Scenarios

For example, a group company with headquarters and multiple branches has over 10,000 endpoints. You can deploy Athena EPP at headquarters and branches for endpoint management. It enables the headquarters to centrally and dynamically allocate licenses to or revoke licenses from the branches. It allows a higher-level Athena EPP manager to view the security status and connected endpoints of a lower-level Athena EPP manager.

Cascade deployment supports up to three levels, and each Athena EPP can connect to up to 20 Athena EPP managers. The following figure shows a cascade Athena EPP environment.

Deployment requirements:

Cascade deployment requirements are as follows.

Cascade configuration:

Select servers for the headquarters and branches based on their endpoint quantities and deploy the Athena EPP manager on these servers.

Activate all licenses for the headquarters Athena EPP manager and allocate licenses from the headquarters Athena EPP manager to the branch Athena EPP manager.

Log in to a lower-level Athena EPP manager, go to System > Branches > Branches, and click Connection Key, as shown in the following figure.

Enter the current account's password, and click Generate, as shown in the following figure.

Click Copy to copy the connection key to a higher-level Athena EPP manager to complete the connection process.

Log in to a lower-level Athena EPP manager, go to System > System > Network > Advanced, and select Enable under SSH Service, as shown in the following figure.

Log in to a higher-level Athena EPP manager, go to System > Branches > Branches, and click Add Branch Manager. The Add Branch Manager dialog box appears, as shown in the following figure.

Specify the branch name, IP address, port, SSH port, administrator account username and password, and branch connection key, and click OK, as shown in the following figure.

Enter the password of the current account, and click OK. Then, you can see the added branch Athena EPP manager, as shown in the following figure.

The Branches tab includes columns such as Branch Name, IP Address, Licensing Mode, Used/Max Licenses, Last Synced, and Operation.

Licensing Mode: There are two licensing modes for lower-level Athena EPP managers in cascade deployment scenarios: standalone licensing and cascade licensing. In standalone licensing mode, lower-level Athena EPP managers have independent licenses, which the relevant higher-level Athena EPP manager cannot adjust dynamically. In cascade licensing mode, licenses of lower-level Athena EPP managers are allocated by the relevant higher-level Athena EPP manager, and the high-level Athena EPP manager can adjust these licenses dynamically according to actual needs.

Used/Max Licenses: The number of used licenses and the maximum number of licenses allowed on lower-level Athena EPP managers.

Evaluate the number of licenses each branch needs and allocate licenses from headquarters Athena EPP to branch Athena EPP.

Go to System > Branches > Branches, as shown in the following figure.

Select a branch, and click Adjust Licensing to go to the Adjust Licensing page, as shown in the following figure.

You can select Standalone Licensing or Cascade Licensing as the licensing mode of the lower-level Athena EPP manager. In standalone licensing mode, lower-level Athena EPP managers have independent licenses, which the relevant higher-level Athena EPP manager cannot adjust dynamically. In this example, select Cascade Licensing, and then specify the maximum number of endpoints and servers and the license period for the lower-level Athena EPP manager.

After you adjust the licensing mode to cascade licensing successfully, the following page appears.

The effect of the Cascade deployment:

Go to System > Branches > Branch Monitor, and move the pointer over the icon of a lower-level Athena EPP manager to view its security status or click Visit Branch Manager to go to its login page, as shown in the following figure.

2. View the connected endpoints of a lower-level Athena EPP manager.

Go to Endpoints > Endpoint Groups, as shown in the following figure.

Cascade licensing is suitable for scenarios where a certain number of licenses need to be allocated and revoked dynamically across branches.

After activating a certain number of licenses for a higher-level Athena EPP manager without activating any license for lower-level Athena EPP managers, you can allocate licenses to or revoke licenses from lower-level Athena EPP managers on the higher-level Athena EPP manager.

Go to System > Branches > Branches, as shown in the following figure.

Select a branch, and click Adjust Licensing to go to the Adjust Licensing page, as shown in the following figure.

You can select Standalone Licensing or Cascade Licensing as the licensing mode of the lower-level Athena EPP manager. In standalone licensing mode, lower-level Athena EPP managers have independent licenses, which the relevant higher-level Athena EPP manager cannot adjust dynamically. In this example, select Cascade Licensing, and then specify the maximum number of PCs and servers and the license period for the lower-level Athena EPP manager.

After you adjust the licensing mode to cascade licensing successfully, the following page appears.

As shown in the following figure, you can go to the management page for a lower-level Athena EPP manager by clicking Visit Branch Manager on the Branch Monitor tab of the relevant higher-level Athena EPP manager.