Multiple agent packages for many locations with authentication - how to?

[DKnappe]

Hi, 

we have the following scenario:

- Customer has multiple locations filled with non-domain devices which need to be inventoried

- A beacon will be installed on a Azure VM and be accessible

- No anonymous access allowed. Everything should be done through (Basic) Authentication. 

- Every location shall have their own set of credentials. This is to ensure that in case of either selling this location or in case of security breaches, the data transfer from these locations can be cut off easily by simply deactivating the credentials. (The fact that this is a lot of admin work with the credentials is known).

- Bonus: Every package should include a unique identifier per location which is being written to the registry and then inventoried via IncludeRegistryKey. 

Questions now:

- Can a Beacon be configured to hand out different configurations including User and Password for Download and Upload Settings?

- If not, what would be a good way to have the Upload settings protected so that User and Password would not get overwritten when downloading a policy? I am aware of the possibility to use https://docs.flexera.com/FlexNetManagerSuite2020R2/EN/GatherFNInv/index.html#SysRef/FlexNetInventoryAgent/tasks/FA3-ProtectCustom.html but it would be preferred to have the agent be able to be updated through auto update. 

It would be a no brainer to simply script a few hundred mgssetup.ini and packages but the requirement of having as many credentials makes it more challenging. 

Does anyone have ideas or can help?

Thanks in advance.

[ChrisG]

This does sound like a complex and difficult configuration to manage.

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- Can a Beacon be configured to hand out different configurations including User and Password for Download and Upload Settings?

The short answer to this is no - these configuration details generated by a beacon for upload & download settings are the same for all devices. I can't think of any way using built-in capabilities to configure a beacon to provide different details to different devices.

Could you consider having a separate beacon for each location? Or maybe find a way to manage values stored in the registry on managed devices independently of the agent's own policy update process.

[DKnappe]

Unfortunately we are talking hundreds of different locations, individual beacons won't be possible. Not only due to administration but also because there might be no infrastructure to run a beacon in a location. 

"Or maybe find a way to manage values stored in the registry on managed devices independently of the agent's own policy update process." 

Yeah, this is what I was looking into before posting. Was hoping for a built-in solution I have not found yet. Thanks anyways!