- Endpoints (shared key) page: the key is presented as what PCs use until they enroll, with enrollment progress, a link to Enrollment, rewritten guidance, and rotate/revoke confirmations that say how many PCs are not enrolled yet. - Settings cards describe the server certificate as what PCs actually receive, on IIS or Docker; Enrollment has its own icon (the icon set lacked the one the Server Certificate card already asked for). - Server Certificate page checks the certificate the site presents at its public address and compares its pin with the certificate file, warning when they differ. The host comes from site settings only; the check is a TLS handshake, never an HTTP request. - Fleet list: Credential column and filter (enrolled, pending, re-enroll blocked, shared key, not reporting), computed in the list query. - PC detail: credential state, prefix and dates for fleet readers, state only for others, with admin Revoke (optionally blocking re-enrollment) and Allow re-enrollment. - Dashboard: pending enrollment requests, and PCs blocked from re-enrolling for more than seven days. - Runbook: where to find each of these in the app.
39 KiB
Endpoint agent contract (C# build reference)
Companion to DESIGN-DECISIONS-agent.md. This is the concrete wire contract the
future C# agent targets, derived from EndpointsPlugin.get_collector_schema()
and the generic collector dispatcher in shopdb/core/api/collector.py. When the
schema changes, update this file in the same change.
1. Transport
- Method/URL:
POST {baseurl}/api/collector/endpoints - Auth header:
X-API-Key: <collector key>(Bearer token also accepted). The key is a UI-managed, endpoints-only service token minted from Settings -> Endpoint agent key (section 7). A bootstrap.envcollector key still works until the first UI key is generated, then it is switched off (section 7). No querystring fallback. Agents 1.20 and later enroll and then sendX-Endpoint-Credentialinstead of the shared key (section 9). - Body:
application/json, a single flat object (NOT an array). One POST per report per endpoint. - Identity field:
hostname(required, case-insensitive).
2. Request payload
Only hostname is required. Every other field is optional; the server upserts
only the keys that are present, so a lightweight report can omit inventory
arrays. adopt is first-contact only.
{
"hostname": "SHOP-PC-014", // required, resolved to computers.hostname
"adopt": true, // first run ONLY; delegates PC creation to computers plugin
"loggedinuser": "j.smith",
"serialnumber": "5CD1234ABC", // adoption subset (forwarded to computers)
"pctype": "CNC Controller", // adoption subset
"machinenumber": "12345", // adoption subset; "" or "9999" == none
"agentversion": "1.0.0",
"trayversion": "1.0.0", // file version of the interactive tray exe, omitted if no tray
"lastboottime": "2025-01-14T06:12:00Z", // ISO-8601 UTC
"uptimeseconds": 86400,
"idleseconds": 120,
"cpupercent": 12.5,
"memorypercent": 47.0,
"services": [ /* opaque array, stored as JSON */ ],
"ports": [ /* opaque array */ ],
"interfaces": [
{
"alias": "Intel(R) Ethernet Connection", // adapter description
"ipv4": "10.20.30.40", // "" if none
"mac": "AA:BB:CC:DD:EE:FF",
"gateway": "10.20.30.1", // "" for the static machine-IPS NIC
"subnet": "255.255.255.0",
"dhcp": false
}
],
"scheduledtasks": [ /* opaque array */ ],
"disks": [
{
"drive": "C:",
"label": "OS",
"filesystem": "NTFS",
"sizebytes": 511000000000,
"freebytes": 128000000000,
"usedbytes": 383000000000,
"freepercent": 25.0 // precomputed; a threshold is a direct compare
}
],
"bios": { /* opaque object: vendor, version, release date */ },
"memory": { /* opaque object: totalbytes, freebytes */ },
"processor": { /* opaque object: name, cores, logicalprocessors, maxclockmhz */ },
"osinfo": { /* opaque object: build, version, install date */ },
"domain": "shopfloor.example.com", // domain or workgroup membership
"pendingreboot": false, // omit when unknown; absent != false
"rebootreasons": [], // [] = checked, nothing pending; see notes
"bootinfo": {
"hiberbootenabled": false, // fast startup CONFIGURED
"lastboottype": "Cold" // what the last boot DID: Cold|Fast startup|Resume|Unknown
},
"defender": { // persisted, deliberately not surfaced
"serviceenabled": true,
"realtimeenabled": true,
"signatureagedays": 0, // real 0 = updated today; null = did not report
"antispywareagedays": 0,
"quickscanagedays": 0
},
"diskhealth": [ // per PHYSICAL device; see notes
{
"deviceid": "0",
"model": "Samsung SSD 990 PRO 1TB",
"mediatype": "SSD",
"bustype": "NVMe",
"healthstatus": "Healthy",
"predictfailure": false, // precomputed; null = drive did not answer
"source": "physicaldisk" // or "diskdrive"
}
],
"usercontext": { // omitted entirely when nobody is signed in
"netuse": [
{
"localname": "Z:",
"remotename": "\\\\fileserver\\programs",
"status": "OK",
"username": "SHOPFLOOR\\operator",
"persistent": true
}
],
"userlisteners": [
{ "localaddress": "0.0.0.0", "localport": 7878, "processid": 4512, "processname": "DncMain" }
],
"idleseconds": 45,
"username": "operator",
"elevated": false, // token elevation of the collecting process;
// a spool stamped true is REJECTED (see 5.3)
"collectedat": "2025-01-14T06:12:00Z"
},
"events": [
{
"eventid": 6008, // required per item; non-catalog IDs are dropped, not errored
"eventrecordid": 184412, // Windows record id; dedupe key, see notes
"eventchannel": "System",
"eventsource": "EventLog",
"eventtime": "2025-01-14T06:11:58Z",
"eventmessage": "The previous system shutdown was unexpected.",
"fields": { "any": "extra" } // opaque object, stored as JSON
}
]
}
Notes:
adopt=trueis sent ONLY by the installer's first run. Steady-state reports omit it (or sendfalse). After adoption, an unknown hostname is a hard validation error again (DESIGN-DECISIONS-agent.md 1a).- The adoption subset (
serialnumber,pctype,machinenumber, plusloggedinuser) is forwarded to thecomputerscollector so the newly created PC is not a bare shell. Send them on first contact. services/ports/interfaces/scheduledtasksare stored verbatim as JSON; the server does not validate their inner shape yet. Keep them stable so the UI can render them later.interfacesreports EVERY hardware NIC (not just the primary) so the gatewayless static NIC that links a PC to its machine's IPS is preserved (DESIGN-DECISIONS-agent.md 9.3); each entry is{alias, ipv4, mac, gateway, subnet, dhcp}.machinenumberis discovered on-box by the agent from the eDNC registry (HKLM\SOFTWARE\[WOW6432Node\]GE Aircraft Engines\DNC\General:MachineNo) or the UDCudc_settings_*.json(GeneralSettings.MachineNumber), in that order (DESIGN-DECISIONS-agent.md 9.4/9.5).""or"9999"means none.eventrecordidis the Windows event record id: monotonic and unique within a channel on a machine. The agent uses it as a per-channel harvest watermark and the server enforces a unique index on(assetid, eventchannel, eventrecordid), so one real event is stored exactly once. It is nullable: an older agent omits it, and MySQL permits repeated NULLs in a unique index, so those reports keep the previous append behavior rather than failing ingest. Send it whenever the source record exposes one.disks/bios/memory/processor/osinfo/usercontextare stored verbatim as JSON snapshots on the endpoint state, newest-wins.domainandpendingrebootare scalar columns because the fleet view filters and alerts on them.- OMITTING a key is not the same as sending an empty value. Every one of these
fields is applied only when the key is PRESENT, so a report that omits it
preserves the last-known value. Send
null/[]only when you mean "this is genuinely empty now"; omit when you simply did not collect it this cycle. pendingrebootfollows that rule strictly: omit it when the check failed. A literalfalseasserts the endpoint is confirmed NOT holding a reboot.rebootreasonsis NOT redundant withpendingreboot. That key is a single bool OR-ed from three registry signals and cannot say which fired, and the difference is operational:pendingfilerenamemeans files are staged for replacement on next boot, so the box is mid-servicing, while a lonecomponentbasedservicingorwindowsupdatekey can sit set for weeks on a machine nobody has rebooted. Same boolean, very different urgency. An EMPTY array means checked and nothing pending; OMIT the key when the check failed.bootinfocarries two distinct facts that must not be collapsed:hiberbootenabledis whether fast startup is CONFIGURED (registry, always readable) andlastboottypeis what the last boot ACTUALLY did (Kernel-Boot event 27). The registry cannot tell you what the last boot did, and the event may have aged out of the log, so neither substitutes for the other. This exists because uptime LIES under fast startup: a box reports days of uptime after what the operator experienced as a shutdown.defenderis stored but deliberately NOT surfaced. Defender produces known false positives in this environment, so wiring it to a card now would train operators to ignore that card. Signature/scan ages are in DAYS; a real0means updated today, so sendnullwhen Defender did not report rather than defaulting to zero.interfacesentries gainedlinkspeedbpsandfullduplex, paired on by MAC fromMSFT_NetAdapter. Both arenullwhen link state was unreadable or the adapter is disconnected - an unknown duplex must not read as half-duplex.diskhealthis per PHYSICAL device and is NOT the same list asdisks, which is per volume. One physical drive can back several volumes or none the operator sees, so the two do not share a key and are not merged.diskhealthcarries BOTH agent sources and the server does not reconcile them.source: "physicaldisk"is MSFT_PhysicalDisk, the only source that reports NVMe at all - the classic ATA SMART class (MSStorageDriver_FailurePredictStatus) returns zero instances on an NVMe machine, so an agent collecting only that would report an empty health list on modern hardware and look like "no problems".source: "diskdrive"is Win32_DiskDrive.Status, covering ATA/SATA and hosts where the Storage namespace is unavailable. When both answer for one drive and disagree, both rows are shown; that disagreement is the signal.predictfailureis precomputed by the agent so an alert is a boolean test rather than a string match against a Windows enum the server would have to keep in sync.nullmeans the drive did not answer: unknown, NOT healthy.healthstatuskeeps the human-readable source value alongside it.usercontextis gathered by a probe run inside the signed-in operator's session by theShopDB user-context probescheduled task (and, opportunistically, by the tray), because mapped drives, user-owned listeners and idle time do not exist in the agent's own LocalSystem session 0. It is omitted when no one is signed in, which is a normal unattended state, not a fault. The security-context split that makes this work is normative; see section 5.portscarries LISTENING sockets only. The full connection table is available on demand via thenetwork_connectionscommand instead, because established connections churn constantly and would change every report for no diagnostic gain.
3. Response
Success (HTTP 200), ADR-006 envelope:
{
"status": "ok",
"action": "created", // "created" first time, "updated" thereafter
"assetid": 4821,
"identityvalue": "SHOP-PC-014",
"warnings": [
"adopted new computer for hostname: 'SHOP-PC-014'" // present only on adoption
]
}
Validation failure (HTTP 400) - e.g. unknown hostname with adopt absent:
{ "status": "error", "error": { "code": "VALIDATION_ERROR",
"message": "could not resolve hostname to a computer: 'SHOP-PC-014'" } }
Agent handling: treat non-200 as retryable except a VALIDATION_ERROR that
names an unresolved hostname on a NON-first-contact report - that means the PC
was removed server-side; surface it, do not spin.
4. C# DTOs
Match the JSON keys EXACTLY (lowercase, no underscores) to satisfy the naming rule; use attributes so C# properties can stay PascalCase without a camelCase serializer changing the wire keys.
using System.Text.Json.Serialization;
public sealed class EndpointReport
{
[JsonPropertyName("hostname")] public string Hostname { get; set; } = "";
[JsonPropertyName("adopt")] public bool? Adopt { get; set; }
[JsonPropertyName("loggedinuser")] public string? LoggedInUser { get; set; }
[JsonPropertyName("serialnumber")] public string? SerialNumber { get; set; }
[JsonPropertyName("pctype")] public string? PcType { get; set; }
[JsonPropertyName("machinenumber")] public string? MachineNumber { get; set; }
[JsonPropertyName("agentversion")] public string? AgentVersion { get; set; }
[JsonPropertyName("trayversion")] public string? TrayVersion { get; set; }
[JsonPropertyName("lastboottime")] public DateTimeOffset? LastBootTime { get; set; }
[JsonPropertyName("uptimeseconds")] public long? UptimeSeconds { get; set; }
[JsonPropertyName("idleseconds")] public long? IdleSeconds { get; set; }
[JsonPropertyName("cpupercent")] public double? CpuPercent { get; set; }
[JsonPropertyName("memorypercent")] public double? MemoryPercent { get; set; }
[JsonPropertyName("services")] public object[]? Services { get; set; }
[JsonPropertyName("ports")] public object[]? Ports { get; set; }
[JsonPropertyName("interfaces")] public object[]? Interfaces { get; set; }
[JsonPropertyName("scheduledtasks")]public object[]? ScheduledTasks { get; set; }
[JsonPropertyName("disks")] public object[]? Disks { get; set; }
[JsonPropertyName("bios")] public object? Bios { get; set; }
[JsonPropertyName("memory")] public object? Memory { get; set; }
[JsonPropertyName("processor")] public object? Processor { get; set; }
[JsonPropertyName("osinfo")] public object? OsInfo { get; set; }
[JsonPropertyName("domain")] public string? Domain { get; set; }
[JsonPropertyName("pendingreboot")] public bool? PendingReboot { get; set; }
[JsonPropertyName("usercontext")] public object? UserContext { get; set; }
[JsonPropertyName("applications")] public object[]? Applications { get; set; }
[JsonPropertyName("events")] public EndpointEventRecord[]? Events { get; set; }
}
public sealed class EndpointEventRecord
{
[JsonPropertyName("eventid")] public int EventId { get; set; }
[JsonPropertyName("eventrecordid")] public long? EventRecordId { get; set; }
[JsonPropertyName("eventchannel")] public string? EventChannel { get; set; }
[JsonPropertyName("eventsource")] public string? EventSource { get; set; }
[JsonPropertyName("eventtime")] public DateTimeOffset? EventTime { get; set; }
[JsonPropertyName("eventmessage")] public string? EventMessage { get; set; }
[JsonPropertyName("fields")] public Dictionary<string, object>? Fields { get; set; }
}
public sealed class CollectorResponse
{
[JsonPropertyName("status")] public string Status { get; set; } = "";
[JsonPropertyName("action")] public string? Action { get; set; }
[JsonPropertyName("assetid")] public int? AssetId { get; set; }
[JsonPropertyName("identityvalue")] public string? IdentityValue { get; set; }
[JsonPropertyName("warnings")] public string[]? Warnings { get; set; }
}
Serializer settings: DefaultIgnoreCondition = JsonIgnoreCondition.WhenWritingNull
so omitted fields are not sent (server upserts only present keys). Send UTC ISO-8601.
5. Security contexts, spool handoff and log destinations (NORMATIVE)
Three processes run as three different principals. Confusing them is what makes
usercontext silently empty, so the boundaries are fixed by contract.
| Process | Runs as | May write to |
|---|---|---|
Service (shopdbagent.exe) |
LocalSystem, session 0 | %ProgramData%\ShopDB\EndpointAgent\logs\<date>-agent.log |
Tray + probe (shopdb-endpoint-tray.exe, shopdbagent.exe --collect-usercontext) |
ShopFloor operator, interactive session, UNELEVATED (task principal S-1-5-32-545 at RunLevel Limited) |
C:\Users\ShopFloor\ShopDB\ and C:\Users\ShopFloor\ShopDB\Logs\<date>-trayagent.log |
Installer (install.ps1, generated by _install_script() in plugins/endpoints/api/siteagent.py) |
Elevated admin, one-shot | %ProgramData%\ShopDB\Logs\<datetime>-shopdbinstall.log and the append-only ledger %ProgramData%\ShopDB\Logs\shopdbagent-installs.log |
Rules:
- The operator cannot write to
C:\Program Filesor to the SYSTEM-owned%ProgramData%\ShopDB\EndpointAgent\logs. Anything running in the user's session MUST log underC:\Users\ShopFloor\ShopDB\Logs. The file log sink degrades to a silent no-op when it cannot create its directory, so violating this does not raise an error - it discards the log line and the failure becomes invisible. - User context is collected in the operator's own logon session, because
mapped drives, user-owned listeners and idle time are per-session and do not
exist in session 0. The service MUST NOT try to descend into the session to
collect them. The authoritative collector is the
ShopDB user-context probescheduled task, registered by the installer against theBUILTIN\Usersgroup (S-1-5-32-545) atRunLevel Limited, triggered at logon and every 30 minutes. The tray also probes on its own cadence and writes the same spool; the two are belt-and-braces and the last writer wins. - The probe MUST NOT run elevated, and a spool stamped
elevatedis REJECTED. Drive letters are a property of the logon token, not the machine: an elevated process gets a different token to the operator's interactive one and enumerates a different, usually empty, drive table. This was measured on a live endpoint, where the same two shares reportedUnavailablefrom an elevated shell andOKfrom the operator's, in bothWin32_NetworkConnectionandGet-SmbMapping.--collect-usercontexttherefore refuses to run when elevated (exit code 2) rather than producing a confident wrong answer, and the installer MUST NOT start the tray or probe as a child process - it is elevated, andexplorer.exede-elevates without changing ACCOUNT, so an install run by an admin produced a probe running as that admin. It MUST instead reach the operator's session through a scheduled task principal.RunLevel Limitedon the task is load-bearing for the same reason; a task promoted toHighestreproduces the bug while still looking registered. - The probe WRITES the spool; the service only READS it. The spool PERSISTS
and is overwritten by each probe run. The service MUST NOT delete it: the
collector's last-known-good cache is in-memory only, so consuming the file
meant a service restart blanked mapped drives until the next probe cycle.
Staleness is bounded by the in-file
collectedatstamp (max age 90 minutes), not by deletion, so a probe that has stopped running still stops re-reporting stale drives - it just does so on a timer instead of on a read. - The spool location is fixed at
C:\Users\ShopFloor\ShopDB\usercontext.json, and writer and reader MUST derive it from the same helper. Every shop-floor endpoint uses the same localShopFlooraccount. Resolving the path throughWTSQueryUserTokenor through%USERPROFILE%is forbidden: the former is privileged and endpoint protection blocks it, the latter is wrong under a brokered or re-parented tray launch, and in both cases the writer and reader disagree about the location with no error on either side. - The probe MUST verify the spool exists after writing it. A zero exit code
from
powershell.exeproves the interpreter started, not that a file was produced; success is reported only when the file is present on disk. - A spool not stamped
ShopFlooris REJECTED. collectingusernameand the service discards any spool whose stamp is missing or different. Drive mappings from the wrong session are worse than no drive mappings, so this fails loudly rather than degrading quietly. - Losing user context is never fatal. If the
ShopFloorprofile is absent or unwritable,usercontextis omitted and telemetry, commands, inventory and the command channel continue unaffected. --collect-usercontextMUST NOT touch privileged resources. It runs as the operator and only writes into that operator's own profile, so it is handled before the service's bootstrap logger, fault monitor and config load. It MUST NOT open the SYSTEM-owned log directory, register an EventLog source, or readCollectorKeyfrom HKLM - those are precisely the calls an EPM broker intercepts, and the registry read would put the collector secret in a process that has no need of it. It therefore also works on a host whose CollectorKey has not been provisioned yet.- The installer provisions
C:\Users\ShopFloor\ShopDB\and itsLogssubdirectory withShopFloor: Modifybefore the probe first runs. - Every install appends one line to the install ledger, including
reinstalls and repeat installs of the same version, recording timestamp,
host, installing user, service version, tray version, install directory and
the user-context task state (
ok:<principal>/<runlevel>,UNVERIFIED:...,FAILED:...orskipped). The task is the single point of failure for session-scoped collection, so its registration outcome MUST be recorded where it survives the install transcript. - Task registration MUST be verified by reading the task back, not inferred
from
Register-ScheduledTaskreturning without error. Policy or a management agent can rewrite or drop a task after registration, and a task that exists but runs with the wrong principal or run level looks healthy in the scheduler UI while producing wrong data. - All log filenames use
<stamp>-<component>.logso service, tray and installer logs sort chronologically and collect with one date-leading glob.
The three log destinations are deliberately separate: an install is one-shot and elevated, the service log is a rolling runtime log, and the tray log is the only one written from the operator's session. Merging them makes an install indistinguishable from runtime behaviour when reading a failure back.
6. "Build site agent" settings flow (build cadence)
Goal: an operator in ShopDB Settings produces an instance-locked .exe that
knows its server URL and its collector key, needing no manual config on the
client.
- Settings -> "Build site agent": operator picks/creates a collector-scoped
managed token (the same token accepted by
X-API-Keyon/api/collector/endpoints). This binds the build to one ShopDB instance. - Server stamps a small config (base URL + token + reporting cadence) into the agent build artifact. Instance-locked = the token only works against that server, and the server can revoke it to kill a leaked build.
- First run on a client:
- Collect the ShopDB PowerShell asset-collector data set (minus the CSV emit): hostname, logged-in user, serial number, pc type, machine number, boot time, plus the curated event tail.
- POST once with
adopt=true. The endpoints plugin delegates PC creation to thecomputerscollector, then writes the firstEndpointStatein the same commit. The endpoint appears in the Fleet UI immediately - no second call, no separate enrollment endpoint.
- Subsequent runs POST on the configured cadence with
adoptomitted; strict hostname resolution applies from then on.
Open item (from DESIGN-DECISIONS-agent.md 1a): whether adopt stays a
per-report flag or is promoted to a site setting (strict vs self-adopting
fleet). Default proposed: agent sends adopt=true on first run only.
7. UI-managed agent key (kill switch)
The endpoint agent authenticates with a single UI-managed key scoped to ONLY
collector.ingest.endpoints, so rotating or revoking it stops all
endpoint-agent traffic without affecting the computers or geenforce collectors.
- Settings -> Endpoint agent key (admin only) generates the key. The full secret
is shown ONCE at generation and stored only as a hash afterwards; configure it
as the agent
X-API-Key. - Generating a key is a hard cutover: any previous endpoint key is revoked in the
same request, and the bootstrap
.envfallback for endpoints is switched off (plugin.endpoints.envkeyfallback-> false), so the managed key becomes the sole credential. - Regenerate to rotate (old key dies immediately). Revoke to stop all endpoint-agent reporting until a new key is generated - the kill switch for a leaked agent.
- Backend:
GET/POST /api/endpoints/agentkey,POST /api/endpoints/agentkey/regenerate,DELETE /api/endpoints/agentkey. These use themint_service_token/list_service_tokens/revoke_service_tokenscontract helpers (shopdb.api, contract 0.22.0).
The bootstrap .env key (COLLECTOR_API_KEY[_ENDPOINTS]) remains only as a
first-run path before a UI key exists; it cannot be the runtime kill switch
because container env is injected at boot and cannot be rotated live.
8. Command channel (WebUI -> agent)
The WebUI can send an endpoint an ALLOWLISTED command (never an arbitrary
command string). Delivery is agent-initiated long-poll, so shop-floor PCs open
no inbound port: the agent makes an outbound request the server holds open until
a command is queued, runs it locally, and posts the result back. All three
routes reuse the same endpoints collector key (section 7) via X-API-Key, so
the command channel shares the kill switch and adds no second secret.
Allowlisted actions (server source of truth: plugins/endpoints/commands.py):
mtconnect_start- run the MTConnect UDC agent start script (C:\ProgramData\UDC\MTConnect_UDC\Agent\run.bat).mtconnect_stop- stop the running MTConnect UDC agent process.mtconnect_status- report whether the MTConnect UDC agent is running.network_connections- return the full TCP connection table with owning process ids and names. Read-only diagnostic. The result is capped at 500 connections with atruncatedflag indetail, because an oversized payload rejected by the server returns nothing at all and a partial answer is more useful than a failed one. Standard reports carry listening ports only.run_script- run a reviewed PowerShell script from the script library. The body is NOT carried on the command channel; the claim carries a descriptor and the agent fetches the bytes separately (section 7.4).
7.1 Claim the next command (long-poll)
GET {baseurl}/api/endpoints/commands/next?hostname=<hostname>
- Auth:
X-API-Key(endpoints collector key). - The server holds the request open up to ~25s. If a command is queued it is atomically claimed (marked running) and returned; only one poll ever claims a given command.
- Command queued (HTTP 200):
{ "status": "ok", "data": { "endpointcommandid": 91, "action": "mtconnect_start" } }
- Nothing queued within the hold window: HTTP 204 (no body). Re-poll.
7.2 Report a command result
POST {baseurl}/api/endpoints/commands/<endpointcommandid>/result
- Auth:
X-API-Key(endpoints collector key). - Body:
{
"succeeded": true, // required; false marks the command failed
"message": "MTConnect started", // short summary, optional (<= 2000 chars)
"mtconnectrunning": true, // optional; observed run state after the action
"detail": { "any": "extra" } // optional structured detail, stored as JSON
}
- When
mtconnectrunningis present the server caches it on the endpoint'sEndpointState(mtconnectrunning+mtconnectcheckedat) so the WebUI toggle shows a real state between polls. Everymtconnect_*action SHOULD probe and report the resulting run state so the toggle never lies.
7.3 Enqueue (WebUI side, for reference)
POST /api/endpoints/<assetid>/commands with { "action": "mtconnect_start" },
gated by user JWT + endpoints.command. Only one command may be in flight per
endpoint (a second enqueue returns HTTP 409 until the first finalizes).
7.4 run_script claim descriptor
A run_script claim carries a script object alongside the usual
endpointcommandid and action:
{
"scriptid": 12,
"scriptname": "sfld_autologon",
"installpath": "/api/endpoints/scriptbody/12", // fetch with X-API-Key
"sha256": "3f9a...", // 64 hex chars, lowercase
"runcontext": "system", // "system" | "user"
"workingdirectory": "C:\\Tools", // "" = agent staging folder
"errormode": "default" // "default" | "strict"
}
The agent MUST download installpath, verify the SHA-256 of the received bytes
against sha256, and refuse to run on mismatch. The body never travels on the
command channel so a queued command cannot be used to smuggle code past review.
workingdirectory is the folder the script runs from. Empty means the agent's
staging directory, which is correct for a self-contained script and wrong for
one invoking a separately-installed tool by relative path. A pinned folder that
does not exist MUST fail the command rather than falling back, so the script
never runs somewhere unintended.
errormode selects how the run is judged:
default- PowerShell's normal behaviour. Most errors are non-terminating: the script writes the error, continues, and still exits zero.strict- the agent prepends$ErrorActionPreference = 'Stop'so the first error terminates the run and the exit code reflects reality.
default is the default precisely BECAUSE it is permissive. Every script
authored before this field existed relies on that behaviour, and some rely on it
deliberately - tolerating a failing cleanup, probing with a cmdlet that errors
when a thing is absent, looping past a bad item. Promoting strict globally
would make those bodies abort partway and leave endpoints half-configured, so it
is opt-in per script.
Two consequences the agent MUST honour:
- The strict prologue is applied AFTER digest verification, so the hash still validates the bytes the server actually delivered.
- Because the prologue adds a line, an error reported on line N of a strict run refers to line N-1 of the stored body. Surfaces showing the body should say so.
An agent that does not recognise an errormode value MUST treat it as
default. The server always sends the field explicitly, even at the default, so
an agent that received it and ignored it stays distinguishable from one that
never saw it.
Script output
Script stdout/stderr is ALWAYS written to the local agent log on the endpoint.
It is returned to the server in detail.output only when the command FAILED.
Routine output stays on the machine that produced it: shipping every successful
run back would put arbitrary script output, including whatever an author printed
while debugging, into the server's command history for no diagnostic gain.
Output is truncated to 8000 characters and flagged when truncated, because an
oversized payload rejected by the server returns nothing at all.
Timed-out runs do not carry output: the script is still running and still holds the capture file open, so anything read at that moment would be misleading.
9. Per-PC credentials
Each endpoint authenticates with its OWN secret, readable only by SYSTEM on
that PC. The server derives the calling asset from the secret. The shared fleet
key (section 7) keeps working for PCs that have not enrolled until an admin
switches it off, and is refused for any PC that has enrolled. The rollout is in
docs/PER-PC-CREDENTIALS-ROLLOUT.md.
9.1 Headers
| State | Header | Value |
|---|---|---|
| Not enrolled | X-API-Key |
the shared endpoints key, as today |
| Enrolled | X-Endpoint-Credential |
sdbe_ + 43 chars base64url (32 random bytes) |
Never both on one request. The server stores only the SHA-256 of the full
credential plus its first 12 characters (credentialprefix) for display.
9.2 Enroll
POST {baseurl}/api/endpoints/enroll, authenticated with X-API-Key while
plugin.endpoints.sharedkeyallowed is true. With the shared key switched off
the route takes no auth, but then only returns a credential for a request an
admin has approved.
{
"hostname": "SHOP-PC-014", // 1-255
"serialnumber": "5CD1234ABC", // 1-128, Win32_BIOS.SerialNumber
"deviceid": null, // HKLM\SOFTWARE\GE\ShopDB DeviceId or null
"enrollnonce": "<43 chars>", // 32-128 [A-Za-z0-9_-], generated once, persisted
"agentversion": "1.20.0"
}
| Status | Body | Agent action |
|---|---|---|
| 201 | {"status":"enrolled","credential":"sdbe_...","assetid":123} |
store, switch headers, no restart |
| 202 | {"status":"pending","requestid":45,"reason":"serial mismatch"} |
retry every 15 min with jitter |
403 ENROLL_NONCE_MISMATCH |
error envelope | an approved request belongs to a different nonce; keep retrying, an admin must reject and re-approve |
| other | error envelope | back off 1, 5, 15 min (cap) |
Auto-issue happens only when plugin.endpoints.autoenroll is true, the shared
key authenticated the call, the hostname matches exactly one computer, the
serial on record matches (trimmed, case-insensitive) and the asset has no active
credential. Otherwise the request is pending with one of the reasons unknown hostname, duplicate hostname, no serial on record, serial mismatch,
already enrolled, awaiting approval, nonce changed, reenroll blocked.
reenroll blocked means an admin revoked the PC with blockreenroll (9.7); the
agent keeps retrying on its normal schedule and enrolls once an admin calls
allow-reenroll. The credential is in the 201 body exactly once.
9.3 Error codes
All use the standard error envelope (data.error.code).
| HTTP | Code | Meaning | Agent action |
|---|---|---|---|
| 401 | CREDENTIAL_INVALID |
unknown or revoked credential | delete credential.bin, fall back to the shared key, wake enrollment |
| 401 | SHARED_KEY_REFUSED |
shared key sent, but this PC is enrolled or the shared key is switched off | wake enrollment; use the credential |
| 403 | ASSET_MISMATCH |
the credential's asset differs from the hostname/assetid named in the request | log; do not retry the same request |
Routes that authenticate this way: POST /api/endpoints/collect (same handler
as /api/collector/endpoints), GET /api/endpoints/monitors/resolved,
GET /api/endpoints/commands/next, POST /api/endpoints/commands/<id>/result,
GET /api/endpoints/apppackage/..., GET /api/endpoints/scriptbody/<id>,
POST /api/endpoints/operatorreports, GET /api/endpoints/alerts,
POST /api/endpoints/alerts/<id>/acknowledge. With a credential, a missing
hostname is allowed and the asset comes from the credential; an acknowledge with
assetid 0 or absent means the caller. Acknowledging an alert that does not
target the caller returns 404 NOT_FOUND, as for an unknown id.
The core collector
(/api/collector/computers, /api/collector/printers) accepts the same header
for the SYSTEM reporter scripts.
9.4 Storage on the endpoint
%ProgramData%\ShopDB\EndpointAgent\credential\is ACLed SYSTEM and Administrators only.credential.bin= DPAPILocalMachineof UTF-8 JSON{"credential":"sdbe_...","assetid":123,"issuedat":"...","baseurl":"..."}. SYSTEM scripts read it with[System.Security.Cryptography.ProtectedData]::Unprotect(bytes, $null, 'LocalMachine')and must not send the credential to a URL outsidebaseurl.enroll.json={"enrollnonce":"...","createdat":"..."}, plain, same folder.- The shared key in the registry and appsettings.json is never deleted by the agent; clearing it is a cutover step in the runbook.
9.5 Server pins
HKLM\SOFTWARE\GE\ShopDBServerPins(REG_MULTI_SZ, both registry views) merged withserverpins(string array) in appsettings.json. Legacyservercertthumbprintis still honoured.- A pin is the lowercase hex SHA-256 of the server leaf certificate's
SubjectPublicKeyInfo. The Server Certificate settings page shows it
(
spkisha256onGET /api/endpoints/settings/server-cert);client/Get-ShopDBServerPin.ps1computes it from a URL or a file;client/Set-ShopDBServerPins.ps1writes it. - The agent re-reads the pin set within about 60 seconds of a change; no service restart is needed.
- The same
GET /api/endpoints/settings/server-certcarriessha1thumbprint(hex SHA-1 of the certificate), andGET /api/endpoints/settings/server-cert/downloadreturns the public certificate as a.cer.client/Install-ShopDBServerCertificate.ps1checks the file against that thumbprint and adds it toLocalMachine\Rooton PCs whose pre-1.20 agent validates the chain when it downloads the upgrade. - Any pin configured: accept the handshake if and only if the leaf key hash is in the set (chain and name errors ignored). No pin: require a clean Windows validation.
9.6 Tray pipe
The tray holds no secret and talks to the SYSTEM agent over
\\.\pipe\ShopDB.EndpointAgent.v1 (SYSTEM and Administrators full control,
INTERACTIVE read/write, 8 instances). One UTF-8 JSON object per line, request
then response, then close; request max 64 KB, read timeout 10 s.
| Request | Response |
|---|---|
{"op":"ping"} |
{"ok":true,"agentversion":"1.20.0","enrolled":true,"assetid":123} |
{"op":"sendstatus"} |
{"ok":true} or {"ok":false,"error":"..."} |
{"op":"sendreport","spoolpath":"C:\\Users\\<user>\\...\\report-xxxx"} |
{"ok":true} or {"ok":false,"error":"..."}; the path must be inside the caller's own profile and not a reparse point |
{"op":"alerts"} |
{"ok":true,"alerts":[ ...same objects as GET /alerts... ]} |
{"op":"ackalert","notificationid":42} |
{"ok":true} or {"ok":false,"error":"..."} |
The caller is identified from the pipe (impersonation user name and SID), never from the request body.
9.7 Admin API (WebUI side, for reference)
Read needs endpoints.fleet; writes need the admin role and are audited.
GET /api/endpoints/enrollment(page,perpage<= 100,state,search)POST /api/endpoints/enrollment/requests/<id>/approve{"assetid": n}POST /api/endpoints/enrollment/requests/<id>/rejectPOST /api/endpoints/enrollment/assets/<assetid>/revoke(un-enroll). Optional body{"blockreenroll": true, "reason": "rollback"}(reason<= 64 chars, used only withblockreenroll) also keeps the PC from enrolling again: its enroll requests stay pending withreenroll blocked, and the Migration tab shows it blocked with the same blocker. Works on a PC whose credential is already revoked. Without the block a 1.20 agent re-enrolls within about a second of a plain revoke.POST /api/endpoints/enrollment/assets/<assetid>/allow-reenrolllifts the block; the PC enrolls on its next attempt. 404 when the PC has no credential record; a PC that was not blocked returns success unchanged.PUT /api/endpoints/enrollment/settings{"sharedkeyallowed": bool, "autoenroll": bool}GET /api/endpoints/enrollment/migration(page,perpage<= 100,state,search)POST /api/endpoints/enrollment/migration/wave{"assetids": [...]}or{"next": n}(n <= 100)GET /api/endpointsrows carrycredentialstate(enrolled,reenrollblocked,pending,notreporting,sharedkey) and accept acredentialstatefilter.GET /api/endpoints/<assetid>carries acredentialobject in the same vocabulary; belowendpoints.fleetonly its state is filled in.GET /api/endpoints/settings/server-cert/live(endpoints.fleet) reads the certificate presented atsite_base_urland returnspresentedspkisha256,presentedsha1thumbprintandmatchesfile, or{"configured": false}.- Migration blockers include
server certificate not trusted by this PC: the PC's last upgrade download failed on the certificate chain (the server only knows from the failure the PC reported). Trust the certificate (Install-ShopDBServerCertificate.ps1) and queue it again.