Honeycomb mesh^TM QuickStart Guide

This Guide is intended to help you get started quickly with configuring your mesh^TM technology system.
The basic steps to get the Honeycomb mesh^TM system configured for the first time are as follows:

• Install the first mesh^TM node
• Discover a device running Microsoft Active Directory
• Deploy the mesh^TM service to other remote nodes
• Further steps

You will only need to install the mesh^TM software from CD or downloaded image once, onto one machine, to get started.

All subsequent mesh^TM installations to other devices are performed from the first machine.

This saves having to perform 'walk-up' installations to many remote machines. Of course, you can still install the mesh^TM software individually to remote machines, but the easiest method is to let the mesh^TM automation do this for you.

Step One

Introduce mesh^TM to your network by installing the mesh^TM software from a CD or downloaded installation image. Select a machine that will hold the mesh^TM data and policy files. Remote mesh^TM services around your network will contact this machine to store/retrieve data and policy (also known as the 'dbContact'). The machine you choose for your dbContact need not be a dedicated machine unless you have a large number of devices (>1500). Insert the mesh^TM CD into your CD drive, or launch the 'MeshSetup.exe' program from a downloaded image.

This will bring up the mesh^TM interactive setup. Follow the instructions in the setup wizard. You will need to accept the mesh^TM license agreement (EULA) to perform the installation.

If this is the first device you are installing, select the 'Install User Interface components' check box, as well as the 'Make this node a db contact' check box. Continue with the installation by pressing 'Install'.

After the installation is complete, the service is installed and running. To launch the mesh^TM Administrator Console, select the 'mesh Admin Console' menu option under 'Start->All Programs->Honeycomb Technologies' on the Windows desktop.

When the Administrator Console first starts, it will display a prompt, asking if you would like to create user accounts. You do not have to create user accounts to access the Administrator Console, but if no accounts are created, anyone who has access to the computer can launch the Administrator Console. Also, if you plan to launch the Adminstrator Console from remote locations, it is strongly recommended that you create at least one user account.

When the Administrator Console is displayed, you will see one device under the 'Pods' tree element in the left-side Explorer Tree. This device represents the local machine.

You are now ready to proceed to Step Two...

2. Discover a device running Microsoft Active Directory

Active Directory provides a structured interface for storing objects within your network. Honeycomb's mesh^TM technology comes with built-in integrated support for reading and monitoring Active Directory objects, and this is the preferred way to discover and import devices and organiational units into your discover mesh^TM system.

If the device used in Step One is running Active Directory, you have already performed Step Two -- you do not need to discover a remote Active Directory server.

By discovering an Active Directory device as the first remote device, all subsequent discovery is then done automatically.

Step Two

This step involves discovering a device in your network that is running the Microsoft Active Directory, or a delegated Active Directory replica (refer to the Microsoft Active Directory documentation for information on configuring Active Directory).

To perform remote device discovery:
Right-click on the 'Pods' entry in the left-side Explorer Tree, and select 'New->Device'. This will display the 'meshnode Discovery' window. Click the 'Add' button. This displays the 'Add Machine' window. Enter the DNS name or IP address of the Active Directory server (Hint: After entering the server name, you can check the network status/lookup of the name by pressing the 'Advanced' button).

Enter a valid username and password with appropriate access rights for the remote device, and an optional display name. For this discovery, we want to deploy the mesh^TM service, so untick the 'Passive mode (don't automatically install meshnode)' check box. Press 'OK' to save the changes, and then press the 'Discover' button in the 'meshnode Discovery' window to start the discovery. A progress popup window will be displayed during the discovery process.

If the device is accessible (online and available) and the entered credentials are sufficient, the discovery will deploy and configure the service on the remote device, and a message to this effect will be displayed when complete.

The configuration is automatic, and once the service is up and running on the remote Active Directory device, you will start to see the Administrator Console's left-side Explorer Tree being populated with the devices and containers from Active Directory.

You are now ready to proceed to Step Three...

3. Deploy the mesh^TM service to other remote nodes

Now that your mesh^TM system has discovered devices in the network, you can begin to use the system to save you time, energy and money!

The devices discovered are listed in the Administrator Console's left-side Explorer Tree.
Items that have the meshnode service installed display this icon: 
Items that are discovered, but are not running the mesh^TM service display this icon: 

When deploying the mesh^TM service to remote devices, authenticated access to the machine is required. As such, valid credentials are required in order to securely access the remote device.

If your devices are part of a domain, you can enter a set of master credentials for all devices in a given Pod, which will be used by all members in that Pod.
To do this, follow these simple steps:

• Right-click on the relevant   Pod entry in the left-side Explorer Tree
• Select the 'Properties' menu option
• Press the 'Credentials' button on the 'main' tab
• Enter a valid username and password
• Optionally tick the 'Include child Pods' option
• Press 'Save'

This mechanism saves you the time and effort of entering the same credentials for many machines. You can still change the credentials for any individual device by right-clicking on the device in the left-side Explorer Tree, and selecting 'Connection Details'.

Step Three

There are several ways to deploy the mesh^TM service to other devices in the network, and all of them are very simple.

You can use the same technique in Step Two to deploy the service to other devices, but there are other simple ways as well:

Single Device Deployment:
Right-click on a device in the left-side Explorer Tree, and select the 'Deploy meshnode service' menu option. This displays the 'Connection Details..' window (very similar to the Machine Details window we saw in Step Two).

If no credentials are entered for this device, enter a valid username and password, and press 'OK' to initiate the service deployment.

If the device is accessible (online and available) and the entered credentials are sufficient, the discovery will deploy and configure the service on the remote device, and a message to this effect will be displayed when complete.

Subnet Device Deployment:
You can deploy the mesh^TM service to all or some devices in a container (Pod) by following these simple steps:

• Right-click on the relevant   Pod entry in the left-side Explorer Tree
• Select the 'Deploy meshnode service' menu option
• This displays the 'Deploy mesh service' dialog. If there are any devices in the container you wish to exclude from the service deployment, select them and press 'Remove'
• Press 'OK'. If any of the devices are missing credentials (which will be true of this is a new installation), a credentials popup window will be displayed to enter credentials for the selected devices. Note that the same credentials are used for all selected devices, so it is recommended that they be members of a managed domain. After entering credentials, and confirming any save/proceed messages, the deployment will commence. If any devices are offline/unavailable, or the credentials are invalid/insufficient, messages will be displayed the in the Administrator Console messages view reflecting the condition. Successful connections will begin the service deploy and a progress window is displayed showing progress

4. Further Steps

Now that you have devices on your network running in the mesh^TM, you can view system information, Remote Control to remote devices, configure Reports, deliver software, updates and content to these devices, and much much more.

Refer to the online Help System and associated pages or visit www.honeycomb.co.uk for more details on unleashing the power of mesh^TM technology!