# Scope of Management (SoM) - How Tos

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

### Description

Endpoint Central allows you to manage and secure computers located within your business 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](https://www.manageengine.com/products/desktop-central/help/configuring_desktop_central/defining_scope_of_management.html).

This document gives you the steps required to add computers to be managed using our product. This process is also called "Defining the scope of management".

### Steps

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

1. Navigate to *Agent > Scope Of Management > Computers > Add Computers*
2. The Add Computers page will have the list of discovered domains and Workgroups.
3. When no domains are discovered, use the **Add Domain** button under **Domain** tab and specify the credentials to add the domain/workgroup. Once the domain is added, all the computers belonging to the domain will be listed.
4. You can also add an active directory/workgroup by:
   - Navigating to the **Agent > Domain > Add Domain** and specify the credentials of the domain/workgroup.
   - Click **Add computers** against a specific domain or workgroup under the **Actions column** for adding computers.
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. To specify the credentials, follow the steps given below:
   - Click **Edit** against a specific domain or workgroup.
   - Select either of the following network types:
     - **Active directory**: Specify a domain user who has administrative privileges in all the computers that are managed. 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.
   - Click **Update Domain Details.**
6. Select the computers that you want to manage and click **Next**.

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

7. Click on **Install agents** to install the agents in the selected computers immediately.

   **Note:** If you do not wish to install immediately, click on **Add to SoM** and the computers would just be added. You will have to install the agents later.

To know more about additional methods to install agents, click [here](https://www.manageengine.com/products/desktop-central/scope-of-management-how-to.html#som-how-to7).

## 2. How to add the details of Remote Offices?

### Description

There are two types of remote offices that can be managed by our product:

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

### Steps

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

1. Click the **Agent** tab.
2. Under **Scope of Management**, 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 the central server is installed.

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

      **Note:** If there is a secondary IP address which the remote office will use to communicate with the product 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 policy](https://www.manageengine.com/products/desktop-central/help/configuring_desktop_central/configure-replication-policy.html): The replication policy contains details of **Data Transfer Rate** and details of **Replication interval** which is the interval at which the distribution server synchronizes its repositories with those in the product server. An existing replication policy can be selected and modified, or a new policy can be created. Using replication policy, bandwidth consumption can be controlled. For more information, see [How to control the bandwidth of distribution servers in a remote office?](https://www.manageengine.com/products/desktop-central/limiting-bandwidth-in-a-remote-office-setting-how-to.html)
   3. Details required for the distribution server or the WAN agents to communicate with the product server:
      - Communication through a secure connection
      - Proxy information
   4. **Remote Control Settings:** The **Compression** and **Color Quality** can be specified for better UI rendering and optimizing bandwidth consumption.
   5. **OS Deployment Settings** can be enabled to deploy OS in remote office.
   6. **Remote Agent Installation:** Domain credentials are given and automatic agent installation can be specified.
   7. **Managed Computers:** Click **Add Computers** to select the computer you want to manage.

4. Click **Add.**

You have added a remote office. Follow steps 3 and 4 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 Endpoint Central, you are required to install agents in the computers in the remote offices. These agents will be referred to as 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 central server

### Steps

To install agents in computers in remote offices, the following methods can be considered:

**Note:**

- To install agents in Mac computers, follow the steps given [here](https://www.manageengine.com/products/desktop-central/mac-agent-installation-remote-office.html).
- To install agents in Linux computers, follow the steps given [here](https://www.manageengine.com/products/desktop-central/linux-agent-installation-remote-office.html).

- **Manual Installation:**
  1. Click the **Agent** tab.
  2. Click **Computers** and click **Download Agent**.
  3. Select the remote office in which you want to install the agent and select the required operating system.
  4. Click **Download Agent**.
  5. To install an agent in a computer manually, follow the steps given below:
     - Copy the downloaded file into a folder in a computer in the respective remote office.
     - Extract the downloaded file to a directory.
     - 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. Open 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 product server
     - Execute the `setup.bat` file.
     - Follow the instructions given in the command window.

- **CSV File Import:**
  1. Navigate to *Agent > Remote Offices*.
  2. Now, you can either **Add** a new remote office or choose to **Modify** a remote office under the **Actions** tab.
  3. Fill in the details of the remote office. To know more about filling up the details, click [here](https://www.manageengine.com/products/desktop-central/scope-of-management-how-to.html#som-how-to6).
  4. Under the section called **Remote Agent Installation**, check the **Install Wan Agent Automatically** box, if you wish to proceed with automatic installation.
  5. Under the **Managed Computers** section, select **Import CSV** and choose the required CSV file.
  6. There is also an option to **Add computers** by browsing through the list of available computers.

- **From Add Computers:**
  1. Click the **Agent** tab.
  2. Navigate to the **Computers** tab and click on **Add Computers**.
  3. Select the computers that you wish to add and click on **Next**.
  4. Click **Install Agents**.

**Note:** If you wish to move already managed computers from one office to another, then select the computers and choose the office from the **Move to** drop-down menu.

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.

## 4. How to install Endpoint Central agents?

To know more about installing agents, kindly visit this [link](https://www.manageengine.com/products/desktop-central/agent-installation.html).

**Note:** [Click here](https://www.manageengine.com/products/desktop-central/help/) to know about the cloud agent installation methods.

## 5. How to uninstall agents from computers?

### Description

You can uninstall the agents from computers directly. It is recommended that you uninstall the agents from respective computers before removing them from the Scope of Management list.

### Steps

To uninstall an agent, follow the steps given below:

- Click the **Agent** tab.
- Navigate to **Computers** and select the specific computers with agents.
- Click **Uninstall Agent.**

Alternatively, you can also remove the agent using the agent cleanup tool from Windows machines. To know more, visit this [link](https://www.manageengine.com/products/desktop-central/desktop_agent_uninstallation.html).

To remove the agents from the endpoints, follow the steps below:

- Go to *Control Panel > Programs and features > Uninstall Program* and select **ManageEngine Endpoint Central**.
- You will get a pop up to enter the OTP for the agent uninstallation to be complete.
- To view the OTP, go to the *Endpoint Central server web console > Agent > Scope of Management > Computers > View OTP*.

## 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:

- Click the **Agent** tab.
- Click on **Computers** tab.
- Click **Edit Credentials.**
- Modify the required details.
- Click **Update Domain Credentials.**

You have changed the domain credentials.

## 7. How does the licensing of Endpoint Central work?

Consider the following cases:

- The company policy enforces retiring of all devices older than 3 years of age and licenses had been purchased considering these devices that were getting retired too.
- New devices are to be used for development for the first year, followed by usage for testing for the subsequent year and then to be issued to the finance department finally and the devices should not be managed when it is used as a test machine alone.
- There is a need for new devices detected in the network, to be added to the Scope of Management and the agent be installed automatically.

Our product caters to every such need with its flexible and highly efficient license reuse policy. Only the total number of devices that are managed at a given time matters and not devices that were present before, hence allowing users to remove old devices and add new ones for the same license. Also, Endpoint Central provides an option to exclude a device from being managed, yet have it under the Scope of Management (for future use) without affecting the license count.

**Note:** License count does not change if the devices are just added to the Scope of Management (SoM). The count will change only when agents are installed in the devices.

### Description

To have devices under the SoM and yet not affect the license count, follow the steps given below.

### Steps

This can be done in three ways:

1. Excluding devices through SoM policy:
   - Navigate to *Agent Tab > SoM Policy > View Sync Information*

   **Note:** By configuring SoM policy, the following can be achieved:
   - Devices that have not contacted the server for "n" number of days can be removed from the SoM automatically.
   - New devices in the network can be automatically detected, added to the SoM (option to install agent automatically is also available).

   - **Select** the devices that you wish to exclude.
   - Click on the **Exclude Computers** button.

2. Excluding devices in Remote Offices:
   - Navigate to *Agent tab > Remote Offices*.
   - Select **Add Remote Office** tab or modify an existing remote office by selecting **Modify** under the **Actions** tab.
   - In the **Remote Agent Installation** tab, make sure **Install WAN Agent Automatically** is unchecked.
   - In the **Managed Computers** tab, either select **Import CSV** to upload the CSV file containing device information or **Add Computer(s)** to select and save the computers to SoM.

3. Excluding via Add Computers option:
   - Navigate to the **Agent > Computers** tab.
   - Select the required computer that you want to remove and click **Remove Computer**.

## 8. How to remove a computer from Scope of Management?

### 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:

1. Click the **Agent** tab.
2. Navigate to the **Computers** tab and select the computers you want to remove from the scope of management.

**Note:** To remove computers qualifying a specific criteria, use the filter option and set the required criteria, then select the required computers.

3. Click **Remove Computers.**

**Note:** To remove all computers in a remote office, delete the entire remote office from the **Remote Office** tab under **Scope of Management**.

You have removed computers from the scope of management.

Please ensure that you revoke all the restrictions configured to the devices that need to be removed from SoM.

[How To's](https://www.manageengine.com/products/desktop-central/how-to.html)

[Scope of Management](https://www.manageengine.com/products/desktop-central/help/configuring_desktop_central/defining_scope_of_management.html)