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Context and FAQs

Audience for this page

The instructions in this page tree are only applicable in the following circumstances:

  1. If you are aleady running the CI Sync On-Prem Multi-Source Agent.

  2. And, if you are adding an entirely new cloud native data source (i.e. these instructions do NOT explain how to transition an existing cloud native data source from the On-Prem Agent to the new SaaS Agent in your CI Sync SaaS instance).

If in doubt, please contact your Syncfish rep for more details.

A reminder about the CI Sync On-Prem Multi-Source Agent

Historically Syncfish provided the CI Sync On-Prem Multi-Source Agent. The On-Prem Agent is delivered as a windows service and runs on a VM hosted by each customer. Depending on each customer circumstances they may have installed more than one CI Sync On-Prem Agent.

The CI Sync On-Prem Agent provides the data extraction capability for the overall CI Sync solution. That is, the On-Prem Agent is responsible for the following functions:

  1. The CI Sync On-Prem Agent allows customers to add one/more source systems:

    1. The On-Prem Agent included a Config Utility with a User Interface (UI) allowing customers to add one or more source system connections.

    2. Once added (i.e. after each source system is added via the CI Sync Agent Config UI) the source system becomes visibility in the CI Sync SaaS Web UI allowing customers to run sync jobs from the one/more source systems.

  2. The On-Prem Agent performs authentication to the relevant source systems:

    1. Customers use the CI Sync Agent Config Utility UI to define authentication credentials so the CI Sync Agent itself (i.e. the windows service) can connect to and read data from the given source system.

  3. The On-Prem Agent performs data extraction from the relevant source systems:

    1. When a sync job commences in the CI Sync SaaS component (i.e. the individual CI Sync instance per customer) the CI Sync Agent reads/extracts the relevant records from the given source system, batches up those records and posts them to the customer’s CI Sync SaaS instance for processing into the destination system (in most cases a CMDB).

Why was an On-Prem Agent historically required?

An On-Prem Agent (data extraction capability) was required because many of the original sources of IT asset data was stored in On-Prem repositories from products like Lansweeper, SCCM, VMware and so on.

The CI Sync On-Prem Agent ensured synchronization traffic was always initiated from inside-to-outside (on-prem to cloud), which delivered important cyber security benefits.

How did the On-Prem Agent work with cloud data sources?

The CI Sync On-Prem Multi-Source Agent supports On-Prem data sources like Lansweeper, SCCM, VMware, etc, as well as cloud native data sources such as Azure, AWS, InTune, and so on.

However, the concept of needing an On-Prem Agent to perform data extraction from a cloud data source isn’t necessarily ideal. Having an On-Prem Agent also requires customers to host it on a suitable VM and ensure it is updated and managed ongoing.

What’s happening now with the Syncfish SaaS Agent (our new Cloud-to-Cloud Data Extractor)?

Syncfish have released a SaaS Agent which replaces the need for the On-Prem Agent when a customer is syncing from cloud native data sources only. Even though we refer to this as the “SaaS Agent” it can be more accurately though of as our Cloud-to-Cloud Data Extraction component.

The CI Sync SaaS Agent resides within each customer’s own CI Sync SaaS instance and therefore requires no ongoing support by the customer (other than to manage the authentication credentials associated with the source systems defined by each customer).

What will happen to the CI Sync On-Prem Agent?

At present the CI Sync On-Prem Agent will continue to be used in the following scenarios:

  1. For customers with on-prem IT asset data respositories (such as Lansweeper On-Prem, SCCM, VMware, etc)

  2. For customers who have already defined cloud native data sources (and are therefore running sync jobs) using the On-Prem Agent.

Two key things will happen over the coming months as Syncfish further refines the new SaaS Agent:

  1. Syncfish will work with customers to gracefully transition their cloud native sources from the On-Prem Agent to the SaaS Agent which runs in the context of your customer specific CI Sync SaaS instance.

  2. Syncfish will eventually replace the current CI Sync On-Prem Agent (the windows service technology) with the ability to also run the SaaS Agent on-premise. That is, the technology Syncfish have used to deliver the SaaS Agent is portable and can therefore be run On-Prem (in due course).

What next…

Customers using the current CI Sync On-Prem Multi-Source Agent do not need to make any changes at present. If you are interested in adopting the SaaS Agent please make contact with Syncfish.

Syncfish will proactively contact customers in due course to plan for the migration away from the currently CI Sync On-Prem Agent, including offering existing customers the ability to adopt the new SaaS Agent for any new/additional cloud native data sources.