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A WAN is a computer network that enables communication across a large area that could include communication across cities, states and countries. Most companies operate from a head office, located in a city, and have branch offices located in other areas within the city, the state, the country or even in another country. These branch offices are known as remote offices.
As a system administrator, you must do the following:
One of the main challenges that you could face, while managing computers in a WAN, are with the bandwidth allocated. There could be bandwidth issues that reduce the speed of data-transfer between computers at the head office and those at the branch office. This could result in costs associated with bandwidth utilization.
There are two options to manage computers, across a WAN, using Desktop Central. The option that you choose depends on the number of computers you are going to manage at your remote office. The options available, enable you to use either of the following:
Using Distribution Servers and WAN Agents
A distribution server is a server that is located in a remote office. This server communicates with the Desktop Central server, which is located at the head office, to get information; for example information about configurations to deploy. It synchronizes its repositories, related to configurations, patches, service packs and software applications, with those located in the Desktop Central server. This takes place at specific intervals.
WAN agents are installed in computers in a remote office. After the synchronization, between the distribution server and the Desktop Central server is complete, the WAN agents will download information related to patches, service packs and software applications to be deployed, from the distribution server. This information is downloaded locally using the LAN in the remote office.
Desktop Central's technology related to distribution servers helps you plan and control bandwidth utilization (including associated costs) for your remote office. This technology addresses bandwidth-related issues, improves the efficiency and the level of control that network managers and administrators can use while managing computers in remote locations.
Before you start managing computers in a remote location you are required to do the following:
Adding a Remote Office (with a distribution server)
Before you can start managing computers in a remote office, you are required to add a remote office and create a distribution server. To add a remote office and create a distribution server using your Desktop Central server, follow the steps given below:
The IP address is already entered in the given field. Change this address only if you have a secondary IP address for the Desktop Central server. The information for the HTTP and HTTPS ports are already entered (8020 and 8030 respectively). Change the port numbers if you have specified ports other than these while installing the Desktop Central server.
It is recommended that you have a dedicated computer as your distribution server. This computer should have a static IP address. This will ensure that you have hassle-free communication between the WAN agents and the distribution server.
The HTTP and HTTPS ports are used for communication between the WAN agents and the distribution server. The default ports of the distribution server 8021 (HTTP) and 8384 (HTTPS). You can use different ports if required.
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.
If you know the name or the IP address of the computers that you want to manage in the remote location, add them in the given field using commas.
You have added a remote office and created a distribution server. You are now required to deploy this distribution server to a specific remote office.
Deploying Distribution Servers To Remote Offices
After you have added a remote office and created a distribution server, you are taken back to the Remote Offices tab view in the Scope of Management page. In the Managed Computers column, against the name of the remote office you have created, the status will be Agent is not installed. You are required to deploy and install the distribution server in the required remote office.
To deploy a distribution server to the required remote office, follow the steps given below:
You are required to login as the administrator, on the computer in which you want to install the distribution server, to save the required file in it.
You have deployed the distribution server to the required remote office. Refer to the Agent Installation section for information on how to install WAN agents.
Deploying WAN Agents in Computers in Remote Offices
You are required to install WAN agents in the computers you want to manage, in a remote office, using a distribution server. A WAN agent can be installed:
I. Deploying WAN agents while deploying a distribution server
To deploy a WAN agent while deploying a distribution server, follow the steps given below:
This can be a domain administrator or a user who has administrator privileges in all the computers where WAN agents have to be installed. The user name should be prefixed with the name of the domain or the workgroup.
For example, the user name of an administrator who is deploying WAN agents in computers, which are in the zohocorp domain, could be zohocorp\administrator.
You have deployed both the distribution server and WAN agents to computers in a remote office.
II. Deploying WAN agents after deploying a distribution server
To deploy a WAN agent after deploying a distribution server, follow the steps given below:
This can be a domain administrator or a user who has administrator privileges in all the computers where WAN agents have to be installed. The user name should be prefixed with the name of the domain or the workgroup.
For example, the user name of an administrator who is deploying WAN agents in computers, which are in the zohocorp domain, could be zohocorp\administrator.
You have deployed WAN agents to computers in a remote office.
When you manage less than 10 computers, typically, there are no bandwidth-related issues. In such cases, you can manage computers in your remote office using WAN agents only.
Before you start managing computers in a remote office using WAN agents only, you are required to do the following:
Adding a Remote Office (without a distribution server)
If you are managing in branch/remote offices, you need to add the details of the branch/remote offices and generate Desktop Central Agent for each of your branch/remote office. This agent has to be installed in the managed computers of that branch. To add the details of the remote offices, follow the steps below:
You will see a list of all the remote offices that are added. In that list, you will see a remote office which is called Local Office. This is related to the LAN where the Desktop Central server is located. The remote office Local Office is added by default.
This IP Address should be common for all the Remote offices and will be used by the agents in the remote office computers to contact the Desktop Central server. If this IP Address is changed, the agent MSI for remote offices will be recreated. You need to reinstall the agents in all the remote computers.
The communication interval is the interval at which the WAN agents in the computers in the remote office, contact the Desktop Central server for information. The default communication interval is two minutes. However, this value can be configured if required.
If you know the name or the IP address of the computers that you want to manage in the remote location, add them in the given field using commas.
Click Add
You have added a remote office.
You can add multiple remote offices simultaneously by importing details of the remote offices, using the CSV import option.
To add multiple remote offices simultaneously, follow the steps given below:
You have imported multiple remote offices simultaneously. These will be listed in the Remote Offices tab.
Information about CSV files
This section gives you information about CSV files.
File specifications
Column names and descriptions
Sample CSV Formats
Editing Remote Office
Parameters
The method of importing CSV files also has an option where you can edit
the details of a remote office. Assume that you want to change the name
of the proxy server for your remote offices. You don't have to manually
edit the proxy details of each and every remote office. You can do this
by creating a CSV file that contains only the remote office name and the
parameter that needs to be updated. For example,
REMOTE_OFFICE_NAME,PROXY_SERVER
RO_1, web-proxy1
RO_2, web-proxy2
You can install agents in computers in remote offices in:
Desktop Central agents have to be manually downloaded and installed in computers in remote offices. ffice computers. To install an agents in multiple computers in the same location, you can use the command line tool that is provided.
Installing Agents in a Single Computer
Ensure that you have downloaded the agent with the respective remote office name.
%systemroot%\\system32\msiexec.exe /i DesktopCentralAgent.msi ENABLESILENT=yes /qn
You have installed an agent in a single computer in a specific remote office
Installing Agents in Multiple Computers
Ensure that you have downloaded the agent with the respective remote office name.
Each computer name should be entered in a separate line.
Open a command prompt. To open a command prompt, follow the steps given below:
This can be a domain administrator or a user who has administrator privileges in all the computers where WAN agents have to be installed. The user name should be prefixed with the name of the domain or the workgroup. For example, the user name of an administrator who is deploying WAN agents in computers, which are in the zohocorp domain, could be zohocorp\administrator.
You have installed the agent in multiple computers in a remote office.
The logs.txt file is located in
If you require to change the mode of communication between the WAN Agents and the Desktop Central server, you can modify the remote office details and make the necessary changes. For example, if you have chosen the direct communication mode for a remote office and you want communication to take place through the distribution server, you can modify the details of the remote office.
To modify the details of the remote office, follow the steps given below:
If you have changed the mode of communication from direct communication to communication through the distribution server, you need to re-install and re-start the distribution server in the specified computer. The changes will be implemented only after you complete this task.
However, even if you have not completed this task, you can still deploy the configurations, patches, and software applications to the specific remote computer.
You have modified details of a remote office.
You can move computers across remote offices. For example, if you are moving from remote office to another you are required to add your computer to the WAN in that remote office.
Scenario
Each remote office has its own agent. Assume that you are moving from remote office A to remote office B. You must do the following when you are moving computers across remote offices:
Move the computer physically
Make the settings to move the computer from one remote location to another in the user interface (UI)
The sequence of operations, mentioned above, will depend on whether you have a proxy connection or not.
When the agent does not use a proxy connection
When the agent does not use a proxy connection to communicate with the Desktop Central server, you can physically move your computer from remote office A to remote office B, the agent from remote office B gets installed in your computer. As there is no proxy connection, it can communicate with the Desktop Central server.
When the agent uses a proxy connection
When the agent uses a proxy connection to communicate with the Desktop Central server, you must make the settings to move the computer from one remote office to another, in the UI, before you physically move your computer.
To move computers across remote offices, follow the steps given below:
You can create a new remote office with or without a distribution server. To create a new remote office with a distribution server, refer to the Adding a Remote Office (with a distribution server) section. To create a new remote office without a distribution server, refer to the Adding a Remote Office (without a distribution server) section.
You have created a request to move computers across remote offices. If the office you are moving to is a local office (LAN), the computers that you have specified will be moved immediately. This is because the Desktop Central server can contact the agent in the computer, that you have requested to move, immediately. However, if the office you are moving to is a remote office (WAN), the computers that you have specified will be moved only when the agent (in the specified computers) contacts the Desktop Central server agent during the two-minute communication interval.
If the agent does not contact the Desktop Central server within the time interval, the request will be removed from the Desktop Central server. You will then have to create a new request.
IP Scope refers to the IP addresses, in IP subnets, used by all the remote offices managed using Desktop Central. These IP addresses are assigned to the network in each remote office.
You define an IP Scope when you want to transfer computers, automatically, from one remote office to another.
If there is no movement or a rare chance of moving computers between remote offices, you do not need to define an IP Scope for your remote offices. In this case, you can move your computers, if required, by using the Move to list in the Computers tab in the Scope of Management page. For more information, click here
When a computer (or a laptop) is transferred to a new remote office, a new IP address is automatically assigned to that computer (or laptop) by the DHCP server in the remote office network. The Desktop Central agent then determines whether the new IP address, that was assigned, is within the IP range of the new remote office. You can add an IP Scope for remote offices as well as local offices.
If you are moving computers only between specific remote offices, you should assign an IP Scope only for those remote offices.
To add an IP Scope, follow the steps given below:
You have added an IP Scope.
You can add more than one IP Scope to a remote office. To add more than one IP Scope, follow the steps from step number 4.
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