Implementation suite · backups · monitoring · remote

Protocols, versioning & remote control

Production implementations use Shadow Copy / VSS on Windows, Linux-compatible versioning, onsite and offsite backups, SNMP and related telemetry, and a remote control agent that is authorized only under the signed MSP contract (MFA + session audit).

1. Windows - VSS / Shadow Copy

Volume Shadow Copy Service for application-consistent snapshots, previous versions of files, and backup-job quiesce. Scheduled create/prune, restore drills, and Hyper-V / SQL integration where in scope.

SKU MSP-VSS-SHADOW turn-up · MSP-VSS-SHADOW-MGD monthly ops
Pairs with image-level backups and pre/post change state captures

2. Linux - compatible versioning

Not a Windows-only design. Linux servers use LVM snapshots, Btrfs send/receive, ZFS snapshots, and/or rsnapshot / Borg / Restic versioned archives - same operational goal: point-in-time restore without taking users offline.

SKU MSP-LINUX-VERSIONING · MSP-LINUX-VERSION-MGD
Works with NFS/SMB export targets and offsite object replicas

3. Onsite + offsite backups (3-2-1)

Onsite

NAS or secondary host - SMB / NFS / iSCSI targets, local jobs, fast restore (MSP-BACKUP-ONSITE).

Offsite

Cloud/object or replica site with immutability / object lock (MSP-BACKUP-OFFSITE).

3-2-1

Three copies, two media types, one offsite - design + turn-up (MSP-BACKUP-3-2-1).

4. Remote control agent - contract authorized

Remote control (LogMeIn / AnyDesk-class / RMM assist) is enabled only for customers under a signed MSP agreement or SOW. Access is MFA-gated, role-limited, and session-audited. Assessment phase remains read-only and uploads ops-logs only (error / heal / debug) - never client files or documents.

MSP-REMOTE-CONTRACT - authorization posture (included with managed retainers)
MSP-REMOTE-AGENT-MGD - managed seats
See Terms § Access & remote assist · Liability

5. Monitoring suite

Full stack - not SNMP alone:

SNMP v2c / v3 polling + traps (MSP-MONITOR-SNMP)
ICMP up/down & latency
WMI / WinRM Windows health, services, disk, events
SSH Linux agentless health checks (status/logs - not client file pull)
Syslog / Windows Event Forwarding
NetFlow / sFlow / IPFIX traffic visibility where hardware supports it

SKU MSP-MONITOR-SUITE (+ managed monthly).

6. Full protocol suite

Documented, hardened, and monitored under MSP-PROTOCOLS-STACK:

Identity

LDAP / LDAPS · Kerberos · RADIUS · MFA portals · SSH keys

Remote

RDP · SSH · WinRM · VPN (IPsec/IKEv2, WireGuard, OpenVPN) · contract RMM

File / block

SMB/CIFS · NFS · iSCSI · SFTP/SCP · DFS where scoped

Ops telemetry

SNMP · Syslog · NetFlow/sFlow · TLS everywhere practical

Start with $999 assessment Never-down standards