Adding Domain/Workgroup

A windows network is typically based on Windows Active Directory, Workgroup, or Novell eDirectory. When you install desktop Central in your network, it automatically discovers all the domains and workgroups available in your network. Novell eDirectory based network are discovered and managed as workgroups in Desktop Central.

Discovering Domains / Workgroups

To view the discovered domains/ workgroups or to initiate the discovery, select Admin tab --> Scope of Management (SoM) --> Add Computers. This will discover all the available domains and workgroups and list them under Discovered Networks.

Adding Domains

Domain can be added in Desktop Central in two ways:

From the auto-discovered list available in the SoM --> Add Computers page by clicking the Edit link corresponding to the domain.
By Manually adding the domain - If for some reason, one or more domains are not discovered, you can use the Add Domain link available in the same page to add domains manually.

Both the above options will open the Add Domain dialog for accepting the following information:

Parameter	Description	Type
Domain Name	Name of the domain. This is usually the netbios or the pre-2000 name of the domain	Mandatory
Network Type	Select "Active Directory" option	Mandatory
Domain User Name	This should be the domain user name that has administrative privileges in all the computers of that domain. It is recommended to have a dedicated domain admin user account for Desktop Central whose password policy is set to "Never Expire"	Mandatory
Password	Password of the domain admin user	Mandatory
AD Domain Name	The DNS name of the Active Directory Domain	Mandatory
Domain Controller Name	The name of the domain controller. If you have multiple domain controllers, provide the name of the domain controller that is nearest to the computer where Desktop Central Server is installed	Mandatory

If you have problems in adding the domains, refer to our online knowledge base for possible reasons and solutions.

Adding Workgroups

Similar to domains, Workgroups can be added in Desktop Central in two ways:

From the auto-discovered list available in the SoM --> Add Computers page by clicking the Edit link corresponding to the workgroup.
By Manually adding the workgroup- If for some reason, one or more workgroups are not discovered, you can use the Add Domain link available in the same page to add workgroups manually.

Both the above options will open the Add Domain dialog for accepting the following information:

Parameter	Description	Type
Domain Name	The name of the workgroup	Mandatory
Network Type	Select "Workgroup" option	Mandatory
Admin User Name	A common user name which has administrative privileges in all the computers within that workgroup. It is recommended to have a dedicated user account for Desktop Central whose password policy is set to "Never Expire"	Mandatory
Password	The password of the common admin user	Mandatory
DNS Suffix	This is required to uniquely identify a computer within a workgroup. For example, if you have a computer with the same name in two different workgroups, the DNS suffix is used to identify it uniquely	Optional

If you have problems in adding the workgroups, refer to our online knowledge base for possible reasons and solutions.

Note: Computers in Novel eDirectory based network are managed as Workgroups in Desktop Central.

Changing the Domain or Workgroup Credentials

Desktop Central establishes a remote connection to the managed computers to perform the various Desktop Management activities like agent installation / upgradation, patch/inventory scanning, and remote desktop sharing, which requires an admin credential. The credential provided when adding a domain/workgroup is used for this purpose. When the username/password provided while adding the domain/workgroup has changed later due to password expiry or other reasons, you need to update the correct credentials from the Admin tab --> SoM page to avoid getting "Access Denied" errors while performing any remote operations.

To update the credentials, click the Edit Credentials button available in the SoM page. Select the Domain/Workgroup from the select box, update the username/password and click Update Domain Details.

SoM Policy

Synchronizing computers from Active Directory will help you find the computers that are newly added, but or not managed in Desktop Central and the computers that have been deleted from the Active Directory. This helps you to quickly add or remove computers from being managed using Desktop Central.

The synchronization will happen at a specified time everyday and can be configured to notify you whenever a change is detected. You can also initiate the sync option as and when required with sync only modified data and sync all option. Sync only modified data will list only the changes that has happened after the previous sync. So the computers which are added or removed after the previous sync will be listed here. Sync all option can be used to get the complete list of all the computers that has been added or removed in the active directory.

To enable synchronization follow the steps below:

Select SoM --> AD Sync tab
Click AD Sync Settings link from the right, below the AD Sync tab.
Select Enable AD Sync
Specify the time at which the sync should happen. The time should be specified in 24 hour format and the sync will happen at the same time everyday.
Click Choose Domains/OUs to select the domains and OUs that you would like to sync. This will only list the domains and OUs for which the credentials have been specified.

Note: If you do not see all the domains, you should check and specify the credentials first from SoM --> Computers --> Edit Credential.
If you wish to be notified on any change, select "Enable Email Notification" and specify the "To Address", subject and message.
Click Save

Next Steps

The next step is to add and install the agent in the client computers that have to be managed using Desktop Central. The following sections will detail the steps:

Managing Computers in LAN - To add and install the agent in the client computers from the same LAN where Desktop Central Server is installed
Managing Computers in WAN - To add and install the agent in the client computers from remote locations like branch offices and mobile users.

ManageEngine