10ZiG Cloud Manager

Customers using 10Zig Thin and Zero Client end-point devices have successfully used the 10ZiG Manager to centrally register and configure their on-premise Thin or Zero Client deployments, recently 10Zig Have announced the introduction of a product called the 10ZiG Cloud Manager. The 10ZiG cloud manager allows for simple on-premise management and administration of 10ZiG thin and zero clients connecting to the corporate infrastructure via the internet.

10ZiG have developed the product to address the changing requirements of thin and zero clients to be managed both on-premise and via the cloud; increasingly customers are deploying thin and zero clients into the cloud to access both on-premise and cloud hosted Desktop as a Service (DaaS) and Virtual Desktop Infrastructures (VDI).

Hosting these access devices in the cloud means that the traditional managed networks, that have become common place in IT environments, are no longer the primary means by which users will access the consumable DaaS and VDI services. Furthermore from an administration perspective cloud hosted devices can provide a challenge to being able to effectively configure, manage and administrate the Thin and Zero client end-points.

The diagram below illustrates the network architecture and the common tasks the traditional 10ZiG manager would be expected to perform with each of the functions being carried out via separate communication streams between the 10ZiG manager and the end-point device. Since no Network Address Translation (NAT) or security filtering is usually involved this architecture is relatively easy to facilitate:

When we now consider the network architecture when the Thin or Zero client end-point is external to the traditional LAN, WAN or VPN with NAT and Firewalls included; the direct connectivity paths are no longer present between the on-premise 10ZiG manager and the Thin or Zero Client end-point for the different communication streams. Consequently, additional configuration is required via external DNS records, firewalls etc. – without the additional configuration this architecture simply cannot function as required:

In order to overcome this in a practical way, 10ZiG have developed the 10ZiG cloud manager to allow for device registration and discovery via the same NAT and Firewalls over HTTPS:

Once the initial device discovery and registration has been completed a secure bi-directional tunnel is established between the on-premise 10ZiG cloud manager and the end-point enabling the communication streams secure unhindered connectivity without the need for complex network and security configurations.

Setup is fairly straight-forwards with a server based certificate being assigned to the Cloud Manager, creation of an inbound rule on firewalls to allow traffic over TCP 443 into the Cloud Manager with an optional Root certificate being installed onto each Thin or Zero client end-point to be managed (depending on the type of certificate used):

The Cloud Manager is also configured to point towards the 10ZiG cloud management agent via hostname or IP address. The Cloud Management Agent will support both direct connection and also via proxy if needs be.

Client registration into the 10ZiG cloud manager is possible via a pre-configured registration code or username/password credentials to ensure controlled access and prevent registration of unauthorised devices:

Once the cloud connected Thin or Zero Client end-point has been registered with the 10ZiG Manager it is queried for its configuration allowing assignment of a specific configuration template for automated setup to facilitate a connection to VMware or Citrix environments – exactly the same as would be performed with a standard Thin or Zero client device ensuring a simple plug and play configuration of the end-points.

For further information please contact ComputerWorld to arrange a FREE Thin or Zero client evaluation device and a trial of the 10ZiG Cloud Manager software.