install a management agent on Debian workstations

cccc · 06-30-2012, 06:46 PM

hi

We have about 500 Squeeze Workstations (DHCP) and it's really difficult to manage them, because we don't know which are already running and which not.
Knows anyone a kind of agent software to install on Debian workstations, to know which workstations with which IP address are already running?

62chevy · 07-01-2012, 11:52 AM

Have you tried Webmin yet?

cccc · 07-01-2012, 08:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 62chevy

Have you tried Webmin yet?

No, but webmin is not what I'm looking for.
The client agent should communicate with a server by itself and inform automatically.

etech3 · 07-01-2012, 09:09 PM

What are you trying to manage? updates for the machines?

Quote:

which are already running and which not

You mean turned on and running?

How about a network monitor?

cccc · 07-02-2012, 09:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by etech3

What are you trying to manage? updates for the machines?

You mean turned on and running?

How about a network monitor?

Yep, I mean turned on and running-
I'd like to do updates on running machines.

cccc · 09-26-2012, 09:05 PM

I still cannot find a solution.

cryingthug · 09-28-2012, 10:41 AM

I think that it would be better to go static. Then you could have a list of workstations names and IP addresses. This would be easy to keep track of.

273 · 09-28-2012, 10:47 AM

Doesn't your DHCP server store a list of client IP and MAC addresses?
Even if you're using fixed IP addresses are there not any servers which are connected to by all workstations, for authentication for example?
If they're on fixed IPs and you have no servers they all connect to you could just ping sweep now and again or similar.

cccc · 10-08-2012, 08:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 273

Doesn't your DHCP server store a list of client IP and MAC addresses?
Even if you're using fixed IP addresses are there not any servers which are connected to by all workstations, for authentication for example?
If they're on fixed IPs and you have no servers they all connect to you could just ping sweep now and again or similar.

No, DHCP server list is not a solution for us, we have many branches, provider SDSL router is doing DHCP and we don't have access to the provider router.
Any other idea?

273 · 10-08-2012, 12:29 PM

AS I said, you could look for server they all connect to, be they SAMBA, web servers or LDAP servers. Otherwise I can't think of anything apart from ping sweeping.

cccc · 10-08-2012, 01:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 273

AS I said, you could look for server they all connect to, be they SAMBA, web servers or LDAP servers. Otherwise I can't think of anything apart from ping sweeping.

We don't have any server like SAMBA, LDAP etc.
Our Debian workstations are kind of thin client connected via WAN and we would like to manage them per remote.

273 · 10-08-2012, 01:16 PM

I don't understand, are they thin clients or stand-alone machines? Thin clients suggests a terminal server or similar.
Are you saying they're all stand alone machines each with seperate user accounts for everyone? Not that I think I can be of much help but if you can describe the situation better somebody may think of something.

cccc · 10-08-2012, 01:23 PM

Debian workstations are thin clients and it's not problem to manage virtaul desktops.
Our problem is to manage these thin clients in WAN.

273 · 10-08-2012, 01:26 PM

So you're running Debian with a Thin Client program on it? I'm sorry but I don't understand how you can run thin clients and be able to manage thhem but not know their IP adresses just by checking the server they boot from.

cccc · 10-18-2012, 08:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 273

So you're running Debian with a Thin Client program on it? I'm sorry but I don't understand how you can run thin clients and be able to manage thhem but not know their IP adresses just by checking the server they boot from.

I thought about kind of agent installed on every Debian with a Thin Client and this agent should inform a management server:
"I'm here, up and running and I have this ip address."