Remote Diagnostics – Agent Control Module

The Remote Diagnostics module enables administrators to remotely manage, monitor, and troubleshoot COSGrid agents deployed across endpoint devices. This module is designed to provide centralized operational control, eliminating the need for physical access or manual intervention on user machines.

Through this interface, administrators can perform critical actions such as restarting services, executing diagnostics, managing logs, and validating endpoint health — all from a single dashboard.

This capability is essential for maintaining high availability, operational efficiency, and rapid issue resolution in distributed environments.

Field

Description

Device ID

Dropdown to select a registered endpoint device

Device Requirements

The selected device must be:

  • Online

  • Connected to COSGrid Cloud

  • Agent installed and properly registered

 If any of these conditions are not met, the action may be delayed or fail to execute.

Available Remote Actions

Administrators can perform various service-level operations using toggle-based controls.

Agent Controls

Action

Description

Agent Start

Starts the COSGrid agent service remotely

Agent Stop

Stops the COSGrid agent service remotely

Use Cases:

  • Restart agent after policy updates

  • Recover agent from crash state

  • Temporarily disable agent for troubleshooting

DNS Controls

Action

Description

DNS Start

Starts DNS security service

DNS Stop

Stops DNS security service

Use Cases:

  • Troubleshoot DNS filtering issues

  • Validate DNS resolution and routing

  • Test fallback DNS configurations

Web Filter Controls

Action

Description

Webfilter Start

Starts URL filtering engine

Webfilter Stop

Stops URL filtering engine

Use Cases:

  • Debug web filtering issues

  • Reinitialize filtering policies

  • Temporarily disable filtering for validation

Log Management

Action

Description

Log Rotate

Forces log rotation on endpoint

Use Cases:

  • Free up disk space

  • Generate fresh logs for debugging

  • Isolate recent activity for analysis

Diagnostics Execution

Action

Description

Diagnostics

Executes diagnostic scripts on the selected device

Use Cases:

  • Connectivity checks (agent ↔ cloud)

  • Service health validation

  • Agent integrity verification

  • Network status inspection

Execution Flow

Once the required actions are selected:

  1. Click + Add

  2. The system queues the remote command

  3. The endpoint device executes the action:

    • Immediately (if online)

    • On next heartbeat (if temporarily offline)

This ensures reliable execution even in intermittent connectivity scenarios.

Security Controls

To prevent misuse and ensure accountability:

  • Only privileged administrators can access the Diagnostics module

  • All remote actions are audit logged

  • Execution timestamp and admin identity are recorded

  • Execution status is visible in logs for tracking and troubleshooting

Execution & Monitoring

After triggering actions:

  • Status can be monitored in Diagnostics logs

  • Possible states include:

    • Pending

    • In Progress

    • Success

    • Failed

Failed actions should be re-evaluated based on device connectivity or agent health.

Recommended Operational Guidelines

Scenario

Recommended Action

Agent not visible in dashboard

Run Diagnostics

Policies not applied

Restart Agent

Web filtering not working

Restart Webfilter

DNS issue reported

Restart DNS Service

Logs consuming high space

Perform Log Rotate

Business Value

The Remote Diagnostics module delivers significant operational benefits:

  •  Reduces MTTR (Mean Time To Resolution)

  •  Eliminates need for remote desktop or manual intervention

  •  Enables centralized endpoint service management

  •  Improves operational efficiency for IT teams

  •  Aligns with Zero Trust operational principle

The Remote Diagnostics – Agent Control Module provides administrators with powerful remote capabilities to manage endpoint agents efficiently. By enabling real-time service control, diagnostics, and logging operations, it ensures faster troubleshooting, improved system reliability, and seamless management of distributed endpoints.