Mac Collector proxy support

^{The following content applies exclusively to the Nexthink Cloud offering.}

Overview

The devices in a corporate network typically connect to the Internet through a proxy server instead of using a direct connection. A proxy server or proxy forwards the requests of client applications that run on the corporate devices to the servers that run on the Internet, as if the proxy itself initiated the requests. Then the proxy sends the responses from the servers back to the clients. By acting as intermediary, a proxy server can provide varied functionality such as content filtering (for improved security) or content caching (for better performance).

Thus, in a Nexthink Cloud setup, Collectors inside a corporate network that is equipped with a proxy server are usually required to send their traffic through the proxy to reach the Nexthink Cloud. In this article, learn about the different types of proxies and configurations supported by the Collector.

Applies to platforms: | macOS |

Supported types of proxies

The Collector supports the following types of proxies:

HTTP (web) proxy
SOCKS5 proxy

Collector should work out of the box with transparent proxies as well. Transparent proxies automatically intercept network traffic that goes from the corporate network to the Internet, so that clients are not aware that their traffic is traversing a proxy.

Supported proxy configurations

The Mac Collector supports the configuration of proxy settings at the application level; that is, it does not get the proxy settings from the system, but from its own custom configuration. Provide the proxy settings to the Mac Collector during installation.

Collector custom configuration

To specify the proxy settings of the Collector at the application level during installation, select either one or both of the following methods:

Automatic proxy: Get a PAC file from the specified URL to automatically determine the proxy settings. A proxy-auto-config (PAC) file is a JavaScript file with a single function that determines which proxy should be used for each client connection.
Manual proxy: Provide manually the address and port of the proxy.

Collector logic to choose proxy settings

The Mac Collector selects one of the methods to get its proxy settings on a trial and error basis. The Collector tests the validity of each method in sequence: the first method that yields a set of proxy settings which let the Collector connect to the Nexthink Cloud is retained. Methods are tried in the following order until one of them is successful:

If selected, try automatic configuration.
- Retrieve the PAC file, execute and determine the proxy.
If selected, try manual configuration.
Direct connection without proxy.

RELATED TASK

Installing the Collector on macOS