Agent installation overview

The Connected Agent supports both manual and automated installations. Either type works with both certificate-based or credential-based user authentication. Choose the installation method that best meets your needs:

  • Manual. Interactive Agent installation and registration.

    Users download the Agent installation package from the Connected web application, and then run it to start the installation wizard that steps them through a few simple installation prompts. After installation, the Agent automatically prompts users for their Connected email address. Then, if not in an environment with federated authentication, it also prompts for either their Connected credentials or to select the appropriate authentication certificate.

    Customer-level administrators define the specific Agent version available to users for each operating system. For more information, see Configure the Agent versions available for user download and Install the Agent interactively.

  • Automated. Provides Agent installation and registration with varying levels of user interaction:

    • Command-line installation. Automated Agent installation and interactive registration.

      For command-line installation, you use a custom script or software deployment tool to distribute the Agent to multiple users and install it on their computers based on a set of command-line options. After installation, the Agent automatically prompts users for their Connected email address. Then, if not in an environment with federated authentication, it also prompts for either their Connected credentials or to select the appropriate authentication certificate. For more information, see Install the Agent from the command line.

    • For this type of installation, you use a custom script or software deployment tool to distribute the Agent to multiple users and silently install it on their computers based on a set of command-line options. After installation, the script or deployment tool starts the Agent, which automatically registers the device, authenticates the user, and then begins to scan the computer. For more information, see Silently install and register the Agent (Windows only).

NOTE: If your company manages its own encryption keys, you must install the Connected device client certificate before starting the Agent for the first time. The Agent requires this certificate to establish a secure connection to Connected Key Management Server in order to fetch encrypted and decrypted copies of your site's encryption keys. Without it, the Agent will not work correctly.

NOTE: Option to login using external browser

You can login to Agent using the external browser of your system. To set this, perform one of the following:

  1. Modify ConnectedConfig.xml

    Edit the ConnectedConfig.xml file located at %LOCALAPPDATA%\Connected (for Windows) or~/Libraray/Application Support/Connected (for macOS) and add the following:

    <LoginUsingBrowser>true</LoginUsingBrowser>

    For example,

    <config>
    <Port>443</Port>
    <IdentityProviderSuffix/>
    <RetryMaxAttempts>10</RetryMaxAttempts>
    <MeteredConnection>0</MeteredConnection>
    <BackupInterval>15</BackupInterval>
    <LoginUsingBrowser>true</LoginUsingBrowser>
    <LaunchAtStartup>2</LaunchAtStartup>
    </config>
  2. Command line (Windows Only)

    Use the LOGINUSINGBROWSER command line option and set its value to true. For details, see Agent installer command-line reference (Windows).

Restart the Agent to reflect the changes.