General Settings

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Table of Contents

General settings Transport Protocol Alternative Package Source Transport Properties

General settings

  • Use DHCP Options. Enables the DHCP options defined on a DHCP server. After a DHCP request of the client, these options are scanned and written into the environment of the respective client by the Empirum Agent. Depending on the location, these variables can be used individually for distributing software packages. See also DHCP Options.
    If only the Empirum Server is defined as a DHCP option the user and password are used from the fallback server of the Agent Template. It is always recommended to define the user and password also in the DHCP options.
  • Use Assigned Empirum Servers. Enables the usage of the Empirum servers assigned under the Empirum Servers tab (computer settings). The order results from the directly assigned and group-inherited Empirum servers.
  • Use random order. If this option is selected, assigned Empirum servers are selected randomly.
  • Exclude Empirum Master Server. Ignores the Empirum Master servers, which is always assigned by default:
  • Fallback Server. Use the drop-down menu to select the fallback server to which the system shall connect in case no connection could be established to any of the assigned Empirum servers.
  • User Name. The user name is automatically displayed in this field if a value has been entered for the variable USER_1 of the server selected under Server Name. If all three variables (USER_1, USER_2, USER_3) have a value entered for this server, you can select a user from the drop down list.
    The password variables are only updated when the modifications of the Agent configuration file are saved accordingly.

    If this variable (user name and/or password) is modified, the Empirum Agent template must be saved again to include the modified values in the template.

  • Local "Empirum Agent" directory… This directory is used to cache configuration files of the Empirum Agent on the client. The following characters are not permitted: ä Ä ö Ö ü Ü * ? < > / | ". We do not recommend that you use the following directories: %Windows% (including subdirectories), %CommonFiles% (including subdirectories), %UserProfile%, %Temp%.The default location of the
  • Windows directory is: %SystemDrive%\EmpirumAgent
  • Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) is: /Library/Caches/EmpirumAgent/

Transport Protocol

There are three primary protocols (SMB, HTTP and HTTPS), which can download all data from the server. You can select a secondary protocol, which is only used to transfer the software packages. If this secondary protocol is not able to reach the server, the primary protocol is used automatically. Experience has shown that SMB is a good choice for desktops in the LAN and http(s) is useful for systems with changing/low-bandwidth network connections.

Protocol failover: The following multi selections of the basic protocols are possible: SMB and HTTP or SMB and HTTPS. In addition the prioritized protocol can be selected. This defines the protocol order in which the Agent tries to connect to the servers.

The sub depot package must be installed on the Empirum server to be able to use the http(s) rsync protocol. http(s) uses the variables described in Variables to configure the log-in information. Use the Empirum Subdepot Webservice Configuration package to automatically install and configure the Microsoft Internet Information Servers (IIS) on the Depot/Empirum server.

For transmission via SMB there is an additional option for the UEM Agent: "Use computer credentials for authentication". If this option is activated, invalid values are entered in the agent template and the computer name.ini instead of user name and password. The UEM Agent uses the computer credentials to authenticate to the server.

Do not use this function together with the Empirum Agent for Mac under any circumstances, because in this case the client loses the connection to the server.

After changing the credentials, the old ones may still be used as they have been cached by Windows. Restarting the system should resolve this issue.

If you are using computer credentials, make sure that the users have access to the folders Configurator and EmpInv.

For the transfer via https additional options are available. Both options require a correct configured https server and certificates.

  • Only trust validated certificates
    Upon activation, the Empirum Agent will only communicate if there is a valid certificate available. Otherwise the Agent will not communicate to the server and logs the action into the local Agent log. It will not be possible to establish a connection with a self-signed certificate.
  • Use Client Certificate Authentication
    Activating Use Client Certificate Authentication, the Empirum Agent will use a client certificate from the local Certificate Store instead of user name and password.
  • Disable username and password authentication.
    If Disable username and password authentication is selected, invalid username and password credentials (CertificateUsed) are written to the Agent-Template and Computer.ini. Therefore no valid logon credentials are store on client computer. 
    The authentification is forced to use client certificates.
    The checkbox is only available in combination with https and Use Client Certificate Authentication.
    No fallback to username and password and alternative protocols is possible.

The replacement of username and password only occurs in cases

  • The transport protocol SMB and the option "Use computer credentials for authentication" have been selected
  • The transport protocol HTTPS and the option "Disable authentication via user name and password" have been selected
  • The transport protocols SMB and HTTPS and the two options mentioned above have been selected

Alternative Package Source

  • Microsoft Azure. Activate this option if the software packages should be downloaded from a Microsoft Azure Blob Storage.
    • Connection String. The connection string is entered here, as it is stored in the Microsoft Azure Portal under Storage Account/Settings/Access Key.
    • Container Name. The container name in which the packages are located is entered here, as it is stored in the Microsoft Azure Portal under Storage Account/Blob Service/Blobs. The directory structure of the packages must be the same within the container as for the Packages share.

When using the alternative package source, all packages must be located in this source. Mixed operation between the alternative source and the transport protocol is currently not possible.

(For more information, see the help for Matrix42 UEM Agent Windows.)

Transport Properties

  • Minimal bandwidth. Here you can specify the minimum bandwidth necessary to transmit packages from the server and log files to the server via the transport layer. If this minimum value is not achieved, packages will not be transmitted. The default value 0 means that this setting is not considered.
  • Bandwidth limit. Here you can specify the maximum percentage of the actual bandwidth to be used for the transmission of packages.
  • Delete Packages after x day(s). Packages stored in the local cache will be deleted after the time specified, unless there is a scheduler entry and unless the distribution option "Cache locally" has been enabled. If no value is specified (0), the packages remain in the cache. If new packages are assigned and no space is available on the local disk, the oldest installed packages are deleted from the local cache.
  • Min. Disk Space x MB. When packages are transmitted into the local cache directory, the minimum free disk space must not fall below the value specified. If there are pending packages, the oldest installed packages are deleted until sufficient disk space for the pending packages is available.

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