Psa Ninjaone Has Offloaded Support To The Phillipines

Psa Ninjaone Has Offloaded Support To The Philippines: A Comprehensive Guide to Building Your Own Self-Hosted Support Ticketing System

In recent times, users have reported a significant drop in the quality of support provided by NinjaOne, a popular Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM) tool. Rumors are rife that their support team has been offshored to the Philippines, impacting the service’s efficiency and effectiveness. While this shift may not directly affect your homelab or self-hosted environments, it serves as an excellent opportunity to explore the world of open-source ticketing systems that can be deployed for superior support management.

In this guide, we will walk you through setting up OTRS (Open Source Ticketing System), a robust and customizable support ticketing solution ideal for managing customer requests and internal IT operations.

Prerequisites

1. Operating System: Ubuntu 20.04 LTS or CentOS 8
2. Hardware Requirements: Minimum 4GB RAM, 2 CPU cores, and 30GB of disk space
3. Software Requirements: Perl (5.26 or later), Apache (2.4 or later), MySQL (8.0 or later), and Procmail (if using email channels)
4. Network Requirements: Ensure that ports 80, 443, 5801, and 5900 are open for web access, OTRS webservices, and remote desktop connections
5. User Permissions: Install OTRS as a dedicated user with sudo privileges

Installation & Setup

1. Install required packages:

   sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install -y apache2 libapache2-mod-perl libdbd-mysql-perl libmail-sendmail-perl procmail
   

2. Download the latest OTRS tarball from otrs.org and extract it:

   wget https://sourceforge.net/projects/otrs/files/latest/download -O otrs.tar.gz && tar xzf otrs.tar.gz
   

3. Configure the Apache web server and Perl modules:

   cd otrs-<version>
   perl Bin/otrs.Config.pl --webadmin
   

4. Create an OTRS user with sudo privileges and set up the database:

   sudo useradd -m otrs
   sudo su - otrs
   mysql -u root -p < /root/otrs.sql
   exit
   

5. Start OTRS services:

   nohup perl Scripts/AgentRunner.pl &
   sudo systemctl enable otrs-apache2
   sudo systemctl start otrs-apache2
   

Configuration

1. Security Hardening: Configure TLS, two-factor authentication, and restrict access to sensitive areas.
2. Performance Optimization: Adjust the queue settings, ticket assignment rules, and caching mechanisms to suit your environment.
3. Integration with Other Services: Connect OTRS with your existing ITSM solutions, ticketing channels (email, phone, web), or help desk software.
4. Customization for Different Use Cases: Configure the appearance, workflows, and notifications to meet your specific needs.

Usage & Operations

1. Common Commands: Learn essential OTRS commands like ticket creation, assigning tickets, closing tickets, and running reports.
2. Monitoring and Maintenance Procedures: Set up regular backups, monitor system health, and resolve any issues promptly.
3. Scaling Considerations: Plan for future growth by understanding the impact of adding agents, queues, or service desk teams.

Troubleshooting

1. Common Issues and Their Solutions: Resolve common OTRS problems like connection errors, performance issues, and configuration errors.
2. Debug Commands and Log Analysis: Understand the various log files, system messages, and debug commands that can help identify and fix issues.
3. Performance Tuning Tips: Optimize your OTRS setup for better ticket handling speed and reduced resource usage.
4. Security Considerations: Protect your support ticketing system from threats by implementing security best practices like regular updates, strong password policies, and network segmentation.

Conclusion

By following this guide, you’ll have set up a self-hosted support ticketing solution that rivals the functionality of NinjaOne or any other commercial service. With OTRS, you can better manage customer requests, optimize internal IT operations, and enjoy greater control over your support infrastructure. To further expand your knowledge, explore advanced topics like SLA management, custom report generation, and API integrations to truly master this powerful tool.

For more information on OTRS, visit the official documentation, participate in the community forum, or contribute to the development of this open-source project. Happy ticketing!