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Workstation Agent

To collect application and license activity from end-user machines, install the Workstation Agent on them. The agent detects which licensed applications a user runs and for how long, and reports that activity to OpenLM Platform. It is the data source behind Agents Hub, Agent Activity, and endpoint features such as idle-license detection and license harvesting.

The Workstation Agent is an installed component, not an app in the Navigation menu. You manage the agents it produces in Agents Hub, which has two entries in that menu:

  • Agents Hub: configure agent behavior and the sites and applications agents watch.
  • Agent Activity: monitor connected agents and roll out upgrades, restarts, and removals.
Note

This page is the administrator's overview of the agent. For the end user's plain-language explanation of what the agent does on their computer, see What the Workstation Agent does.

Agent types​

After you install an agent and it reports, it appears automatically in Agent Activity. OpenLM Platform tracks several agent types, distinguished by where they run, including:

  • Workstation Agent: installed on a user's desktop or workstation.
  • ServiceNow ACC Agent: a ServiceNow Agent Client Collector agent that reports through the OpenLM ACC Plugin.

Install and connect the agent​

To install the agent on one machine or on many, follow the page for the operating system of the machines. Each page covers the installer, the authorization file, the connection check, and deployment tools.

  • Install Workstation Agent: the requirements, the steps, and the check in Agent Activity.
  • Windows: the installer, a self-hosted OpenLM Platform, silent installation, and deployment to many machines with Microsoft Intune, Microsoft Configuration Manager (SCCM), Group Policy, or PDQ Deploy.
  • Linux: the DEB package, the RPM package, or the tar.gz archive.
  • macOS: the package for Intel and Apple Silicon Macs, on one Mac or across a fleet with MDM.

For an interactive walkthrough of the Windows installation, see Install and configure OpenLM components. After the installation, the agent connects to OpenLM Platform automatically, and appears in Agent Activity after you select Refresh.

Manage installed agents​

To upgrade, restart, or remove agents, open Agent Activity in Agents Hub:

  • Upgrade Workstation Agents on Windows by uploading a newer installer to the agents you select. Selected agents that are offline upgrade when they reconnect.
  • Restart all Workstation Agents.
  • Remove obsolete agent records.

Configure what the agent does​

To configure what the agent does, use these places:

  • Harvesting and idle-license policies: define how the agent releases idle licenses (Save & Close, Suspend & Resume, or Kill) in Process Manager.
  • Watched sites and applications: configure in Agents Hub.

What the agent collects​

The agent reports the applications that OpenLM Platform asks it to monitor, how long users run them, and how long they are idle. Your administrators decide what else it reports. In Agent Configuration, an administrator can turn on:

  • Process screenshots: Enable process screenshots is selected in a new account. The agent periodically captures screenshots of monitored processes, and users see the last screenshot of an application the agent closed in their Personal Dashboard. Agents installed without Use End-User Services don't capture screenshots.
  • Application discovery: the agent reports the applications installed on its machine, once a day.
  • Web service discovery: the agent reports the web services users open. You can report them without user identifiers.

On macOS, the agent also needs the Screen Recording permission to track window titles, and Full Disk Access to read Safari browsing history. A user or administrator grants both on the Mac, as described in Install Workstation Agent on macOS.

To see what your agents report, review these settings in Agent Configuration before you roll the agent out. Tell your users what you turned on. For the end-user explanation, see What the Workstation Agent does.

For more information, see these pages:

Last updated on by Maria Gilca

The documentation team might draft this page using a large language model. A technical writer reviews every page and verifies it against the product before publishing it. A human makes the final decision.