Introduction to Overseer

Overseer is a desired-state engine for Windows computers. You declare what should be true on each computer, and Overseer finds where a computer differs, closes the gap and verifies the result.

What Overseer is

Overseer manages the software and settings on the Windows computers you look after for your clients. It is built for managed service providers, where one team answers for many computers spread across many separate clients.

You use it to:

• Manage software. Install, update and remove applications for every client from one place.
• Keep computers maintained. Run routine maintenance on a timetable, so computers stay up to date without anyone remembering to do it.
• Set up new computers. Take a computer from its first start to ready for the person who uses it.
• Hold a standard. Apply the same configuration everywhere it belongs, and find out where it has slipped.
• See what you have. Report on the computers you manage and the software on them.
• Work with your other tools. Run alongside your remote management tool and connect to your PSA.

Declaring state instead of writing steps

The usual way to automate a computer is to write out the steps: look for this, download that, run the installer, then check whether it worked. Every script is a small program of its own, and every one has to be kept working.

Overseer asks for something different. You state the result you want and leave the steps to Overseer. A declaration reads like a sentence:

"The label-printing application is installed on every computer tagged Warehouse."

From that one statement, Overseer:

1. 1Works out which computers carry the Warehouse tag.
2. 2Reads each one to see whether the application is there, and at which version.
3. 3Installs it where it is missing and updates it where it is old.
4. 4Reads the computer again, and marks the item Compliant only when that check passes.

The declaration stays in force after the first run. A computer that gains the tag next month gets the application at its next maintenance session. A computer that loses the application is put right the same way. You describe the end result once and stop maintaining the process that reaches it.

What this gives an MSP

• Every client in one place. You manage all your clients from the same screens, while each client's computers, deployments and history are kept apart.
• One standard. A rule written once applies to every client it targets, so the same software and settings land the same way everywhere.
• Less repeated work. Routine installs, updates and checks run as declared. Technicians spend their attention on the exceptions.
• A fit with what you have. The Overseer agent runs beside your remote management tool. Integrations bring in clients and computers from the tools you already use.
• Room to grow. A new client or a new computer picks up the deployments that already target it.
• Work you can inspect. Each action shows what was asked for, what the computer answered and how it ended. The audit log records who did what, when and on whose authority.

The parts of Overseer

Four parts do the work. Each has its own article; this is the short version.

The console

The console is where you work. It holds your clients, computers, deployments and library, directs the agents and shows the results. Its main screens are Dashboard, Sessions, Deployments, Computers, Tenants, Reporting, Library and Schedules.

The Overseer agent

The agent is a lightweight service installed on each managed computer. It carries out the work the console sends, reports the computer's details and status, runs installers and PowerShell scripts, and returns the results.

Deployments

A deployment is a standing declaration: this software, or this task, should be in this state on these computers. Deployments are how you tell Overseer what should be true.

Maintenance sessions

A maintenance session is one complete, ordered pass over one computer. It applies every deployment that targets the computer, then checks the outcome. Sessions start on a schedule or when a person presses Run maintenance.

What Overseer runs on

Overseer manages Windows computers only, both desktop and server versions. Supported operating systems lists the versions.

Next steps