Agent Provisioning Rule

When the “Agent Provisioning Rule” for Cloud Agents was not in the picture, if the existing cloud agents were deactivated and the new ones were created with the same attributes, such as hostname or operating system, the cloud agents were duplicated.

Now, with the help of the "Agent Provisioning Rule", instead of cloud agent duplication, the agents are merged based on the identification attributes selected for the rule.

Note:
-  You can see this rule only if the required flags are enabled. Contact your Technical Account Manager (TAM) to view and use this rule.

-  After enabling the required flags, the “Agent Provisioning Rule” is created by default in CyberSecurity Asset Management (CSAM) and Global AssetView applications.

 

Good to Know!

-  No details are shown in the Order column in the case of the "Agent Provisioning Rule". But you can see values in the Order column for the rest of the default rules.

-  No details are shown in the Identification Attribute column until the "Agent Provisioning Rule" is edited. You need to edit this rule to apply the required identification attributes based on which the cloud agents are merged.

In the following screen capture, you can see the default "Agent Provisioning Rule". This rule is not edited. Hence, you can't see any values in the  Identification Attribute column.

Learn more about how to edit and view the "Agent Provisioning Rule".

Editing the Agent Provisioning Rule 

Viewing the Agent Provisioning Rule details 

Editing the Agent Provisioning Rule

1.  Go to the Configuration > Asset Identification Rules (Beta) tab, and you can see the default “Agent Provisioning Rule” for Cloud Agents. 

2. Click Edit from the Quick Actions menu of the Agent Provisioning Rule.

3. Select the checkboxes next to the required fields from the Available Fields section and click the single arrow key  icon. The fields are moved to the Selected Fields section.

Note: You must select at least one field from the MAC Address, Serial Number, and Hardware UUID.

These fields are the attributes you select for the Agent Provisioning Rule, and the agents are merged based on the identification attributes selected for the rule.

Also, note that the checkbox next to Cloud Agents is selected, and it's not editable. 

4. Click Save. 

The Agent Provisioning Rule is edited. You can see the selected attributes added in the Identification Attribute column

What Happens Next

-    The cloud agent merge happens only if the exact match of the identification attributes you selected is found. If the exact match is found with multiple existing agents, the merging doesn’t happen. 

-    If multiple MAC addresses exist depending on the number of Network Interface Cards (NICs), and if you chose the MAC Address attribute, the cloud agents are merged irrespective of the sequence of MAC Addresses.
For Example, if you have an agent with existing MAC addresses as M1, M2, and M3 and get a new agent with M2, M1, and M3, then the cloud agents are merged.

If you click Reset, the rule is reset, and the identification attributes are also deleted from the Identification Attribute column; you can choose to edit the Agent Provisioning Rule by selecting different identification attributes as you require.

Viewing the Agent Provisioning Rule details 

1.  Go to the Configuration > Asset Identification Rules (Beta) tab, and you can see the default “Agent Provisioning Rule” for Cloud Agents. 

2. Click View from the Quick Actions menu of the Agent Provisioning Rule. You can see the Rule details.