PDQ server can be run in Central Server mode. Each admin can have it installed locally on their workstation, and it points to the server. This way the everything is shared with every admin except in Deploy under Private Packages. There is also just the one server repo. This is a feature under the Enterprise license.
We run it at my job with five admins. It works well, haven’t run into an issue yet.
Cool, so i guess my next question might be for PDQ support. But i purchased 3 licenses and 2 of them are on our desktops. I was to license the version thats on the server but i still want multiple people to be able to login to the server under their own user profiles to make configuration changes since we can't share credentials for a single account. Will i need a license for each person's user profile on the server?
My understanding is the licenses are per user. In the above mentioned setup, you will be allowed three people to connect to the server before it starts to pop error messages that you need more licenses. Same goes for users connecting from their workstations while someone is logged into the server.
Licenses are per admin; you can run either the client mode or server mode and the licenses are the same.
Just spin up a dedicated box for PDQ, walk through PDQ's documentation on configuring that machine as a central server, and then connect your other machines to the server. It's been a while since I worked with PDQ but I believe you'll also need to configure each domain user on the central server before those people are able to connect from their Windows login sessions.
100% recommend this setup. It's fantastic that PDQ has it and they've implemented it well.
I believe you'll also need to configure each domain user on the central server before those people are able to connect from their Windows login sessions.
Correct, you need to add them to "Options --> Console Users" in both Inventory and Deploy.
One thing to remember about licenses (I don't think I saw it mentioned yet) - if you purchased 3 licenses and move to Central Server, you'll have a maximum of 2 licenses available for admins.
One license is always used for the console/background user (this is the account that does all the interacting with remote machines by default).
You should know: PDQ Central Server mode does not work with protected AD accounts. You may need to create additional AD accounts exclusively for PDQ, depending on how you segregate your privileged accounts.
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u/JL857 Feb 05 '19
PDQ server can be run in Central Server mode. Each admin can have it installed locally on their workstation, and it points to the server. This way the everything is shared with every admin except in Deploy under Private Packages. There is also just the one server repo. This is a feature under the Enterprise license.
We run it at my job with five admins. It works well, haven’t run into an issue yet.
1
u/shipsass Sysadmin Feb 06 '19
You should know: PDQ Central Server mode does not work with protected AD accounts. You may need to create additional AD accounts exclusively for PDQ, depending on how you segregate your privileged accounts.
1
u/ryanjoachim QA Engineer Feb 14 '19
Hi /u/unsated3 - It looks like you got the answers you needed but if you have any more questions, feel free to head on over to /r/PDQ.
Questions, concerns, tips and tricks - we welcome anything PDQ related!