Frequently Asked Questions.

ConnectWise Automate (formerly LabTech) is a powerful Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM) platform that gives MSPs full visibility and control over every managed endpoint. It lets you remotely access, monitor, and remediate devices — either manually or through automated scripts — without interrupting end users. Most MSPs only use a fraction of its capabilities out of the box, which is where platform-specific consulting makes a significant difference.

ConnectWise is a suite of IT business management tools built specifically for MSPs and IT service providers. ConnectWise Automate handles RMM — monitoring, scripting, patching, and remote access. ConnectWise Manage is a PSA (Professional Services Automation) tool for ticketing, billing, time tracking, and project management. Together, they form a complete operational stack for running a managed services business.

ConnectWise Automate is available in both on-premises and cloud-hosted deployments. The cloud-hosted version is increasingly common and eliminates the need to manage your own server infrastructure. On-premises deployments offer more control and are preferred by MSPs with strict data sovereignty requirements. StarDawn IT supports both deployment models.

ConnectWise Manage is a Professional Services Automation (PSA) platform. It centralises your ticketing, service dispatch, time entry, billing, procurement, and client communication into a single system. For MSPs, a well-configured PSA is the operational backbone of the business — it drives profitability, SLA compliance, and technician efficiency.

Yes. ConnectWise Automate includes 256-bit AES encryption, role-based access control, multi-factor authentication, server-level auditing, and the option for self-hosted deployments. That said, security is only as strong as your configuration. A poorly tuned Automate environment can have overpermissioned accounts and unused integrations that create unnecessary attack surface. Regular audits are strongly recommended.

Log in to the ConnectWise Automate Control Center, right-click on the Clients node in the navigation tree, and select 'Create Client.' Fill in the required client details — name, location, and any custom fields your environment uses. From there you can assign service plans, groups, and monitoring policies to the new client. If you're onboarding a client at scale, scripted onboarding workflows can automate this entire process.

The Automate agent installs to the LTSvc directory on the endpoint (typically C:\Windows\LTSvc). The installation is silent and does not require user interaction. The agent registers with your Automate server on first boot and immediately begins applying the monitoring and patching policies assigned to that client or location group.

A Network Operations Center (NOC) is a centralised team of IT engineers who monitor, manage, and respond to alerts and incidents across a managed network — 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. For MSPs, a NOC acts as an extension of your technical team, handling alert triage, ticket creation, and first-response remediation so your in-house staff can focus on higher-value work.

A NOC team handles the full lifecycle of a monitored event: validating alerts generated by your RMM, triaging incidents by severity, troubleshooting common issues like drive space, service failures, and connectivity problems, escalating critical events to on-call staff, opening and updating tickets in your PSA, communicating with end users or ISPs when required, and maintaining detailed logs until every issue is resolved.

The core benefit is proactive coverage without proportional headcount cost. A NOC reduces mean time to resolution (MTTR), catches issues before they become client-visible outages, improves SLA compliance, and gives your MSP the ability to offer 24/7 support without burning out your internal team. It also provides a clear audit trail of every monitored event — which is valuable for compliance and client reporting.

An RMM (Remote Monitoring and Management) tool manages the technology — endpoints, servers, network devices, patches, and scripts. A PSA (Professional Services Automation) tool manages the business — tickets, client records, contracts, invoicing, and time tracking. In a well-run MSP, the two are tightly integrated: your RMM generates alerts that automatically become tickets in your PSA, with billing and SLA tracking attached.

RMM automation means using your RMM platform to execute tasks automatically, based on conditions or schedules, without a technician having to intervene. Examples include: automatically clearing disk space when a drive hits 85% capacity, restarting failed services, deploying software to newly onboarded machines, running patch cycles on defined maintenance windows, and generating daily health reports. Well-built automation is what separates a reactive MSP from a proactive one.

The most widely adopted RMM platforms are ConnectWise Automate, NinjaRMM, Datto RMM, N-able N-central, Kaseya VSA, and Atera. On the PSA side, ConnectWise Manage, Autotask (Datto), Syncro, and HaloPSA are the leading options. The 'best' platform depends on your MSP's size, stack, and workflows. StarDawn IT has deep hands-on experience with all of the above and can help you evaluate, migrate, or optimise whichever platform you're using.

We support all major MSP backup solutions including Veeam, Datto BCDR, Acronis Cyber Protect, MSP360 (CloudBerry), Axcient, Barracuda, and Cove Data Protection (formerly SolarWinds Backup). If your platform isn't listed, reach out — our team has broad exposure across the backup vendor landscape.

A dedicated backup admin monitors every backup job daily, investigates and resolves failures before they go unnoticed, manages agent installations and licensing, performs scheduled mock restores to verify recoverability, handles portal management across all client accounts, maintains offsite and cloud archival policies, and sends you a daily backup status report. The goal is to ensure that when a client needs a restore, it works — every time.

Industry best practice is to test restores at least monthly for critical systems and quarterly for standard workloads. Many MSPs skip this step entirely — which means the first time they discover a backup was broken is during an actual disaster. StarDawn IT's backup management service includes scheduled mock restores as a core deliverable, not an afterthought.

Backup is the process of creating and retaining copies of data. Disaster recovery (DR) is the broader plan for restoring business operations after a catastrophic failure — which includes backups but also covers RTO (Recovery Time Objective), RPO (Recovery Point Objective), failover environments, and communication procedures. StarDawn IT helps MSPs build and maintain both.

Most of our services operate on a flat monthly retainer — you get a dedicated resource or team working inside your stack without the overhead of a full-time hire. We integrate into your existing tools, communication channels, and workflows. Engagements typically start with a discovery call and a short onboarding period where we audit your current environment before making any changes.

We offer flexible engagement terms. Many clients start on a 3-month commitment, which gives us enough time to audit, stabilise, and deliver measurable results. After that, engagements continue month-to-month. We don't believe in locking clients in — we believe in earning the renewal.

Our team is India-based and works across time zones to support US MSPs. We can align coverage to your business hours, after-hours, or 24/7 depending on the service. For NOC and monitoring services, we provide round-the-clock coverage with escalation protocols matched to your on-call schedule.

The fastest way is to book a free discovery call via our contact page. We'll discuss your current stack, pain points, and goals — and outline exactly how we'd engage. There's no obligation and no sales pressure. If it's not a fit, we'll tell you.