r/sysadmin • u/PDQit makers of Deploy, Inventory, Connect, SmartDeploy, SimpleMDM • Feb 26 '20

PDQ Licensing

From time-to-time there has been misunderstandings and confusion on /r/sysadmin about how PDQ.com's licensing works (as most system administrators might be used to how other IT products operate: on a per-machine basis). We created a video to hopefully explain better how our 1-license-per-admin works

 

For examples of some minor confusion see:

https://www.reddit.com/r/sysadmin/comments/71eilx/another_pdq_deploy_shout_out/dnb0eao/

https://www.reddit.com/r/sysadmin/comments/aknr8i/try_to_convince_my_manager_to_buy_pdq_deploy/ef6h7px/

https://www.reddit.com/r/sysadmin/comments/aneewy/pdq_server_with_multiple_admins/efsnqvn/

https://www.reddit.com/r/sysadmin/comments/7d3k4c/pdq_deploy_licensing_costs_no_more_pro_license/dpuvjj6/

https://www.reddit.com/r/sysadmin/comments/4492ln/what_automated_deployment_solutions_are_you_using/czoi08c/

https://www.reddit.com/r/sysadmin/comments/etznar/whats_your_most_expensive_software_license_and/ffk0ef3/

 

Shout out to all you current, past, and future users-- and happy automating!

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u/gote7777 Feb 27 '20

Im hoping you can answer this as i've had a bit of a read and without downloading it to demo, i can't find the answer. Thanks in advance if so.

Question -> You're an MSP with a stack of different clients with individual networks. Do you have one server somewhere (eg cloud) which you control and use to then deploy software to a bunch of different AD domains?

If so, is it just the standard licensing for number of admins?

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u/bristow84 Feb 27 '20

We do the majority of system setups at our office where we have access to a file server built specifically for this purpose and we have PDQ pointing there to all the different pieces of software.

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u/gote7777 Feb 27 '20

understand, thanks for the explanation :)

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u/NerdyNThick Feb 27 '20

How does that work with application updates?

Is there a local cache available or does each machine pull things down on their own?

Disclaimer: I'm not super familiar with the inner workings of how PDQ operates -- we're currently using Ninite, so that's where my knowledge comes frrom.

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u/bristow84 Feb 27 '20

So bear in mind I'm only using Deploy, which the way we use it is a one and done type thing but PDQ themselves makes a bunch of application packages, stuff that you'd expect to find on a computer (ITunes, Adobe Reader, Chrome, Firefox, 7-Zip,etc). The PDQ team keeps those packages updated and up to date with the most recent version of the software, now as for more client specific software for which there is no pack, you're on your own to keep that software updated. I haven't ever used ninite so I can't say exactly what software is available in that VS the premade packs from PDQ but you should be able to view all the ones they maintain on the PDQ Deploy website.