Home » Getting Started >> Managing Linux Computers
srch-icn
Applicable For Endpoint Central MSP 
 
 

Managing Linux Computers

Administrators can use Endpoint Central MSP to manage computers running Linux operating system. This document will explain you on the following:

Supported Linux OS

Endpoint Central MSP currently supports the following Linux versions:

    • Ubuntu 10.04 and later versions
    • RedHat Enterprise Linux 6 and later versions
    • CentOS 6 and later versions
    • Fedora 19 and later versions
    • Mandriva 2010 and later versions
    • Debian 7 and later versions
    • Linux Mint 13 and later versions
    • Open SuSe 11 and later versions
    • Suse Enterprise Linux 11 and later versions
    • Pardus 17 and later versions

Configuring Linux Agent Settings

Endpoint Central has different agents for managing windows, Mac and Linux computers. Mac and Linux agents will not be created by default.  You can create Linux agents by configuring the settings under "Customers".  This will help you automatically create Linux agents for the local office and the remote offices. To Configure the Linux agent settings follow the steps mentioned below.

    1. Click the Admin tab to invoke the Admin page.
    2. Click the Agent Settings link available under Global Settings.
    3. Select Linux Agent Settings tab
    4. Select the domain or the workgroup to group Linux computers (this is virtual grouping and will not impact on its functions).  Agents that are pushed remotely from Customers --> Add Computers will be shown under the respective Domain/Workgroup from which they are added.
    5. Click Save Changes to create Linux agents.


      Linux agents can be download from the Customers page, by choosing the appropriate agent, such as LAN agent or WAN agent for specific Remote offices.

Installing Endpoint Central MSP Agents

Linux agents can be installed manually in the computers that need to be managed.  Agents should be downloaded on the Linux computer manually before initiating the installation process. Follow the steps mentioned below.

    1. Go to the terminal as a root user. If you do not login as a root user, open the terminal and use sudo command to perform each operation mentioned below and enter password whenever prompted. This provides you the root privilege.
    2. Navigate to the location, where the agent is downloaded and Unzip the DCLinuxAgent.zip by using the command "unzip -e DCLinuxAgent.zip".
    3. Verify if,  "DesktopCentral_LinuxAgent.bin" & "serverinfo.json" are located in the same path
    4. Execute the Command, "chmod +x DesktopCentral_LinuxAgent.bin" as a root user. This prepares the executable for installation.
    5. Run the Installer using "./DesktopCentral_LinuxAgent.bin". Agent will be installed by default in "/usr/local/desktopcentralagent" directory.
    6. If you wanted to change the installation location of the agent, use this command "./DesktopCentral_LinuxAgent.bin -d <new_location>" .

You can see that the Endpoint Central agent is successfully installed on the Linux computer. You need to install the agents manually on the computers, which needs to be managed using Endpoint Central. Once the agent installation is completed, the computer will be scanned automatically and the following details will be updated to the Endpoint Central server:

    • System Details : All details about the computer, like Users, Groups and Services. This does not include details on the network shares mapped to the computer.
    • Hardware  Details : All hardware details of the computer like, BIOS, Disk Drives, Physical Memory, Processors, Network Adapters etc. This does not include details on Printers and Ports.
    • Software Details : All details on the software that is installed on the managed computer, with the version of the application and installation date etc.

Installing Endpoint Central Agent Remotely

If you wanted to install agents for computers within the LAN, then you can choose the computers and invoke agent installation from the web console  Admin tab --> Customers -->Select computers and invoke agent installation. If you wanted to install agents to computers which belongs to a different remote office, then you will have to use SSH.

 

When you wanted to install Endpoint Central MSP   agents to remote office computers,  you can install  them using SSH. Follow the steps mentioned below to install Endpoint Central agent using SSH:

    1. Login to a Linux computer
    2. Download the appropriate agent, based on the remote office
    3. Copy the downloaded Endpoint Central agent to the remote computer on which the agent needs to be installed
      1. Go to terminal as root user
      2. Navigate to the location where the agent is being copied/downloaded
      3. Type "scp DCLinuxAgent.zip username@hostname:<Path_To_Storage_Directory_If_Needed>" to copy the agent to the target computer, enter password if prompted
        where username refers to the root user name of the target computer
        hostname refers to the local host name of the target computer
        If no path is specified, then the agent will be copied to "/home/username" in the target computer
    4. Install the agent by following the steps mentioned below:
      1. Go to the terminal and Type "ssh rootusername@hostname"  to login to the target computer
      2. Login as a root user. If you do not login as rootuser, open the terminal and use sudo command to perform each operation mentioned below and enter password whenever prompted. This provides you the root privilege.
      3. Navigate to the location, where the agent is downloaded/copied, if the downloaded agent is a remote office agent, then extract <Remote_Office_Name>.zip  and navigate to Unzip the DCLinuxAgent.zip by using the command "unzip -e DCLinuxAgent.zip".
      4. Verify if,  "DesktopCentral_LinuxAgent.bin" & "serverinfo.json" are located in the same path
      5. Execute the Command, "chmod +x DesktopCentral_LinuxAgent.bin" as a root user. This prepares the executable for installation.
      6. Run the Installer using "./DesktopCentral_LinuxAgent.bin".  Ensure that the Property File "severinfo.json" exists in the Same Directory as "DesktopCentral_LinuxAgent.bin".  Agent will be installed by default in "/usr/local/desktopcentralagent" directory.
      7. If you wanted to change the installation location of the agent, use this command "./DesktopCentral_LinuxAgent.bin -d <new_location>" .

You have successfully installed the Endpoint Central agent on a remote computer using SSH.

Uninstalling Endpoint Central MSP Agents

If you do not want to manage a computer, you can follow the steps mentioned below to uninstall the Endpoint Central MSP agent. Once Endpoint Central agent is uninstalled, all the details related to the computer will be removed from Endpoint Central server. If you wanted to manage this computer again, then you will have to re-install Endpoint Central agent in it. However the previous details related to the computer will not be available. To uninstall the agents from the computers, follow the steps mentioned below:

      1. Go to the terminal as a root user. If you do not login as root user, open the terminal and use sudo command to perform each operation mentioned below and enter password whenever prompted. This provides you the root privilege.
      2. Navigate to the location, where the agent is installed, (default Location : /usr/local/desktopcentralagent) execute this command to "chmod +x RemoveDCAgent.sh" to initiate the uninstaller. You need to have root privilege to uninstall the agent. If you do not remember the installation location, you can locate it here, Agent Installed Directory : "/etc/desktopcentralagent/dcagentsettings.json"
      3. Execute this command "./RemoveDCAgent.sh"  to uninstall the agent.

    You can see that the Endpoint Central MSP agent has been uninstalled successfully from the computer.