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10
Setting up Agent Handlers
Handler groups and priority
When an agent handler is uninstalled it is not displayed in this chart. If an agent handler assignment
rule exclusively assigns agents to an agent handler and if the particular agent handler is uninstalled,
then it is displayed in the chart as Uninstalled agent handler along with the number of agents still trying to
contact this.
If the Agent Handlers are not installed correctly, then the Uninstalled Agent Handler message is displayed
which indicates that the handler cannot communicate with few agents. Click on the list to view the
agents which cannot communicate with the handler.
Multiple Agent Handlers
You can have more than one Agent Handler in you network. You might have a large number of
managed systems spread across multiple geographic areas or political boundaries. Whatever the case,
you can add an organization to your managed systems by assigning distinct groups to different handlers.
Handler groups and priority
When using multiple Agent Handlers in your network, you can group and prioritize them to help
ensure network connectivity. Configure your handler groups to meet the specific needs of your
environment. For example, you might choose to create a group of handlers in which the handlers are
dispersed over a wide geographic area. With handlers dispersed, you can configure the handler priority
so that agents first communicate to the handler nearest them. However, if the system in that handler
area fails, the next priority handler takes over to ensure that agents can communicate.
Handler groups
With multiple Agent Handlers in your network, you can create handler groups. You can also apply
priority to handlers in a group. Handler priority tells the agents which handler to communicate with
first. If the handler with the highest priority is unavailable, the agent falls back to the next handler in
the list. This priority information is contained in the repository list (sitelist.xml file) in each agent.
When you change handler assignments, this file is updated as part of the agent-server commutation
process. Once the assignments are received, the agent waits until the next regularly scheduled
communication to implement them. You can perform an immediate agent wake-up call to update the
agent immediately.
Grouping handlers and assigning priority is customizable, so you can meet the needs of your specific
environment. Two common scenarios for grouping handlers are:
•
Using multiple handlers for load balancing
You might have a large number of managed systems in your network, for which you want to
distribute the workload of agent-server communications and policy enforcement. You can configure
the handler list so that agents randomly pick the handler communicate with.
•
Setting up a fallback plan to ensure agent-server communication
You might have systems distributed over a wide geographic area. By assigning a priority to each
handler dispersed throughout this area, you can specify which handler the agents communicate
with, and in what order. This can help ensure that managed systems on your network stay
up-to-date by creating a fallback agent communication, much the same as fallback repositories
ensure that new updates are available to your agents. If the handler with the highest priority is
unavailable, the agent will fall back to the handler with the next highest priority.
In addition to assigning handler priority within a group of handlers, you can also set handler
assignment priority across several groups of handlers. This adds an additional layer of redundancy to
your environment to further ensure that your agents can always receive the information they need.
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McAfee
ePolicy Orchestrator
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4.6.0 Software Product Guide
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