Activate/Deactivate Fing Agent

After you install a Fing Agent, you need to activate it.  You can activate or enable the Fing agent through the Fing mobile app after the agent has been installed.   Refer to the agent installation procedures links below. Fing Desktop includes an on-board agent so you do not need to do anything else to onboard the included agent on Fing Desktop but you need to enable active monitoring as shown below.  To install Fing Desktop see Install Fing Desktop.

You can also configure some agent settings.   See Configure Agent Settings.

You can have a maximum of one agent or monitored network for a Starter account, two agents for a Premium account, and three plus networks for a Professional account.  You can also view your active monitored networks.

With a free Fing account, you can perform up to three network scans per day, but you do not have access to continuous network monitoring provided by the Fing agent. 

Agent or Monitoring Unit Installation Procedures

Install the Fing Agent on Raspberry Pi

Install Fing Agent on a NASs 

Install the Fing Agent on Linux Docker

Fing Agent with Raspberry Pi Plug-and-Play Kit

Activate a Desktop Fing Agent After Installation

Fing Desktop includes an onboard agent so you do not need to do anything to onboard the agent, however, you need to enable active monitoring on the Fing Desktop to perform full Fing network monitoring including

• Continuous network scanning
• Detection of devices entering and exiting the network
• User presence tracking
• Network speed tests

Fing Desktop can act as an active or inactive agent.   An inactive agent cannot do continuous scanning or perform other realtime network monitoring functions, monitoring new devices entering and exiting the network, tracking user presence, or performing network speed tests.  With an inactive agent not monitoring your network (grey), you can still perform manual scans of the network. To activate the Fing Desktop agent, make sure that network monitoring button under the network name is active (green), or enable it if it is not already enabled. You can also disable Active Monitoring at any time, for example, if you need to monitor a different network and do not have enough agent slots available. 

If you are using Fing for the first time and/or the active monitoring button is disabled (greyed out), a message window prompting you to enable monitoring is displayed.  Select Start Monitoring to enable monitoring.  The Monitoring button turns green. 

Change the network monitored by Fing Desktop?

If you need to change the network assigned to your Fing Desktop installation, follow these steps:

1. Open the Fing Web App.
2. Click the Profile icon in the bottom‑left corner and select “Monitoring sources.”
3. Find the network and click “Deactivate.”
4. Open Fing Desktop, connect to the network you want to monitor, and click Start Monitoring when prompted.  Fing Desktop starts monitoring the new network.

Enabling Other Desktop Monitoring Tasks

You need to enable desktop monitoring to also perform speed tests and track user presence.   If monitoring is not enabled when trying to perform these functions, you will be prompted to enable it, for example, here is the prompt to enable monitoring when tracking presence.  Select Start Monitoring to enable monitoring and continue tracking user presence.

View the Desktop Agent ID

After you enable monitoring, your agent is assigned a unique ID.   You can view this in the Network >Network Setup window.

Activate an Agent from the Fing Mobile App

 To activate an agent from the Fing Mobile app, do this:

Open the Fing Mobile App and click Account in the toolbar at the bottom of the page.  The Account page is displayed.

Under Workspace, select Add Monitoring Unit.   Fing searches for an installed agent or monitoring unit and displays this screen. After Fing finishes activation, you will receive a confirmation.

View Activated Agents or Monitored Networks

You can view activated agents on your network (monitored networks) on Fing Mobile, Fing Web App, and Fing Desktop.  You can have one agent or monitored network for a starter account, two for a Premium account, and 3+ for a Professional account. 

• To view on Fing Mobile, select Overview, and then Select the Ellipses icon (3 red dots) at the top right corner of your screen.  The My Networks window is displayed.   Under Monitored Networks, you can view the agent icon and agent Ethernet address.  

To view on Fing Web App or Fing Desktop, select Account > Edit Profile to display the Account Page.

• Select Monitoring Units from the Manage Account menu to show your activated monitoring agents, the type and  MAC address of the agent, network name, state, and last update.

Deactivate or Remove a Fing Agent

To deactivate a Fing agent from Fing Mobile App, do this:

1. Select Overview from the home screen menu, and then select the Ellipses (3 dots) icon at the top right-hand of the window.  The My Networks window is displayed showing currently monitored and scanned networks.
2. Under Monitored Networks, select the agent you wish to remove or deactivate and swipe left to display the Deactivate option (red button).
3. 

Click on Deactivate.   You will be prompted to confirm you want to remove the agent.

Click Deactivate to confirm.  The agent is deactivated.   You will receive an email similar to the following showing the MAC address of the deactivated agent and the network name it was monitoring.

If you want to reactivate, use the procedure above for Activation.

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