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Duplicate machine names for non-persistent VDI desktops in Sophos Central

I am attempting to get the Sophos Central full client installed on non-persistent VDI desktops. I was able to remove the identification pieces on the master/parent image and create new desktops with no issue. The problem that I am having is that once the desktop pool limit is reached, the names are recycled, and this is creating a new machines in Sophos Central with the same name. With this being the case, the number of licensed desktops will not be accurate and my licensed machine limit will be reached quickly, unless I manually clean them update which isn't feasible. 

Has anyone else ran into this issues with getting Sophos Central working on non-persistent VDI desktops?

Thanks in advance!



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  • Hello Jeremy Koons,

    I've also read the other thread. I see the duplicate problem but isn't it the case that lots of registered desktops no longer exist as they are non-persistent? And therefore that the number isn't accurate (well, already unduly high) even without duplicates? And shouldn't eventually users get counted? Or did I miss something?

    Christian 

  • Hi Christian,

    It looks like you might be correct and its the actual users that are licensed and not the computers. As far as the duplicates, when a computer name is reused for a new desktop, both the old and new machines are showing in Sophos Central. With having all of these machines in Sophos Central, its going to be hard to know which computer is the current active machine. What I would like to see is if a new machine is registered with Sophos Central, the old machine would be replaced or deleted.

    Jeremy

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  • Hi Christian,

    It looks like you might be correct and its the actual users that are licensed and not the computers. As far as the duplicates, when a computer name is reused for a new desktop, both the old and new machines are showing in Sophos Central. With having all of these machines in Sophos Central, its going to be hard to know which computer is the current active machine. What I would like to see is if a new machine is registered with Sophos Central, the old machine would be replaced or deleted.

    Jeremy

Children
  • Hello Jeremy,

    matching machines or telling them apart is an everlasting story since long before Central.
    For the on-premise product (SEC) an endpoint is considered the same if the name and certain attributes are identical to a "known" computer even if the ID is different (assuming AV - or even the OS - has been reinstalled). This can have the unwanted effect that two (or more) independent active computers with the same name are merged into one object. For both Central and SEC computers presenting the same ID (regardless of other attributes) are considered to be one and the same (assuming the endpoint has e.g. been renamed). Apparently the same name behaviour has been dropped for Central (if I had to guess - because Central customers might have less control over the computers' names on which users install).

    So, assuming the matching logic has been deliberately written in the way it seems, the problems is - based on which criteria should a device be removed? In the on-premise version you can use the time since the computer has last "checked in" to automate (it's not built in but you can schedule the utility externally) deletion. Dunno if something like this exists (or will come) in Central.

    Christian 

  • Hi Christian,

    I really appreciate the information on this and the logic behind how its working. With having a large number of customers that utilize VDI with non-persistent desktops, this will make Sophos Central unusable for them, and I will need to find another solution/product if we cant resolve this. I will reach out to Sophos Support to see if this is something their developers can change, to allow it to work in non-persistent environments.

    ~Jeremy