Cloud based manual discovery of devices in a device management environment
View Patent ↗Manual discovery of devices in a device management environment can be performed from a management server. The manual discovery process can enable the discovery process to be initiated at the management server and can be performed without requiring an administrator or other user to manually configure each device to initiate and perform the discovery process. To discover devices to be managed, the management server, which can be a cloud based server or Software as a Service based server, can send a registration request to an on-premise server. The on-premise server can then relay this registration request to all devices on the same network infrastructure. The agent on each device can be configured to listen for such registration requests, and in response to receiving a registration request, can automatically register with the management server using information contained in the registration request. In this way, the management server can manually discover devices.
1. A method implemented in a device management environment for manually discovering managed devices from a management server, the method comprising:
sending, by the management server, a registration request to an on-premise server, the registration request including a management server URL that the management server employs to receive registration communications from managed devices and a group token;
in response to receiving the registration request, sending, by the on-premise server, a registration packet to a device agent on each managed device connected to a local network to which the on-premise server is also connected, the registration packet including the management server URL and the group token; and
in response to receiving the registration packet, sending, by the device agent on each managed device, a registration communication to the management server at the management server URL, the registration communication including the group token and device information such that the management server discovers each managed device by virtue of receiving, at the management server URL and from each managed device, the registration communication that includes the group token and the corresponding managed device's device information.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the management server is a cloud based server that communicates with the on-premise server and the device agents via the internet.
3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
in response to receiving the registration communication from each device agent, validating the group token and sending an authorization code to the device agent.
4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the registration request and the registration packet also include a notification server URL that a notification server employs to receive registration communications from managed devices, the method further comprising:
sending, by each device agent, a registration communication to the notification server at the notification URL, the registration communication including the authorization code.
5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the registration communication sent to the notification server also includes device information.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein sending, by the on-premise server, the registration packet to the device agent on each managed device connected to the local network to which the on-premise server is also connected comprises broadcasting or multicasting the registration packet on a subnet to which the on-premise server is connected.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the management server sends the registration request in response to input received from an administrator.
8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the on-premise server is one of many on-premise servers that are registered with the management server, the on-premise server being associated with the administrator, the method further comprising:
determining, by the management server, that the on-premise server is associated with the administrator; and
sending the registration request to the on-premise server, but not to other on-premise servers that are not associated with the administrator.
9. The method of 8 , further comprising:
determining, by the management server, that at least one other on-premise server is associated with the administrator; and
sending the registration request to the at least one other on-premise server.
10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the registration packet specifies a type of managed device, and wherein the device agent on managed devices of the specified type sends the registration communication while the device agent on managed devices that are not of the specified type do not send the registration communication.
11. A device management platform comprising:
a management server that executes in the cloud;
an on-premise server that is connected to a local network; and
a device agent configured to be installed on devices that are connected to the local network;
wherein the management server is configured to send a registration request to the on-premise server, the registration request including a management server URL that the management server employs to receive registration communications from managed devices and a group token;
wherein, in response to receiving the registration request, the on-premise server is configured to send a registration packet to the device agent on each managed device connected to the local network, the registration packet including the management server URL and the group token; and
wherein, in response to receiving the registration packet, the device agent is configured to send a registration communication to the management server at the management server URL, the registration communication including the group token and device information such that the management server discovers each managed device by virtue of receiving, at the management server URL and from each managed device, the registration communication that includes the group token and the corresponding managed device's device information.
12. The device management platform of claim 11 , wherein, in response to receiving the registration communication from each device agent, the management server is further configured to validate the group token and send an authorization code to the device agent.
13. The device management platform of claim 12 , further comprising:
a notification server;
wherein the registration request and the registration packet also include a notification server URL that the notification server employs to receive registration communications from managed devices;
wherein the device agent is further configured to send a registration communication to the notification server at the notification URL, the registration communication including the authorization code.
14. The device management platform of claim 11 , wherein the on-premise server is configured to broadcast or multicast the registration packet.
15. The device management platform of claim 11 , wherein the management server is configured to send the registration request to the on-premise server in response to input from an administrator with which the on-premise server is associated.
16. The device management platform of claim 14 , wherein the management server is further configured to send the registration request to at least one other on-premise server that is associated with the administrator.
17. One or more computer storage media storing computer executable instructions which when executed by one or more processors implement a method for manually discovering managed devices from a management server, the method comprising:
sending, by the management server, a registration request to an on-premise server, the registration request including a management server URL that the management server employs to receive registration communications from managed devices, a group token, and a notification server URL that a notification server employs to receive registration communications from managed devices;
in response to receiving the registration request, sending, by the on-premise server, a registration packet to a device agent on each managed device connected to a network to which the on-premise server is also connected, the registration packet including the management server URL, the group token, and the notification server URL; and
in response to receiving the registration packet, sending, by the device agent on each managed device, a registration communication to the management server at the management server URL, the registration communication including the group token and device information such that the management server discovers each managed device by virtue of receiving, at the management server URL and from each managed device, the registration communication that includes the group token and the corresponding managed device's device information.
18. The computer storage media of claim 17 , wherein the management server executes in the cloud as Software as a Service.
19. The computer storage media of claim 17 , wherein the method further comprises:
in response to receiving the registration communication from each device agent, validating the group token and sending an authorization code to the device agent; and
sending, by each device agent, a registration communication to the notification server at the notification URL, the registration communication including the authorization code.
20. The computer storage media of claim 17 , wherein the on-premise server broadcasts or multicasts the registration packet.