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Discovery Agent - GEODI Desktop Explorer(GDE) Installation

Discovery Agent - GEODI Desktop Explorer(GDE) Installation

Owned by Dece Translate (Unlicensed)
Last updated: Dec 19, 2024 by İrem Kara
6 min read

GDE is an agent-based discovery solution that allows indexing data on endpoints and/or file servers without requiring share definitions. It operates on Windows, Linux, macOS, and Pardus environments. The GDE agent indexes/discovers many PCs or File Servers without requiring share definitions. The GDE agent runs on Windows, Linux, or macOS. Additionally, GEODI can discover remote servers without an agent.

A connection is created by selecting Project Wizard/Feed Source/GDE. This page generates the necessary Batch file to install the GDE agent. You can copy and use it with tools like ManageEngine or SCCI. Manual installation is also possible if preferred.

GDE begins discovery with the default directories specified on this page. It repeats the process approximately every 3 hours on each machine. Content from different machines is queued and processed on the GEODI server.

Active agents can be monitored through the Agent Management Panel Panel.

Requirements for Connection

  1. A user with sufficient privilege levels to install agents on client machines.

    1. Variations may exist for Linux and macOS clients.

  2. A tool like ManageEngine or SCCM for deploying to a large number of clients.

  3. Client machines must have access to the <geodi> server.

  4. <geodi> server must have access to the client machines, with port 1982 (configurable) open.

 

image-20241219-105355.png

MSI Link and Update

GDE agents are automatically downloaded to the GEODI directory along with the GEODI Discovery module. The required MSI files can be found in the following directory.

Windows agents will automatically update themselves from this directory when a new version is released. If you are operating in an offline environment, it will be sufficient to manually update the modules on the GEODI server.

The GDE Agent can be accessed at: <geodi_url>/GUI/Agents/GDE

Here, <geodi_url> refers to the GEODI Server address.

Troubleshooting

  1. Check if the client has access to the GEODI Server. GEODI should be accessible through a browser on the client. Enter the GEODI address in a browser on the client; there should be access.

  2. The GEODI server should be accessible from the client's GDE. Using a browser on the client, enter <ClientIP>:<1982>/DEW?op=GetLastError. If everything is fine, it should return null. The ExplorerPort specified in GDE rules, e.g., ExplorerPort=1982 (or the chosen port), should be open.

  3. Inspect the Firewall, Antivirus, or any similar tool to ensure there is no blocking mechanism preventing communication.

  4. Check if the client machine is operational. GDE should be installed and running (Geodi.Desktopexplorer.exe should be in the task list).

  5. Verify the status of the received TOKEN: <GEODI_URL>/API/token_parser.html.

  6. Examine the Agent Management Panel; if the endpoint's status looks good, waiting for a while may resolve the issue. The GEODI Server queues incoming data, so the files at the endpoint might not be due yet.

  7. If everything seems correct but data is still not coming through, check the FolderList and IgnoreFolders values in the GDE rules.

  8. If you are not receiving the expected file type, ensure that the extension is not listed in the IgnoreFiles value in the GDE rules.

  1. The Setting file may not be a valid JSON. Validate it with an online tool.

  2. Settings will generally be adjusted in an hour. If the IP of the endpoint has changed, this may take up to 3 hours.

The default settings block some large files, like videos. Files larger than 100 MB or compressed files larger than 500MB are blocked. You may change the settings. The settings will be effective in about an hour.

Install the GDE as usual. The endpoint will be treated as new. The old data is preserved.

  1. You can change 1982 to anything available. Please be careful about not assigning ports that have already been used.

  2. You may set the GDE port to 0, but GEODI can not open the remote files in this case. The search and discovery are unaffected.

 

FAQ

 

GDE configuration settings

Settings should be GEODI server <GEODI_APP>/Settings/Geodi.DesktopExplorer folder named default.json. Installed GDEs will automatically retrieve this setting in about an hour.

  • Any changes will be effective in about an hour. You may change the settings while GEODI is running.

  • To define different rules for each machine, you may use additional files named

    • <ClientIP>.json

    • <ClientUserName>.json

    • <ClientMachineName>.json.

{ "FolderList": ["%UserProfile%"],// "*" scan all directory // "ExplorerPort": 1982, "IgnoreFiles":["*.MP4","*.MOV","*.MP3"], "MetaData": { "LDAPDN":"=d.CurrentUser!=null?d.CurrentUser.DistinguishedName:null", "IP":"=d.ClientIP", "ComputerName":"=d.ClientMachineName", "UserName":"=d.ClientUserName" } }

 

Setting Name

Type

Description

Setting Name

Type

Description

FolderList

string[]*

Used to specify the folders to be scanned. Folders can be identified by separating them with ",".Windows, MacOS, and Linux client folders can be used interchangeably.

The default directory is %UserProfile% ,\\Users, \\Home(includes documents, downloads, desktops, etc.).

Values are case-sensitive. Subdirectories can also be defined as %UserProfile%\\Desktop.

You can use ["*"] to scan all disks.

ExplorerPort

int

The default is 1982.

Alternatively, you may set the port value to 0. Discovery and search will be fine, but GEODI can not open the local files in this case.

EnableLDAP

bool

If a true value is given, LDAP authorizations of the files are also indexed.

Default value: false

IgnoreFolders

string[]

List of folders to ignore. * is accepted. Used in combination with the settings under Geodi Settings/IgnoreFolders.

Example: ["*:\\data","C:\User*"]

Default value: null

GEODI central file/folder ignore rules always take precedence. The restrictions specified within the settings are applied additionally.

By default, to safeguard the network resource, only the name and date of files larger than 100MB are indexed. This limit is set to 500MB for compressed file contents. These values can be modified on the GEODI server.

IgnoreFiles

string[]

List of folders to ignore. * is accepted and used with the settings under Geodi Settings/IgnoreFileTypes.

Default value:["*.MP4","*.MOV","*.MP3"]

GEODI central file/folder ignore rules always take precedence. The restrictions specified within the settings are applied additionally.

By default, to safeguard the network resource, only the name and date of files larger than 100MB are indexed. This limit is set to 500MB for compressed file contents. These values can be modified on the GEODI server.

Metadata

 

You can define metadata for parsing files from clients. These metadata are specified in the settings file. The values used in the default settings can be seen in the example file.

Searching with metadata is done with <metaname>:<value> Example IP:192.168.1.1

The defined metadata and values will be visible in the GEODI search interface.

 

GDE API

You may use a browser to make these calls.

<ClientIP>:<1982>/DEW?op=GetStatus

 

 

Gets the status of GDE Agent

{"StatusText":"","RequestCount":0,"FileCount":0,"SendCount":0,"IgnoreCount":0,"Server":"<GEODI_URL>"}

Default port = 1982, may be different

<ClientIP>:<1982>/DEW?op=GetStatus

 

 

Gets the status of GDE Agent

{"StatusText":"","RequestCount":0,"FileCount":0,"SendCount":0,"IgnoreCount":0,"Server":"<GEODI_URL>"}

Default port = 1982, may be different

<ClientIP>:<1982>/DEW?op=GetLastError

 

 

Gets the GDE agent errors.

If no error, retuns null. Else

{"Server":"<GEODI_URL>", "LastErrorTime": {}, "LastError" : "", "TotalErrorCount": n}

Updating the GDE Agent

The agents check for updates every two days and, if available, automatically update themselves via the GEODI server. No manual intervention is required.

 

Installing GDE as a Windows Service

This option is used to index/discover FileServers with GDE.

Requirements for Installation

In addition to the Windows MSI requirements:

  1. The Windows Service user must have read-only access to the FileServer directories.

  2. A separate configuration file must be created under the GEODI Server for each File Server to define the directories to be indexed and other rules. Details are provided on the main page..

 

After installing GDE on Windows, it can be turned into a service using the WindowsServiceInstall.bat file located in the same directory.

  1. The service mode can be removed using the WindowsServiceUninstall.bat file.

  2. When running in service mode, no logged-in user is required for the service to function.