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Endpoints

An endpoint is a computer with the Outpost agent installed. Every endpoint reports its hardware, software, security posture, and signed-in users to your Outpost, and every action you take on a computer from the console is taken on an endpoint. This section covers finding endpoints, reading what they report, acting on them, organizing them, and the devices on their networks that do not have an agent yet.

For the words this section uses, such as site, device group, and tag, see Concepts and vocabulary.

The Endpoints section of the navigation rail holds five pages:

PageWhat it is for
All endpointsThe endpoint list. Search, filter, save views, rename, and wake endpoints.
Device groupsNamed sets of endpoints that a profile can be assigned to.
TagsYour own labels, applied automatically from what runs on an endpoint, shown beside the server roles Outpost detects.
SitesThe buildings and departments endpoints, people, and profiles attach to.
DiscoveryDevices on your networks that have no agent. Shown only to technicians with discovery:read.
Network mapHow the client’s devices connect, with documented diagrams and racks. Shown only to technicians with discovery:read. See Network maps.

The Users section, directly under Endpoints, lists the people who use your endpoints and the accounts they sign in with. See End users and user groups.

On the MSP plan, these pages belong to one client at a time. Choose a client first, and the Endpoints section shows that client’s endpoints.

Every endpoint has one of four statuses. The list’s Status filter shows each one by a plain-language name.

StatusName in the Status filterMeaning
activeIn serviceThe endpoint is enrolled and reporting.
offlineGone quietThe endpoint has not been seen for longer than its offline alert threshold.
pendingNever reported inThe endpoint enrolled but has never sent a report.
retiredRetiredThe endpoint was taken out of management. Its record and history are kept.

The list opens on the built-in In service view, which shows every endpoint that is not retired: active, offline, and never reported in. An endpoint that goes offline stays in that view. The Status filter value In service is narrower and matches active endpoints only. The built-in Gone quiet, Never reported in, and Retired views each filter on their status. See Use a view.

An endpoint becomes offline when it has gone unseen for longer than the monitoring.agent_offline_alert_minutes policy setting, 30 minutes by default. Outpost raises a critical offline alert at the same moment. When the endpoint reconnects, its status returns to active and the alert clears. Setting the threshold to 0 turns off both the alert and the status change for the endpoints it applies to.

The Status column of the list shows Connected for an endpoint whose agent holds a live connection to Outpost at that moment. The device icon in the Type column shows the same thing at a glance: it is colored by connection state, and its label, which screen readers announce and which appears when you point at the icon, reads online or offline, such as Computer, online. Retired endpoints and devices managed without an agent have a neutral icon. Connection status updates live without refreshing the page.

The endpoint page header has a Connect button that opens the remote viewer. On an endpoint that cannot share its screen, such as a Linux server without a display, FreeBSD, or OpenBSD, the button reads Open terminal and opens the viewer as a terminal-only window. Endpoint rows and endpoint search results offer the same action as an icon, labeled Connect to or Open terminal on followed by the hostname.

The button appears only when the endpoint is connected, supports remote access, and you have Initiate remote sessions (remote:initiate). Otherwise it is hidden, not disabled, and it never appears on pending, enrolling, or retired endpoints. See Remote access.

Retiring an endpoint revokes its certificate. The agent can no longer report to the console or be reached from it, and the endpoint stops being billed. Its record, inventory, and history stay in the console for the audit trail, and its detail page shows Retired on and the date. To manage the computer again, install the agent and enroll it again. See Endpoint actions.

What an endpoint can do depends on its platform

Section titled “What an endpoint can do depends on its platform”

Each endpoint reports what it can and cannot do, so the console can tell “this endpoint cannot do that” apart from “this endpoint found nothing”. When a tab, a section, or an action is unavailable on one endpoint, the console says why, in the agent’s own words. See Supported platforms.

The Agent capabilities section on the endpoint’s Overview lists every reported capability, including those it cannot use. Capabilities omitted from the report are unknown:

StatusMeaning
SupportedThe endpoint supports the capability.
Reported onlyThe endpoint reports information for the capability but does not manage it.
UnavailableThe capability is unavailable; the console shows the reason.
Not reportedThe agent has not supplied capability evidence.

Content is licensed CC BY 4.0. Code samples are MIT. Outpost and the Outpost mark are trademarks of Outpost Business Solutions, PBC and are not covered by either license.