Product Information

[TimAG]

Hello, I am evaluating using the Domotz Pro and it seems to fit the bill in many aspects.

Admittedly I do not have one yet, but it is on order as such I will have more hands-on comments coming.

But in the evaluation "to buy or not to buy" I am coming short on the following...

I have scoured the domotz.com website and done general internet searches. So if the information is available, apologies for not finding it, but at the same time... it is thus hard to find and maybe should be made more accessible.

I have also tried the demo site, to see if I could get answers out of it, but the “demo” limitations do not permit me things like… seeing a report (email disabled)

 

I’m looking for a sample report….

• What is the report that you can have emailed to you at the end of the month?

• In what format does it come?

• Can a template be applied?

• How in depth is it?

• Is there an Installer version and customer version?

• Does the report outline device performance over time?

• Does the report outline device usage over time?

• Does the report outline specific functions usage (extracted from SNMP calls or alike)

 

On the features page (https://www.domotz.com/remote-network-monitoring-features/) it talks about

Network Mapping

Please explain?

• What kind of network mapping?

• I see no network Topology page.. does it exist?

• Is there a visual layout of the network?

• A Map of devices connected per switch?

• Switch / Router / Firewall / WLAN layouts?

• Trunk size / performance?

• VLANs visualisations?

Am I even understanding what the feature Network Mapping is about? (In your vision)

 

Under Alerts it mentions -  Intruder/New Device

• Is this outlined in the report?

• Does an alert get send when a new device tries to gain access?

• Does this alert allow you to respond with a Allow/Disallow function?

• Are there login alert/intrusion protection into the Domotz box itself?

• Is there a summary/log analysis for repeated attempts of a device to connect over period?

• Is there a repeat offender function for blacklisting needs (note.. repeat offenders does not have to be a user willingly trying to ‘get in’ but could be a device simply misbehaving.. having a bug.. or even a virus!!)

 

Under Network Diagnostics you mention - Ethernet Port Monitoring

• Please elaborate!?

• Will the Domotz Agent identify which port on a switch devices are connected to?

• How does this get represented? (Network map? Report? On the device page?)

• If (for switch reason) it cannot be retrieved, can the information be added manually?

 

On a point of personal feedback..  I did visit you at the ISE2018 on the hope that a conversation could be struck up and I could get answers to some of my doubts, but I seemed to get a little of a cold shoulder from you guys. I clearly understand that an event as such is tiring, and I came relatively late in the day, it’s just a shame to have missed an opportunity there.  Hope you can clarify the issues outlined above, or at least give indication where you are on the roadmap to achieve this?

Thank you,

Tim.

 

[Giancarlo]

Hi Tim,

 

please, apologize for the delay in getting back to you. I would like to try addressing all your questions here below.

 

On 2/18/2018 at 3:45 AM, TimAG said:

I’m looking for a sample report….

• What is the report that you can have emailed to you at the end of the month?
• In what format does it come?
• Can a template be applied?
• How in depth is it?
• Is there an Installer version and customer version?
• Does the report outline device performance over time?
• Does the report outline device usage over time?
• Does the report outline specific functions usage (extracted from SNMP calls or alike)

 

If you write down to support(at)domotz.com, we will provide you with a sample of the Report.

- Format of the report is PDF

- At the moment, there is only one single template. We are going to add a way for you to customize it (a sort of widgets you can choose for every report)

- The report looks at the last 30 days activities

- At the moment there is only one version (both for installer and customer)

- With regard to the devices, the report only shows Online/Offline activity at the moment

- The CSV version of the report, reports some information extracted from other protocols (e.g. port mapping)

 

On 2/18/2018 at 3:45 AM, TimAG said:

On the features page (https://www.domotz.com/remote-network-monitoring-features/) it talks about Network Mapping

 

Please explain?

• What kind of network mapping?
• I see no network Topology page.. does it exist?
• Is there a visual layout of the network?
• A Map of devices connected per switch?
• Switch / Router / Firewall / WLAN layouts?
• Trunk size / performance?
• VLANs visualisations?

 

- Through the mean of SNMP, the Domotz Pro is able to extract which "devices" are connected to each port of the network switch.

- It is not yet reported in the form of a topology graph, but we are evaluating this

- we also extract some information about traffic, errors, packet lost, bandwidth available for every port

 

On 2/18/2018 at 3:45 AM, TimAG said:

Under Alerts it mentions -  Intruder/New Device

• Is this outlined in the report?
• Does an alert get send when a new device tries to gain access?
• Does this alert allow you to respond with a Allow/Disallow function?
• Are there login alert/intrusion protection into the Domotz box itself?
• Is there a summary/log analysis for repeated attempts of a device to connect over period?
• Is there a repeat offender function for blacklisting needs (note.. repeat offenders does not have to be a user willingly trying to ‘get in’ but could be a device simply misbehaving.. having a bug.. or even a virus!!

   

 

- the report only shows the new devices that joined the network in the last 30 days

- an alert is sent when a new device is already on the network. Currently, the Domotz Agent is not in the middle of the network, and can't prevent access.

- however, through Violet, it is possible to block the device as soon as it is spot on the network

- with the blocking functionality, you can decide to block a specific device to gain access to the network

 

On 2/18/2018 at 3:45 AM, TimAG said:

Under Network Diagnostics you mention - Ethernet Port Monitoring

• Please elaborate!?
• Will the Domotz Agent identify which port on a switch devices are connected to?
• How does this get represented? (Network map? Report? On the device page?)
• If (for switch reason) it cannot be retrieved, can the information be added manually?

 

- As perviously explained, the tool automatically recognize the MAC addresses (and therefore devices) logically connected to the supported network switch ports

- it's not on a network map, yet. At the moment the information is available on the CSV report, on the device page itself, and in the network switch page as well

- the information at the moment cannot be added manually. However, we are working to allow this to be added manually

 

I was not personally at the ISE this hear, and I really apologize if your were not able to get the feedback/answers you reserved in that occasion. However, as I heard from my colleagues, the ISE this year was by far the most busy for our team. Actually, it was our fault in planning that event: we should have added additional members of our team to such event, if we could forecast such a success at our booth. We had 4/5 persons of our team always at other partners and prospect partners to discuss about how to further improve the Domotz Pro service by adding further integrations.

 

I would suggest to have a look at our latest webinar, where we tried to to highlight most of the features available through Domotz:

 

Finally, given the trial period offered by Domotz, I would suggest giving it a try. There are multiple options to have a Domotz Agent running on any existing hardware you might already have in place. This is probably the best way to familiarize with the product.

[TimAG]

Hello Giancarlo,

 

Thank you for your reply and in addressing some of the points that I raised.

 

I do hope that you will find this a constructive critism and that it will assist you in ever improving your product.

 

I am looking for a suitable remote monitoring package that is nuetrally placed and all the same capable of giving a good indepth and detailed analysis of the active systems. I see your product as a grand contender in this arena and thus a sincerly useful item to use.

 

But I also see that by the fact that you are re-aligning your subscripition system, readdressing your setup and making your presence in larger professional fairs known, that you seem to be in the process of making the jump from a home amateur setup to the professional line. And I wish you all the success with that.

Further I note that you in effect have 2 products on the market, The Fing box and the Domotz box with the intended distinction that the primary is for the home user overseeing their own house and the later for the professional integrator offering a monitoring service. I have both now and am evaluating both in that manner. Do correct me on my assumption here if I am incorrect! I also see that the two products should not be mixed, and you do a good job of that with both running very seperate presence on the internet.

 

On your comment that I could download the software and install the base into another hardware, I wanted to outline a couple of issues I have with that act.

Working in the professional market I need a rock solid, tested component. The moment that I start "experimenting" installing agent software on another hardware that thus will have limited support puts me on a back foot.

I sincerely will consider the Luxul line of switches with the agent installed, as I can bounce back on Luxul (and yourselves) in case of any issues. I am not so sure I can do that in the same way with Qnap or a Rasberry.

 

I have some more items I want to raise, which I list below here. That said, if you wish to take this conversation offline, or into another more suitable forum, please advise.

 

I installed the Domotz box as per instruction that came with it and downloaded the android App.

The installation failed at the point where I should "activate your agent" with "Something went wrong, please try again later."

 

I was happy to find the alternative route of going to the domotz box activation (local) webpage via a browser from a laptop. This succeeded.

 

Here I want to note, as a pro system I really prefer doing the setup and configuration primarily via a laptop. And the App (small handheld device) as a backup. I appreciate being able to look up status of the network via the App when I am on the move, but my primary work will always remain on the more comfortable and more manageable computer (be it laptop or desktop).

 

The next thing I wanted to note, is that on the activation page you ask if it is for "my home" or "my office"

• Whats the difference?
• As a pro unit destined for the integrator, neither ... it will be "my clients premises"

Going back on my previous message and your replies,

 

On 24/02/2018 at 5:04 PM, Giancarlo said:

If you write down to support(at)domotz.com, we will provide you with a sample of the Report.

- Format of the report is PDF

- At the moment, there is only one single template. We are going to add a way for you to customize it (a sort of widgets you can choose for every report)

- The report looks at the last 30 days activities

- At the moment there is only one version (both for installer and customer)

- With regard to the devices, the report only shows Online/Offline activity at the moment

- The CSV version of the report, reports some information extracted from other protocols (e.g. port mapping)

 

In a seperate email you should have received a request

 

As I will be incorporating the report into a larger report compiled of other information as well, it would be very useful to have an editable/transferrable format. My clients are at the high end and I would really prefer to having a little flexibility here.

And of course indepth reporting is something that I also would be eager on as a remote support person, history can be very important in determining issues at time.

 

My environment involves that "guests" will regurlarly join the network with their own devices, and the ability to trace network issues due to load and configuration changes will be impertinent here.

 

On 24/02/2018 at 5:04 PM, Giancarlo said:

- the report only shows the new devices that joined the network in the last 30 days

- an alert is sent when a new device is already on the network. Currently, the Domotz Agent is not in the middle of the network, and can't prevent access.

- however, through Violet, it is possible to block the device as soon as it is spot on the network

- with the blocking functionality, you can decide to block a specific device to gain access to the network

 

Understand that only joined devices will be registered, But what about devices that attempt to join but fail? Or having trouble to remain connected?

This is not a matter of the agent being in the middle of the network, but yes in looking at the packets running across the network. I am not sure how intrusive you aim for the domotz box to be, but again, I am looking at the troubleshooting abilities (assistance) here.

I am surprised you enable blocking for the end-client app, but not the remote support team, I assume multiple Violet clients can be associated with the agent, so that one could be created for admin purposes? 

Assume also here that the Violet App in essence is a replica of the FingApp?

 

And I cannot stress more, one of the primary functions at first connect for me is the ability to scan the network and create a topology, I do this anytime I start a new project where there is already a current network active and I have to make changes. And from there I am able to not only create a plan but with the evolvement of this topology I am able to keep the components in check.

 

Again, I hope this helps you, as I hope the unit could help me in the future.

Thank you,

Tim.

[Giancarlo]

 

Hi Tim,

 

thanks again for your feedback. I see this discussion very constructive, and useful for the entire community.

 

Let me address some of the question, and I'll try to address all of them in future discussion.

 

On 2/26/2018 at 4:14 PM, TimAG said:

But I also see that by the fact that you are re-aligning your subscripition system, readdressing your setup and making your presence in larger professional fairs known, that you seem to be in the process of making the jump from a home amateur setup to the professional line. And I wish you all the success with that.

Further I note that you in effect have 2 products on the market, The Fing box and the Domotz box with the intended distinction that the primary is for the home user overseeing their own house and the later for the professional integrator offering a monitoring service. I have both now and am evaluating both in that manner. Do correct me on my assumption here if I am incorrect! I also see that the two products should not be mixed, and you do a good job of that with both running very seperate presence on the internet.

 

Let me mention that since the first months, the Domotz Pro services has addressed the professional users. Our biggest user base is in this market (including Magnolia and their MagCare service). The fact that Domotz Pro is an easy to install, easy to use and mobile available service, together with the relatively inexpensive cost, should not be confused with a non-professional tool. We just tried to make the life of Customer Installer, AV Installers, MSP and IT Professional in general, much easier when it concerns the Remote Monitoring and Remote Management solution. All those features (including the low price) just make of Domotz Pro a viable solution to Professional users to start using a Remote Monitoring and Management solution on a larger scale.

 

On the other hand, you exactly got the difference between the two products/services offered. While FingBox tries to address more the necessity of the end-users (consumer), Domotz Pro is the indicated tool/service for the Professional users.

 

On 2/26/2018 at 4:14 PM, TimAG said:

On your comment that I could download the software and install the base into another hardware, I wanted to outline a couple of issues I have with that act.

Working in the professional market I need a rock solid, tested component. The moment that I start "experimenting" installing agent software on another hardware that thus will have limited support puts me on a back foot.

I sincerely will consider the Luxul line of switches with the agent installed, as I can bounce back on Luxul (and yourselves) in case of any issues. I am not so sure I can do that in the same way with Qnap or a Rasberry.

 

I completely agree with you. I just mentioned the options available to you, for clarity. There are company, our customers, that they really prefer to install the Domotz Agent on their own hardware, for multiple reasons (avoid adding more boxes, trusted servers, remove access to existing hardware, cost saving, etc). But from a support point of view, even though we are much more effective and fast in identifying issues on Domotz Boxes, we still provide a very good (and we try to be very fast) support on the third-party hardware as well.

 

From my point of view, the option of downloading and installing the software on your own, just give additional flexibility to the service.

 

On 2/26/2018 at 4:14 PM, TimAG said:

 

I was happy to find the alternative route of going to the domotz box activation (local) webpage via a browser from a laptop. This succeeded.

 

Here I want to note, as a pro system I really prefer doing the setup and configuration primarily via a laptop. And the App (small handheld device) as a backup. I appreciate being able to look up status of the network via the App when I am on the move, but my primary work will always remain on the more comfortable and more manageable computer (be it laptop or desktop).

 

 

Again, this is strictly related to flexibility. We allow Domotz users to both configure the Domotz Agent with a Laptop, or just through the mean of the App. Please note that some Field Operators, sometimes, just bring the Domotz Box and their own mobile on a very quick onsite visit at their customers. Allowing them to configure the Domotz Box through the App, in my opinion is a plus, and should not be seen as a "Consumer" way of configuring a professional tool.

 

On 2/26/2018 at 4:14 PM, TimAG said:

I am surprised you enable blocking for the end-client app, but not the remote support team, I assume multiple Violet clients can be associated with the agent, so that one could be created for admin purposes? 

Assume also here that the Violet App in essence is a replica of the FingApp?

 

 

 

The rationale behind this business/product design decision is exactly related to the addressed markets. Domotz Pro is for the professional users. They don't need to block internet to a device. They need to monitor a network and eventually remotely access/control it to fix issue. On the other hand, they can offer an App (Violet) which is for the end-user (in the same way as the FingBox app): this is where the blocking feature can be seen as a sort of parental control feature.

 

I hope the above comments help to clarify some of the doubts. But please, do not hesitate to continue here the discussion or to raise any other doubt.

 

Thanks for your constant feedback.

Giancarlo