Active Directory & DNS Requirements

For ControlUp versions 8.8 and lower, Active Directory (AD) is a prerequisite for managing machines using ControlUp. If your network includes machines that aren't joined to a domain, you will be able to connect to these machines using ControlUp’s Remote Desktop view while other actions won't be available. If you use a ControlUp On-Premises environment, see here.

The machine on which the ControlUp Real-Time Console is executed doesn't have to be a domain member. However, you will be required to enter valid domain credentials in order to manage machines in your environment.

Full DNS name resolution is also mandatory for management connections using ControlUp. You should be able to access all of your managed machines using their Fully Qualified Domain Names (FQDN).

As an exception to the above, virtual machines (including non-Windows guests) can be monitored via the hypervisor layer without the need for DNS resolution or AD domain membership. This agentless approach only enables access to VM-related data known to the hypervisor, not guest OS data. For more details, see Connect to Your Hypervisors.

By default, ControlUp queries Active Directory for the DNS suffix when you add managed machines to your organization tree. For networks in which the domain name is not identical to the default DNS suffix of all machines, ControlUp supports for providing a custom DNS suffix when you add machines. For more details, see Connect to Your Machines.