Introduction

Proton delivers the ability to know and understand more than ever before about web applications in the enterprise. Historically IT organizations have been forced to play ‘catch up’ when it comes to managing web applications. On the modern desktop, business applications are nearly always run in the browser instead of as traditional executable programs. Most IT organizations are prepared with tools and processes that help them manage installed, executable programs as IT was able to control the desktop definitively and tightly. Applications could not be installed without IT permission. Dependencies could be managed, packaged and isolated to ensure high levels of desktop and application availability and meet internal SLAs or SLTs. Understanding the web-based application management challenge requires understanding browser design constructs and how that relates to existing desktop application solutions.

The web browser has revolutionized IT and driven a change in nearly all aspects of business application delivery. Early browser-based applications were fairly straightforward, and requirements relatively streamlined with web application development practices and languages limiting the complexity of designs. As browsers became more ubiquitous, driven mainly by the popularity of Internet businesses, browser capabilities needed to expand to offer the range of new features and capabilities. Commercial use cases were becoming more complex and enterprise software vendors began to understand the power of the browser, so vendors began to move away from client/server solutions and offer web-based versions of their software. These complex business applications required not only an advanced set of web development languages and technologies but also included specific dependencies and software extensibility to deliver their full solution.

Managing these powerful web applications requires following a similar, but uniquely different approach to end user workstation management. The client/server models, where applications can be packaged, bundled and even designed to dynamically load custom libraries without impacting other system resources, have given way to an entirely more open, flexible, and complex approach. Web based applications are designed such that the browser loads those components, making development easier as resources are readily available to consume — but the browser design intentionally limits the ability for more than one version of the same component to be loaded simultaneously.

But web-based application management isn’t all about controlling library loading. One of the major problems facing IT administrators trying to manage desktops is their lack of ability to control web-based application proliferation. Business units can easily create a web application and make it part of their standard business process without ever talking to anyone in IT. Web server software is readily available, if not already installed on many Windows SKUs. Contractors can be hired to create a small web portal and integrate that with other business systems to build a limitless set of functions desired by the business unit. Business unit owners enjoy this approach as it enables rapid deployment for a desired solution and allows for a nimbler business response to objectives and needs.

For IT however, the ease at which these systems can be brought online creates seemingly endless challenges. The most critical issue is that IT is unaware the system even exists. IT is expected to ensure reliable desktop operations, including browser functionality, but lacks basic data about the environment to successfully meet that objective. For web applications where IT is made aware, they are then faced with understanding and documenting requirements. With that information in hand, IT can begin to evaluate how these ‘new’ systems overlay with existing systems, technologies, and dependencies. Finally, IT is close to a position where they can begin to understand how to ensure delivery of this business-critical web application.

More often than not during that process, IT uncovers conflicts in dependencies. These systems rarely go through any change control or standards reviews. The technologies used are often not in line with organizationally defined standards, creating a challenge to then modify the system to bring it in line with everything else.

Another major challenge IT faces in managing the modern web-based desktop environment is patch management and inventory control. Traditional desktop management tools easily enable an IT administrator to inventory systems to obtain library and patch version information. Similarly, they could pull usage statistics to understand what was being used and by whom. Browser based applications function differently and the traditional tools can’t provide that information. Traditional desktop management tools can provide an inventory of installed browser extensions (generally just the binary package information) but they lack mechanisms to indicate which are actually being used. Or which web applications are using those components. From a security perspective the tools lack the ability to indicate which components are not needed and can therefore be removed and reduce unnecessary attack surface.

Proton was designed to fill these gaps and meet the unique challenges IT faces in modern desktop management and web-based applications. The paradigm has shifted, the browser is here to stay and web applications need proper management tools for IT to deliver services. Browsium Proton is the tool for the job.

Browsium Proton Explained

Browsium Proton is an advanced web application inventory and analysis software solution. It provides a critical set of tools and data unavailable using traditional desktop management tools. Unlike other browser-based data harvesting tools, Proton is enterprise ready. It’s designed to immediately record and report across an organization within minutes of deployment. Customizable data filters and dashboard analysis reporting views ensures Proton will deliver crucial ongoing management information as the organization’s web-based applications evolve and the desktop management challenges increase with it.

Proton integrates seamlessly with client browsers, gathering and synchronizing activity and web application behavior. End users experience no impact from Proton, nor does it impact the web applications running inside the browser. As data is collected, the Proton functionality in the Browsium Client passes that information over secure channels to the Proton Server. The Proton Server communicates with the Proton Manager, a web application that displays reports and analyzes the collected data.

Like traditional desktop management tools which install to the operating system to monitor and report on user settings and system activity, Proton works by being tightly integrated into the browser. This design enables Proton to go well beyond what traditional desktop management tools can offer using their external process monitoring approach. As a tightly coupled part of the browser, Proton is able to ‘see’ data as it is passed to rendering components, providing a unique view of content and browser behaviors. Browsium Client also gathers data about other browser extensions, including state, version and usage activity. This information, along with many other data points, are fed up to the Proton server database which then correlates information for viewing.

Proton Server is not just a database and reporting analysis engine — it also provides client configuration rules and parameters. This design makes it easy to manage all aspects of Proton from one place — reporting and configuration are part of the server system. Clients only need to be installed and setup once, changes and reconfigurations are picked up by the clients automatically, making management overhead minimal.

Browsium Proton is integrated with the BCMS to help reduce overhead and streamline technical resource usage. Using this design companies must have BCMS setup first, then activate the Proton product via license key to use the Proton system. It is not possible to setup a standalone Proton Server and not have a BCMS server starting with the 4.6 release.

Browsium Proton Overview

Organizations have long relied on software management systems to enable centralized and robust desktop management. Traditional software management systems were designed for either a client/server model or to manage ‘standalone’ applications, concepts that were the norm before the ‘modern’ desktop of today where most applications are run in the browser. As the browser evolved to be a ‘killer app’ used by information workers on a nearly constant basis, the management tools didn’t evolve to meet this new paradigm.

Browsium Proton (“Proton”) was designed for the modern desktop management challenge, uniquely focused on the requirements and challenges of web-based applications. In broad terms, the browser is more like an operating system than it is a traditional desktop application. Like an operating system, the browser provides a host environment to run a range of applications, written in a wide set of programming languages, utilizing a virtually limitless set of extensions/add-ons and APIs. In addition, browser-based applications have security and other environmental settings requirements or restrictions to ensure they balance the right amount of access and restrictive controls. Existing and traditional software management tools simply can’t address these challenges.

Proton fills this gap by providing web application inventory and analysis data. Much like traditional systems monitoring software which looks at Windows system settings, Executable and Linked Library binaries, Proton delivers the same types of data and information but from within the browser environment. Residing in that part of the web application stack Proton is able to get unparalleled access to data and configuration information. Proton can see basic information such as which web application is being used, to specific details such as which version of Java is required by a specific web application.

The data collected by Proton, combined with the analytical provided via the dashboard and drill-down reporting interface, enables an organization to understand who uses which applications and what dependencies exist, determine active web application usage activity, and ensure desktop configurations are managed to ensure proper operations while minimizing security or support exposure.

Browsium Proton Browser Integration

Much like traditional desktop management tools, the real value comes from the breadth of reach as much as depth. The modern desktop is browser based, and usually not just a single browser. Through the desire to offer end user choice, based on web application requirements, or even benchmark performance criteria, many organizations need to deal with at least two browsers on the desktop. No organization would select a desktop management solution that only supported one version of Windows. Similarly, no web application management platform can be built around a single browser. Proton supports the four most popular browsers in the enterprise: Microsoft Internet Explorer, Microsoft Edge, Google Chrome, and Mozilla Firefox.

Usage, settings and metric information is gathered seamlessly across the browser, regardless of which one the user has selected — or was directed to use in the case of Browsium Catalyst. Proton goes further and can be easily integrated with virtual desktops to enable the same high-fidelity level of data collection and analysis on virtual or physical delivery mechanisms. Proton is truly built for the modern enterprise desktop environment.

{width=“0.9194444444444444in” height=“0.9194444444444444in”}Section Two

Installation

In this section, you will learn:

• About the Browsium Proton components

• Software requirements for Browsium Proton

• How to Install Browsium Proton

• How to configure command line switches for installation over a network