Linux setup experience

[ddribeiro]

• customer-numa: https://us-65885.app.gong.io/call?id=1182514010850114493&highlights=%5B%7B%22type%22%3A%22SHARE%22%2C%22from%22%3A530%2C%22to%22%3A622%7D%5D
• @noahtalerman: User requested this because they want to offer a consistent, transparent onboarding experience for Linux users, similar to the setup experience available for macOS, so that employees know what is being installed and configured during enrollment.
  • @allenhouchins: It sounds like numa has a default image they use for new Linux workstations. They don't want to include apps and setup scripts to keep the image as small as possible.
  • @noahtalerman: In the interim they are considering bundling the Fleet agent into factory images or incentivizing self-enrollment, but this does not provide visibility into what setup actions are taken post-enrollment.
  • @noahtalerman: Eventually Fleet could add an interface to manage the setup experience for Linux, showing which software and scripts are applied, so end users feel informed and admins can ensure consistent baseline configuration.
• @noahtalerman: numa ships the same hardware for Linux and Windows workstations. End users can switch from Windows to Linux or vice versa.
  • @allenhouchins: Might be driven by the lack of vendors that ship hardware with Linux pre-installed.

---

[noahtalerman]

Problem

As a Fleet admin managing Linux hosts, I want to provide a setup experience on newly enrolled devices, similar to what exists today for macOS hosts.

We met with customer-numa to discuss what the enrollment experience on Linux might look like. The biggest issue that needs to be overcome is Linux not having an out-of-the-box automatic enrollment experience like macOS and Windows do. We discussed some options like including the Fleet agent as part of the factory image and incentivizing employees to enroll their devices.

Regardless of how the Fleet agent gets installed on the host, we agreed the most important part of the Setup Experience is being able to effectively communicate to the employee what is being installed and run on their computer.

What have you tried?

We checked Fleet for a way to configure a Setup Experience for Linux devices, but that feature is currently only available for macOS hosts.

Potential solutions

Fleet could explore ways to provide a Setup Experience UI on Linux hosts. The Setup Experience would be similar to what exists today for macOS hosts, where it shows which applications are getting installed and which scripts are being run as part of the setup process. This would also ensure a baseline configuration for all hosts running Linux upon enrollment.

What is the expected workflow as a result of your proposal?

A Fleet admin managing Linux devices would customize a Setup Experience similar to how they would for macOS today > An end user would enroll their host into Fleet by installing the fleet-osquery.deb file > Fleet would recognize the host as a new enrollment and load the Setup Experience. The end user would see which actions are being taken on their computer > The user will be notified when the setup is complete and they are able to resume using their computer.