Getting Started with Endpoint Central MSP Cloud

What is Domain Whitelisting?

To facilitate a seamless communication between the Endpoint Central MSP agents and cloud service, you'll have to whitelist certain domains in your business network. Follow this guide to allow only the specified domains thereby maintaining seamless communication with no compromise in security.

How to create a user account and user administration?

You will need a user account to access Endpoint Central MSP cloud.

  • If you have an existing account, use that user account to access Endpoint Central MSP cloud. (Or)
  • Create a user account with the following details:
    1. Name
    2. Business Email
    3. Organization
    4. Phone Number (Optional)
  • To activate a user created, accept the invitation sent to the given email address (account verification).
  • You can visit https://endpointcentral.manageengine.com, and log in using your user account to access Endpoint Central MSP cloud.

Note: The details entered here are confidential and this user will be given super admin privileges to Endpoint Central MSP cloud.

Super admin | Privilege Transfer

Super admin privilege owned by a user will have maximum access to the Endpoint Central MSP service. If you want to transfer this privilege from one user account to another account, follow the below mentioned steps:

  • Navigate to Admin -> User Administration.
  • Click Action button against the current super admin and select "Transfer Admin Privilege".
  • Enter new admin email id in the prompt and click "Transfer".
  • If the new admin user is not part of your cloud account, the user will get an email confirmation.

Note: Once transferred, the current super admin accessed will be removed.

Adding Customers to your Setup

The first step in setting up Endpoint Central MSP is by adding your managed customers and their endpoints. Refer to this article for more information on adding customers.

How to configure Scope of Management(SoM)?

Defining your scope for management will be the first activity in managing endpoints through Endpoint Central MSP. Scope of Management (SoM) allows IT administrators to bring their managed devices to a single platform and deploy policies. Endpoint Central MSP being a domain based approach in your managed customer's network, allows you to add domains/workgroup through which devices can be added. Note: It is necessary to enter administrative credentials when adding a domain or workgroup since this super admin account will be used to deploy Endpoint Central MSP agents across your customer's network.

  • Navigate to the Agent tab. Select Domain from the left pane > Select Customer from drop down and add domain.
  • To add a domain, provide the following details:
Parameter Description
Domain Name The name of the domain.
Network Type For adding a domain, choose the network type as Active Directory.
Domain Username The username with domain admin privileges. It is recommended to have a dedicated domain admin user account for Endpoint Central MSP whose password policy is set to "Never Expire."
Password The password of the domain admin user
AD Domain Name The fully qualified domain name (FQDN) of the Active Directory domain.
AD Domain Name The fully qualified domain name (FQDN) of the Active Directory domain.
Domain Controller Name If you have multiple domain controllers (DCs), provide the name of the DC nearest to the computer where the server is installed.
  • To add a workgroup, provide the following details:
Parameter Description
Domain Name The name of the workgroup.
Network Type For adding a workgroup, choose the network type as Workgroup.
Admin Username The username that has administrative privileges in all the computers within that workgroup. It is recommended to have a dedicated user account for Endpoint Central whose password policy is set to "Never Expire."
Password The password of the admin user
DNS Suffix This is required to identify a computer within a workgroup uniquely. For example, if you have a computer with the same name in two different workgroup, the DNS suffix is used to identify it uniquely.

How to create a remote office?

MSPs are now responsible for managing customers who show more interest and adoption towards remote work culture and a cloud based setup. As more customers branch out across the globe, managing and securing all the endpoints located in both local and branch offices becomes a cumbersome process for IT administrators. In addition, these admins are tasked with managing roaming users, which becomes a herculean task. A remote office can be either a physical local office or a distributed network across different places in the world. With Endpoint Central MSP Cloud by your side, managing your local and remote network becomes a walk in the park. All you have to do is create a remote office for every customer managed, which can in-turn communicate with the EC MSP Cloud server, in two ways:

  • Direct communication
  • Through a distribution server (DS)

Remote Office Creation For Direct Communication

  • Navigate to the Agent tab. From the left pane, select Remote Offices > Add Remote Office> Select the customer from drop-down menu and specify a name for the remote office.
  • Choose the Communication Type as Direct Communication.
  • Configure the Replication Policy to associate it with the remote office. You can create a new replication policy that is tailor-made for the needs of your organization and the available bandwidth.
  • Configure the proxy settings, and add the computers that are part of the remote office.

Remote Office Creation With A Distribution Server

A distribution server acts as a communication layer sandwiched between the endpoints in the customer's remote office and the EC MSP Cloud server. It replicates patch and software binaries from the server and distributes them across remote office endpoints as opposed to each endpoint contacting the EC MSP Cloud server individually to download patch and software binaries. This drastically reduces bandwidth bottleneck issues and optimizes your network bandwidth.

Note: It is recommended to have a dedicated computer for your distribution server, and this machine should have a static IP address to ensure hassle-free communication

 

  • Navigate to the Agent tab. From the left pane, select Remote Offices > Add Remote Office> Select Customer and specify a name for the remote office.
  • By default, the chosen communication type will be through the Distribution Server.
  • Provide the requested details, including the domain NETBIOS name, Name of the computer in which the DS will be installed, the IP address and the FQDN/DNS name.
  • Configure the Replication Policy to associate it with the remote office. You can create a new replication policy that is tailor-made for the needs of your organization and the available bandwidth.
  • Configure the proxy settings, and add the computers that are part of the remote office.

Configuring The AD Connector

Endpoint Central MSP Cloud eliminates the need for a server-installed machine, reducing the time and cost spent on setting up and maintaining a hardware infrastructure. Since the MSP Cloud server will be hosted in one of our data centers, it's not possible for the server to communicate with your customer network's Active Directory (AD). This is where Endpoint Central MSP Cloud’s AD Connector comes to the rescue. AD Connector is a component that acts as a communicator between the EC MSP Cloud server and the domain controller of the managed customer's organization. One of your distribution servers can be configured as an AD Connector. Ensure that your domain controller is accessible by the chosen distribution server.

  • Navigate to the Agent tab > Domain> Select Customer
  • From the AD Connector drop-down menu, choose a distribution server that will act as the AD Connector.

Note: You can change the AD Connector to another machine by following the steps outlined above. Uninstallation of a distribution server or deletion of the remote office can only be done after changing the AD connector.

How to onboard devices?

After creating either a domain or a workgroup and defining the scope of management, the next step is to install Endpoint Central MSP agents on all the machines that needs to be managed. For further insights on the various methods and steps of installing agents, refer our document on agent installation.

Check out the most frequently asked questions here.