The system behind ACMP

A complete ACMP system consists of a server with the corresponding SQL database, one or more clients, and at least one console.

Server

The ACMP server is installed on a central computer and controls all connected components from there. It contains the basic modules, the database connection and a console. All other solutions are also installed here. These contain functions for the server and the clients. Thanks to the standardised interfaces, any number of solutions can be installed on the server. As new solutions are added, they are automatically distributed from the server to the clients. Solutions only need to be installed on the server.

Clients

Clients can connect to the server in three ways:

1. The ACMP agent is installed on the clients, which scans the client and transmits the data to the server. The server then enters this data into the database. ACMP Agent itself is a Windows service. The settings for when the ACMP Agent becomes active are made centrally on the server. In addition, the ACMP Agent can be used to perform management functions, such as starting or stopping a program on a remote computer.
2. The second option is the OneScanClient, a passive program that resides on the server and is started from the client. This can be done, for example, via the login script. This client collects all data on the computer once, forwards it to the server and then terminates.
3. The agentless scanner is able to discover clients via Active Directory. This is useful when clients cannot be detected due to network policies, such as multiple network segments without NetBIOS support. In this case, the agentless scanner can read the basic client information from an Active Directory and perform a remote WMI scan based on this information. However, the data is not as complete as when using one of the other two scanners.

Console

The console is the system administrator's tool. Here the administrator can operate all ACMP solutions. In the console, database queries are sent to the server and the results are displayed, settings for data collection on the clients are made, reports are created and presented, and both the clients and the entire system are managed. This includes user management, which allows specific rights to be assigned to each user of the system, defining what they can and cannot do on the console. In addition, the entire system can be kept up to date via the Internet using Active Update technology.

The ACMP console does not require administrative privileges to operate correctly.

Database

All client information is stored in the database. This data can be accessed and modified through the Console. Information that the console itself or the clients work with can also be stored via the console. The database may or may not reside on the same server as ACMP.

Summary

The ACMP server is the central hub for communication between the components. It is from here that all solutions are made available and all customizations are actively distributed. This is where data is collected, stored in the database, or made available to the console. Any number of consoles can access the server. The number of clients is only limited by the performance of the SQL database, the network bandwidth and the number of ACMP licenses.