How to Set Up the Chrome and Edge Extensions for Web App Usage Tracking for Windows

Asset Vision allows tracking of Web App usage for Internet Explorer, Chrome, and Firefox. The Scalable Agent for Asset Vision is able to track URL information in the Google Chrome web browser for Windows by using a Google Chrome extension.  This extension is an add-on that is available from Scalable Software, and is enabled only via Group Policy within the environment.  This lesson explains how to set up the extension for Chrome.

Requirements

The following requirements must be met in order for the extension to function properly

  • Computers where the extension is to be installed must be a member of a domain that is in part managed by Group Policy.
  • An available Microsoft server with IIS(Internet Information Services) must be configured and accessible to all client machines where the extension is to be installed.
  • Required files available on the Asset Vision instance from the Agent Download page.
  • Google Chrome extension Group Policy template (provided by Google)

Installation/Configuration

Overview of the Installation steps is as follows:

  1. Download required files
  2. Configure IIS
  3. Edit update.xml file
  4. Install and configure the Google Chrome Group Policy Administrative Templates
  5. Installation Verification

1. Download Required Chrome Plugin Files

1. Download Required Chrome Plugin Files

Download the files below in preparation for subsequent installation steps:

  • Download Files from the Agent Download within the Asset Vision interface (Setup > Agents > Deployment > Agent Download: scalable_software_chrome_extention_2.0.zip). Extract the files to a local path for use in later steps.
  • Download the Google Chrome extension Group Policy template from Google http://dl.google.com/dl/edgedl/chrome/policy/policy_templates.zip

2. Configure IIS

1. Create a new Virtual Directory that will hold the required extension files (steps below are for IIS 8.x).

  1. Open IIS Manager.
  2. In the Connections tree, expand the <local server> node, then expand Sites, right-click on Default Web Site and select Add Virtual Directory…
  3. In the Add Virtual Directory dialog, enter an Alias and specify the Physical path: to a given folder (you may have to create the folder if there is not one that already exists.
  4. Click OK to finish creating the Virtual Directory.
  5. Copy the following files (downloaded from the Download Scalable Client page) to the path of the Virtual Directory that was just created: scalable_software_chrome_extension_2.0.crx, updates.xml.
2. Configure IIS

2. Add the .crx content type to the MIME Types

Add the .crx content type to the MIME Types

  1. In IIS, click on the Virtual Folder that was created in the previous section.
  2. In the IIS Manager main window, right-click on MIME Types and select Open Feature.
  3. In the Actions pane on the right-hand side, click Add…
  4. In the Add MIME Type dialog, add the following values:
    • File name extension:  .crx
    • MIME type:  application/x-chrome-extension
  5. Click OK
Add .crx content
Add MIME Type information

3. Edit Update.xml file

  1. Using a text editor, open the Updates.xml file.
  2. Modify the link to the scalable_software_chrome_extension_1.3.crx file:
    <updatecheck codebase='http://<server>/<virtualfolder>/scalable_software_chrome_extension_2.0.crx' version='2.0' />
    where <server> is the hostname or FQDN of the IIS server, and <virtualfolder> is the new Virtual Folder that contains the extension files.

4. Install and configure the Google Chrome Group Policy Admin Template

1. Obtain the Chrome.adm Admin Template File

  1. If not already done, obtain the prescribed Group Policy Admin Template:
  2. http://dl.google.com/dl/edgedl/chrome/policy/policy_templates.zip
  3. Copy the chrome.adm file to the path of the path of the Virtual Directory that was created during the earlier steps.

2. Install the Google Chrome Group Policy Admin Template

  1. Open the Group Policy Management Console (gpmc.msc from the Run… menu) on any Domain Controller or server that has access to Group Policy for the Domain.
  2. Expand the nodes in the left-hand Group Policy Management tree from the top until the Default Domain Policy is visible. (This will be the Group Policy Object (GPO) that will be modified.  A new GPO may be created to handle this specifically, but for sake of example, the Default Domain Policy GPO will be used).
  3. Right-click the Default Domain Policy GPO and select Edit…  The Group Policy Management Editor will appear.
  4. In the Group Policy Management Editor, expand Computer Configuration, then Policies, then right-click on Administrative Templates: Policy definitions (ADMX files)… and select Add/Remove Templates…
  5. In the Add/Remove Templates… dialog, click Add…
  6. In the Policy Templates dialog, navigate to the path of the virtual directory location that contains the chrome.adm template file.

Click Open, and then Close the Add/Remove Templates dialog.

Install and configure the Google Chrome Group Policy Admin Template

3. Configure the Google Chrome extension GPO

3.1. Enable force-installed extensions

  1. In the Group Policy Management Editor, expand Computer Configuration >> Policies  >> Administrative Templates: Policy definitions (ADMX files)… >> Classic Administrative Templates (ADM) >> Google >> Google Chrome, and then click on Extensions.
  2. In the right-hand pane, right-click on Configure the list of force-installed extensions, and select Edit.
  3. In the Configure the list of force-installed extensions dialog, click the Enable radio button, and click the Show button.
  4. In the Show Contents dialog, click in the text box below Value, and enter the following text string:
    aihgnilmagdpneeddnfdcneimcpcaogk;http://<server>/extension/updates.xml
    where <server> is the hostname or FQDN of the IIS server.
  5. Click OK, and then OK to close and save the changes.
GPO Edit Page

3.2. Configure the Install Sources

  1. Right-click on Configure extension, app, and user script install sources, and select Edit.
  2. In the Configure extension, app, and user script install sources dialog, click the Enable radio button, and click the Show button.
  3. In the Show Contents dialog, click in the text box below Value, and enter an asterisk (*).
  4. Click OK, and then OK to close and save the changes.
Configure the Install Sources

3.3. Disable “Incognito mode” (required for the Agent to track WebApp usage in Incognito Mode).

  1. In the Group Policy Management Editor, expand Computer Configuration >> Policies  >> Administrative Templates: Policy definitions (ADMX files)… >> Classic Administrative Templates (ADM) >> Google, and then click on Google Chrome.
  2. In the right-hand pane, right-click on Incognito mode availability, and select Edit
  3. In the Incognito mode availability dialog, click the Enable radio button, and change the drop-down in the Options: box to “Incognito mode disabled”.
  4. Click OK to close and save changes.

5. Installation verification

The Configuration of the Google Chrome extension should now be complete.  To verify that the extension is loaded on any given machine:

  1. Open Chrome
  2. Navigate to chrome://extensions/
  3. The Scalable Software Agent Extension should be visible. The Enable/Disable slider is greyed out,which implies that it is loaded via enterprise policy. Depending on the settings in your organization, the Scalable Extension Icon may be visible in the browser UI next to the address bar.
5. Installation verification