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Version 6.30
Version 6.30
  • Welcome
  • Nexthink V6
  • Overview
    • Software components
    • Collector
    • Finder
    • Engine
    • Portal
    • Nexthink Library
    • Digital Experience Score
  • Installation and configuration
    • Planning your installation
      • Overview of the installation process
      • Hardware requirements
      • Connectivity requirements
      • Software requirements
      • Reference architectures
    • Installing Portal and Engine Appliances
      • Installing the Appliance
      • Installing the Appliance on Azure
      • Installing the Appliance on AWS
      • Installing the Appliance on OTC
      • Managing Appliance accounts
      • Setting the names of the Portal
      • Setting the names of the Engines
      • Specifying your internal networks and domains
      • Federating your Appliances
      • STIG compliance in Web Console
      • Connecting the Portal to the Engines
      • Configuring session performance storage
      • Configuring device performance storage
      • Setting up a software license
      • Sending email notifications from the Appliance
      • Allocating resources for the Portal
    • Installing the Collector
      • Installing the Collector on Windows
      • Installing the Collector on macOS
      • Installing the Collector for a Proof of Value
      • Assigning Collectors to Engines
      • Assignment of roaming Collectors
      • Collector MSI parameters reference table
      • Nxtcfg - Collector configuration tool
      • Inspecting the connection status of the Collector
      • Querying the status of the TCP connection of the Collector
      • Reporting the URL of HTTP web requests
      • Auditing logon events
      • Viewing user interactions in virtualized and embedded environments
      • Engage notifications on macOS
      • Configuring Collector level anonymization
    • Collector remote connectivity
      • Redirecting and anonymizing Collector traffic
      • Redirecting the Collector TCP channel
      • Support for DirectAccess
      • Windows Collector proxy support
      • Mac Collector proxy support
    • Installing the Event Connector
      • Installing the Event Connector on Linux
    • Installing the Finder
      • Installing the Finder on Windows
      • Enabling Cross-Engine Finder features
      • Expanding the time frame of investigations in the Finder
      • Enabling Finder access to the Library
      • Finder proxy support
    • Updating from V6.x
      • Updating the Appliance
      • Content centralization when updating the Appliance
      • Updating the Collector
      • Viewing Collector deprecated fields
      • Updating the Finder
    • Security and user account management
      • Importing and replacing certificates
      • Hierarchizing your infrastructure
      • Adding users
      • Enabling SAML authentication of users
      • Just-In-Time provisioning of user accounts
      • Enabling Windows authentication of users
      • Multi-factor authentication for local accounts overview
      • Provisioning user accounts from Active Directory
      • Establishing a privacy policy
      • Disabling local accounts for interactive users
      • Setting the complexity and minimum length of passwords for local accounts
      • Protecting local accounts against brute force attacks
      • Preventing password saving in the Finder
      • Controlling session timeouts in the Portal
      • Security settings in the Appliance
      • Setting the Do Not Disturb periods between campaigns
    • Data retrieval and storage
      • Data retention
      • Increasing the maximum number of metrics
      • Establishing a data retention policy in the Engine
      • Storing Engine data in a secondary disk drive
      • Importing data from Microsoft Active Directory
      • Setting the locale in the Portal
      • Changing the Time Zone of the Portal
      • Time Zones and data collection
      • Changing the data collection time of the Portal
      • Nightly task schedules timetable
      • Changing the thresholds of High CPU warnings
      • Automatic restart of unresponsive Engine
    • Maintenance operations
      • Logging in to the CLI
      • Special operation modes for the Engine and the Portal
      • Changing the default ports in the Appliance
      • Centralized Management of Appliances and Engines
      • Monitoring the performance of the Appliance
      • Resizing partitions in Appliance
      • Configuring the system log
      • Examining the logs in the Portal
      • GDPR - Retrieving or anonymizing personal data
      • Finding out unlicensed devices
      • Removing devices
      • Installing third-party software in the Appliance
      • Installing VMware Tools in the Appliance
      • Operational data sent to Nexthink
      • Sending additional data to Support
    • Disaster recovery
      • Planning for disaster recovery
      • Web Console backup and restore
      • Engine backup and restore
      • Portal backup and restore
      • Rule-based assignment backup and restore
      • License backup and restore
      • PKI backup and restore
    • Branding
      • Branding the Portal
      • Branding of campaigns
  • User manual
    • Getting started
      • Logging in to the Finder
      • Logging in to the Portal
      • Enabling STIG in Webconsole
    • Querying the system
      • Searching the subject of interest
      • Executing an investigation
      • Creating an investigation
      • Editing the options of an investigation
      • Combining logical conditions in investigations
      • Navigating through the results of an investigation
      • Properties of users and devices
    • Visualizing system activity in the Finder
      • Getting a quick overview
      • Graphically observing the activity of users and devices
      • Observing service performance
      • Viewing network connections
      • Viewing web requests
      • Viewing executions
    • Monitoring IT custom metrics
      • Creating a metric
      • Examples of metrics
      • Session performance
      • Device performance
      • Following the evolution of a metric
      • Finding the visuals of a metric
    • Monitoring IT services
      • Analyzing service quality
      • Creating a service
      • Following the evolution of a service
      • Specifying URL paths of web-based services
    • Engaging with the end user
      • Getting feedback from the end users
      • Types of campaigns
      • Creating a campaign
      • Editing a campaign
      • Types of questions
      • Controlling the flow of questions
      • Translating a campaign
      • Triggering a campaign manually
      • Limiting the reception rate of campaigns
      • Scrutinizing the results of a campaign
      • Continuously measuring the satisfaction of employees
    • Rating devices and users with scores
      • Computing scores
      • Creating a score
      • Checking and comparing ratings
      • Computing potential savings
      • Score XML Reference
      • Documenting scores
    • Remotely acting on devices
      • Scenarios for remote actions
      • Creating a remote action
      • Executing remote actions
      • Triggering a remote action manually
      • Writing scripts for remote actions on Windows
      • Writing scripts for remote actions on Mac
      • Example of self-healing scenario
      • Example of self-help scenario
      • Application control and remote actions
    • Organizing objects with categories
      • Classifying objects of the same type
      • Creating categories and keywords
      • Tagging objects manually
      • Tagging objects automatically
      • Importing tags from text files
    • Getting notified by the system
      • Receiving Engage campaigns
      • Receiving email digests
      • Receiving alerts
      • Creating a service-based alert
      • Creating an investigation-based alert
    • Building web-based dashboards
      • Introducing dashboards in the Portal
      • Creating a dashboard
      • Examining metrics in depth
      • Documenting dashboards
      • Assessing license use
      • Computing dashboard data
      • Reusing dashboard content
    • Importing and exporting authored content
      • Methods for reusing authored content
      • Manually sharing Finder content
      • Importing a content pack
      • Conflict resolution
      • Exporting a content pack
  • Library packs
    • Compliance
      • Device Compliance
    • Configuration Manuals
      • Overview (Configuration Manuals)
      • Installing A New Version Of A Library Pack
    • Digital Employee Score (DEX score)
      • DEX Score Installation And Configuration
      • Detailed Library Pack Changelog
    • Device management
      • Reduce logon duration
      • Group Policy Management
      • Hardware Asset Renewal
      • Hardware Asset Renewal Advanced
      • Application Auto-Start Impact
    • Remote Employee Experience
      • Remote Worker Experience
      • Home Networking
      • Change Log And Upgrade Process
      • Remote Worker Vs Office Worker Device Category
      • Remote Worker Insights
      • DEX V2 Upgrade Of Remote Worker
    • Persona Insight
      • Persona Insight - Overview
      • Persona Insight - Library Pack
      • Persona Insight - Score Only Pack
      • Persona Insight - Without Campaign pack
      • Persona Insight - Getting Started and Upgrade Procedure
      • Persona Insight - Configuration Guide
      • Persona Insight - Troubleshooting - Multiple devices on multiple engines
      • Persona Insight - Reference Guide
      • Persona Insight - Example Pack
      • Persona Insight - Device Sizing
        • Persona Insight - Device Sizing Overview
        • Persona Insight - Device Sizing Configuration
      • Persona Insight - Application Sizing
        • Persona Insight - Application Sizing Overview
        • Persona Insight - Application Sizing Configuration
      • Legacy Persona documentation
        • Persona Insight - Library Pack (V.1.0.0.0)
        • Persona Insight - Base Pack
        • Persona Insight - Base Pack Advanced
        • Persona Insight - Customization Guide (V1.0.0.0)
        • Persona Insight - Configuration Guide (V1.0.0.0)
        • Persona Insight - Reference Guide (V1.0.0.0)
    • GSuite
      • GSuite: Health
      • GSuite: Services
      • GSuite: Sentiment
      • GSuite: Advanced Health
    • Support
      • Support: Level 1
    • Shadow IT
      • Shadow IT
    • Malware Protection
      • Malware Protection
    • Office 365 Health
      • Office 365 Health: Overview
      • Office 365 Health: Services
    • Office 365 OneDrive
      • OneDrive Summary
      • OneDrive Operations
      • OneDrive Advanced Health
      • OneDrive Migration
      • OneDrive Sentiment
      • OneDrive Management
      • OneDrive Advanced Operations
    • Office 365 Teams
      • Teams Overall Configuration
      • Teams - Migration
      • Teams - Health
      • Teams - Advanced Health
      • Teams - Adoption
    • Microsoft 365 Apps
      • Microsoft 365 Apps - Operate
    • Employee Self Service
      • Overview
      • Configuration
      • Usage
    • Onboarding Experience Management
      • OEM - Overview
      • OEM - Configuration
    • Office 365 Outlook
      • Outlook Troubleshooting
    • Virtualization
      • Virtualization: Operate
      • Virtualization: AVD - Advanced
      • Virtualization: Citrix Advanced
      • Virtualization: Project
      • Virtualization: Troubleshooting
        • Virtualization: Troubleshooting: Configuration
    • Windows
      • Win10: Configuration
      • Win10: Migration
      • Win10: Feature Update
      • Win10: Quality Update
      • Windows Defender Management
      • Administrators Management
    • Windows 11
      • Windows 11 - Readiness
      • Windows 11 - Migration Pilot
      • Windows 11 - Migration
      • Windows 11 - Operate
    • Webex
      • Webex Operate
    • Zoom
      • Zoom Operate
    • Remote Actions
      • Get Performance Monitor Data
      • Skype For Business
      • Restart Device
      • Upload Logs to S3 using PreSigned URLs
    • Software Asset Optimization
    • Collaboration Optimization
      • Collaboration Optimization - Solution Overview
      • Collaboration Optimization - Configuration
      • Collaboration Optimization - Usage / Troubleshooting
    • Systems Management
      • Manage Configuration Drift
      • MS ConfigMgr - Client Health
        • MS ConfigMgr - Client Health - Summary
        • MS ConfigMgr - Client Health - Configuration Guide
      • Intune
        • Intune - Health
          • Intune - Health - Summary
          • Intune - Health - Configuration Guide
    • Return to the office
      • Return to the office - Planning
      • Return to the office - Readiness
    • Green IT
      • Green IT - Overview
      • Green IT - Configuration Guide
    • Hybrid Working
      • Hybrid Working Experience
      • Hybrid Working Experience - Installation and upgrade procedure
  • Integrations
    • Nexthink ServiceNow Service Graph Connector
      • Overview
        • Roles and Permissions
        • Modules
      • Installation and Configuration Guide
        • Pre-requisites
          • Configure Identification Rules
          • Import and setup the CMDB categories in Finder
        • Setup
          • Configure the connection
          • Configure import properties
          • Configure additional engines
          • Set up scheduled import jobs
      • Data transformation and mapping by default
      • How to customize the behaviour of the Connector
      • FAQ
        • Why ServiceNow Service Graph Connector?
        • What about Nexthink CMDB Connector?
        • Why is the name the primary key for the devices?
      • Troubleshooting
        • IRE identification issues
          • [No Choice found in the sys_choice table for the target table](integrations/nexthink-servicenow-service-graph-connector/troubleshooting/ire-identification-issues/ no-choice-found-in-the-sys_choice-table-for-the-target-table.md)
          • Identification rules not created
          • Discovery_source choice not created
        • Timeout Errors
          • ECCResponseTimeoutException
          • HTTP 0 error
        • MID server issues
          • java.lang.NullPointerException
          • MID Server memory issues
          • Not trusted certificates in Quebec release
        • Configure credentials issues
          • [Not allowing update of property authentication_choice](integrations/nexthink-servicenow-service-graph-connector/troubleshooting/configure-credentials-issues/ not-allowing-update-of-property-authentication_choice.md)
          • Invalid username/password combo (HTTP 401/403)
        • Configure Engines Issues
          • [The client secret supplied for a confidential client is invalid](integrations/nexthink-servicenow-service-graph-connector/troubleshooting/configure-engines-issues/ the-client-secret-supplied-for-a-confidential-client-is-invalid.md)
        • No Cis imported and no errors found in the log
    • Nexthink ServiceNow Incident Management Connector (IMC)
      • Installation and configuration guide (IMC)
      • Troubleshooting Guide (IMC)
      • Domain separation installation (IMC)
    • Nexthink ServiceNow CMDB Connectors
      • Installation and Configuration Guide
      • Troubleshooting Guide
      • Field transformation and normalisation examples
    • Nexthink Event Connector
      • High level overview
      • Installation and Configuration Guide
      • Troubleshooting guide
      • RPM installation
      • Splunk specific documentation
        • Upgrading from Splunk Connector to Event Connector
        • Splunk add-on installation and usage
    • Nexthink Chatbot SDK
      • Introduction and concepts
      • Installation, configuration and update guide
        • Installation and configuration
        • Update to newer version
        • Uninstallation
        • Authentication
        • Topics configuration
        • Remote action configuration
        • Advanced configuration
        • Additional resources and references
      • Dimensioning guide
      • Troubleshooting
      • Technical solution description
      • Downloads and release notes
  • Glossary and references
    • Search and information display
      • Search in Finder
      • Keyboard shortcuts for column display selection
      • Campaign display compatibility
      • Real-time and consolidated service data
      • Service errors and warnings
      • Errors and warnings for devices and executions
      • Types of widgets
      • Widget compute state in charts
      • Errors in the execution of remote actions
      • Top results of Cross-Engine investigations
      • Engine data history
    • Tooltips in the user and device views
      • Alerts tooltips
      • Warnings tooltips
      • Errors tooltips
      • Activity tooltips
      • Services tooltips
    • Database information and organization
      • Maximum supported values
      • Local and shared content
      • Device Identification
      • Local IP address of devices
      • Timestamping of events
      • Boot and logon duration
      • Application startup duration
      • Application not responding events
      • Memory and CPU usage
      • Status of TCP connections
      • Status of UDP connections
      • Network and port scan conditions
      • Binary paths
      • Maximum number of Binaries
      • Package Executable Mapping
      • Metro apps
      • Investigation with packages
      • Portal aggregation and grouping
      • Focus time metric
    • Security
      • Access rights and permissions
      • Active Directory authentication
      • Canonical domain names for Windows authentication
      • System alerts
      • Audit trail
      • Appliance hardening
      • STIG hardening
      • FIPS 140-2 compliance
      • Security bulletins
        • Is Nexthink affected by Okta breach
        • Is Nexthink affected by SolarWinds breach
        • Nexthink and Log4j - Security bulletin
        • CVE-2022-22965 - Security Vulnerability Spring4shell - Spring Framework
        • Version 6.22.2.10: Security Vulnerability Maintenance Release
        • The Collector V6.27.X Release – Security Bulletin
    • References
      • Components of the Collector
      • Server support
      • Compatibility mode
    • Glossary
      • Activity
      • Alert
      • Application
      • Binary
      • Campaign
      • Category
      • Connection
      • Dashboard
      • Destination
      • Device
      • Domain
      • Entity
      • Event
      • Executable
      • Execution
      • Focus time
      • Hierarchy
      • Installation
      • Investigation
      • Keyword
      • Metric
      • Module
      • Object
      • Package
      • Platform
      • Port
      • Printer
      • Score
      • Service
      • Session
      • System boot
      • User
      • User logon
      • Web request
      • Widget
  • API and integrations
    • Integrating with Nexthink
      • Event Connector
      • Getting data through the NXQL API
      • Bidirectional integration with the Finder
      • Count metrics API
      • Software metering API
      • Services API
      • List Engines API
      • GetSID API
      • Triggering campaigns via their API
      • Triggering remote actions via their API
      • Audit trail API
      • Integrating investigation-based alerts
      • Downloads
    • NXQL API
      • Introducing the NXQL API
      • NXQL Tutorial
      • NXQL language definition
      • NXQL Data Model
    • Integrations
      • Excel integration with NXQL
      • Power BI
      • Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2
      • Splunk Event Connector
    • ServiceNow
      • CMDB Connector
      • Incident Management Connector
      • Event Management
On this page
  • Overview
  • Installing the Appliances
  • Installing and deploying the Collectors
  • Assigning Collectors to Engines
  • Installing the Finder
  • Next steps

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  1. Installation and configuration
  2. Planning your installation

Overview of the installation process

Last updated 2 months ago

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Overview

This article describes the basic steps to install Nexthink in a corporate network. The current article includes pointers to other articles in the Installation and Configuration manual that explain each step in detail. Accordingly, the Installation and Configuration manual is largely organized to follow the sequence of steps presented in this article. However, because a particular installation of Nexthink depends on multiple factors, such as the number of licensed devices, the network infrastructure, the connectivity of the Appliances, etc., the exact procedure may vary from one customer to another. For example, the order of the steps changes when .

For guaranteed satisfaction, contact Customer Success Services to help you install and deploy Nexthink throughout your organization. The intervention of Customer Success Services may be required in the case of installations with particular needs.

From a high-level view, the installation of Nexthink follows these steps:

  1. Installing the Appliances.

  2. Installing and deploying the Collectors.

  3. Installing the Finder.

Once explained how to install Nexthink, the article ends with a couple of pointers to the most common configuration and maintenance activities that come after the installation procedure.

Installing the Appliances

The server components of Nexthink are the following:

  • The Portal.

  • The Engine.

  • The Web Console.

A Nexthink Appliance is a virtual or physical machine that holds an instance of either the Portal or the Engine, as well as an instance of the Web Console.

The Portal and Engine components obey a primary/secondary architecture, with the Portal being the primary component and one or more Engines acting as secondary components. A typical installation of Nexthink is thus made up of one or several Engine Appliances that connect to a single Portal Appliance. For small setups, it is possible to host the Portal and one Engine in a single appliance.

The Web Console is a helper component that is installed on every Nexthink Appliance, alongside the Portal or the Engine. The purpose of the Web Console is to help you manage your Appliances and configure the specific settings of the Portal and the Engine, as well as globally controlling some features of the Finder.

To install the Nexthink Appliances:

    • The hardware requirements of each Appliance depend mainly on the number of devices that they must support and on the activated optional features.

    • The connectivity requirements are the same for all Appliances of the same type (primary or secondary).

    • Base your setup on one of the reference architectures proposed, depending on the size and characteristics of the IT infrastructure in your organization.

    1. Get the network parameters (IP address and subnet) for each Appliance ready, including the proxy settings (if using a proxy to connect your Appliances to the Internet).

    2. Install one Portal and all the required Engines. Prefer an online installation whenever possible.

      • Add more Engines later, as needed, if your requirements grow.

    • The federation establishes the primary/secondary dependence of Portal and Engines and creates a public key infrastructure (PKI) that later serves to secure the communication with the Collectors.

    • Once federated, connect the Portal to the Engines to collect their data daily.

    • To enable the product, request a license, install it from the Portal and distribute the licensed devices among the connected Engines.

As a best practice, repeat the previous procedure to install the Nexthink Appliances for test, QA and production environments.

Installing and deploying the Collectors

Applies to platforms | Windows | macOS |

Assigning Collectors to Engines

  1. Generate a single Collector installer that points to the Portal instead of multiple installers that point to a different Engine each.

  2. Write a set of rules to assign a different Engine to each group of Collectors and let the Portal manage the assignment process.

Applies to platforms | Windows | macOS |

Installing the Finder

The Finder is a rich-client Windows application that lets you query the Engine in real-time and visualize the results either as lists of records or through convenient graphical views. The Finder is also the tool that enables the creation of metrics, which are displayed as widgets in the dashboards of the Portal.

Applies to platforms | Windows |

Next steps

Once the installation of Nexthink is complete, these are the most common activities that usually follow:

  1. .Replace the default self-signed certificates that the server components of Nexthink use to identify themselves and, optionally, the certificates generated by the federation to secure the communication with the Collectors. Substitute them for certificates signed by either a public or an in-house CA.

  2. .Organize your corporate infrastructure into levels and domains to delimit the view of the different user groups over it.

  3. Because working with a single admin account is neither secure nor convenient, create the accounts required for other users to log in to Nexthink. Define profiles and roles to assign different responsibilities and separate groups of users.

  4. Prepare your Appliances for recovery in case of disaster.

To get the most out of your Nexthink setup, browse the rest of topics in the Installation and Configuration manual. Find other configuration settings and customization procedures to help you adapt Nexthink to your specific needs.


RELATED TASKS

RELATED REFERENCES

Although Nexthink Appliances are typically installed on premises, images for both and are available to install Nexthink on the cloud. Refer to the appropriate specialized articles to install your Nexthink Appliances on the computation nodes supplied by your favorite cloud provider.

Review the and for both the primary and secondary Appliances.

Select a .

.

Log in to the Web Console of each Appliance for the first time and .

and Appliances from the Web Console. These are the FQDN names that will be registered by the DNS and in the digital certificates that secure the communication with the Appliances.

.

.

.

The Collector is the light-weight Nexthink component that gathers hardware, software and activity data from the devices within your organization. The Collector also enables the engagement of the end-user through feedback retrieval as well as remotely acting on the device when required. As such, deploy the Collector to all corporate devices that run a supported version of either or operating systems.

Instructions on enterprise deployment of the Collector are given for and . These tools are only required for the initial installation, as when Nexthink makes them available.

Starting from V6.19, the greatly simplifies the deployment of Windows Collectors in multi-Engine environments:

These rules also replace the conventional method of assigning Collectors, either Windows or Mac, to entities, which constitute the basis of your hierarchies (see the below).

The easiest method for each Nexthink user to install the Finder on a Windows device is by .

installing Nexthink for a proof of value (PoV)
Microsoft Azure
Amazon Web Services
hardware
connectivity requirements
reference architecture
Install the Appliances
configure its accounts
Set the names of the Portal
Engine
Federate the installed Appliances
Connect the primary Appliance to the secondary Appliances
Request and install a license
Microsoft Windows
Apple macOS
rule-based Collector assignment feature
downloading the Finder installer from the Portal
Replacing the certificates
Define a hierarchy
Adding more users
Backup procedures
Installing the Appliance
Installing the Appliance on Azure
Installing the Appliance on Amazon
Managing Appliance accounts
Setting the names of the Portal
Setting the names of the Engines
Federating your Appliances
Connecting the Portal to the Engines
Setting up a software license
Installing the Collector on Windows
Assigning Collectors to Engines
Installing the Collector on macOS
Installing the Collector for a POC
Updating the Collector
Installing the Finder
Importing and replacing certificates
Hierarchizing your infrastructure
Adding users
Planning for disaster recovery
Hardware requirements
Connectivity requirements
Reference architectures
next steps
subsequent upgrades can be automatically managed by the product
Microsoft SCCM
Active Directory Group Policy (GPO)