Deploy Intercept X and get rid of other endpoint solutions in AD domain

Hi,

I am considering to replace existing Endpoint Security products (Webroot, ESET and Panda) with Sophos Intercept X on a dozen of customers. They all run Windows AD environment, most of clients are desktops in local domain. Is there any reliable automtion method to deploy Intercept X and uninstall other products in one go?

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  • Thanx,  , figured it out, tested. Installation goes smooth, but previous AV will probably be removed via old cloud console, not a big deal.

    One more question, if I may under this thread:

    I manage many companies. All other AV consoles had an option to sort/create/view/manage endpoints by companies, either creating Company containers, or Groups or something, and they were sorted in such manner all around web interface. But here with Sophos CENTRAL I only see menu COMPUTERS AND DEVICES and they are all there mixed up. I cannot display them by group or something.

    Even more...under USERS there is really no way to know, which user belongs to which company, except for those, who are members of AD domain. I guess when I will have hundreds or thousands of users there, it will be total mess. Maybe CENTRAL console is not made for such approach?

    What's the proper way to organize endpoints by companies I manage?
    BTW...I guess some usernames or device names might also duplicate in this mixed view, so it is essential for me to have some groups or containers, AND also to manage them all from my central cloud (...NOT each company by itself with different usernames and passwords).

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  • Thanx,  , figured it out, tested. Installation goes smooth, but previous AV will probably be removed via old cloud console, not a big deal.

    One more question, if I may under this thread:

    I manage many companies. All other AV consoles had an option to sort/create/view/manage endpoints by companies, either creating Company containers, or Groups or something, and they were sorted in such manner all around web interface. But here with Sophos CENTRAL I only see menu COMPUTERS AND DEVICES and they are all there mixed up. I cannot display them by group or something.

    Even more...under USERS there is really no way to know, which user belongs to which company, except for those, who are members of AD domain. I guess when I will have hundreds or thousands of users there, it will be total mess. Maybe CENTRAL console is not made for such approach?

    What's the proper way to organize endpoints by companies I manage?
    BTW...I guess some usernames or device names might also duplicate in this mixed view, so it is essential for me to have some groups or containers, AND also to manage them all from my central cloud (...NOT each company by itself with different usernames and passwords).

Children
  • Thank you for reaching out to the community forum.

    Sophos Central alone can't make this possible, but all of this can be achieved when you set up the Sophos Central Enterprise Dashboard by creating sub-estates for every company you manage under your Entperise Central Account. You can manage them gradually.
    For reference you may check this link below.
    https://docs.sophos.com/central/enterprise/help/en-us/SophosCentralEnterprise/index.html 
    https://support.sophos.com/support/s/article/KBA-000004992?language=en_US 

    I'll drop you a direct message on your community account to inquire further about this. 

    Glenn ArchieSeñas (GlennSen)
    Global Community Support Engineer

    The New Home of Sophos Support Videos!  Visit Sophos Techvids
  • Hi,  ,

    thank you for this. I see deeper I dig into those websites, more confusing it gets. It took me long to dicover COMPANIES in one of the web portals, and I was confused there already, as it took me one customer support call to discover, that company can only be created by adding trial Intercept-X, which I do not want for most of them.
    Now those Sub-Estates increase complexity and I am lost even more - what's the difference between those?

    Maybe my point of view:

    I am sub-reseller, not directly bound to Sophos, but have partnership with local Sophos distributor. I have contracts with end-customers for IT support, so I already have access to end-customer resources, and Sophos firewalls, InterceptX and other products are among those. My goal is to have as easy as possible overview, insight and access to management to all those resources, without having to login multiple times or having opened a dozen of browser tabs for each resource separately.

    At the same time I would like to have them all organized, so clients, licenses and resources of one end-customer would be in one place... however, in places, where I can see them ALL in one interface, I would like to easily distinguish who and what and where. So my initial annoyance about having Firewalls listed by serial number is one of those things, which render my management more difficult.

  • Sophos Central Enterprise is intended for use on a campus-like environment and may not be suitable for your needs. 

    I'd suggest getting set up with the Sophos Central Partner Dashboard. Visually the two (Central Enterprise/Central Partner) look very similar, the difference being that Sophos Central Partner allows you to handle licensing separately for each Sub-Estate.

    Now those Sub-Estates increase complexity and I am lost even more - what's the difference between those?

    A sub-estate and customer site will be synonymous once things are fully set up.

    that company can only be created by adding trial Intercept-X

    This is not entirely correct. Once you have your own Sophos Central Partner Portal, you can contact our Customer Care team (See Phone Support) and request that the customers that you're currently working with, be added to your Partner instance. You will need to provide some identifying information from the customer site, such as "Unique ID"

    My goal is to have as easy as possible overview, insight and access to management to all those resources, without having to login multiple times or having opened a dozen of browser tabs for each resource separately.

    Once the Partner Portal is set up and all of your customers are linked, you will only need to log in to your main dashboard. Once there, you can select the desired customer site you'd like to navigate into and select "Launch" to enter their respective dashboard.

    Licensing information will also be displayed on the dashboard to let you know when to reach out regarding renewals. 

    There are two main pages you'll get to access, known as the "Sophos Central Partner Portal" (See guides here) and the "Sophos Central Partner Dashboard" (See overview guide here). 

    The Partner Portal is more closely tied to sales enablement, whereas the Partner Dashboard allows you to view and manage your customer sites.

    You can also find more guides under the Sophos MSP Guides section. This will require us to approve you for the Sophos Partner group. I will keep an eye out for your access request.

    Kushal Lakhan
    Team Lead, Global Community Support
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  • Well...

    A sub-estate and customer site will be synonymous once things are fully set up.

    That's great! Logical and probably expected step forward.

    ...you can select the desired customer site you'd like to navigate into and select "Launch" to enter their respective dashboard

    I've been struggling with this one for some time now, and finally figured it out:

    • if you click on desired company/customer, only pop-up info is shown
    • you need to click once on customer, then again on "Launch Customer" button

    There are two main pages you'll get to access, known as the "Sophos Central Partner Portal" (See guides here) and the "Sophos Central Partner Dashboard" (See overview guide here). 

    The Partner Portal is more closely tied to sales enablement, whereas the Partner Dashboard allows you to view and manage your customer sites.

    Well, this breaks my logic, unfortunatelly. I know Sophos will not change anything based on my nagging, but logging into Partner-something, which is not the same as Partner-other thing, and having a link thete to Partner Portal or Partner Dashboard...well, call me stupid or oldfashioned, but I get lost like Alice in wonderland Slight smile But I know, I will have to face it, so let's get used to it.

  • For your last point regarding the two different portals, while it can be a bit confusing at first if you wish to navigate directly into the Central Partner Dashboard, you can go to "central.sophos.com" and log in with your Sophos Partner credentials to be taken directly to the Dashboard. 

    If you wish to view the Partner Portal you can instead go to "partnerportal.sophos.com"

    Most customers with a similar use case as yourself will rarely need to go to the Partner Portal beyond some initial setup and deal registration. 

    I hope this helps, but if you do have any lingering questions please don't hesitate to follow up here.

    Kushal Lakhan
    Team Lead, Global Community Support
    Connect with Sophos Support, get alerted, and be informed.
    If a post solves your question, please use the "Verify Answer" button.
    The New Home of Sophos Support Videos!  Visit Sophos Techvids