This article provides instructions for a standard NetSupport Notify installation, configuration and deployment of the Notification Agents and Consoles.
Installing and configuring the Notification Server
Note: Please access your Notification Server as directly as possible (if you’re using RDP to access it, make sure that you use an RDP Console session).
To install the NetSupport Notify Server, you will first need to download the NetSupport Notify Setup.exe from our Download page https://download.netsupportsoftware.com/Download or from the My Support portal https://support.netsupportsoftware.com/register.asp if you’re registered for an account. Please refer to the following technical article for instructions on registering for an account: Registering your license key on the My Support portal
Once the Setup.exe is downloaded, create a folder on the desktop and copy the NetSupport Notify Setup.exe and NSN.lic licence file* to it.
* If you have purchased a licence.
Run the Setup.exe as an administrator and follow the onscreen instructions. Choose the components you want to install:
Click Next. You will now be asked to enter the Server IP address or hostname, the port (443 by default), and a Gateway Key* and a department name (optional).
* The Gateway key is a password of your choice. It needs to be between 8 and 15 characters.
Configuring the Notification Agent
The two main settings to configure on any Notification Agent machines are the Notification Server details and the department. Both can be configured either locally using the Config.dat configuration file or via Group Policy.
Connectivity Server details
Local configuration: The Agent configuration is stored in the Config.dat file found in the C:\Program Files (x86)\NetSupport\NetSupport Notify folder. This file can be amended using the AgentConfig.exe found in the same folder.
On a machine with the NetSupport Notify Agent component installed:
- Launch the AgentConfig.exe.
- Enter the plain text value of the Gateway key in the Key and Confirm Key fields.
- Click OK to save the changes.
- On the Notify Server, check the Agents tab in the Notification Server Console. If the machine appears, then the Gateway key details are correct.
Configuration via Group Policy: To configure the NetSupport Notify Server details via Group policy, please refer to the following technical article: Configuring the NetSupport Notify Server details for Notification Agents and Consoles by Group Policy (GPO)
Defining a department name
The following technical article explains the different ways to define a department name and how to configure it locally and via Group Policy: Defining different departments/groups on Notification Agents
Installing the Notification Agent
Once the configuration file has been created or the GPO settings have been applied, you can perform the installation of the Notification Agent.
Local installation via the NetSupport Notify Deploy Tool
The Deploy Tool component is included with the installer. It needs to be installed on a machine that can reach all the target machines. Please note that the NetSupport Notify Deploy Tool can only be used for machines in a domain.
Step one: Prepare the deploy package
On the machine with the Deploy Tool installed, navigate to the C:\Program Files (x86)\NetSupport\NetSupport Notify\Deploy folder. In the folder, the following files must be present (add them if they are not there):
- NetSupport Notify Setup.exe
- NSN.lic licence file (you can find this in C:\Program Files (x86)\NetSupport\NetSupport Notify)
- NSN.ini (already present in the C:\Program Files (x86)\NetSupport\NetSupport Notify\Deploy folder)
- Preconfigured Config.dat (you can find this in C:\Program Files (x86)\NetSupport\NetSupport Notify on an Agent machine)
Note: Please do not remove the other files already present.
Step two: Deploying
- Open NetSupport Notify Deploy Tool.
- In the By IP Address tab, click Add to add an IP range (please enter a single IP range per line, e.g. 10.20.10.1-10.20.10.254).
- Select the machines you want to deploy the Notification Agent to.
- Click Deploy and select Setup.
- When the Deploy Setup to Selected Computers dialog appears, click Start.
- The Setup Options dialog appears. Under the Configuration File section, click Select to browse to the Config.dat file that was previously added to the C:\Program Files (x86)\NetSupport\NetSupport Notify\Deploy folder).
- Make any changes to the other options depending on your requirements.
- Click OK to start the deployment of the software.
Note: Please ensure that you are logged in as an administrator to prevent permission issues.
Installation via Active Directory Group Policy
The following technical article explains how to install NetSupport Notify via Active Directory Group Policy: Installing NetSupport Notify via Active Directory Group Policy