Step-by-step Nexthink launch guide
This article describes the steps needed to deploy the Nexthink solution in a corporate setup. The process depends on multiple factors, such as the number of devices, the network infrastructure, the type of licenses, and so on. The exact procedure may vary from one company to another.
From a high-level view, the deployment of the solution follows these steps:
Accessing your Nexthink cloud platform
Deploying Nexthink Collector
Installing Nexthink Finder
Prerequisites
Verify that your system meets the following prerequisites before installing Nexthink Collector:
Nexthink Collector
Nexthink Collector is a lightweight software agent that gathers hardware, software and activity data from the devices within your organization. Collector also enables employee engagement through feedback retrieval, as well as remotely acting on the device when required. Deploy Collector to all corporate devices that run a supported version of either Microsoft Windows or Apple macOS operating systems.
Instructions on enterprise-level deployment are available for Microsoft SCCM and Active Directory Group Policy (GPO).
Once deployed and connected, the cloud platform applies the default auto-update policy. The system updates those devices categorized as pilot as soon as a new version is available. After two weeks, the system automatically pushes the update to all devices. To change the automatic update period, contact Nexthink Support and choose a period ranging from 1 to 8 weeks.
Deploying Collector
Deploying Nexthink Collector is just like deploying any other EXE, MSI or DMG application with a software deployment tool. The following figure shows an overview of the deployment architecture:
See the following section for detailed deployment requirements:
Nexthink Application Experience
Nexthink Application Experience uses a browser extension to report on specific Software as a Service (SaaS) and web applications employees use.
Refer to the Getting started with Applications documentation for more information.
Nexthink Amplify
Nexthink Amplify puts incident information, diagnostic checklists and remediation power at the fingertips of frontline agents—immediately and in one view—without end user involvement. An easy-to-install, platform-agnostic browser plugin unleashes the power of Nexthink into any service desk tool.
Refer to the Getting started with Applicationsdocumentation for more information.
Reference
Architecture
The following figure shows a high-level overview of the architecture.
Refer to the Nexthink Infinity Platform documentation for more information.
Connectivity requirements
The following table lists connectivity requirements for Collector. For a complete list of requirements, refer to the Connectivity requirements documentation.
LAN/WAN
443
TCP
OUT
<instance>.<region>.nexthink.cloud<instance>.data.<region>.nexthink.cloud
Nexthink Collector Communication agent
(data telemetry and collection)
The table uses the following notations:
<instance>is the name of the instance<region>is the name of the region:usfor the United Stateseufor the European Unionpacfor the Asia-Pacific regionmetafor the Middle East, Turkey and Africa
Accessing Nexthink the cloud instance
The Nexthink solution is a cloud-based platform, so Nexthink manages all server-side components.
When your cloud instance is ready, Nexthink sends you an onboarding email containing important information to ensure all agents connect to your cloud platform. The destination URL communicated depends on the technology powering your instance:
For a cloud-native platform:
<instance>.data.<region>.nexthink.cloudFor a classic platform:
<instance>.<region>.nexthink.cloud
For example, nxdocs.data.eu.nexthink.cloud is the destination address to send data to the nxdocs Nexthink instance located in the eu region, which is the European Union.
Learn how to install and configure the Nexthink lightweight software agent on Windows, macOS or IGEL.
Security, Privacy and Legal
General
Data segmentation for single tenant components is ensured by usage of dedicated services and databases
Application services use cloud native techniques to segment tenant data in dedicated services and databases tables
Service mesh traffic is automatically encrypted with mutual endpoint authentication, using mTLS protocol
Fine-grained role-based access control at the application layer
Certificates
Installing Nexthink Finder (classic)
Nexthink Finder is a Windows-only desktop application whose functionality is now available within the Nexthink web interface. You can now use Nexthink directly from a browser and most functions no longer require an additional desktop application.
Finder is a rich-client Windows application that lets you query data in real time and visualizes the results either as lists of records or through convenient graphical views. Finder is also the tool that enables the creation of metrics, which are displayed as widgets in Portal dashboards.
The easiest method for each Nexthink user to install Finder on a Windows device is by installing it from the web interface.
Next steps
Once the installation of Nexthink is complete, these are the most common activities that follow:
Define a hierarchy
Organize your corporate infrastructure into levels and domains to delimit the view of the different user groups.
Adding more user accounts
Because working with a single administrator account is neither secure nor convenient, create the accounts required for other users to log in to Nexthink. Define roles and permissions to assign different responsibilities and separate groups of users.
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