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    Agent-based scanning for AE customers without prior Endpoint Central installation


    With the AssetExplorer 6900 release, agent-based scanning for Windows, Linux, and Mac machines is introduced. This feature is provided by ManageEngine Endpoint Central (formerly Desktop Central). So, all existing customers migrating to builds above AE 6900 must deploy ME Endpoint Central for scanning Windows, Linux, and Mac machines in their environment. They will also need Endpoint Central agents installed in the remote machine. The following document captures the steps to deploy Endpoint Central and its agents in AE setups that have no prior Endpoint Central installation.
     

    Note for customers already using any other UEMS products other than ME Endpoint Central

    If any of the following ME products are installed and used in your environment, we recommend you contact our support before proceeding with this installation for configuring changes in asset inventory.

    1. Patch Manager Plus On-Premise/Cloud

    2. Remote Access Plus On-Premise/Cloud

    3. Device Control Plus

    4. Vulnerability Manager Plus

    5. Patch Manager Plus Cloud

    6. Endpoint Central (formerly Desktop Central) Cloud

     

    Feature changes related to scanning from AE 6900

    • Support for scanning Windows machines using WMI has been removed.

    • Support for scanning Linux and Mac machines using SSH/Telnet has been removed.

    • All Windows, Linux, and Mac machines can be scanned only by installing Endpoint Central agents in remote machines.

    About Endpoint Central

    Endpoint Central (formerly Desktop Central) is a robust unified endpoint management system. It comprises features like Patch Management, Software Deployment, Endpoint security, OS imaging, and deployment, etc. Agents from Endpoint Central improve AssetExplorer' asset scanning functionality by fetching complete hardware details during the scan as well as maintaining the uniformity of data fetched across Windows, Linux, and Mac machines. Endpoint Central agent integration also avoids the need to have two agents for users who already have integration between ServiceDesk Plus (or AssetExplorer) and Endpoint Central.

    Features from Endpoint Central for existing customers of AE migrating to AE 6900 versions

    i. Agent-based inventory of Windows, Mac, and Linux machines

    ii. Warranty information for devices

    iii. Remote control for Windows, Mac, and Linux machines

    iv. Auto upgrade of agents to newer versions

    Other features from Endpoint Central for existing customers of AE who migrate to AE 6900 versions and later purchase AE UEM Remote Access Plus Add on

    a). Chat *

    b). Wake-on-LAN *

    c). Announcement (supported in ServiceDesk Plus and not supported in AssetExplorer) *

    d). System manager *

     
    Does Endpoint Central come for free for existing AE customers?

    No, the inventory and remote control functionalities for Windows, Linux, and Mac machines and warranty information of devices are the only features provided for AE customers through Endpoint Central  after deployment of Endpoint Central agents. However, as Endpoint Central gets installed in trial edition for the first 30 days, all Endpoint Central functionalities like patch management, OS deployment, etc can be performed from the Endpoint Central console. After 30 days, the Endpoint Central version will get converted to a free edition and all Endpoint Central functionalities can be performed for only 25 assets and 1 technician. However, the Endpoint Central will cater to all AE functionalities like inventory or remote control for the number of nodes and technicians purchased in AE when the operations are performed from AE.

    Prerequisites for Endpoint Central installation

    Endpoint Central can only be installed on a Windows machine. If AE is installed on a Linux machine, then Endpoint Central has to be installed manually on another Windows machine and integrated with AE under Admin >> Integrations >> DesktopCentral. As Endpoint Central is installed within the AE folder, a minimum of 1 GB of free space is required.
    If Endpoint Central is purchased separately, please refer here for detailed hardware requirements based on the number of assets purchased. 

    Ports used in Endpoint Central

    Server

    Port

    Purpose

    Type

    Connection

    8383

    For communication between the agent and the Endpoint Central server

     

    Source: Agent

     

    Destination: Endpoint Central server

     

    HTTPS

    In bound to server

    8027

    The notification server port is responsible for communicating on-demand operations from the server to the agent.

    Source: Agent

    Destination: Endpoint Central server


    TCP

    In bound to server

    Tools and Remote Control

    Port

    Purpose

    Type

    Connection

    8444

    For Sharing remote desktops, System Manager, Chat

    Source: Agent

    Destination: Endpoint Central server

    HTTP

    In bound to server

    8032

    For transferring files

    Source: Agent

    Destination: Endpoint Central server

    HTTP

    In bound to server

    8443

    For Sharing Remote Desktops, System Manager, Chat

    Source: Agent

    Destination: Endpoint Central server

    HTTPS/UDP (for voice & video chat)

    In bound to server

    8031

    For transferring files

    Source: Agent

    Destination: Endpoint Central server


    HTTPS

    In bound to server

    Database supported by Endpoint Central

    By default, Endpoint Central gets installed with bundled PGSQL. Endpoint Central also supports MSSQL. Please check here for MSSQL versions supported by Endpoint Central.
    Click here for detailed steps for moving Endpoint Central to MSSQL.

    OS supported by Endpoint Central agents

    Endpoint Central agents can be installed on machines with the following OS

    Windows OS

    • Windows 11

    • Windows 10

    • Windows 8.1

    • Windows 8

    • Windows 7

    • Windows Vista

    • Windows XP

    Windows Server OS

    • Windows server 2019

    • Windows server 2016

    • Windows server 2012 R2

    • Windows server 2012

    • Windows server 2008 R2

    • Windows server 2008

    • Windows server 2003 R2

    • Windows server 2003

    Mac

    • 10.7 Lion

    • 10.8 Mountain Lion

    • 10.9 Mavericks

    • 10.10 Yosemite

    • 10.11 El Capitan

    • 10.12 Sierra

    • 10.13 High Sierra

    • 10.14 Mojave

    • 10.15 Catalina

    • 11.0 Big Sur

    Linux

    • 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 19

    • Oracle Linux Server 6, 7, and 8

    Steps for switching to Endpoint Central agents

    Previously, AE agents were supported only for Windows OS, from the 6.9 version of AE, Endpoint Central is being used for agent-based scan for Windows, Linux, and Mac OS. Therefore, users are requested to switch to Endpoint Central agents.


    Below are the steps for switching to Endpoint Central agents.

    Step 1: Downloading and installation of Endpoint Central

    Step 2: Configuring the Agent settings

    Step 3: Ensure ports used by Endpoint Central are open

    Step 4: Downloading Endpoint Central agents for Windows, Linux, and Mac machines

    Step 5 : Replacing AE agents with Endpoint Central agents in Windows machines

    Step 6 : Uninstalling Windows AE agents

    Step 7 : Other methods for deploying Endpoint Central agents in Windows

    Step 8: Imaging a Windows computer with a Endpoint Central agent

    Step 9: Deploying Endpoint Central agents in Linux

    Step 10: Deploying Endpoint Central agents in Mac

    Step 11: What if Remote AE servers are used?

    Step 12: Procedure for AE running with Fail Over Service(FOS) enabled

    Agent - Server communication in Endpoint Central

     

    Operations such as scanning a device, taking remote control of a device or tools action from AE is performed in the remote machines through Endpoint Central server and Endpoint Central agents.

    The Endpoint Central agent communicates with the Endpoint Central server immediately after its installation in the remote machine and posts the inventory data. The Endpoint Central agent communicates with the Endpoint Central server through HTTPS during system startup and every 90 minutes thereafter till the system is shut down, gets the actions to be performed in the remote machine, and executes it. This 90 minutes policy is majorly used for any asynchronous operations like schedule scan, any agent configuration changes, etc.

    Endpoint Central agents also establish a session with the Endpoint Central server through TCP for getting notified for actions that have to be executed on demand like Scan Now or remote control.


    Is agent server communication secure?

    By default, the Agent-Server communication will happen through HTTPS (Encrypted) communication. These steps enforce trusted HTTPS communication between agent and server. These configurations can be enabled under Agent security settings


    Enable certificate-based authentication for agent-server communication

    Enabling this option would have the agent-server communication with client certificate authentication. Enabling this option in AE would in turn enable this setting in Endpoint Central too. Click here for more details on the procedure.


    Enable agent-server trusted communication

    Before enabling this setting, it is required that a valid third-party SSL certificate is applied in Endpoint Central. Click here for steps to configure SSL certificate in Endpoint Central, this has to be done only from the Endpoint Central console.


      Note: Once this setting is enabled it cannot be disabled again as the agents will fail to communicate with the server again. Enabling this setting would enable it in Endpoint Central too and have the agent-server communication to be trusted. Click here for a detailed procedure.

     


    Agent resource utilization

    All the below data are predicted from a single agent machine. Disk space will be consumed up to 1GB (approximately) from the agent installed drive.

     

    Agent Process

    Running application name

    Bandwidth consumption(approximately)

    CPU consumption(approximately)

    Memory (RAM) consumption (approximately)

    At Agent Idle state

    dcagentservice.exedcondemand.exedcagenttrayicon.exe(Running separateapplication for eachlogged on user)(For windows andMac)[ Above 3 are everrunning processes ]

    1 Kbps

    0-2%

    11 MB

    Refresh policy(90 mins once -without any deployment)

    dcconfig.exe

    4KB

    0-2%

    6MB

    Inventory scan(At Scheduled time in server)

    dcinventory.exe

    2MB

    17-20%

    14MB

    Agent Upgrade(Applying PPMand If agentversionchanges)

    dcconfig.exe

    AgentUpgrader.exe

    20MB

    2-5%

    3MB

     

     

     

     

     

     

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