Windows Agent - Native Installer

[Giancarlo 48]

Dear Domotz Community,

 

around one year and half ago, we released our first production version of the Domotz Agent Manager for Windows. It was basically an installer wrapper and manager for a Linux Virtual Machine (with a Domotz Agent inside) managed through Oracle VM VirtualBox. 

 

So far, that Manager has been installed by hundreds of professional users, on thousands of servers/machine. However, that Windows Agent Manager had some limitations (for instance it cannot be installed on a Virtual Machine on its own, or it did require some additional memory and CPU just to start the internal VM).

 

We are now glad to announce that the Development Team is finalizing a Windows Native Version of our Domotz Agent. We are now in a Beta testing phase, with some of our powerful users already tried it.

 

We would like to invite the community to try the following Beta Version:

 

Domotz Windows Agent - 2.8.5 - beta

Domotz Windows Agent P2.8.5 - A2.9.6 - beta

domotz-windows-x64-10-2.5.6-2.9.6-a006-0001

Production Version: domotz-windows-x64-10.exe

 

Once downloaded, the installer will guide you through a smooth installation process.

 

The Agent has been successfully tested on different version of Windows, including Windows 10 Home and Pro. 

 

There are the following known limitation on the current version:

• The software is still not signed (marked as Unknown publisher). During the installation, you will be required to click on "More info" and then click on "Run anyway".
• Some features are still under development:
  • VPN on Demand is not available on this version. We are working on this.
  • Manufacturer drivers based on SSH protocol are not working (e.g. Control4, some PDUs, etc). We are working on this.
• The mechanism for auto-upgrade of the package has not been finalized. Therefore, a newer version of the Agent need to be manually installed.
• Local Agent Web Interface (available on port 3000) can only be accessed from the same PC/Workstation on localhost (http://127.0.0.1:3000).
• Icons need to be amended.

 

We would really appreciate your feedback on the usage of this new Agent. Our plan is to release a production version in the next few weeks, directly available through the Domotz Portal.

 

If you are in need for a license to test this beta version, do not hesitate to contact our Support (email to support@domotz.com).

 

Thanks for your help with this,

Giancarlo

 

[SurePointIT 1]

Is it now possible to run this on a server that is already a hypervisor, like Hyper-V? The previous version wanted to run VirtualBox along side Hyper-V and that wouldn't work.

[Giancarlo 48]

1 hour ago, SurePointIT said:

Is it now possible to run this on a server that is already a hypervisor, like Hyper-V? The previous version wanted to run VirtualBox along side Hyper-V and that wouldn't work.

 

That's correct. This new version can be installed on a Virtual Machine as well. Please send an email to support@domotz.com if you find any issue, or if you need a beta license for testing this version.

[Giancarlo 48]

A newer version has just been published:

 

Domotz Windows Agent P2.8.5 - A2.9.6 - beta

 

Compared to the previous version, it now allows the usage of the VPN on Demand functionality!

[XYZ 0]

I installed and opened domotz but it just shows can't connect to the server. Why is that?

[Giancarlo 48]

On 6/4/2020 at 7:11 PM, XYZ said:

I installed and opened domotz but it just shows can't connect to the server. Why is that?

 

Hi XYZ,

 

can you please send the the logs contained in  "c:\programData\domotz\log" to our Support. We will check what is wrong in that.

 

Thanks,

Giancarlo

[Giancarlo 48]

A newer version has just been released. This will be also available through the Domotz Portal very soon:

 

https://portal.domotz.com/download/agent_packages/domotz-windows-x64-10-2.5.6-2.9.6-a006-0001.exe

 

Compared to the previous version, this one is:

- signed by Domotz

- include the mechanism for automatic updates

 

Therefore, subsequent version of the package which will be released by Domotz will be automatically installed on the Windows host

[ken 0]

19 hours ago, Giancarlo said:

A newer version has just been released. This will be also available through the Domotz Portal very soon:

 

https://portal.domotz.com/download/agent_packages/domotz-windows-x64-10-2.5.6-2.9.6-a006-0001.exe

 

Compared to the previous version, this one is:

- signed by Domotz

- include the mechanism for automatic updates

 

Therefore, subsequent version of the package which will be released by Domotz will be automatically installed on the Windows host

I have having trouble with the agent install. I have the latest version installed as well

here is the install log::

 

Domotz service installation (Tue 06/09/2020 -  7:05:44.66) 
Creating variable DOMOTZ_HOME=C:\Program Files (x86)\domotz 
Copy domotz.env file to C:\ProgramData\domotz 
Executing script C:/Program Files (x86)/domotz/lib/windows_service/\domotz_init_config.js 
Domotz Configuration Init
domotz location  = C:\Program Files (x86)\domotz
data location    = C:\ProgramData\domotz
config location  = C:\ProgramData\domotz\domotz.env
logs directory   = C:\ProgramData\domotz\log
Preparing domotz.env file...
Reading domotz.env template file...
Writing domotz.env instantiated file...
Domotz Configuration completed
Executing script C:/Program Files (x86)/domotz/lib/windows_service/\domotz_service.js 
Domotz service installation complete
Domotz windows service created 
Start domotz windows service 
[SC] StartService: OpenService FAILED 1060:

The specified service does not exist as an installed service.

 

19 hours ago, Giancarlo said:

 

 

[ken 0]

I still can't connect to the server. 

 

[Giancarlo 48]

On 6/9/2020 at 7:30 AM, ken said:

I still can't connect to the server. 

 

 

Hi Ken,

 

please follow-up with the support. We would need to retrieve logs from that Agent.

 

Thanks for your understanding,

Giancarlo

[Giancarlo 48]

I am glad to announce that the windows Agent has been just released in production and available through the Domotz Portal:

 

http://portal.domotz.com/download/agent_packages/domotz-windows-x64-10.exe

 

Whoever installed a version lower than 2.9.6-006a will be required to install the newer version. In this way, the package will be automatically updated every time a new version is available in the Domotz Portal.

 

For any doubt, please contact support@domotz.com 

[sjones 0]

We are finding the Windows Native Agent goes offline regularly

Domotz Agent Service is running

Restarting the service brings it back online, but will go off again within the day

 

Agent when online is unable to

• Build Network Topology
• Connect to onsite Unifi controller, AP (Checked credentials with Putty on same windows box to devices and able to access)
• Ping Devices (However can successfully ping from the hosting Windows Device)
• Devices have SNMP enable however additional information is not populating on any devices (ie QNAP is supported but no information)

Limited to discovering

• Services
• IP
• MAC
• Name
• Type
• Make
• Model

[Giancarlo 48]

8 hours ago, sjones said:

We are finding the Windows Native Agent goes offline regularly

Domotz Agent Service is running

Restarting the service brings it back online, but will go off again within the day

 

Agent when online is unable to

• Build Network Topology
• Connect to onsite Unifi controller, AP (Checked credentials with Putty on same windows box to devices and able to access)
• Ping Devices (However can successfully ping from the hosting Windows Device)
• Devices have SNMP enable however additional information is not populating on any devices (ie QNAP is supported but no information)

Limited to discovering

• Services
• IP
• MAC
• Name
• Type
• Make
• Model

 

Thanks for your feedback. We are definitely working on the Windows Agent to let the service restart automatically as soon as it spots it has crashed. This should be available in a couple of weeks.

 

However, we would like to understand the root cause of why the agent is crashing. Can you please send an email to our Support (support@domotz.com) and we will follow-up from there.

 

We will also investigate the issue around the remote connections, ping and topology you mentioned.

[MiradorIT 0]

Is there a comparison chart of features that are not available in the production Windows agent vs. Domotz hardware?

[Giancarlo 48]

1 hour ago, MiradorIT said:

Is there a comparison chart of features that are not available in the production Windows agent vs. Domotz hardware?

 

In terms of user functionalities, a part temporary issues or limitations, they are exactly the same. Both the options offer the same features.

 

However, let me mention a few differences:

- Configuration of VLANs: 

  It is possible configuring VLANs on the Windows PC/Server as well. The Domotz Agent, if VLANs are created at the network stack, will scan them. However, we do not provide a web interface for doing that configuration, since this will require a low-level access to the Hardware, which we do not have when the Domotz Agent is not hosted on our hardware.

 

On the other hand, having access to our own Domotz Box network stack, we provide an easy to use Web Interface to configure additional VLANs to be scanned by the Domotz Agent.

 

- Auto-Upgrade:

The Domotz Agent for Windows provide a completely automatic and transactional upgrade of the package. However, it is the user responsibility to keep the OS and the rest of packages installed on the Windows PC/Server up-to-date.

 

On the other hand, on the Domotz Box we do automatically upgrade not only the Domotz Agent package, but also the Kernel and OS level (think about security patches). 

 

- Domotz Support:

We do provide a slightly faster support for the Domotz Boxes (assuming they are connected to the Cloud), given that we can remotely retrieve logs from them

 

-- --

 

In addition to the above difference, let me mention that we have several users that have leveraged the Domotz Box in order to provide remote assistance to their clients (either they are internal or external customers), without even being on the remote location once. For more information on how to configure a Domotz Box and ship to the remote location, please check this out:

 

 

In particular the Item 2 of the above article (Usage of Domotz Box to provide remote assistance without being onsite).