version of the software you are using
* The Operating System and version
* The observed output
* The expected output
* Any troubleshooting you took to resolve the issue yourself
* Any other similar reports
If you are having issues with the following other products, you should file a report on their respective issue pages
[MeshAgent](https://github.com/Ylianst/MeshAgent/issues)
[MeshRouter](https://github.com/Ylianst/MeshCentralRouter/issues)
## License
This software is licensed under [Apache 2.0](https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0).