17: Why do I see duplicate computer entries in PolicyPak Cloud (Or, what is Loose, Strict and Advanced Registration)?

If PolicyPak is uninstalled while the endpoint is connected to the internet and thereby has a connection to the PolicyPak Cloud server, the existing computer account will be deleted, removing it from all group membership and relinquishing its license.

However, if the endpoint cannot connect to the PolicyPak cloud server, or has crashed and been rebuild, the computer registration model configured in your cloud portal will determine how the computer accounts and memberships are handled.

Mode Definitions

Strict: Strict will always create a new secure certificate connection and treat the computer as if it has never been seen before. The computer will lose any group memberships that may exist, leaving it the built-in defaults of “all” and “unassigned”.

Loose (allow computers to recovery access by UUID): If a computer account already exists (and matches by hardware UUID only) then it will use the existing account. If a computer is already a member of company groups, all membership is maintained.

Loose (allow computers to recovery access by UUID or MAC Address): If a computer account already exists (and matches by hardware UUID or MAC address) then it will use the existing account. If a computer is already a member of company groups, all membership is maintained.

Advanced (always register a new computer and keep existing records): If a computer account already exists (and matches by hardware UUID or MAC address) then create a new computer account is created, just as you would do in strict mode. The difference is that the record for the previous computer is not deleted. Thus, multiple computers with the same hardware can be registered; each with their own unique record in PolicyPak Cloud. This is useful for VDI environments where the machines are identical, but each must be registered independently.

Sample Scenario

This example shows what would happen to the computer accounts and their group memberships for each registration mode in the following scenario.

In this scenario, a sample endpoint has the PolicyPak Cloud software installed and the computer account is a member of a custom “Company Group”. For each registration mode, the computer is disconnected from the internet, thereby unable to communicate with the PolicyPak Cloud server, and will have the PolicyPak Cloud software removed. Communication is then re-established and PolicyPak Cloud software reinstalled.