StrongDM Desktop

Last modified on February 2, 2024

The StrongDM Desktop application (macOS and Windows) is the graphical component of the StrongDM client that is installed on your local machine. The other component is the StrongDM command line interface (CLI). Both the desktop app and the CLI allow you to authenticate to and use StrongDM to access resources.

This page provides an overview of the desktop app and how to use it.

Authentication

You can log in to StrongDM via one of the following methods.

  • User: To log in as a user, enter your email address or user ID, followed by your password. Select Remember my email to avoid having to enter your email address for subsequent logins.
  • Service Account: To log in as a service account instead of a user, enter a token into the Email field. Note that tokens are not remembered for subsequent logins. If an email address was previously remembered, that email is pre-populated on your next login.
  • Single sign-on (SSO): If your organization has SSO enabled, log in by entering your email address. Your web browser then opens and handles the rest of the authentication. Note that if SSO is enabled for your organization, you must log in via SSO unless you are a non-SSO user.
Desktop App Login Screen
Desktop App Login Screen

User lock and unlock

If your account is locked due to inactivity, the desktop app shows the locked screen. When locked, you cannot use the Resource Center to interact with resources. To unlock it, click Unlock StrongDM and authenticate to proceed.

Desktop App Showing Unlock StrongDM Button
Desktop App Showing Unlock StrongDM Button

To lock your account, go to the Account menu and select Lock. When locked, the Account menu shows that your status is Locked, with a red dot beside it.

Account Menu

This section describes what is shown in the desktop app’s Account menu:

  • Account information, including username, email, and organization name
  • Versioning
  • Online/offline status
  • Resource Center
  • Open app.strongdm.com
  • Documentation
  • Diagnostics
  • Install sdm in PATH
  • Update kubectl configuration
  • Lock
  • Log out
  • Quit
Example of Account Menu Options When User Is Online
Example of Account Menu Options When User Is Online

Account information

The top of the menu displays your name, email address, and the name of your organization.

Versioning

Underneath your account information, the menu displays the version number of your desktop app and the version number of your CLI (for example, “App: XX.YY.Z | CLI: XX.YY.Z”)

Occasionally, you may be required to update to a higher version. When an update is available, the desktop app displays the Update required message. Updates do not happen automatically, so you need to select this option to update the desktop app.

For detailed information about versioning, please see our versioning information.

User Online and Offline status

The Account menu includes Online (green dot) and Offline (red dot) status indicators, which indicate whether or not the user is logged in and able to use StrongDM.

When Online, the user is authenticated to StrongDM and is able to connect to the resources available to them. When Offline, the user is unauthenticated and cannot connect to resources.

Example of Account Menu Options When User Is Offline
Example of Account Menu Options When User Is Offline

Open app.strongdm.com

Open app.strongdm.com opens the Admin UI (https://app.strongdm.com) in your web browser.

Documentation

The Documentation option opens StrongDM documentation in your web browser.

Diagnostics

The Diagnostics option uses the SDM Doctor Utility to check your system for potential problems. A new window launches, providing information that could be helpful if you need to troubleshoot or provide a copy of the output to Support.

The Copy diagnostics button lets you copy the diagnostic information to your clipboard.

The Reset StrongDM button allows you to rename the current SDM configuration directory and create a fresh one.

Example Diagnostics Information
Example Diagnostics Information

Diagnostic information includes but is not limited to the following.

Diagnostic propertyDescription
APIAPI ping rate (in milliseconds)
Clock DriftClock drift (in milliseconds)
CPUsCPU count
DNS ResolutionInformation about where the Admin UI, gateway, and relay resolve
FDMaximum FD count
File PermissionsAccess information
Gateway LatencyStatus and latency (in milliseconds)
Gateway Link RedundancyInformation about redundant links
Gateway TCP/IPLink information and status
GUI VersionDesktop app version number
HTTP Proxy Settingshttp_proxy and https_proxy settings
IPYour IP address
Local NetworkHostname and addresses
Network QualityLatency and packet information
OS VersionOperating system and architecture information
RootCAsYour certificates
RuntimeStrongDM version number, hash, and build information
UptimeUptime (in minutes and seconds)

If the desktop app is in a bad connection state, the diagnostics window loads the last cached diagnostics information.

If the desktop app is disconnected and then reconnected, the desktop app refetches the diagnostics.

Install sdm in PATH

Select Install sdm in PATH from the Account menu to set up the StrongDM CLI in your system. You only need to install the CLI one time.

For detailed information about installing the CLI, please see the installation guide for your particular operating system.

Update kubectl configuration

If cluster resources are available to you, the Account menu provides the Update kubectl configuration option. This option adds StrongDM-specific sections to your existing ~/.kube/config file or creates a new one if it does not yet exist.

Note that you need kubectl to be in your PATH before starting the desktop app and/or CLI in order for this option to work.

You should see either a success message or an error message.

If there is a conflict that prevents the completion of the kubeconfig update, you can choose to force the update. The error message displays the exact text of the configuration conflict.

Lock

Selecting the Lock option allows you to lock the desktop app on your computer. When locked, you are unauthenticated to StrongDM, your status is “Locked,” and you cannot use the Resource Center.

To use the desktop app again, you must unlock it.

Log Out

Click the Log Out button to log out of the desktop app.

Quit

Click the Quit button to close the desktop app. You remain logged in to StrongDM if you choose to use the CLI while the desktop app is closed.

Connect all

The Connect all option lets you connect to all accessible resources simultaneously. Depending on your operating system, however, you may be limited in the number of resources to which you can connect. This limit is known as the file descriptor limit. Standard limits are as follows:

  • Linux-based: 1,024 resources
  • MacOS: 256 resources
  • Windows: 512 resources

Note the following potential scenarios that may occur if you reach the limit for your OS:

  • If you run sdm connect --all and the number of resources you currently have access to is greater than the standard limit for your OS, the operation may fail.
  • If you run sdm connect --filter and the number of results for that filter is greater than the standard limit for your OS, the operation may fail.

Resource Center

The Resource Center is the desktop app’s main menu that shows all the resources that you can access. To open this window, select Resource Center from the Account menu.

Changes in access grants are shown in real time. If you are unassigned from a role that provides access to PostgreSQL resources, for example, all such resources are immediately removed from your view in the Resource Center.

If you do not have access to any resources, or if you have questions about what you can or cannot access, please ask your StrongDM administrator.

The status bar at the bottom of the Resource Center indicates whether you are connected to StrongDM. If the status remains in the reconnecting state indefinitely, please contact your administrator. In addition, the status bar indicates the number of resources available.

Example Resource Center
Example Resource Center

Move and resize

The Resource Center window’s width and height is adjustable to any size, and you can move it to any area of any screen.

Dock icon

For macOS the desktop app’s SDM icon is shown in the dock. For Windows, the blue sdm logo is shown in the tray and displays “StrongDM - Resource Center” upon hover. Click on it to open the Resource Center.

Display of resources

By default, resources are sorted first by the resource type and then by the resource name. Each resource is shown with its host address and port number.

The Resource Center shows up to 25 resources at a time and supports infinite scroll. If you have access to 100,000 resources, for example, you can scroll through all of them until you reach the end of the list.

Connection to resources

Click-to-connect capability lets you click on any resource name to connect immediately. The green lightning icon indicates that the resource is connected or that the port is now open. Once connected, you can proceed to use your existing database, SSH, or RDP client to connect.

Port overrides

By default, every resource that is created is assigned a port override value, which is the port that you use to connect to the resource through StrongDM.

Websites

The desktop app allows you to connect to any website resource with a single click.

To open any website resource in your browser, first make sure you have already configured a proxy. Then click the connect button next to the website resource name.

Saved resources

You can save resources as favorites by selecting the star icon beside the resource name. Saving certain resources helps you to get to favorite resources quickly without having to search for them by name or type.

Saved resources persist and remain saved even after you log out of or quit the desktop app. You can view a list of all saved resources by clicking the Saved filter button.

To remove resoures from the Saved list, deselect the star icon beside the resource name.

You can search for and display specific resources by name. The Search field recognizes partial strings, allowing you to type just part of a resource’s name to find matching resources.

To return an exact match, encapsulate the resource name in quotation marks (for example, “azure-gateway”).

Resource filters

You can narrow the list of resources shown by using the Saved, Type, Health, and Connection filter dropdown buttons.

  • Saved filters for resources that you have saved as favorites.

  • Type filters for resources of a specific type, such as Google Kubernetes Engine.

    Type Filter Options
    Type Filter Options
  • Health filters for healthy or unhealthy resources.

    Health Filter Options
    Health Filter Options
  • Connection filters for resources that are connected (a local port is connected or open for that resource) or not connected (no ports are open for that resource).

    Connection Filter Options
    Connection Filter Options

Once you have made your selection, those resources are displayed.

To clear out your filter selection click Clear.

You can find resources and information about the following StrongDM topics in this section: