Distributed management with embedded agents in enterprise apps
Distributed mobile device management including a plurality of management agents is disclosed. Management-related information may be retrieved from a storage location accessible to a plurality of management agents. The management-related information may have been provided to the storage location from a management agent associated with a managed application. And at least one operation may be performed based at least in part on the management-related information.
1. A method, comprising:
retrieving, from a storage location by a first management agent on a mobile device, management-related information provided to the storage location by a second management agent on the mobile device, wherein the first management agent and the second management agent are configured to communicate with a security management platform, and wherein the storage location to which the management-related information is provided includes a secure connection bus that is not accessible to applications on the mobile device that are not authorized to access the secure connection bus; and
performing, by the first management agent, at least one mobile device management operation based at least in part on the management-related information, wherein the management operation includes an operation partially performed by the second management agent.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the storage location comprises a secure storage location accessible to a plurality of managements on the mobile device.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein one or more of first management agent and the second management agent comprises a standalone management agent.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein one or more of first management agent and the second management agent is associated with a managed application.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein one or more of first management agent and the second management agent comprises a library associated with a managed application.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the management-related information includes one or more of: management state information, session information, a security authentication state, a security authorization state, and a management agent state.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first management agent and the second management agent are each associated with a same identifier.
8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the retrieving step comprises:
detecting a state-related event at the first management agent;
retrieving, at least in part in response to the state-related event, the management-related information from the storage location.
9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the performing step comprises:
determining, based at least in part on the management-related information, that the management operation is pending; and
performing at least a portion of the pending operation.
10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining, at the first management agent, that the operation has been performed;
generating updated management-related information including an indication that the operation has been performed; and
providing the updated management-related information to the storage location.
11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining, based at least in part on the management-related information, that no operations are pending; and
maintaining a connection between a management agent and a security management platform.
12. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining, at the first management agent, that a time of last connection between at least one management agent and a security management platform exceeds a threshold; and
connecting with the security management platform.
13. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining, at the first management agent based at least in part on the management-related information, that no other management agent is active;
generating updated management-related information to indicate that the first management agent is active; and
providing the updated management-related information to the storage location.
14. The method of claim 1 , wherein performing the at least one operation includes:
determining, at the first management agent, based at least in part on the management-related information, that at least one other management agent is active; and
transitioning the first management agent to an inactive state.
15. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining, at the first management agent based at least in part on the management-related information, that an other application active on a mobile device is a higher priority application; and
transitioning the first management agent to an inactive state.
16. The method of claim 1 , wherein performing the at least one operation includes:
dividing the operation into a plurality of operations;
providing a first operation included in the plurality of operations to the storage location to be retrieved by a third management agent; and
providing a second operation included in the plurality of operations to the storage location to be retrieved by a fourth management agent.
17. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
downloading the first management;
receiving, at the first management agent, user information; and
connecting to a security management platform authenticate the user information.
18. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
generating the management-related information comprising management state information; and
providing the management state information to a management state section included in the storage location.
19. A system, comprising:
a processor; and
a memory coupled with the processor, wherein the memory is configured to provide the processor with instructions which when executed cause the processor to:
retrieve, from a storage location by a first management agent on a mobile device, management-related information provided to the storage location by a second management agent on the mobile device, wherein the first management agent and the second management agent are configured to communicate with a security management platform, and wherein the storage location to which the management-related information is provided includes a secure connection bus that is not accessible to applications on the mobile device that are not authorized to access the secure connection bus; and
perform, by the first management agent, at least one mobile device management operation based at least in part on the management-related information, wherein the management operation includes an operation partially performed by the second management agent.
20. A computer program product, the computer program product being embodied in a tangible non-transitory computer readable storage medium and comprising computer instructions for:
retrieving, from a storage location by a first management agent on a mobile device, management-related information provided to the storage location by a second management agent on the mobile device, wherein the first management agent and the second management agent are configured to communicate with a security management platform, and wherein the storage location to which the management-related information is provided includes a secure connection bus that is not accessible to applications on the mobile device that are not authorized to access the secure connection bus; and
performing, by the first management agent, at least one mobile device management operation based at least in part on the management-related information, wherein the management operation includes an operation partially performed by the second management agent.