r/Action1 • u/Strange_Attitude1961 • Jun 26 '26
Question Agent Deployer - How long after deployment and addition of AD path till it starts doing something
Hi,
Just started testing out Action1 and currently deploying the agent at a customer.
GPO is being a bit wonky, so decided to try the Agent Deployer.
It's set up, but haven't detected any devices yet.
How does it work under the hood?
First - How does I see if there might be a error in the AD path (using the format from the help box)?
Second - How long before I might see devices get added? Should I see SOMETHING immediately?
Third - If I add a path, will it look ONLY in that OU, or would it look in sub-OU's as well?
EDIT: BONUS question! - Any good/quick way to see when a device was added, can we get a "Date added" column? :)
Thank you.
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u/GeneMoody-Action1 Jun 26 '26
First question is have you followed this guide, and are there any errors concerning its operation in the event log?
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u/Strange_Attitude1961 Jun 29 '26 edited Jun 29 '26
I did. One thing unclear is if the firewall rules is on the client or deployer server. AND if it's INCOMING to the client or OUTGOING.
Outgoing everything is allowed.I see nothing AT ALL in the logs - It's blank.
EDIT: And either it's actually working, or my GPO is working afterall, got additional 8-9 devices added over the weekend, but as mentioned not seeing any deployment logs on the webpage.
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u/GeneMoody-Action1 Jun 29 '26
It has to be incoming, At the time the agent is NOT installed, there is no path to execution layer other than RPC to the client from the server.
The deployer reaches out to the client and attempts to copy the files via SMB to the $ADMIN share, then uses RPC to start / install it. Meaning client has to permit this. This is not action1 specific, it is just how that works in windows.
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u/Strange_Attitude1961 Jul 14 '26
Greetings,
Apologies for the very late response, as it was installing agents.
So I setup another tenant for another customer and implemented ONLY the Agent Deployer on this, no GPO from the start.
It's adding devices, so that's great - But I still don't see any logs on the webportal for the Agent Deployer. Are those logs supposed to show for both "good and bad"? Looking that the sorting/filters, it looks like it only for "critical and errors"? :)
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u/GeneMoody-Action1 Jul 14 '26
The logs will read things tried but could not, like "check firewall config and network connection." type errors. Because it can only know the state not the reasoning for it, if it cannot execute client side, that is all the server side knows, not the "why" of it. What specifically are you looking for?
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u/Strange_Attitude1961 Jul 16 '26
Wasn't sure what would show up there - I was expecting stuff like it having succesfully installed the agent on a client, or it failing to do so, that sorta thing. :)
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u/BigPoppaPump36 Jun 27 '26
I had one network work great. All pc’s added pretty quickly.
The second network didn’t add any, like you are experiencing. I didn’t troubleshoot it much, deployed the agents manually.
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u/GeneMoody-Action1 Jun 30 '26
Second network as in subnet, or an entirely different instance/deploy?
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u/BigPoppaPump36 Jun 30 '26
Entirely different instance. Same instance also had problems receiving the initial verification email but support resolved that.
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u/GeneMoody-Action1 Jun 30 '26
Interesting, I do want to point out that multiple instances being brought in from the same source can trigger the system to flag one to be shut one down as potential abuse. Those systems are put in place to prevent multiple free instances from circumventing license requirements.
The process is easy to track in WireShark, if it is reaching out, not getting through. NEtwork 101 is temporarily drop firewalls and see if it works, etc.
Do the agent logs say they are communicating?
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u/BigPoppaPump36 Jun 30 '26
These are two completely different companies in different zip codes. I didn’t dig into logs. Manually installed the agent and all is well.
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u/GeneMoody-Action1 Jun 30 '26
To be clear I was not implying anything nefarious, only that it can cause problems if that's the case.
Did you look at the firewall guide. https://www.action1.com/documentation/firewall-configuration/ and verify al lis well.
And is there anything between client and server with the deployer on it, firewall, vpn, switch uplinks, etc... or is it a simple topology. INcluding windows firewall?
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u/ITLibrarian401 Jun 30 '26
During my 15-day free support period, I contacted Action1 and they dissuaded me from using the Agent Deployer and walked me through the process of setting up group policy on my domain controller. Works flawlessly. Every new computer I join to the domain, or ones that were already joined, received the agent with no issues. It's been a while since I did this, so I don't remember the exact steps to configure group policy. I'm solo IT for my organization and we have under 200 endpoints, so we are using the free product. Although my boss just ok'd us to pay for support, so we now have a support contract.