Lansweeper Platforms Terminology
As any application-driven company, Lansweeper has specific words and terms which define its products and services. There are two Lansweeper platforms:
- Lansweeper Classic
- Lansweeper Sites (in the Cloud)
Lansweeper Classic refers to the on-prem installation only. This is still fully supported and documented.
Lansweeper Sites refers to the Lansweeper web console and database hosted by the Lansweeper company. This version of Lansweeper still requires an on-prem database and scanner to gather information about your environment.
Lansweeper Installation Components Terminology
Both installations require an on-premise installation of Lansweeper. This installation has 3 primary components for a full installation. The three components are:
- Database
- Scanner
- Web Console
The scanning services will scan your network and discover “assets” in your network. An “asset” can consist of any type of technology that is connected to your network; wireless or wired. Some examples could be; computer, server, printer, switch, firewall, etc. But Lansweeper isn’t limited to the traditional forms of technology. It can also discover; less visible network devices, cameras, VoIP (voice over IP), and door locks. And, with Lansweeper’s OT (operational technology) scanner, it can detect Siemens , Rockwell, Phoenix, and other technologies.
When scanning these assets, Lansweeper will return back details about that asset, for example: storage capacity, CPU detail, network configuration, connected monitors, installed software, and more. This content is stored into the SQL Database for future access and reference.
The web console is the “front end” of Lansweeper. It’s the interface that you interact with on a web browser. The web console will pull data from the database and present it in a well-designed and easy layout for you to view, manipulate, customize, and report on.
Some companies have unique environments where assets may not be easily reached by the Lansweeper scanner(s). In these situations, Lansweeper provides an “agent” that can be installed on a remote system. An “agent” is simply a small, light weight, piece of software that will scan that specific asset it’s been installed onto and return the results to the database.
By lightweight, we mean a piece of software that doesn’t take but very little RAM and CPU (often referred to as “compute”) to operate. This is important because compute is a high commodity, so every MB and GB of compute is closely monitored.
We call the name of this software “LsAgent”. This agent can be installed onto Windows, Macintosh, or Linux operating systems.
Larger organization with multiple locations, can easily combine the data from multiple scanners (or even multiple databases) into a single web console on Lansweeper. This solution is hosted in Lansweeper’s servers and it is now what we regularly call “Lansweeper Sites”.
Now that you have learned the basic terminology used throughout the training, please continue to learn more about architecture, installations, and configuration settings.
Continue your training with an overview of Lansweeper Architecture ▶️
