Gettting Started

Version 7.2
Contents

About this Guide 4

Other Resources 4

Prepare Your Customer's Network 5

Open Required Ports 5

Create a Probe Service Account 5

DNS Configuration 5

Enable Remote Administration Exception in Windows Firewall 5

Add a Customer to N-central using the Customer Wizard 6

Creating the Customer in N-central 6

Installing the Windows Probe Software 7

Discovering Devices 7

Import Non-Windows Devices to N-central 8

Customize the Monitoring of Non-Windows Devices 8

Renaming Devices 8

Firewall Monitoring 8

Customize the Monitoring of Windows Devices 9

Hardware Monitoring 9

Application Monitoring 9

Patch Management 10

Probe Notifications 10

Endpoint Security 10

Management Tasks 10

Testing Notifications 11

Reporting 11

Appendix 12
Working with Proxy Servers 13

Configuring DNS Aging And Scavenging 14

Troubleshooting 17
Troubleshooting Discovery and Agent deployment 17

Troubleshooting Notifications 18
N-central 7.2 Gettting Started

About this Guide

This guide is intended for all N-central providers.
In a few topics, we will show you how to configure your customer's network to ensure optimal discovery
and monitoring of devices on their network.
l Prepare Your Customer's Network on page 5
l Add a Customer to N-central using the Customer Wizard on page 6
l Import Non-Windows Devices to N-central on page 8
l Customize the Monitoring of Non-Windows Devices on page 8
l Customize the Monitoring of Windows Devices on page 9
l Testing Notifications on page 11
l Reporting on page 11

In addition, the following additional documents are provided as an Appendix:

l Working with Proxy Servers on page 13
l Configuring DNS Aging And Scavenging on page 14
l Troubleshooting on page 17

After you have set up your first network, there are a number of additional resources available to you to
show you how to setup additional features and use N-central to manage your customer networks.

Other Resources
Product Documentation
The N-central product documentation includes many additional searchable resources and trou-
bleshooting tips. Access product documentation by clicking Online Help in the N-central main menu.

Best Practices and Troubleshooting Guides

N-able provides a series of troubleshooting and best practices guides. These are available in the Quick-
Start program, or can be accessed from the online technical documentation.

Daily Online Q & A sessions

Our Sales Engineers provide live online question and answer sessions daily. Feel free to dial into any ses-
sion on any day of the week and ask your questions live. For more information, refer to http://www.n-
able.com/qa/.
This Guide is current as of Friday, January 28, 2011.

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Prepare Your Customer's Network

This section contains recommendations and procedures that you must follow to ensure that agents and
probes can communicate with the N-central server and ensure that the Windows Probe can scan your
customer’s network successfully.
Please review the following:
l Open Required Ports on page 5
l Create a Probe Service Account on page 5
l DNS Configuration on page 5
l Enable Remote Administration Exception in Windows Firewall on page 5

Open Required Ports

Networks in which N-central probes and agents are deployed need to have the following outbound ports
open:
l HTTP (Port 80), which is required for software download (scripts, management tasks)
l HTTPS (Port 443), which is required for secure data transmission between the agent/probe and
your N-central server
l SSH (Port 22), which is required for device remote control

Create a Probe Service Account

The installation of the Windows Software Probe requires a Domain Administrator account.

Best Practice Create a new Domain Administrator account that will be used only for the probe.

For more information on setting up and configuring Domain Administrator accounts, refer to Microsoft
technical documentation.

DNS Configuration
The Windows Software probe requires that DNS be configured properly in order for it to function.

Note: In DHCP networks, it is strongly advised to verify that the Domain Name System does not con-
tain duplicate addresses for workstations and laptops. Duplicate entries will cause problems when
installing agents and for N-central to function properly. To resolve the issue, configure DNS scav-
enging following the instructions provided in Configuring DNS Aging And Scavenging on page 14.

Enable Remote Administration Exception in Windows Firewall

1. Open the appropriate group policy on your customer’s domain controller
2. Click Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Network > Network Con-
nections > Windows Firewall > Domain Profile.
3. In the right-hand UI pane, double-click on Windows Firewall: Allow remote administration exception.
4. Under the Settings tab, select Enabled.

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5. In the Allow unsolicited incoming messages from: text field, input * to accept messages from
anyone, or the IP address of your Windows Probe.
6. Click OK.
7. Close the Group Policy Object Editor window.
8. Close the Active Directory Users and Computers window.
For more information, please refer to Microsoft's document: Enable or Disable the Remote Admin-
istration Exception.

Note: Any changes made to the group policy of a domain will not be applied by members of the domain
until one of the following conditions is met:

l The computer is rebooted, or

l The default update interval has been exceeded (90 minutes on domain members, and five min-
utes for domain controllers), or
l The following command is run on the domain member: gpupdate /Target: computer.

(Information regarding the group policy update interval and the gpupdate command is from the Micro-
soft knowledge base document titled Group Policy does not refresh.)

Add a Customer to N-central using the Customer Wizard

Setting up a customer using the Customer Wizard in N-central takes just a few steps.
l Creating the Customer in N-central on page 6
l Installing the Windows Probe Software on page 7
l Discovering Devices on page 7

Creating the Customer in N-central

1. Sign in to the N-central UI.
If you get a Welcome page that requests an email for notifications, complete the email address field
and click Finish, or just click Finish.
The Welcome to N-central page appears.

Tip: The Getting Started Wizard

Before you go further, you may wish to view a few short videos about N-central network features and
other useful configuration information. These are available through the Getting Started Wizard, which
is located in the bottom left corner of every screen.

2. In the left navigation pane, select the name of the service organization for which you would like to
create a customer.
3. In the bottom left-hand corner, select the Customer Wizard.
4. In the Company Name field, enter the name of your customer and leave the default import
options as they are.
Congratulations! You have created your first customer.

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5. Click Save and Continue.

Installing the Windows Probe Software

Note: For most situations, we recommend that you install the probe on a Windows Server device. How-
ever, in the case where you have small numbers of managed devices, installing the probe on a
Windows Workstation is okay.

The reason for this is that Windows XP, Vista or Windows 7 limit the number of outbound con-
current connections. When the number of outbound concurrent connections is limited, this
impedes the ability of the Windows Probe to discover and monitor devices.

1. On the Customer Wizard screen, under Recommended Discover and Import Device, click
Download the Windows Probe Software.
Tip: For a step by step guide to downloading and installing the Windows probe software, click
Detailed installation instructions.

2. After you have started the probe installation from within the Customer Wizard, you will be prompted
to select the setup language. Select the setup language from the drop-down list and click OK.
3. The InstallShield installer will perform a check on the environment that will warn you of any
issues it may find related to the functionality of the probe within your network. These warnings or
failures should be addressed before proceeding.
4. Select the location where you would like to install the N-central probe software. Click Next to con-
tinue.
5. If you need a proxy string, select I need to use a Proxy Server and specify the proxy infor-
mation, if you need help, refer to Working with Proxy Servers on page 13.
6. Click Next.
7. On the next screen, do one of the following:
l If the probe is being installed in a workgroup, select Workgroup User, otherwise
l Select Domain User, specify the Domain Administrator credentials.

8. Click Next.
9. On the AMT Datastore Registration screen, you can optionally provide the credentials to be used
with Intel® vPro™-based devices.
10. Click Next.

Discovering Devices
1. On the Network Discovery screen, enter a name for the discovery job in the Discovery Name
field and then click Add. After you have clicked Add, you can edit the other fields on this screen.
2. In the Target Network section, select IP Range and enter the IP range (for example,
192.168.1.1-254) in which the probe will be installed.
3. Enter the SNMP Community String, which will allow for the discovery of routers, switches and
printers.

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4. If you want to add another discovery job, click Add; otherwise, click Next.
5. Click Install.

Note: The instructions above refer to Windows devices. Non-Windows devices need to be imported.

Congratulations, you have now created a customer, installed a probe and configured the Windows probe
to discover your customer's network. As the probe discovers devices, it will automatically install Windows
agents and import the Windows Workstations and Windows Servers that it finds – these devices can be
viewed through your customer's All Devices View.

Import Non-Windows Devices to N-central

By default, N-central does not automatically import non-Windows devices.

To import non-Windows devices into N-central.

1. Click your customer's name in the left-hand UI pane.
2. Click All Devices View.
3. In the Add Devices screen, click Click here under Recommended - Import Devices.
4. Select each of the devices that you would like to import.
5. Click Import.
6. On the mapping screen, click Continue.
7. Click Finish to import the selected devices.
All of the imported devices should appear in the All Devices View. The next step is to customize the
monitoring of the imported devices.

Customize the Monitoring of Non-Windows Devices

Renaming Devices
Devices that are not registered in DNS will be listed in N-central with an IP address. Examples of these
devices can include switches, routers, firewalls, or IP telephones. These devices can be renamed to a
more user-friendly name by performing the following:
1. Click All Devices View in the navigation pane.
2. Click the device that you would like to edit in the Name column.
3. Select the Properties tab.
4. Modify the Name.
Note: This is only a label in N-central and will not make any changes to the operating system or net-
work configuration of the device itself.

5. Click OK.

Firewall Monitoring
N-central can monitor the following elements on most firewalls:

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l CPU,
l Connections,
l Memory,
l Traffic, and
l Syslog messages.

This requires SNMP and Syslog configuration changes on the firewall and asset discovery must be per-
formed again. The procedure for this is documented in "Configuring Firewall Services" available on the
N-able Resource Center under Support > Product Documentation.

Customize the Monitoring of Windows Devices

Hardware Monitoring
If the server is a Dell, HP, IBM or Intel-branded server, you can monitor certain hardware elements
including:
l Fan Status,
l Logical Drives,
l Physical Drives,
l Power Supplies,
l RAID Controllers, and
l Temperature.

This requires the installation of management agents from the appropriate vendors. SNMP must also be
configured and asset discovery performed again. The procedure for this is documented in "Configuring
Servers for Hardware Monitoring" available on the N-able Resource Center under Support > Product
Documentation.

Application Monitoring
By default, N-central has applied service templates (groups of services) to the managed devices based on
their folder membership. This will be the baseline for monitoring. Some servers will have unique appli-
cations running on them and to monitor the applications, you will need to apply the appropriate service
template.
1. Click All Devices View in the navigation pane.
2. Select the check box next to the device on which you want to monitor an application.
3. Select Apply Service Templates from the drop-down list.
4. If required, click Expand to display service templates that correspond to the device class.
5. Select the service templates as required.
6. Click > to move them one at a time or click >> to select and move all the service templates.
7. Click Apply.
8. Expand the tree in the Service Template Application Report screen to view any messages.
9. Click OK.

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Note: Additional Service Templates are available on the N-able Resource Center.

Patch Management
By default, the Patch Status service has been added to all Windows devices that have an agent installed.
This service monitors for missing patches. The patch management feature in N-central is an integration
with Microsoft WSUS and Microsoft Windows Update. For more information on configuring this feature,
please refer to "Providing Patch Management With N-central" available on the N-able Resource Center
under Support > Product Documentation.

Probe Notifications
By default, you will not receive an alert if the Windows Software Probe stops working. To configure noti-
fications for the Probe Status service, perform the following for each customer:
1. In the navigation pane, select the appropriate customer.
2. On the menu bar, click Setup > Notifications.
3. In the Name column, click O Minute Delay.
4. Click Trigger Details.
5. Select Servers (Applications).
6. Select the Probe.
7. Click > to move the probe to the right-hand column.
8. Click Save.

Endpoint Security
The Endpoint Security feature is powered by Panda Security applications and provides comprehensive
antivirus and anti-malware protection for Windows Workstation and Windows Servers. Endpoint Security
can also be configured for Microsoft Exchange 2003 and 2007 servers to provide integrated Anti-Virus,
Anti-Spam and Content Filtering capabilities specifically for Exchange mail servers. Endpoint Security can
be fully deployed and managed from within N-central. For more information, refer to "Endpoint Secu-
rity" in the N-central technical documentation.

Management Tasks
You can configure Management Tasks to automate routine maintenance tasks.
The following tasks can be configured for Windows devices:
l Endpoint Security Scans
l File Transfers
l Executing scripts
l Software Distribution
l WSUS server cleanup

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To access this feature, select the appropriate customer in the navigation tree and select Setup > Man-
agement Tasks.

Testing Notifications
By default, N-central is configured with a very capable notification system. In order to make sure that
your notifications are working properly, perform the following:
1. Click Service Organization in the navigation pane.
2. Click Setup > Notifications.
3. Click 0 Minute Delay.
4. Verify that the correct recipients have been configured for the notification.
5. Click Save (or Cancel if no changes have been made).
6. Select the check box next to 0 Minute Delay.
7. Click Test Notification.
You should receive an e-mail notification within a few minutes. If you do not receive a notification, fol-
low the instructions provided in Troubleshooting on page 17.

Reporting
Sample reports can be downloaded from the following link:
l http://download.n-able.com/documentation/reports/nable_reports.exe

This self-extracting executable contains a spreadsheet describing all of the available reports and the cor-
responding PDF reports.

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Appendix
The following documents provide background information to some of the procedures in the Getting
Started Guide.
l Working with Proxy Servers on page 13
l Configuring DNS Aging And Scavenging on page 14
l Troubleshooting on page 17

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Working with Proxy Servers

Agents and probes are capable of communicating through:
l non-authenticating proxy servers,
l clear-text authenticating proxy servers, and,
l Internet Security and Acceleration (ISA) 2000/2004 proxy servers.

If a proxy server resides on your customer’s network, you may need to configure the N-central 7.2
agent/probe software so that it can pass information through the proxy server and on to your N-central
 7.2 server.
To configure an agent/probe to use a proxy string, specify the proxy string during the creation of the
agent/probe in the N-central 7.2 UI. The information below will outline the appropriate proxy string to
enter based on the type of proxy server implemented in your customer’s network.

Non-authenticating Proxies
The proxy string must have the following format:

http://<server name>:<port number>

https://<server name>:<port number>

Example: https://192.168.0.10:8080

Clear-text Authenticating Proxies

The proxy string must have the following format:

http://<proxy user>:<proxy password>@<server name>:<port number>

https://<proxy user>:<proxy password>@<server name>:<port number>

Example: https://username:Password@192.168.0.10:8080

ISA 2000/2004/2006 Proxies

The proxy string must have the following format:

https://<domain of the proxy>\<proxy user in domain>:<proxy password in

domain>@<server name>:<port number>

Example: https://OFFICE\username:password@192.168.0.10:8080

Note: Basic HTTP authentication must be activated for this to work. For more information, refer to the
Microsoft Knowledge Base document: How to Allow Third-Party Internet Application Connections
through ISA Server 2000 (specifically, Method 2: Enable Basic Authentication for Outgoing Web
Requests).

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Warning! The procedures explained above and in the Microsoft KB document should be reviewed,
approved and implemented by a Microsoft Certified Professional holding a Microsoft Certified
Systems Engineer + Internet or equivalent designation or experience.

Confirm with your customer that the operations described above are considered permissible. Do not pro-
ceed without customer consent.
It is also possible to configure an ISA server to permit direct access that will allow the agents and probes
to communicate with the N-central 7.2 server. For the steps required to make this configuration
change, please refer to the isaserver.org document: Configuring Web Proxy Clients for Direct Access.

Configuring DNS Aging And Scavenging

DNS in a DHCP network can contain invalid entries if scavenging is not enabled to automatically remove
stale resource records. To configure scavenging, perform the following:
1. Access the DNS Management console.

2. Right-click the DNS Server name.

3. Select Set Aging and Scavenging for all zones.

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4. Select Scavenge stale resource records.

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5. Click OK.
6. Select Apply these settings to the existing Active Directory integrated zones.

7. Click OK.
8. Right-click the domain under the Forward Lookup Zones.
9. Select Properties.
10. Select Aging.
11. Repeat the procedure from step 4 to step 7 above.

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12. Right-click the subnet under the Reverse Lookup Zones.

13. Repeat the procedure from step 9 to step 11 above.
For more information, review the following article:
l http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc759204(WS.10).aspx

Troubleshooting

Troubleshooting Discovery and Agent deployment

Under certain circumstances, the probe will not be able to gather the necessary asset information or
remotely install the Windows agents. The following are the most common problems and possible solu-
tions:

Windows Workstations are not discovered

The most common reason for a workstation not being discovered in N-central is that a local firewall is
preventing remote access. To verify whether this is the problem, log on to the probe and try to ping the
workstation. If this fails, you will need to configure the firewall to allow remote access from the probe. If
the ping is successful, try running the asset discovery again.

Windows Workstations are discovered as device class OTHER

The Windows Probe discovers the asset information of Windows devices using WMI. This asset infor-
mation is used to define the device class. If the Windows Workstation has a device class of Other, the
WMI discovery has failed. The most common reasons for discovery failure are:
l a local firewall is enabled,
l the workstation is not part of the domain, or
l there are WMI permission problems between the probe and the workstation.

To change the device class and install the Windows Agent without relying on WMI, try the trou-
bleshooting procedures described below.

Installing a Windows Agent when the Device Class is Other

You can try to install an agent to the Windows devices that were discovered as device class Other by
simply changing the device class of the device and selecting the Local Agent option.
This can be performed for a single device by selecting the device and the Properties tab.
This can also be performed for multiple devices by using the Bulk Edit feature:
1. Navigate to the appropriate customer.
2. Select the All Devices View.
3. Sort the list of devices by Device Class.
4. Select all of the devices with the class Other.
5. Click Edit.
6. Change the device class to Workstations - Windows.

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7. Select Local Agent.

8. Select Install Using.
9. Click OK.

Windows agent not automatically installed

Check the agent install error message on the Properties tab or the Agent tab of the device.
Possible causes:
l The ADMIN$ share is not accessible from the probe.
l There is a permission problem accessing the ADMIN$ share.
l Incorrect DNS configuration.
l Device is discovered as device class Other.

A potential solution is to test access to the ADMIN$ by performing the following:

1. Log on to the probe with the same account that is used by the probe.
2. Ping the computer by name and by IP address.
3. If successful, try accessing the \\PCname\ADMIN$.
4. If both of these are successful, run the asset discovery again.

Troubleshooting Notifications
Troubleshooting notifications is common in order to discover why a notification was not sent. There are
a number of potential causes for a notification not being transmitted that need to be reviewed. New noti-
fications are triggered on state changes, escalation and repeat notifications are triggered on an elapsed
time from the initial state change.

To troubleshoot notifications
1. Review the Incident Summary Report and examine the lists of all of the incidents and associated
escalations that trigger notifications, the acknowledgments, and the resolution times over a spec-
ified period. If the specific incident is listed in this report, N-central has detected a state change in a
service that is associated with a notification profile.
2. Review the Notifications Sent Report (it displays a copy of the notifications that were sent to a spe-
cific user). If the notification is listed in this report, N-central transmitted the notification. Based on
this information, you should:
a. Verify the mail relay server settings in the NAC (only if no notifications are received).
b. Verify that the message is not still with the mail relay server.
c. Verify the user's spam filter.
3. Review the User Notification Method (it determines a user's email address that is used for noti-
fications as well as the associated schedule). Based on this setting, you should:
a. Verify that the email address is correct.

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b. Verify that the schedule includes the time that the incident happened. If the incident occurred
outside the user's schedule, the incident will be listed in the Incident Summary report and no
notification will be listed in the Notification Sent report.
4. Send a test notification by performing the following:
a. Navigate to the appropriate customer.
b. Select the All Devices View.
c. Click the device that you would like to use for the test in the Name column.
d. Select the Associations tab.
e. Verify that the correct notification profiles are associated with the device.
f. Select the Status tab.
g. In the Service column, click the service that you would like to use for the test.
h. Select the Thresholds tab.
i. Reverse the values for one of the threshold settings.
j. In the navigation pane, select NOC View.
k. After a moment, the incident should be displayed and the notification email received.
5. Review the Detailed Status Report (it presents a detailed overview of the service state changes on a
device over time) and verify the time of the incident to confirm whether the service was in a Failed
state. If the service was not in a Failed state, verify that the thresholds have been configured cor-
rectly.
6. Review the Raw Monitored Data Report (it provides detailed information for a particular service):
a. Review the time period when you expected an incident.
b. Verify how long the service was in a Failed state.
c. Note the duration that the service was in a Failed state.
7. In the notification profile, review the Notification Profile Delay (the amount of time that a service
must be in a specified state before a notification is sent). If the duration that the service was in a
Failed state is less than the delay configured in the profile, you may need to adjust the delay value.
8. Verify the default Notification Profile-Triggers that are associated with the relevant folders by per-
forming the following:
a. Navigate to the appropriate customer in the navigation pane.
b. On the menu bar, click Setup > Notifications.
c. Click 0 Minute Delay.
d. Select the Trigger Details tab.
e. Verify that the service you are troubleshooting is displayed in the appropriate trigger with the cor-
rect state.
f. Verify that the service you are troubleshooting is associated with the folder to which the device
belongs.

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Disclaimer
This document may include planned release dates for service packs and version upgrades. These dates are based on our current
development plans and on our best estimates of the research and development time required to build, test, and implement each of
the documented features. This document does not represent any firm commitments by N-able Technologies Inc. to features and/or
dates. N-able Technologies will at its best effort, try to meet the specified schedule and will update this document should there be
any significant changes. N-able Technologies reserves the right to change the release schedule and the content of any of the
planned updates or enhancements without notice. Publication or dissemination of this document alone is not intended to create and
does not constitute a business relationship between N-able Technologies and the recipient.

Feedback
N-able Technologies is a market driven organization that places importance on customer, partner and alliance feedback. All feedback
is welcome at the following email address: feedback@n-able.com.

About N-able Technologies

N-able Technologies is the global leader in remote monitoring and management software for managed service providers and IT
departments. N-able’s award-winning N-central platform and complementary toolsets, backed by best-in-class business and tech-
nical services, are proven to reduce IT support costs, improve network performance and increase productivity through the proactive
monitoring, management and optimization of IP-enabled devices and IT infrastructure. N-able is 100% channel-friendly and main-
tains operations in North America, the U.K., the Netherlands and Australia.

Copyright © 2011 N-able Technologies

All rights reserved. This document contains information intended for the exclusive use of N-able Technologies' personnel, partners,
and potential partners. The information herein is restricted in use and is strictly confidential and subject to change without notice.
No part of this document may be altered, reproduced, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, for any
purpose, without the express written permission of N-able Technologies.
Copyright protection includes, but is not limited to, program code, program documentation, and material generated from the soft-
ware product displayed on the screen, such as graphics, icons, screen displays, screen layouts, and buttons.
N-able Technologies, N-central, and N-compass are trademarks or registered trademarks of N-able Technologies International Inc.,
licensed for use by N-able Technologies, Inc. All other names and trademarks are the property of their respective holders.