Clearpulse Express Setup Guide

1
  • Install SQL Express with the basic settings and give the SQL Express server a name of your choice or use the defaults (defaults assumed in this guide)
    • Servername: ‘Localhost\SQLEXPRESS’
  • If you don’t already have it, make sure to install Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) to be able to manage your server.
  • Once SQL Express is installed, open up SSMS and connect to your server using Windows Authentication.
  • Right click on the server -> click Properties -> go to Security, and check the ‘SQL Server and Windows Authentication mode‘ then click OK.
  • Create a new database by right clicking Databases -> New Database
    • The database name is specified in the email, for instance: ‘Clearpulse_Express_COMPANYNAME‘.
    • Click OK.
  • Create a new login user in SSMS that Clearpulse can use to communicate with the database.
    • We will use this later on when we set up the CIC Node.
  • In SSMS, go to Security -> Logins, and right click and add a new login
  • Give it a name and click on ‘SQL Server authentication’ and give it a password
    • for instance:
    • Login name = ‘clearpulse’
    • Password = ‘clearpulse’
    • Uncheck ‘Enforce password policy‘
  • Go to ‘User Mapping’ and check the new database you just created
  • Give it the database role ‘db_owner’
  • Press OK
2

  •  Install Clearpulse

  •  Extract the Clearpulse installation .zip file and navigate to the .\Clearpulse folder.
  •  Install the application through the installer.
3

  • Start Clearpulse

  • Start Clearpulse through the desktop or start menu.
  • Click on the database icon to setup the connection to your new database
  • Click on ‘New Connection’
  • Click the ‘Reload‘ icon to the right of Server, or write your SQL Express server name (normally ‘localhost\SQLEXPRESS‘).
  • Click on the ‘Reload‘ icon on the right of the database field, then pick your database through the dropdown.
  • If you installed the database on the same machine as you’re on now, click the ‘Trusted connection‘ and keep the ‘Username‘ and ‘Password‘ fields blank.
  • If not, enter your database server credentials.
  • Click ‘Test Connection‘ and make sure the connection works.
  • Else, use the connection details you used to login to the database server.
  • Once your test connection is successful, press ‘Save’ and ‘Done’.
  • Choose your connection in the connection box
  • Login with the default user:
    • Username: admin
    • Password: admin
4

  • Enter your license key

  • You should be treated with a prompt to enter your license key. Grab it from your mail and enter it here.
5

  • Updating the database

  • Clearpulse will now populate the database with tables and columns, this can take a few minutes.
  • Click OK
Congratulations, you’re now logged into Clearpulse!
6

  • Setting up the CIC node

  • The most common first step is to set up the communication node. This allows you to use our Agents to communicate with Clearpulse, or let Clearpulse pick up specified data from the AD.
  • Without the CIC node there is no way to automatically upload data to the database. You could add everything manually, but that would most likely take a long time.
  • Click on the ‘Clearpulse Integrations and Communications‘ module in the bottom left corner.
  • Right click the list and click ‘Add CIC Node‘
  • Give the CIC node a name and DNS Name. Most commonly this is ‘localhost‘
  • Go to Functions tab and click ‘Terminating bridge‘
  • Click ‘Custom Database’ and enter your SQL Express server name, databasename, login user and password.
    • Default values are:
    • SQL server name = ‘localhost\SQLEXPRESS’
    • Databasename = ‘Clearpulse_Express_COMPANYNAME’
    • Login user = ‘clearpulse’
    • Password = ‘clearpulse’
  • Check the ‘Clearpulse inventory import‘
  • Click on all the ‘Check All‘ buttons to import all the default data.
  • Check the ‘Remove old parse and log information‘
  • Press ‘Save‘
7

  • Sync options

  • There are two main ways to sync assets into Clearpulse.
  • Either you run our Agents on the machine that you want to import to clearpulse, or you use the AD (LDAP). We also allow import through Clearpulse Discovery or SCCM. Feel free to try these on your own.
  • Reading it through the AD requires an admin user, but lets you also sync other information, such as users.
  • AD sync can however not give you specific Hardware/Software information on a machine. That can be done through the Agent.
8

  • Starting the CIC node

  • Once the settings are done it is time to start the CIC node. Go back to the General tab and press Start.
9a

  • Importing information – Running the Agent

  • Open Command Prompt with administration rights and navigate to .\ClearpulseX.YYY.ZZZZ.WWWWWW\Clearpulse\Clearpulse Agent Windows
  • Through the terminal, run the CNAgent.exe or CNAgentX64.exe (depending on your architecture, if unsure, try x64) by the following command:
  • CNAgentX64.exe
  • The Server name and port can be found in the CIC node General tab,
  • For instance: ‘CNAgentX64.exe localhost 60250‘
  • Once the program is done, go back to Clearpulse
  • If you want to install the agent on several computers automatically this can be done either through 3d party applications or Windows Group Policy, alternatively you can use the Clearpulse Discovery found in .\ClearpulseX.YYY.ZZZZ.WWWWWW\Clearpulse Discovery
  • How to use group policy to install software (Microsoft):
    • https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/troubleshoot/windows-server/group-policy/use-group-policy-to-install-software
  • How to set up Clearpulse Discovery: In Clearpulse Dicovery, click on “Help” and then “Contents” for more information on settings and configuration.
9b

  • Setting up the LDAP/AD sync

  • In order to use the LDAP sync you need to have an admin user for the AD.
  • Pick the type of LDAP sync (LDAP_AD for windows AD or LDAP_NDS for NDS).
  • Enter the admin credentials in ‘Admin user‘ and ‘Password‘.
  • Enter the Canonical domain name/userDNSdomain
  • Next, you can adjust when and how often you want the syncing to be done.
  • Click ‘Load‘ to scan the AD.
  • Double click or press the right arrow to move the groups you want to sync, for instance ‘Computers‘ and ‘Users‘.
  • Press Save.
  • Go back to the ‘General‘ tab and Stop/Start the CIC node.
9C

  • Setting up Clearpulse Discovery

  • A third way to import data is to use Clearpulse Discovery
  • Install Clearpulse Discovery by running the installer in .\ClearpulseX.YYY.ZZZZ.WWWWWW\Clearpulse\Clearpulse Discovery.
  • Open Clearpulse Discovery to make sure that the installation was successfull.
  • Before we make changes in Clearpulse Discovery, we need open some ports in the firewall.
  • Open Windows Defender Firewall with Advanced Security.
  • Go to Inbound Rules
  • Find Windows Management Instrumentation (Should be several different alternatives) and make sure they all are Enabled.
  • Go back to Clearpulse Discovery and in the Remote Host box, add the adress to the CIC node (127.0.0.1 if you installed in on the same computer you’re on now.)
  • Enter 60250 as the remote port.
  • Click ‘Save/Test’ and you should be greeted with a ‘Configured bridge is reachable.‘
  • If not, Check the Troubleshoot section.
  • Check the QICNode bridge
  • Click Install.
  • Click Start.
  • Go to ‘Configuration‘ in the left menu
  • Right click in the box above and select ‘New Collection’
  • Enter a specific IP Adress or a address range with a dash in between (ie. 192.168.0.1-192.168.0.254)
  • Increase the timeout to around 5000 milliseconds.
  • Under Specific details,  fill in the credentials for a login that has admin access on the assets you are going to scan.
  • Click ‘Apply‘
  • Go to the ‘Discover‘ section on the left.
  • Click on your Collection and click ‘Discover‘ in the bottom right.
  • Once it’s done, the information will be sent to Clearpulse

  • Troubleshooting

  • If you are having issues with Clearpulse Discovery, take a look at these steps:
  • Check the logs.
    • Copy the logfile in .\ClearpulseX.YYY.ZZZZ.WWWWWW\Clearpulse Discovery\CDiscovery Log config to C:\ProgramData\Clearpulse AB\QAD\
    • Once you run Clearpulse Discovery logging information will be sent to “C:\ProgramData\Clearpulse AB\QAD\CDiscovery.ntrace.dir\qdc.log”
  • Make sure ports and WMI are open in your firewall. For instance, the 60250 port for the CIC node.
  • If you have both a IPv4 and IPv6 address enabled, try with the IPv4 address specifically. If you are running locally you could use the local address, 127.0.0.1 for the QiCNode bridge.
  • Make sure the WMI ports are open on the machines you are trying to scan.
10a

  • Checking the import

  • If you go to ‘Clearpulse Integrations and Communications‘ module -> Activity -> Import Status you should see one line log with your import.
  • If there’s no import, copy the ‘QICNode.ntrace‘ from .\ClearpulseX.YYY.ZZZZ.WWWWWWW\Clearpulse\CIC Log config folder to C:\ProgramData\Apper Vision AB\CIC
    • If you cannot see ProgramData, make sure hidden folders are shown in Windows.
  • Go back to Clearpulse and the CIC Node (in the ‘Clearpulse Integrations and Communications‘ module)
  • Got to the ‘General‘ tab and restart the node by pressing Stop and Start.
  • Rerun the Agent and check the C:\ProgramData\Apper Vision AB\CIC folder for any ‘qnt_qic_qxmlworker.log’ file.
11

  • Computer import

  • Go to ‘Inventory Assets‘
  • In the dropdown, switch from ‘Physical location‘ to ‘name‘.
  • Check out the newly imported computer. The different tabs will tell you all the hardware/software information about that computer.
12

  • Create User

  • The Agent only imports asset information (computer), and thus contacts has to be added manually. If you want to automate this, use for instance the AD import.
  • To create a new contact, go to the ‘Resources‘ module
  • Make sure you’re on the Contact tab, right click and click ‘Add Contact’
  • Give the contact a name and fill out the fields you deem necessary.
  • Make sure to give the user a username and password if you want them to be able to login to Clearpulse.
  • Go to the Relationships tab and click on ‘Inventory Assets‘ on the right side of ‘Owned Inventory Assets‘.
  • Switch from ‘Physical location‘ to ‘Name‘ and pick the computer you imported.
  • The computer is now associated with this user.
13

  • Create Role

  • In order to let the contact login to Clearpulse it needs to be connected to a role.
  • Go to ‘System Administration‘ module -> Roles -> Right click and click ‘Add role‘.
  • Give the role a name and what modules you want the role to see.
  • Expand each role and check the granularity you want.
14

  • Connect role to user

  • Go back to the user you created and navigate to the ‘Roles‘ tab.
  • Click on the ‘Roles‘ tab on the right and add the role you just created.
  • Now that user can log into Clearpulse with the permission you just set.
15
  • Now that you have a user and computer imported you can start to play around with the other modules.
  • For instance you can add costs for different assets/contacts, create license filters to see how many users are using a specific software, and set up organisations and different cost groups to keep track of inventory assets.
  • If you have a support license and any issues and questions, don’t hesitate to contact us at support@clearpulse.se