DC Agent computer polling

In addition to polling domain controllers for logon information, DC Agent also polls client machines (computers or workstations), by default. This helps to verify which user is logged on to a machine.

When Filtering Service receives a request from a client machine, Filtering Service prompts DC Agent to poll the client machine, unless the machine was already polled more recently than the configured query interval (15 minutes, by default).

DC Agent uses WMI (Windows Management Instruction) for computer polling. If you use computer polling, configure the Windows Firewall on client machines to allow communication on port 135.

Important: Computer polling will work correctly only if the domain administrator account used to run DC Agent has remote and full access for WMI on client machines. Also, the User Access Control (UAC) settings on the client machines should be lowered.

Note: Computer polling is not effective for client machines that users access via remote desktop.

DC Agent stores the resulting user name/IP address pair in its user map and provides the information to Filtering Service. At a pre-defined interval, DC Agent uses computer polling to verify that users are still logged on.

You can configure how often DC Agent attempts to verify that users are still logged on, and how long an entry remains in the user map. See Configure DC Agent settings.

In order to use computer polling, DC Agent must run with domain or enterprise admin permissions.

Important: Windows Remote Registry Service must be running on both the DC Agent machine and the client machine in order for computer polling to work.