Agent Overview
The Broadcast Suite Agent allows the Broadcast Suite Core to execute actions on a Windows PC.
It is also possible for the Broadcast Suite Agent to report back the currently logged-in user.
The Agent in Broadcast Suite
In Broadcast Suite, the agent is displayed as an agent device.
An agent device can be created manually.
However, as various values are required, we recommend that the agent registers itself with Broadcast Suite.
You can find out exactly how this works under Before You Start.
Agent Version
The agent and the core must always have the same version.
When the core is updated, all agents must be updated too.
If an agent does not have the same version as the core, this is displayed as a system alert.
How the Agent Works
Communication between the core and the agent is done via gRPC. The only exception is the discovery process, which is done via UDP.
Register
The registration is described in the discovery process section.
Ping
The ping acts as a keep alive between the agent and the core.
The core requires this ping to be able to display the device status of the agent device.
The agent requires the response of the ping to be informed about changed agent settings.
The ping only starts if the agent has successfully registered with the core.
User Logon
The agent offers the possibility to monitor the current session status of the Windows user.
If the status of the user changes, the agent sends this information to the core,
where it can be monitored with a Windows User Logon Trigger.
The following user session events can currently be monitored:
| Value | Description |
|---|---|
| Session Logon | Triggered when the agent is started |
| Session Logoff | Triggered when the user logs out of the session or when the agent is terminated |
| Session Unlock | Triggered when the user unlocks his session |
| Session Lock | Triggered when the user locks his session |
After the agent has been started, the Session Logon event is sent to the core.
If the core cannot be reached while the agent is starting,
the status is sent again as soon as the ping has received a valid response.
If the core is restarted or an Apply Config is made,
the agent receives this information via the ping response
and sends the last known status to the core so that it is informed of the current status again.
The monitoring only starts if the agent has successfully registered with the core.
Execute Actions
Actions (see the list below) can be executed on an agent.
The event specifies where an action should be executed, either on the local core or on an agent.
Action Execution Workflow
If an action should be executed on an agent, the core sends a message containing the action to the agent.
Upon receiving the action, the agent initializes and executes it.
If the action contains placeholders, the agent sends these placeholders back to the core.
The core replaces the placeholders and sends the replaced values back to the agent.
After executing the action, the agent sends the result back to the core, which logs the result in the action history.
If the core does not receive a result from the agent within the defined Action Execution Timeout,
the action is marked as Execution failed.
Any results received after the timeout will be ignored.
The Action Execution Timeout can be defined in the Agent Settings.
To execute actions on an agent, the agent must open a gRPC stream to the core. Due to network restrictions, the core cannot establish a connection to the agent. However, the agent-initiated gRPC stream enables the core to communicate with the agent.
Agent Actions
The following actions can be executed on an agent: