1. How do I add computers that I want to manage to Desktop Central?

Description

You use Desktop Central to add and manage computers within a network. The list of computers that you manage is known as the Scope of Management (SoM). For more information, see Defining the Scope of Management.

This document gives you steps required to add computers, to manage, to Desktop Central. This process is also called 'Defining the scope of management'.

Steps

To define the scope of management, follow the steps given below:

1. Click the Admin tab
2. In the Global Settings section, click Scope of Management
3. Click Add Computers
4. The Add Computers page will have the list of discovered Domains and Workgroups. When no domains are discovered, use the Add Domain button and specify the credentials to add the domain/workgroup.
5. Before adding the computers from the discovered domains, you need to specify the credentials that have administrative privileges in all the computers that are being managed by Desktop Central. To specify the credentials, follow the steps given below:
   1. Click Edit against a specific domain or workgroup
   2. Select the either of the following network types:
      • Active directory: Specify a domain user who has administrative privileges in all the computers that are managed using Desktop Central. Enter the domain name as specified in the Active Directory and the name of the domain controller.
      • Workgroup: Specify a local username and password with administrative privileges in all the computers that are managed by Desktop Central.
   3. Click Update Domain Details
6. Click Select Computers
7. Select the computers that you want to manage using Desktop Central
8. Click OK

   Note: Alternatively, you can specify the names of computers and add. All the computers gets added to the Selected Computers list.

9. Check the Start Agent Installation Immediately check box to install the Desktop Central agents in the selected computers immediately

   Note: If you do not check this checkbox, the computers are only added. You will have to install the agent later.

10. Click Done

You have added computers to manage using Desktop Central.

2. How to add the details of Remote Offices?

Description

There are two types of remote offices that you can create to manage using Desktop Central. They are as follows:

• Remote office with a distribution server
• Remote office with WAN agents only

For more information, see Managing Computers in WAN.

Steps

To add the details of the remote offices, follow the steps below:

1. Click the Admin tab
2. In the Global Settings section, click Scope of Management
3. Click the Remote offices tab

   Note: You will see a remote office called Local Office in the list of remote offices. This refers to the computer in the Local Area Network (LAN) where Desktop Central server is installed.

4. Click Add Remote Office and enter the following details:
   1. Name of the remote office

      Note: The IP address is already entered. If there is a secondary IP address which the remote office will use to communicate with the Desktop Central server, enter this IP address in the IP address field.

   2. Communication details:
      • Type of communication-through a distribution server or directly through WAN agents
      • Details of the distribution server, if required:
        • Name of the domain NetBios: This refers to the domain name of the computer where the distribution server will be installed. For example, if the computer where you are going to install the distribution server belongs to the zohocorp.com domain, specify the domain NetBios name as zohocorp.
        • Name of the computer in which the distribution server will be installed
        • IP address of the computer in which the distribution server will be installed
        • HTTP and HTTPS ports for communication: The default ports are already specified. If you want to use ports that are different from the default ports, change the existing port numbers.
        • Replication interval: The replication interval time is the interval at which the distribution server synchronizes its repositories with those in the Desktop Central server. The default interval is two minutes. However you can customize the replication interval if required.
        • Data transfer rate: This allows you to select the bandwidth amount to use while transferring data from remote offices. You can control the bandwidth consumption. For more information, see How to control the bandwidth of distribution servers in a remote office?
   3. Details required for the distribution server or the WAN agents to communicate with the Desktop Central server:
      • Communication through a secure connection
      • Proxy information
   4. Computers you want to manage
5. Click Add

You have added a remote office. Follow steps 4 and 5 to add more remote offices.

3. How to install agents in computers in remote offices?

Description

After you add the details of the remote offices that you are going to manage using Desktop Central, you are required to install agents in the computers in the remote offices. These agents will be referred to Wide Area Network (WAN) agents. There are two types of WAN agents. These include agents that receive information in the following ways:

• Through a distribution server
• Directly from the Desktop Central server

Steps

To install agents in computers in remote offices, follow the steps given below:

1. Click the Admin tab
2. In the Global Settings section, click Scope of Management
3. Click Download Agent
4. Click on the name of the remote office in which you want to install an agent. For example, assume that you have two remote offices named Remote Office 1 and Remote Office 2. If you want to install an agent in Remote Office 2, then click the Download Agent link and then click Remote Office 2.
5. Install the agent in a computer in the remote office, manually. Follow the steps given below:
   1. Copy the zipped file into a folder in a computer in the respective remote office
   2. Extract the zipped file to a directory
   3. Edit the computernames.txt file by adding all the names of the computers in which you want to install the agent. Enter the name of each computer in a separate line.
   4. Open a command prompt and change the directory to either of the following:
      • <Extracted_Dir>/dssetup, if you are using distribution server
      • <Extracted_Dir>/directsetup for direct communication between the WAN agent and the Desktop Central server
   5. Execute the setup.bat file
   6. Follow the instructions given in the command window
      

You have installed agents in the computers in a remote office in your network. These computer names will automatically be added to the list of computers that you are managing using Desktop Central.

4. How to install Desktop Central agents?

Description

You can install agents in four ways. These include the following:

• Installing an agent manually
• Installing an agent using the following:
  • User Interface (UI) of Desktop Central
  • Group policies
  • IP addresses

Steps

To install an agent, follow the steps given below:

Installing an agent manually

To install an agent manually in computers within your LAN, follow the steps given below:

1. Click the Admin tab
2. In the Global Settings section, click Scope of Management
3. Click Download Agent
4. Click Local Office
5. Double-click the MSI file
6. Click Run
7. Follow the instructions given in the ManageEngine Desktop Central wizard

You have installed an agent manually.

Installing an agent using the Desktop Central UI

There are two ways of installing an agent using the Desktop Central UI:

• When defining the scope of management
• After defining the scope of management

To install an agent using the Desktop Central UI while defining the scope of management, follow the steps given below:

1. Click the Admin tab
2. In the Global Settings section, click Scope of Management
3. Click Add Computers
4. The Add Computers page will have the list of discovered Domains and Workgroups. When no domains are discovered, use the Add Domain button and specify the credentials to add the domain/workgroup.
5. Specify the credentials that have administrative privileges in all the computers that are being managed by Desktop Central
6. Click Select Computers
7. Select the computers that you want to manage using Desktop Central
8. Click OK

Note: Alternatively, you can specify the names of computers and add. All the computers gets added to the Selected Computers list.

9. Check the Start Agent Installation Immediately check box to install the Desktop Central agents in the selected computers immediately
10. Click Done

You have installed an agent while defining the scope of management.

To install an agent using the Desktop Central UI after defining the scope of management, follow the steps given below:

1. Click the Admin tab
2. In the Global Settings section, click Scope of Management
3. Select the computers in which you want to install an agent
4. Click Install Agent
5. Click OK

You have installed an agent after defining the scope of management.

Installing an agent using Group Policy Objects (GPOs)

You can install an agent in your client computers using a GPO. This is done by running a script in multiple client computers by adding the start up script of the Active Directory. For more information, see Installing Desktop Central agents using GPO.

Installing an agent using IP addresses and IP ranges

You can also install agents using IP addresses and IP ranges by using a .exe file with support files to install agents using a command-line tool.

To install an agent using IP addresses and IP ranges, follow the steps given below:

Download the agent-installation-via-ip.zip and extract into a folder

1. Open the file ipaddress.txt
2. Enter the IP address or IP range of the computers in which you want to install the agent
3. Save the file
4. Download the agent. Follow the steps given below:
   1. Click the Admin tab
   2. In the Global Settings section, click Scope of Management
   3. Click Download Agent
   4. Select the required office

      Note: This can be a local office or a remote office depending on which computers you want to install agents in.

5. Copy the .msi file containing the agent into the folder that you extraced the command-line tool in
6. Execute the setuputils.exe file using a command prompt and complete the installation by following the steps given in the command prompt

When you execute the setuputils file, you will see:

******************************************************************************
ManageEngine Desktop Central Agent Installation Setup Wizard using IP Address and IP Range
******************************************************************************

1. Install Agents to the list available in the ipaddress.txt
2. Install Agents with an certain IP Range within a subnet
If required press Ctrl+C to quit.

Example:

This is an example of how you can install an agent using IP address or an IP range using the command-line tool.

Enter the option: 2

Note : If you want to use option 1, ensure that you have entered the required IP addresses in the ipaddress.txt file.

Enter domain or workgroup name: desktopcentral

Enter the user name of the administrator: administrator

Enter the password of the administrator: **********

Enter the Start IP address : 192.168.116.85

Enter the End IP address : 192.168.116.87

You have installed an agent using an IP range.

5. How to uninstall Desktop Central agents from computers in a LAN?

Description

You can uninstall Desktop Central agents from computers in the same LAN as the Desktop Central server directly. It is recommended that you uninstall the agents from respective computers before removing them from the Scope of Management list.

Steps

To uninstall a Desktop Central agent, follow the steps given below:

1. Click the Admin tab
2. In the Global Settings section, click Scope of Management
3. Select specific computers
4. Click Uninstall Agent

You have installed Desktop Central agents from specific computers. After the uninstallation process is complete, you can remove these computers from the Scope of Management page.

Unlike computers in the same LAN where Desktop Central Server is installed, the agents in the computers, in the remote offices, that are spread across a WAN cannot be uninstalled directly from the Desktop Central server. You have to uninstall them manually. For more information about uninstalling agents from remote computers, see Uninstalling Desktop Central agents manually from computers in remote offices.

6. How to change domain credentials after setting up the scope of management?

Description

It is important that you set domain credentials when you are setting up the scope of management. You can change these credentials after you've set up the scope of management.

Steps

To change domain credentials after setting up the scope of management, follow the steps given below:

1. Click the Admin tab
2. In the Global Settings section, click Scope of Management
3. Click Edit Credential
4. Select the following:
   • Name of the domain
   • Type of network
5. Enter the following:
   • User name
   • Password
   • DNS Suffix
6. Click Update Domain Credentials

You have changed the domain credentials.

7. How to remove a computer from scope?

Description

You can remove a computer from the scope of management when required.

Steps

To remove a computer from the scope of management, follow the steps given below:

Note: Ensure that you have uninstalled the agents from the computers that you want to remove from the scope of management.

1. Click the Admin tab
2. In the Global Settings section, click Scope of Management
3. Select the computers you want to remove from the scope of management
4. Click Remove Computers

You have removed computers from the scope of management.