GETTING STARTED WITH

DESKTOP CENTRAL CLOUD

THIS GUIDE COVERS THE FOLLOWING TOPICS

01 System requirements

02 Account creation

03 Define the Scope of Management (SoM)

04 Agent installation

05 Creating a remote office

06 Configuring the AD connector

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 SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

The system requirements for using Desktop Central Cloud include the following:

Hardware requirements for distribution servers

Hardware requirements for Desktop Central agents

Software requirements for distribution servers

Supported browsers

Minimum hardware requirements for distribution servers

Number of computers
managed using the Processor information RAM size Hard disk space
distribution server

Intel Core i3 (2 core/4

1 to 500 thread) 2.0Ghz 3MB 4GB 6GB*
cache

Intel Core i3 (2 core/4

501 to 1,000 thread) 2.9Ghz 3MB 4GB 12GB*
cache

Intel Core i5 (4 core/8

1,001 to 3,000 8GB 16GB*
thread) 2.3GHz

Intel Core i7 (6 core/12

3,001 to 5,000 8GB 20GB*
thread) 3.2GHz

*This amount may increase depending on the number of software applications and
patches that are deployed from each server.

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 Minimum hardware requirements for Desktop Central agents

Hardware Requirement

Processors Intel Pentium

Processor Speed 1.0GHz

RAM Size 512MB

Hard Disk Space 3GB*

*This amount may increase depending on the number of software applications and
patches that are deployed from each server.

Minimum software requirements for distribution servers

The supported operating systems (OSs) for distribution servers and Desktop Central
agents include the following:

Distribution servers

You can install distribution servers on any of the following Windows operating system
versions:

Windows 8 Windows 8.1 Windows 10

Windows Server 2008 R2* Windows Server 2012*

Windows Server 2012 R2* Windows Server 2016* Windows Server 2019*

* Recommended for managing 5,000 or more endpoints

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 DESKTOP CENTRAL AGENTS

You can use desktop Central to manage the computers running on the following
operating systems:

Windows OS Windows Server OS Mac OS Linux OS*

Ubuntu 10.04 and

Windows 10 Windows Server 2019 10.15 Catalina
later versions

Debian 7 and
Windows 8.1 Windows Server 2016 10.14 Mojave
later versions

Windows 8 Windows Server 2012 10.13 High Red Hat Enterprise

Linux 6 and later

R2 Sierra
versions

CentOS 5 and later

Windows 7 Windows Server 2012 10.12 Sierra
versions

Windows Server 2008 Fedora 19 and

10.11El Capitan
R2 later versions

Mandriva 2010
10.10 Yosemite
and later versions

*Conditional support Linux Mint 13 and

10.9 Mavericks
later versions

10.8 Mountain OpenSuSE 11 and

*Conditional support
lion later

SuSE Enterprise
10.7 Lion Linux 11 and later
versions

Pardus 17 and 19

*We support
kernel versions
above 2.6.33

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 FOR MANAGING MOBILE DEVICES

Android: Android devices running on version 4.0 or above

iOS (including iPhones, iPads, and iPods): iOS devices running on

version 4.0 or above

Windows smartphones: Devices running on version Windows Phone

8.1 or above

Windows laptops (including Surface Hubs and Surface Pros): Devices

running on Windows 10

Chrome OS: Devices running on version 57.0 or later

tvOS: Devices running on version 7.0 or above

macOS: Devices running on version 10.7 or later

Note:

A TLS version of 1.2 and above is required for the legacy devices to be managed
using Desktop Central Cloud.

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 SUPPORTED BROWSERS

Any of the following browsers can access the Desktop Central Cloud console:

Microsoft Internet Explorer 10 and later versions

Mozilla Firefox 44 and later versions

Google Chrome 47 and later versions

Note:

The screen resolution should be 1280 x 1024 pixels or higher.

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 ACCOUNT CREATION

1. The first step in getting started with Desktop Central Cloud is to create an
account with Zoho Corp., which is ManageEngine Desktop Central’s parent
company. This account will be used to access Desktop Central Cloud.

IF YOU HAVE AN EXISTING ZOHO ACCOUNT:

If you are an existing user of any of Zoho or ManageEngine’s cloud services,
you will be logged in automatically, using your existing account.

IF YOU DO NOT HAVE AN ACCOUNT WITH ZOHO:

If this is the first time you are accessing one of Zoho’s cloud products, you'll
have to create an account and provide the following details:

Name
Email address
Organization
Phone number (Optional)

Note:
The organization details specified here are confidential. The account created here
becomes the super admin.

1. A confirmation email will be sent to the address provided. Upon successful

verification, your account will be created.

2. You will be redirected to the Desktop Central console automatically. In the

future, you can visit [Link] and log in using your
Zoho account to access Desktop Central as needed.

3. To empower more technicians to use Desktop Central based on your

organization’s needs, an invitation can be sent to them via email.

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 DEFINE THE SCOPE OF MANAGEMENT (SoM)

After logging in to the Desktop Central console, the first thing you’ll have to do is
define your SoM by determining the target domain(s) and/or workgroup(s). To
add the necessary domain or workgroup, follow the steps below:

1. Navigate to the Agent tab. Select Domain from the left pane > Add domain.

Note:

When adding a domain or workgroup, it is mandatory to provide credentials with

administrative privileges, as this super admin account will be used to deploy
Desktop Central agents across your network.

2. To add a domain, provide the following details:

Parameter Description

Domain Name The name of the domain.

Network Type For adding a domain, choose the

network type as Active Directory.

Domain Username The username with domain admin

privileges. It is recommended to have a
dedicated domain admin user account
for Desktop Central whose password
policy is set to "Never Expire."

Password The password of the domain admin user.

AD Domain Name The fully qualified domain name (FQDN)

of the Active Directory domain.

Domain Controller Name If you have multiple domain controllers

(DCs), provide the name of the DC
nearest to the computer where the
server is installed.

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3. To add a workgroup, provide the following details:

Parameter Description

Domain Name The name of the workgroup.

Network Type For adding a workgroup, choose the

network type as Workgroup.

Admin Username The username that has administrative

privileges in all the computers within
that workgroup. It is recommended to
have a dedicated user account for
Desktop Central whose password policy
is set to "Never Expire."

Password The password of the admin user.

DNS Suffix This is required to identify a computer

within a workgroup uniquely. For
example, if you have a computer with
the same name in two different
workgroups, the DNS suffix is used to
identify it uniquely.

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 AGENT INSTALLATION

After creating either a domain or a workgroup and defining the scope of

management, the next step is to install Desktop Central agents on all the
machines that you want to manage.

For further insights on the various methods and steps of installing agents, refer
our document on agent installation.

CREATING A REMOTE OFFICE

As more companies branch out across the globe, managing and securing all the
endpoints located in both local and branch offices becomes a cumbersome
process for IT administrators. In addition, these admins are tasked with managing
roaming users, which becomes a herculean task.

A remote office can be either a physical local office or a distributed network

across different places in the world. With Desktop Central by your side, managing
your local and remote network becomes a walk in the park. All you have to do is
create a remote office, which can communicate with the Desktop Central server
in two ways:

1. Direct communication

2. Through a distribution server (DS)

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 REMOTE OFFICE CREATION WITH A DS

A distribution server acts as a communication layer sandwiched between the

endpoints in your remote office and the Desktop Central server. It replicates
patch and software binaries from the Desktop Central server, and as the name
indicates, distributes them across the remote office endpoints as opposed to
each endpoint contacting the Desktop Central server individually to download
patch and software binary. This drastically reduces bandwidth bottleneck issues
and optimizes your network bandwidth.

Note:
It is recommended to have a dedicated computer for your distribution server, and
this machine should have a static IP address to ensure hassle-free
communication.

1. Navigate to the Agent tab. From the left pane, select Remote Offices
> Add Remote Office.

2. Specify a name for the remote office.

3. By default, the chosen Communication Type will be Through

Distribution Server.

4. Provide the requested details, including the Domain NETBIOS name,

Name of the computer in which the DS will be installed, the IP address,
and the FQDN/DNS name.

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 5. Configure the Replication Policy to associate it with the remote
office. You can create a new replication policy that is tailor-made for the
needs of your organization and the available bandwidth. To learn more
about the significance of a replication policy, refer to this document.

6. Configure the proxy settings, and add the computers that are part of
the remote office.

REMOTE OFFICE CREATION

FOR DIRECT COMMUNICATION

1. Navigate to the Agent tab. From the left pane, select Remote Offices
> Add Remote Office.

2. Specify a name for the remote office.

3. Choose the Communication Type as Direct Communication.

4. Configure the Replication Policy to associate it with the remote

office. You can create a new replication policy that is tailor-made for the
needs of your organization and the available bandwidth. To learn more
about the significance of a replication policy, refer to this document.

5. Configure the proxy settings, and add the computers that are part of
the remote office.

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 CONFIGURING THE AD CONNECTOR

Desktop Central Cloud eliminates the need for a server-installed machine,

reducing the time and cost spent on setting up and maintaining a hardware
infrastructure. Since the Desktop Central server will be hosted in one of our data
centers, it's not possible for the server to communicate with your network's Active
Directory (AD).

This is where Desktop Central’s AD Connector comes to the rescue. AD Connector

is a component that acts as a communicator between the Desktop Central server
and the domain controller of your organization. One of your distribution servers
can be configured as an AD Connector. Ensure that your domain controller is
accessible by the chosen distribution server.

1. Navigate to the Agent tab > Domain.

2. From the AD Connector drop-down menu, choose a distribution

server that will act as the AD Connector.

Note:
Once you configure the AD Connector, it cannot be removed. However, for the
convenience of retiring machines that act as AD Connectors (or deleting the
remote office that contains it), you can change the AD Connector to another
machine by following the steps outlined above. Uninstallation of a distribution
server or deletion of the remote office can only be done after changing the AD
Connector.

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