The Workspace Control Agents

An important aspect of Workspace Control is the architecture of each Workspace Control Agent (i.e. each Terminal Server, workstation, virtual desktop, or laptop that runs Workspace Control). The following illustration provides a schematic overview:

Schematic overview of agent architecture

Configuration data received from the Datastore is cached locally. Each Workspace Control Agent uses its cached data instead of connecting to the SQL database directly.

The data cache also stores user information (log files and monitoring data) that is collected by each Workspace Control Agent. The Workspace Control Agent Service sends this data from the local cache to the Datastore for centralized access from the Management Console.

Read more about the Workspace Control Agent Service (res.exe) and about the communication processes to and from the Datastore in the chapter "The Workspace Control communication architecture".

Each Agent cache consists of:

  • log files
  • objects
  • registry settings

Log files

The log files contain monitoring files, error logs and PowerTrace data from Workspace Control end-user components. These files are stored in a dedicated cache folder:

%programfiles%\Ivanti\Workspace Control\Data\DBCache\Transactions

They are forwarded to the Workspace Control Datastore by the Workspace Control Agent Service.

Objects

The objects stored in the local cache are XML files containing part of the Workspace Control configuration data, and various resources in different formats.

These files are stored in sub-folders of %programfiles%\Ivanti\Workspace Control\Data\DBCache:

  • \Objects contains XML files specifying application settings, PowerLaunch settings and other configuration settings.
  • \IconCache contains icons for your programs and shortcuts.
  • \Resources contains several sub-folders that store your ICA files, OSD files, ADM files, files used as desktop images, and files used in your folder maintenance. The \Resources folder functions much like a distributed fileshare.

The Workspace Control Agent Service forwards these objects from the Workspace Control Datastore to the local cache.

Registry Settings

The remainder of the Workspace Control configuration data is implemented as Registry settings. The data is forwarded from the Workspace Control Datastore to the agent cache by the Workspace Control Agent Service, and is stored in the following registry key:

HKLM\Software\Policies\RES\Workspace Manager\Settings

This concerns settings that have a restricted set of possible values, such as:

  • MemoryShield > "Enabled": the value of the setting can only be Yes or No.
  • Maximum number of simultaneous logons: the value of the setting can only be a number.

You can define exceptions per user by customizing the registry key:

HKCU\Software\Policies\RES\Workspace Manager\Settings

These exceptions can be implemented using the Workspace Control Actions technology.