LANDesk Cloud Services Appliance

Overview

The LANDesk Cloud Services Appliance (formerly called the LANDesk Gateway Appliance) is a hardware appliance installed the TAB Data Center that allows clients off campus to communicate back to the LANDesk Core Server without using VPN.

This enables IT groups to collect inventory data, install software, and patch security issues while computers are off campus.

Limitations

Due to the design of the Management Gateway the Core Server doesn’t have the ability to contact any clients connecting through the Gateway. The core more or less responds to requests. This design limits how you can distribute software packages and patches through the Gateway and results in a few requirements in order to make the process work. The following is a list of guidelines to follow for all scheduled tasks for a Management Gateway Client:

1. All tasks are required to have a distribution type of policy so a push will not work. If anything is needed from the client it must take the form of a policy so the client will check-in with the core and receive the request. For example: If an inventory scan (outside of the regular scan) is needed then it needs to be scripted in a custom script.
2. All software distribution packages and patches must reside on the core server. The Management Gateway bridges an SSL Tunnel between the client and core server. This tunnel enables the client to communicate with the core but ONLY the core.
3. All software distribution packages and patches need to be shared via a Web Share. Also due to design a client will not be able to download files from the core on anything other than a Web Share.
4. Broker Certificates on the client are required. See previous section.

Resources

Additional information is available on Landesk's website: http://community.landesk.com/support/community/systems/cloudservices