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

[Gilian]

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

[sloomis]

I ran into an issue this morning that I can't resolve, involving the Discovery Group update cadence. We are completely unable to modify the settings for the scheduled times, while being a site owner. Each time we change the cadence and try to save, we are getting an error that says "failed to update group". I fully understand that these features are in preview mode.

[Gilian]

Thanks for this product improvement. We plan on releasing IT Agent Portable soon (https://community.lansweeper.com/t5/product-discussions/new-capability-discover-more-asset-details-u...) where you can run a local discovery on demand (without installing anything) and which results into a discoveryfile. This file is encrypted however to avoid any tampering along the way.
I've created a new product improvement requires so we can evaluate a solution to edit the json file while providing the encryption key, so you could manually add extra data where required.

[Gilian]

Hi @sloomis ,

Thanks for reporting this issue. It seems there's a bug with the "Default Group" group. Changing the auto update does work on all other groups though (so you could move your discovery systems to a new group and change the timing there. Meanwhile we'll have the bug for the default group fixed.

[gokou340]

Can it be configured to have assets scanned with this new tool to write back to the on-prem installation?

[brandon_jones]

When I download and run the installer I get the message that the app can't run on my pc. I am running Windows 11 23H2 (22631.4037), which according to the documentation, this OS is supported.

[sloomis]

This also does not work. You cannot delete the default group and then save. The same error, "failed to update group", appears and the default group remains.

[Gilian]

@brandon_jones , thanks for sharing.

Can you try these recommendations: How to Fix a "This app can't run on your PC" Error on Windows 11 (howtogeek.com) ? Meanwhile I'll have our QA validate both Network Discovery and IT Agent can run on the that specific Windows 11 version.

[Gilian]

@gokou340 When you install the OT sensor, you can already redirect the hub to either LS Site or an on prem installation.

We're first finishing the link and configuration with LS Site before we consider syncing IT assets to an on prem installation.

[gokou340]

I'm not sure I understand. Installing the IT Agent Discovery only gives me the option of using the cloud link.

[Gilian]

@gokou340 ,

In case of IT Agent Discovery; you can only connect with LS Site using the cloud link at the moment.

We plan on releasing IT Agent Portable very soon which can send discovery results to the hub without the need of an installation. Likewise we'll add more parameters to the installers/packages of IT Agent so you can also send its discovery results to a hub.

After that, we'll review whether it's a good opportunity to have the hub send over IT assets to an on prem installation (like we're doing for OT assets).

[Gilian]

@brandon_jones QA confirmed IT Agent v0.23.2 works on Windows 11 23H2 (22631.4037). Can you review that you're running the installer as an administrator?

[wborquez]

In our environment, we are considering using Acronis to create an image of the operating system with the IT Agent Discovery preinstalled. The goal is to apply this image to other endpoints to streamline the deployment of the agent across multiple devices.
Is it compatible to use Acronis to create an image of the operating system with IT Agent Discovery preinstalled, and then deploy this image on other endpoints?

[Gilian]

Hi @wborquez ,

Currently IT Agent registers itself in a Lansweeper Site when being installed. If you would redeploy the image to other devices, this would result in either authentication issues or all assets reporting to the same IT Agent installation (which is not recommended).

Once IT Agent can connect to a Network Discovery Hub your scenario will be supported though (as the Hub registers itself to a Lansweeper Site as 1 single registration).

For now, it's advised to do deployment using silent install after the images are running on the endpoint. 

[eputz]

We only use the ITAgent with our site and have no additional discovery methods configured so are a bit confused why we're seeing instances of Ring doorbells, CCTV cameras and smart TVs appearing in our inventory when we're currently only interested in assets that have the IT Agent installed?

[Gilian]

Hi @eputz 

Thanks for sharing. In https://app.lansweeper.com can you go to scanning > Discovery groups?

Next, can you ensure your IT Agents are member of the group "Default Group IT Agent" and not "Default Group"?

"Default group" has network visibility enabled by default, whereas "Default Group IT Agent" only focuses on the device where the IT Agent is running (workstations/servers on Windows/Linux/macOS)

After correcting the group membership, you can remove the assets from the other asset types from your inventory and they should not be re-added after a next discovery from your IT Agents.