Manage Ephemeral Devices in JumpCloud

In cloud platforms like AWS and GCP, ephemeral systems are frequently spun up and torn down. Ensuring proper enrollment, management, and un-enrollment of these devices in JumpCloud is essential for maintaining a clean and manageable system database.

Enrolling Ephemeral Devices

Ephemeral devices need to be enrolled in JumpCloud as part of their creation process to ensure they are managed effectively.

When deploying ephemeral devices, it is recommended to use pre-configured images that include the JumpCloud agent. This ensures that every new instance is automatically enrolled in JumpCloud.

See Install the JumpCloud Agent with a Template or System Image to learn more.

Managing Ephemeral Devices

Once ephemeral devices are enrolled, managing their lifecycle is critical for maintaining control over your environment. Best Practices include:

• Continuously monitor device activity within the JumpCloud Admin Portal to verify the status of operational systems.
• Regularly review the device list, identifying and investigating prolonged offline devices to determine if they are ephemeral and eligible for removal.

Get a list of all the inactive devices that have been inactive for X number of days in one go using JumpCloud Powershell Module. See JumpCloud Powershell Module to learn more.

Follow these steps:

• Install PowerShell on your Windows, Mac, or Linux device. See Microsoft's support document to Install PowerShell on Windows, Linux, and macOS to learn more.
• Next, install the JumpCloud module by running the following PS cmdlet in elevated mode (Run as Admin):
  • Install-Module JumpCloud -Scope CurrentUser
• When prompted, press Y to install the JumpCloud PowerShell module.
• After the module installation is complete, use the following cmdlet in PowerShell to connect to and authenticate your admin console. You will be prompted to enter your API key.
  • Connect-JCOnline
• You can run the below cmdlet to get the list of systems that have not reported to JumpCloud in the last X days. You can update the parameter .AddDays(-X) to modify the date range to 30, 60, 90, 120 etc days, as required.
  • Get-JCSystem -filterDateProperty lastContact -dateFilter before -date (Get-Date).AddDays(-60) | Export-Csv inactive-devices.csv

Unenrolling Ephemeral Devices

Ensure you unenroll ephemeral devices from JumpCloud before their termination to maintain a clean database free of inactive or orphaned records.

• Before terminating an ephemeral system, always send an uninstall directive to the JumpCloud agent.
• Integrate the JumpCloud SystemContext API into your system management workflows. This allows you to automatically send uninstall commands.
• See Use System Context Authorization with JumpCloud APIs to learn more.