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Deploying agents via Microsoft Group Policy

  • 12 February 2020
  • 1 reply
  • 148 views

We are a university running Microsoft’s Active Directory managed primarily through group policy. For those using group policy to install the Automox agent, would you mind sharing how you implemented the install through gp?



My first thought is to create a computer based group policy (to compensate for the administrative rights requirement) that runs the Automox provided powershell script as a startup powershell script (with our unique identifier). Then apply this gpo to each computer ou where we want Automox installed.



Is this the preferred way to install the client through MS group policy? or is there a better way?



Thanks

Group Policy works very well for deploying our agent. Whether you choose to go the route of using the PowerShell script you mentioned (my preferred method), or deploying the MSI with a transform or small edit to include the Access Key for your organization.



A nice perk of the PowerShell startup script is that it works as a maintenance tool in addition to initial installation. Since it runs on each boot, it will check for both the presence of the agent and the current status of the service





  • If the agent isn’t there, it downloads and installs the latest.


  • If it is, but not running, it starts the service.


  • If everything looks good, it does nothing




So this way, if something were to happen to that installation, it would come back down automatically.



Regarding the other option, here’s some info on how to edit the MSI file with your Access Key so it can be deployed directly using a Software Installation GPO (since they don’t accept parameters):



https://support.automox.com/help/embedding-your-access-key-into-the-automox-msi

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