New capability - Track your hard-to-reach assets using IT Agent, the future of LsAgent

[#1]

Hi everyone!

Lansweeper is delighted to announce the availability of its new IT Agent in your Lansweeper Site. Track your hard-to-reach assets using the IT Agent which tracks the details of a single computer running Windows, Linux, or Apple MacOS and sends these directly to your Lansweeper Site.

How to access IT Agent in your Lansweeper Site

1. Open a browser and navigate to https://app.lansweeper.com.
2. Choose the Lansweeper Site to which you want to link the IT Agent Discovery. 
3. Go to Scanning > Discovery systems > Download installers/packages > IT Agent Discovery

A brief explanation

• Learn how to install/deploy IT Agent here.

• After a successful installation, the IT Agent(s) will be shown in your Lansweeper Site in Scanning > Discovery systems.

• To see the asset data, you can open Inventory > All assets (and you can use the search/advanced filter on the top right to filter on the specific assets/installation where IT Agent is running)

Product comparison

Lansweeper IT Agent vs LsAgent vs Network Discovery

Topic	Lansweeper IT Agent (Portable)	Lansweeper LsAgent	Lansweeper Network Discovery
Summary	Newest generation local tracking of any IT device running Windows, Linux or macOS device (including guest virtual machines and connected monitors)	Older generation local tracking of any IT device running Windows, Linux or macOS device (including guest virtual machines and connected monitors)	Discover all IT assets in your network. OT discovery will be added to the same installer/package later on
Asset reach	By default, local tracking only, no other network devices are discovered. This can be changed, but we recommend using Network Discovery for discovering network devices instead	Local tracking only, no other network devices are discovered. To discover network devices in combination with LsAgent, we recommend using Lansweeper On-Premise	Tracks both the machine running Network Discovery and discovers IT (and later OT) assets remotely
Asset data	Expanded default IT discovery data set (extra data like user info on macOS)	Default IT discovery data set	Expanded default IT (and later OT) discovery data set (extra data like user info on macOS)
Credentials	No credentials required for local tracking (runs as local system or similar elevated user by default). Credentials are optional for remote discovery but we advise to use Network Discovery for discovering network devices instead.	No credentials required for local tracking (runs as local system or similar elevated user by default).	Requires credentials to get all asset details remotely. Can recognize assets without credential though
Network access	Syncs with Lansweeper Site directly To sync with your Lansweeper Site, HTTP2 proxy is supported Check Install IT Agent Discovery - Lansweeper Community for connection requirements Send results to Network Discovery hub or to a file on a network drive for later import into Lansweeper Site. See Set up and run Lansweeper IT Agent Discovery Portable	Does not sync with Lansweeper Site directly HTTP2 proxy is not supported Requires a scan server to connect to (from a Lansweeper On-Premise installation). Can also connect first to Lansweeper LsAgent Relay server, see this link. Can save results to a file for import into Lansweeper On-Premise via scan server	Requires specific ports to be open on the assets to discover. See Ports scanned or used by Lansweeper To sync with your Lansweeper Site, HTTP2 proxy is supported
Auto update	Auto update on Windows, Linux and macOS	Auto update on Windows. Linux and macOS require manual updates	Auto update on Windows, Linux and macOS
Vulnerability risks	Built on .NET 8.0 with a reduced vulnerability risk in comparison to .NET FW 4.8	Built on .NET FW 4.8 (Windows) and .NET 6.0 (Linux, macOS)	Built on .NET 8.0 with a reduced vulnerability risk in comparison to .NET FW 4.8

Kind regards,

Gilian De Raes
Product Manager | Lansweeper

[eranavni]

Hi,

I have 2 questions

1. what is the difference between the old LS Agent and the new IT Agent?
2. if i install it on machines that don't have internet connection but only internet connection to the LS server on prem, can i still install it? 

thanks 😊

[Gilian]

Hi @eranavni ,
1: Difference between current LsAgent and new IT Agent:
-IT Agent can send the discovery results directly to your Lansweeper Site (without the need of an LS scan server on prem)

-IT Agent auto-updates itself on Windows (like LsAgent) but also on Linux and macOS

-IT Agent gathers extra data on the devices (such as user info on macOS) which will be mapped in your Lansweeper Site and made visible.

-IT Agent can be installed silently on Windows (like LsAgent) but also on Linux and macOS

-IT Agent for Windows was built on .NET 6.0 which has a reduced vulnerability risk in comparison to LsAgent for Windows (built on .NET FW 4.8)

2: If you install it on a machine without an internet connection, you can't use it (yet). Once Lansweeper Network Discovery (successor of Lansweeper you know today) is released, you can have your IT Agent installs point to the LS Network Discovery Hub(s) (successor of the syncer scan server) which sync the results to your LS Site.

[eranavni]

Thanks for the detailed response.

now you got me even more curious about the 2nd part of your answer.  

[rinks]

I'm assuming the install is required on all of our assets meaning deployment by an Intune package like we do with LsAgent, or is this something that is installed on the main server that is hosting the Lansweeper installation and automatically updates assets that are authorized on our network since we are linking with the cloud site directly?

[Gilian]

@rinks ,

Thanks for the suggestion.
For now, it's indeed recommended to do a silent deployment of the IT Agent installer/package using for instance Intune. The possibility of deploying IT Agent to your assets, already in your inventory, will be considered once Lansweeper Network Discovery (successor of Lansweeper you know today) is released. 

[MilesFromHome]

Any chance we could get a walk-through for Intune Deployment like this article specifically for IT Agent? I followed similar steps with IT Agent, and i must be missing something with the install command or somewhere else along the line.

[Gilian]

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll ask my colleague Esben if he can make a similar article for IT Agent.
The install command should be the one mentioned in method 2:

1. Lansweeper-IT-agent-discovery-X.X.X-windows-x64-installer.exe --mode unattended --accepteula 1 --path "C:\Program Files\Lansweeper IT Agent Discovery" --cloudtoken cloudtokenvalue

[ndeering]

I'm also having trouble trying to get the IT Agent deployed via Intune, I've tried used the script section in Intune, also trying to package the app as WIN32 app to no success. The error when trying to do it via WIN32 app is pointing to an error in the install command. "The system cannot find the file specified. (0x80070002)"

My Install command for the WIN32 app is the one you pasted above, (with my details and version.)

[Gilian]

We'll try setting it up on an Intune test environment and document the process in an article.

After reading https://www.prajwaldesai.com/fix-intune-win32-app-install-error-0x80070002/, this could be due to a typo in the command so Intune can't find the installer file. So can you check:

1. Running the command locally on a workstation (without Intune)

2. Configuring Intune deployment without any parameter: Lansweeper-IT-agent-discovery-X.X.X-windows-x64-installer.exe

3.Configuring Intune deployment with the parameters:

Lansweeper-IT-agent-discovery-0.15.2-windows-x64-installer.exe --mode unattended --accepteula 1 --path "C:\Program Files\Lansweeper IT Agent Discovery" --cloudtoken %cloudtokenvalue%

[eputz]

@ndeering We've been successfully deploying via Intune as a Win32 app using commandline of 

Lansweeper-IT-agent-discovery-0.12.0-windows-x64-installer.exe --mode unattended --accepteula 1 --cloudtoken %linkingcodevaluegoeshere% 

You'll note we missed off the -path attribute as we found that our deployments were failing with that and the ITAgent still installs to C:\Program Files\Lansweeper IT Agent Discovery without needing to specify path.

There is one issue we're having and that is that installs are failing after a while and it appears related to the linking code (cloudtokenvalue) no longer being valid so we're having to generate a new linking code and update that value in our Win32App install commandline

@Gilian - is there a specific lifetime on the generated cloudtoken value used for ITAgent installs? Also is the 500 client limit now removed? Thanks for your help.

[Gilian]

@eputz thanks for sharing the command for intune. Perhaps it has an issue with the backslash as that's usually to escape the next character. So you could still try to install using double \ instead:

1. Lansweeper-IT-agent-discovery-X.X.X-windows-x64-installer.exe --mode unattended --accepteula 1 --path "C:\\Program Files\\Lansweeper IT Agent Discovery" --cloudtoken cloudtokenvalue

As for the linking code: our development team is reviewing a solution to increase the duration while still ensuring secure deployments. I'll update the FAQ in this community post once done.

As for the limit of 500 IT Agents, that was removed mid January so you can link as many IT Agents as you like to your LS site now.

[Gilian]

1. Lansweeper-IT-agent-discovery-X.X.X-windows-x64-installer.exe --mode unattended --accepteula 1 --path "C:\\Program Files\\Lansweeper IT Agent Discovery" --cloudtoken cloudtokenvalue

[eputz]

@Gilian thanks for the update. Just to add that the path statement works fine in our SCCM deployments.

So what is the linking code lifetime at present as we're starting to deploy to thousands of machines and whilst the current short lifetime of the linking code causes issues, if we know the definitive lifetime we'll just have to periodically update our deployments until resolved - the portal mentions 24 hours but hoping it's a tad longer than that. 🤞

Thanks for your speedy response and help on this 👍

[SimonJuulLarsen]

When planning for remote / push installation of the IT Agent, it doesn't make sense that the Cloud Linking Code is only valid for 24 hours.

That means you have to update your deployment script every day.

Please consider the option of creating Linking Codes with a customized expiry date for this purpose.

Also, when the installer fails because of an expired linking code, no usable return codes / error messages are sent back.

[SimonJuulLarsen]

Another issue is that devices with IT-asset installed results in a lot of notifications when they go offline / come online again.

It would be nice if these messages could be supressed/ignored/excluded.

[avillarreal]

Did someone face and error about the IT Agent get a "Forbidden" code on the installations? I'm getting this error and I can't find the root cause, the TLS 1.2 is enabled, direct connection to the server works, it previously works on a few clients and now they don't appear online even that they were connected once and after that there is no activity and I can't make it work again, restart services or the entire computer don't solve the issue.

-------------------
Something went wrong while creating the installation.
System.InvalidOperationException: Result is in status failed. Value is not set. Having: Error with Message='ConfigApiClient Request linking/CreateInstallationAndLink failed with status code Forbidden'
at FluentResults.Result`1.ThrowIfFailed()
at FluentResults.Result`1.get_Value()
at Lansweeper.Discovery.Hub.Application.Linking.Cloud.AutolinkToCloudConsumer..MoveNext()