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Unlike in nVision 9 (where settings were saved as a set of rules, i.e. in Agent profiles), the latest version of Axence nVision 10 configures the user monitoring and website and application blocking settings on user groups.
It is properties where the Administrator should configure the monitoring options as user accounts inherit their settings. Of course, each user account may be assigned to more than one group. If this is the case, the effective monitoring settings are applied in accordance with the principles described below.
The basic carriers of monitoring settings in the latest version of nVision are: Atlas, User groups, and user account.
 Atlas – default settings
Atlas is the primary object in nVision that contains the essential, global monitoring settings. It means that the user account which does not belong to any of the groups will adopt monitoring settings that are assigned to the Atlas.
Possible configurations:
•Monitoring
Setting
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Possible values
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Default value
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Bandwidth usage
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monitor/don’t monitor
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monitor
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Visited web pages
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monitor/don’t monitor
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monitor
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Application usage
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monitor/don’t monitor
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monitor
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Work time
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monitor/don’t monitor
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monitor
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Printouts
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monitor/don’t monitor
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monitor
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E-mails
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monitor/don’t monitor
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don’t monitor
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Send activity over time
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monitor/don’t monitor
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don’t monitor
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Activity breaks
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monitor/don’t monitor
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monitor
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Save breaks above “X” minutes
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minutes
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5 minutes
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Monitoring time
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At any time / between / except (hours, days of the week)
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at any time
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•Remote access
Setting
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Possible values
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Default value
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Enable desktop preview
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enable/don’t enable
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enable
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Enable remote access
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enable/don’t enable
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enable
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Show notification
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don’t notify/notify
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don’t notify
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Ask for user consent
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don’t ask/ask
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ask
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Enable if user does not respond
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enable/don’t enable
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enable
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•Displaying Agent
Setting
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Possible values
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Default value
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Show Agent icon
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show/don’t show
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show
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After logging in show information about Agent
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show/don’t show
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show
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Show information about user activity overview
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show/don’t show
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show
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By default, the Atlas contains the set of monitoring settings so that each new user is covered by the maximally restrictive monitoring.
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User groups
User groups may contain any number of user accounts and sub-groups. If a user group is not a sub-group, then its parent object, from which it inherits settings, is the Atlas.
In the configuration of group (or sub-group) settings, you can only define the settings that are less restrictive exceptions than the parent settings (of the Atlas or group which contains the specific sub-group). For example, the printout monitoring is enabled at the Atlas level. So, at the group level, you can only disable printout monitoring.
This approach allows a certain user group to be excluded from monitoring.
Possible exception configurations at the group level:
•Monitoring
Setting
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Possible values
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Bandwidth usage
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don’t monitor
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Visited web pages
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don’t monitor
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Application usage
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don’t monitor
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Work time
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don’t monitor
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Printouts
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don’t monitor
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E-mails
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don’t monitor
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Send activity over time
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don’t monitor
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Activity breaks
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don’t monitor
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Monitoring time
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The monitoring time can only be set in the Atlas or individually for each user.
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•Remote access
Setting
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Possible values
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Enable desktop preview
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don’t enable
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Enable remote access
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don’t enable
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Show notification
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notify
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Ask for user consent
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ask
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Enable if user does not respond
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don’t enable
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•Displaying Agent
Setting
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Possible values
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Show Agent icon
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don’t show
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After logging in show information about Agent
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don’t show
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Show information about user activity overview
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don’t show
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By default, no group contains any exceptions from the parent settings (Atlas).
The exceptions defined for a group are also propagated to all its sub-groups. In no way you can “exclude” a group from the propagation of settings or exceptions from the parent entities.
The exceptions defined for a group affect the settings of all users who belong to it (except for those who have individual settings defined). If a user is in more than one group, all exceptions from all these groups apply to them.
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User
The user account can be subject to monitoring settings which are the result of Atlas and group settings, or may use the individual monitoring settings.
The monitoring and usage blockade settings can be configured in the User info window that is displayed after double-clicking on the user account name.
The individual settings allow the configuration of individual monitoring settings that will apply only to the user account for which they are set, regardless of the global settings and group exceptions.
The resulting setting is the global Atlas settings after considering the exceptions from all groups to which the specific user account belongs. If the user account belongs to several groups for which different settings of the same monitoring parameter are configured, the result will be the application of the less restrictive setting (e.g. don’t monitor the application usage).
For each of the settings the Administrator can choose the application of the resulting or individual setting (e.g. the resulting setting will be the working time setting and that assigned individually will be the application usage setting).
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The introduction of the new model of monitoring settings allows the application of the intuitive way of aggregating settings which results from the fact that the specific user account belongs to multiple groups (the account will be covered by all exceptions from the groups it belongs to).
A completely new approach to the management of monitoring settings indicates that group settings cannot be used to increase the rights, but only to limit them. This allows the use of the good practice of using Axence nVision 10 – building transparent network monitoring rules.
For example: enabling the work time and application usage monitoring on a global level, and then disabling this setting by way of exceptions at the user group level.
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