ThinMan can interact with the end points in two ways:
- ThinMan Referring Mode: EndPoints are configured with a reference to ThinMan. On the ThinMan Local Console, the endpoints interacting with ThinMan under this mode are identify either with the value WSS or WSS Safe (in old devices: HTTPS Linked or Https) on the column Notified.
- ThinMan Browsing Mode: ThinMan browses the network to detect devices. On the ThinMan Local Console, the endpoints interacting with ThinMan under this mode are identify with the value HTTPS Unlinked (in old devices: TCP/UDP) on the column Notified.
¶ ThinMan Referring mode
This mode requires the endpoint knows the ThinMan referring address. The device becomes active on the interaction with ThinMan, initiating the communication with the ThinMan server. On startup, the endpoint automatically notifies to the ThinMan server.
Fundamental ThinMan environment configuration planning is essential to obtain the maximum advantage from the Praim ThinMan management solution. Some advanced features, such as Scheduled Activities, Event Activities, profile manager, ThinMan Login and ThinMan Smart Identity require that the endpoint be configured to point the ThinMan Server.
ThinMan Referring mode is the interaction mode providing all the features of the ThinMan suite. Praim strongly recommends using this mode in order to gain the best user experience with ThinMan.
Praim strongly suggests to configure the ThinMan address on endpoints using the DHCP or DNS options (read How to Configure DHCP Option 163 and How to Configure a DNS Server with PRAIMSERVER hostname),
Whether the DHCP or DNS options are unavailable, the ThinMan Browsing mode will discover all endpoints present on the network. Once the devices have been detected, it is possible to configure their ThinMan Server Address through the device contextual menu command Special Function - Set ThinMan Server Address.
Network browsing may be performed periodically in order to discover possible devices deployed afterwards which had not been configured with a referring ThinMan server definition.
Important Note
Because the ThinMan interaction mode depends on client parameters or network configuration (existence or detection of DNS and DHCP services); both, referring and browsing mode, can coexist on the same ThinMan server for separate clients.
¶ ThinMan Browsing mode
ThinMan Browsing mode is based on the interaction initiated by ThinMan discovering all possible devices responding to a ThinMan connection request on the network.
In this mode ThinMan is the active subject initiating interaction, whereas the client is passive, answering an incoming request from ThinMan server. The client does not take any initiative, it answers only an external request.
The endpoint is unable to initiate communication with a ThinMan server as this is unknown. Therefore, advanced features, such as Scheduled Activities, Event Activities, profile manager, ThinMan Login and ThinMan Smart Identity will not be able to operate on devices working under this mode.
¶ How to Identify Clients Interacting by Referring or Browsing Mode
In order to identify what interaction mode each client is using, it is possible to look at the Notified parameter listed in the working area on ThinMan console, as highlighted in the image below.
- On the ThinMan Browsing mode the possible values that can assumed the Notified column is Https Unlinked (in old devices: TCP/UDP)
- On the ThinMan Referring mode the possible values that can assumed the Notified column are WSS or WSS Safe (in old devices: Https Linked or Https).