Devolutions Agent

Devolutions Agent is a versatile background process used by many Devolutions products to perform various remote management tasks.

Devolutions Agent can only operate against Windows-based hosts.

Installation

Download Devolutions Agent from Devolutions’ website, and install it on the remote computer. Devolutions Agent must be configured to automatically start when a Windows session is established. Consult the documentation of your operating system for details.

To install Devolutions Agent on many machines at once, see Deploy Devolutions Agent silently.

The installer displays the following features. Devolutions Agent is always installed and cannot be deselected. Devolutions Gateway Updater, Agent Tunnel, and PowerShell Universal Agent are sub-features of Devolutions Agent. The feature ID is the value used to select features during a silent installation.

FEATURE	FEATURE ID	DEFAULT	DESCRIPTION
Devolutions Agent	F.Agent	Selected (required)	Installs the Devolutions Agent service.
Devolutions Gateway Updater	F.Updater	Selected	Enables the Devolutions Gateway updater. This update module updates Devolutions Gateway and Devolutions Cloud Services on the machine, as well as Devolutions Agent itself. It is required to update Devolutions Gateway remotely from Devolutions Server (see Updating remote Devolutions Gateways via Devolutions Agent).
Agent Tunnel	F.Tunnel	Not selected	Connects the agent to a Devolutions Gateway. Requires an enrollment string from your gateway operator, entered in an additional step of the installer. See Agent tunnel.
PowerShell Universal Agent	F.PsuAgent	Not selected	Enables the PowerShell Universal remote agent. Requires the PowerShell Universal server URL and an app token, entered in an additional step of the installer.
Devolutions PEDM	F.Pedm	Not selected	Enables PEDM features and installs the shell extension that adds the Run elevated option to the right-click context menu. Marked as Experimental in the installer. See Configure PEDM local elevation.
RDP Extension	F.Session	Selected	Enables RDP session features such as remote execution, jump sessions and remote logoff. Installs the component that opens the RDP virtual channel used by Remote Desktop Manager to communicate with Devolutions Agent during an RDP session.

The RDP Extension feature is required for Jump connections from Remote Desktop Manager through Devolutions Agent, and for running commands on remote hosts from Remote Desktop Manager. Keep it selected on every jump host and on every machine where these features are used.

New users using this technology may wonder why a full installation of Remote Desktop Manager is required. There are three factors that make this a good solution:

• Remote Desktop Manager on the remote host does not require a workspace, it’s an empty shell.
• The logging of the activity is brought back to your workspace.
• Every technology supported by Remote Desktop Manager can be used remotely.

Usage

Running commands on multiple remote hosts

Devolutions Agent can be used to run scripts from another Remote Desktop Manager installation. Since it uses an RDP channel for communication, it saves you from remote management headaches such as opening various ports in your firewall.

Executing commands on remote hosts using RDM MCP server

Devolutions Agent allows users with access to RDM MCP server to run commands on remote hosts via text-based prompts. Read MCP server (experimental) to learn about RDM MCP server.

Leveraging Remote Desktop Manager's PEDM module

With Devolutions Agent, users can obtain elevated privileges for specific actions as defined in Remote Desktop Manager's PEDM module. To use this method, someone with administrator privileges must first configure a PEDM profile and assign it to one or more users. From then on, they should be able to select the profile in Devolutions Agent, and use the Run elevated option when attempting to access resources requiring admin rights (right-click context menu). See Privileged elevation and delegation management for more details.

Updating remote Devolutions Gateways via Devolutions Agent

The Devolutions Cloud Services must be configured on the Devolutions Cloud to enable Devolutions Gateway updates with the Devolutions Agent.

Devolutions Agent enables administrators on Devolutions Server to remotely update Devolutions Gateway instances and farms, provided the Agent is installed on the systems hosting them (with the Devolutions Gateway Updater feature checked during installation).

The updating process can be initiated in a few clicks by toggling the Bulk update option in Administration – Devolutions Gateway, selecting the desired gateways and/or farms, and clicking on Update. The Update version and Bulk update windows allow for further customization of the process, including options to defer updates, specify versions, etc.

See also

• Devolutions Academy – Configure a Jump Host with Devolutions Agent in Remote Desktop Manager