Proof Of Concept

Software Version: Recast Management Server requires .NET 4.7 or higher.

1. Open Add Roles and Features. 

2. When the Add Roles and Features Wizard opens, click Next.

3. Select Role-based or feature-based installation and click Next. 

4. Select your destination server and click Next. 

5. On the Select server roles page, click Next. 

6. On the Select features page, select .NET Framework > ASP.NET 4.7 and click Next.

7. Confirm your installation selections and click Install. Windows will install ASP.NET 4.7 in the background. 

1. Open Add Roles and Features.  

2. When the Add Roles and Features Wizard opens, click Next.  

3. Select Role-based or feature-based installation and click Next. 

4. Select your destination server and click Next.

5. In Server Roles, click Web Server (IIS). Click Add Features. 

6. Confirm that Web Server (IIS) is selected and click Next. 

7. On the Web Server Role (IIS) page, click Next.

8. When the Role Services page opens, click Next. (The default settings are fine for our install.)

  9. Confirm your installation selections and click Install. Windows will install IIS in the background.  

After enabling .NET and IIS on your server, you will need to install SQL. This is an optional step that can be skipped if you have a separate SQL instance that you will be using for your Recast Management Server Database.

To install SQLExpress:

1. Download SQLExpress from https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/Download/details.aspx?id=101064. When you begin installation, you will be presented with the installation type screen. Select Basic installation.

2. Accept the SQL Server License Terms. 

3. Choose the install location and click Install. 

4. After installation completes, it is recommended that you install the SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS). The download is also located here: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/ssms/download-sql-server-management-studio-ssms?view=sql-server-ver15.

To change the network configuration:

1. Open SQL Server Configuration Manager.

2. Select SQL Server Network Configuration and double-click on Protocols for SQL Express.

3. Select TCP/IP.

4. Change Enabled to 'Yes'. 

5. Select  the IP Addresses tab and scroll down to the IPAll section.  

6. Add port 1433 as the TCP Port (this is the standard port for SQL)  

7. You will need to stop and restart the service for changes to take effect. Return to the front page of the SQL Server Configuration Manager and right-click on the running SQL server instance. Select Restart. 

You are now ready to install the Recast Management Server. 

You can install the Recast Management Server by double-clicking on the installer.

1. When the Recast Management Server Setup Wizard opens, click Next. 

2. The server name where you are installing the Recast Management Server should appear in the Server Name section, you can choose the IIS port you would like to use for communication in your environment. We default to 444 because if the RMS is installed on a ConfigMgr server, 443 is already in use by ConfigMgr. 

3. Select the Certificate Configuration for the server communication. You can select an existing certificate if you are sure it is an IIS Certificate with modern encryption. If you are not sure, have the installer generate a self-signed certificate. With a self-signed certificate when users connect their Right Click Tools to the Recast Management Server the first time they will be presented with a dialog box asking if they would like to trust the self-signed certificate. If they select yes, they will not need to do any additional actions. 

4. Set the SQL information from the SQL instance we installed earlier. If you used the default information from the install instructions above, your SQL Configuration page will look like the one below. Click “Test SQL Connection” to verify that you can connect to the SQL installation. 

5. Import your License information. You can either download the license file from https://portal.recastsoftware.com or enter your Email address and Password from the portal to load your license. 

6. Enter the Service Account information you would like to use for the Recast Proxy. Note that the proxy MUST be installed for scheduling of Builder/Kiosk Manager actions or to have Right Click Tools actions run as a Service Account. Proxy is also required to access Web Dashboards in the Recast Management Server. Also note that the Service Account that you use for the Recast Proxy must have at least full read permission to Active Directory and Configuration Manager. It must also have the ability to read directly from the ConfigMgr SQL database, as well as the MBAM Database if it exists. It is recommended that you install the Proxy during your POC.

See Proxy Service Account Permission Requirements.

7. The next window will verify that your Proxy Service Account has permission to read from Active Directory. When you click Test Domain Connection,  it should read Success when completed successfully. 

8. The next window is verifying that your Proxy Service Account has permissions to read from your Configuration Manager installation. Note that your Service Account must have permission as at least a Read Only Analyst in Configuration Manager, and must be allowed to read from the ConfigMgr Database directly. 

See Configuring Permissions for the ConfigMgr SQL Database.

9. If you have STANDALONE MBAM in your environment, click on the greyed out screen to enter information about your MBAM installation. Otherwise, click Install.

10. The MBAM Configuration window checks that your Proxy Service Account has permission to read from the MBAM database. 

See Configuring Permissions for the MBAM SQL Database. 

11. Click Install when the test is successful.

When Management Server installation completes, you can click on the highlighted link to go to the management server URL, or you can click Finish and paste the URL into a modern (NOT IE) browser. 

You are ready to move on to Configuring your Recast Management Server.

It is now time to set up the configuration of your Recast Management Server

1. After installation you need to configure your Recast Management Server. Upon first opening the Recast Management Server website it will ask you to login. When you first login, you MUST use the same account that you used to install the Recast Management Server.  
2. When you first log in, the screen should look like this with “Home”, “Administration” and “Dashboards” displaying on the side of the Recast Management Server page:  
3. Open the “Administration” drop down menu, and select “Permissions”  
4. Click on the “Add User” button at the top right of the “Recast Users” section.  
5. Add your user account in the “Name” section of the dialog box and click “Search”. Click Add” Users to add the user to the Recast Management Server. 
   
6. You can now see the user you have added in the Recast Users section.  
7. Click on the blue pencil and paper icon next to the trash can to give yourself a role. Note that all users must be assigned a role or they will not have permissions within Right Click Tools or the Recast Management Server. Assign yourself the Administrators role on all scopes as shown in the screenshot below and click “Save”  
8. Next check to make sure that your proxy is connected to the Recast Management Server by clicking on the Proxies section on the left hand side of the screen. The proxy that you installed should be showing as Connected and Authorized.  
9. Next click on the Routes section on the left hand side of the screen. By default you should see the Recast Agent and Right Click Tools routes in the window.  
10. In order to configure the Recast Management Server so that the Recast Proxy can function, we need to add a route for the Proxy. Click on Create. For the type, keep it as “Service Account” Under Recast Proxy, select the proxy that was installed on your RMS server. Under Role assign the Administrators role, and have the scope assigned as “All”. Once you have completed those, click “Create” 
11. After clicking create, you will see the changes that you made at the bottom of the routes page. Click Save to save this configuration.  
12. Optional Step: If you would like to run actions as the Proxy Service Account, you can drag the Service Account route at the bottom of the list to the top of the list. This will ensure that the action is run as that service account. (As shown below) 

You are now ready to move to Step 6: Connecting your Right Click Tools installation to the Recast Management Server.

1. Close all open ConfigMgr consoles on your chosen computer. Then double click on the installer .msi to install. The installer will open and you should click "Next" to continue. 
2. In the screen that follows select the Recast RCT Enterprise Standalone Version. 
3. Enter the Server name that hosts the Recast Management Server. If you are using a port other than 444 for the Recast Management Server change the Server Port. Hit "Test Connection" to verify the information is correct and you can connect to the server. Click install to finish the installation.
4. To verify that your Right Click Tools have installed correctly, open the ConfigMgr console on the computer where you just installed Right Click Tools. Click on the Recast node on the left hand side of the screen. On the right side of the resulting screen it should show the Right Click Tools version, the Enterprise License box should be checked and Remote Server Status will be connected. 
5. You are now ready for Step 7: Try Some Right Click Tools Actions

After you have installed the Right Click Tools and have verified that you see the connected status in the Recast node, it's time to make sure that the tools are working correctly.

1. Right Click on a device in your ConfigMgr console and run a simple action (for example a Machine Policy and Retrieval Evaluation Cycle.) The action should return as Complete! 
2. Go to the Audit Log in the Recast Management Server. You should be able to find a corresponding Audit Log entry for the action you just ran. 
3. In the Recast Management Server, open the dashboards menu on the left side and select one of the dashboards. You may need to add your domain and ConfigMgr information. When it runs successfully that will show that the Recast Proxy you installed and configured is working correctly.