Devices & agents

Manage the hardware and on-premises software that capture attendance under Settings → Devices & Agents: the readers on your doors, the relay agents that connect them, the device groups that decide whose number a punch belongs to, and the logs that tell you whether the fleet is healthy.

How a device is described

Every device has three independent characteristics:

Transport: how the device reaches the platform. Direct devices push straight to Eban. Relay devices are polled by an on-premises relay agent. Relay app (legacy) is the older desktop app, which appears only for migration and cannot be created here.
Device use: what the device is for: Registration, Work attendance, or Ticketing. A ticketing device must also be linked to a ticketing program.
Device group: which set of numbers the device answers to. A device is in exactly one group, so every device in the same group shares its numbers.

When a device is linked to a relay agent, it either uses its own connection or sits behind a central node: a vendor server, such as a BioStar server, that the agent polls. Readers behind the same node share one user database, so Eban keeps them in one device group. A new reader behind a node joins the group the node’s other readers are in, and moving one of those readers moves the rest with it.

Register a device

On the Devices tab, select Register Device. The form has the device on the left and its connectivity on the right.

The device

Label: required. A name you recognize, such as “Main Entrance”.
Transport: Direct or Relay app. A migrated legacy device shows its transport read-only.
Vendor: the manufacturer. The list depends on the transport you chose. The vendor decides the device model list, the connection fields, and which capabilities the device offers, such as syncing users, clock sync, reboot, and biometrics.
Device model: pick from the vendor’s supported models, or type it when the vendor has no fixed list.
Device serial (SN): the hardware serial number. Required for vendors that need it, and required whenever the device sits behind a central node, because it is how the node addresses the device.
Select Attendance Site: required. Where the device is installed.
Device type: Registration, Work attendance, or Ticketing. Choosing Ticketing reveals Select Ticketing Program.
Status: active or inactive.
Device group: shown only when you create the device. Start a new group for this device leaves every number the device sees unassigned for you to confirm, and is the safe default. The other option puts the device in an existing group, shown with how many numbers and devices it holds and how many numbers you are inheriting, and that group then resolves everyone already mapped in it. A device behind a central node has its picker locked to that node’s group, because the readers on one server are one set of people. Changing a device’s group later goes through the move flow, which previews what will change.

Connectivity

Direct devices: the “Enter these into the device” card shows the Device server address and the device Token, each with Copy. These are the values you configure on the physical device. Until you save, the card says the address appears afterwards.
Relay devices: pick the Managed by agent, then its Connection: Device’s own connection, where the device dials out itself, or Behind a central node, where it reuses a vendor server’s connection and is identified by its device serial. Pick the Central node in that case.
The remaining fields are the vendor’s connection configuration, such as host, port, credentials, and options. The form shows only the ones your connection mode needs.
Device status alerts at the bottom links to System alerts, where you set who is told when this device’s status changes.

After registering

Copy the server address and token into a Direct device.
Pair a relay agent if you chose Relay.
Select Sync users once the device is connected, so the platform learns the names it holds and can fill the device from its group.
Watch the Health column until it shows Online.

The devices list

The Devices tab lists every device with its label, site, use, transport, enabled state, health, and when it was added.

The label opens the device’s page. A red badge beside it counts the numbers that are unassigned, and clicking the badge takes you to them. An Archived badge marks a device that has been put away.
Under the label sit the vendor and connection type, the serial number, and any action in progress, which shows a spinner while it runs and a tick or a cross when it finishes.
Transport shows Direct, Relay app, or Relay, with the agent the device is linked to, and the node when it sits behind one.
Health is a live pill: Online, Offline, or Unknown. A legacy relay device shows both the relay app and the reader state, and an archived device shows no health.

Filter the list by Site, and by Archived (Archived only or Including archived). Archived devices stay hidden until you ask for them.

Row actions

Edit reopens the registration form.
Copy token and Copy server address grab the connection values of a Direct device.
Recheck physical device status asks the device to report its state now.
Repush attendance re-sends stored attendance for a date range you choose.
Regenerate token issues a new token. The current one stops working immediately, so you must reconfigure the physical device, and the form reopens so you can copy the new value.
Archive puts a device away. It is switched off, stops recording punches, and is hidden from the list, while its past punches and logs stay. Bring it back with Unarchive from the archived filter, then edit it to switch it on again.
Delete removes the device.

The device page

Open a device from the list. The page updates live as the device reports in and as commands complete, so you can leave it open while you walk to the reader.

The badges show Active or Inactive, the Health pill, one chip per waiting command, such as “Reboot: 3 waiting”, and Archived when it is archived. Under the title: the Group the device reads, Last seen, and Offline since.

Actions in the header:

Sync users asks the device for its enrolled users. That gives names for its numbers, plus the privilege, card, and password a write would hand back. Where your organization has accepted the biometric terms, it also asks for the fingerprints and faces the device holds, so they can be put on other devices.
Add people to this device adds everyone in the device’s group who is not on it yet, with the fingerprints and faces they enrolled elsewhere. People still have to enroll a finger or a face on the device itself to punch.
Re-sync clock corrects the device’s clock now, without waiting for the routine sync.
Reboot restarts the device. Reboot after the first connection, or after a site timezone change, so the site timezone applies.
In the menu: Copy token, Copy server address, Recheck status, Repush attendance, and Regenerate token.

Overview tab

The tiles are a work list:

On this device: how many of the group’s people are actually on the device.
Can clock in: of the people on the device, how many have a biometric that lets them punch. It reads Not reported until the device has sent its biometrics. The gap between this tile and On this device is exactly the people who will be refused at the door, because a number with no biometric cannot punch.
Unassigned numbers: numbers the device has seen that belong to nobody yet.
Relay app: for legacy relay devices, the desktop relay app’s own state.

Below the tiles:

The device group panel: the group this device is in, with Open group and Move to another group. When numbers are waiting, it warns that numbers from this device need a person, and links to the review queue.
Numbers held under another name: numbers the device holds under a different name than the person in its group. Eban leaves these alone, because putting the group’s person on a number replaces whoever the device holds there, and hands them that number’s card, keypad password, and admin rights. Use Put the person on this device, or put everyone on it, when you accept the replacement. The panel also reports an automatic fill, and says when the device never sent its list of people, in which case select Sync users, then Add people to this device.
Shared biometrics: whether copying biometrics between devices in a group is On or Off for the organization, how much is stored and for how many people, and who is excluded. Turning it on means accepting the biometric terms.
The activity panel: the device’s recent submissions and the commands sent to it.

On the right, Device setup is the reference panel: the attendance site, the device model, which prefers the model the hardware reports, whether the user list has synced, whether biometrics have been pulled, the biometric modalities the device Accepts, the serial number, the connection path, and the masked authentication token. The capabilities the vendor supports appear above it: attendance, user directory, clock sync, reboot, status checks, and biometric enrollment.

Numbers tab

Numbers this device has reported lists the numbers this reader has seen punch, or reported through a directory refresh, with the Number, the Name on device, the Eban employee or a Needs review badge, the Biometric, the Source, the Punches, and the Last activity.

Filter by Number, Assignment, Source (directory reported or punch observed), and Biometric. Refresh list re-reads the grid. To ask the device for its enrolled users, use Sync users in the header instead.

Device groups

A device group answers the question “who is 241?”. Every device is in exactly one group.

Devices in the same group share their numbers, so a number is one person across all of them.
Devices in different groups number their people independently, so the same number can be two different people in two groups.

The device group is the unit of identity, and it is where you triage numbers. A reader reports a number, the number is looked up in that reader’s group, the group says who punched, and attendance is attributed. If the group has no mapping for the number, the punch parks until you assign it.

The Device groups tab

The tab lists each group with the devices in it, the number of Devices, the number of Numbers, and the Unassigned count. A group that holds numbers but has no device in it carries an unused badge, because none of its numbers match anyone until a device is put in it. That state is expected mid-cutover.

New device group creates a named group, with an optional description.
Unassigned numbers opens the staff-ID fallback setting, which decides whether a number with no mapping in its group falls back to matching the employee whose staff ID equals that number. A number matching nobody, or more than one active employee, stays unassigned. Turning the fallback on replays parked numbers once.
Edit renames the group or changes its description.
Delete removes the group and the numbers given to people in it. It is disabled while the group still holds devices, so move them off first.

Inside a device group

Open a group to see its description, its Devices, Numbers, and Unassigned counts, and, for a group Eban created, where it came from, such as “Created automatically when device groups were introduced”.

Add people to devices adds everyone in the group to every device in it that Eban can update, with the fingerprints and faces they enrolled elsewhere. You get a preview of how many people and copies are queued, and people who have left are skipped. Devices take people one at a time, so a large group takes a while.
Copy people from another group copies another group’s numbers in. Numbers this group already has are skipped.
Join groups moves this group’s devices and numbers into another group, then deletes this one.
Edit renames the group or changes its description.

The page has three tabs, which are the same data from three angles.

Numbers is the review queue, with a badge for the count waiting for review. Every number in the group is aggregated across all its devices and deduplicated, so a number is triaged exactly once however many readers report it. Each row shows the Number, On as how many of the group’s devices have seen it, the Punches, the Last seen, and an Assign to column that names the suggested person.

The Show filter is a work list with counts:

Filter	What it shows
Needs a person (default)	The unassigned queue
Assigned	Numbers that resolve to someone
Enrolled, unused	Numbers that exist, but no device has seen them punch
Name doesn’t match	Assigned numbers where the reader’s name for the number disagrees with the mapped employee
All, Ignored	Everything, or the numbers you ignored

To assign a number, use the Assign to column. The row usually comes pre-filled with a suggestion that states its confidence and why, such as “this number is their staff ID” or “the devices name this number after them”. Press Enter to confirm. Assigning recovers that number’s parked punches into attendance, and an Undo toast follows, which expires. Every row keeps a Take number away action afterwards.

Accept N matches on this page bulk-accepts the exact-match suggestions on the page. A row whose suggestion was replaced or dropped is excluded, so you cannot bulk-commit a match you overruled.
Reassign number points a “name does not match” row at the person the device names instead. Attendance already recorded for the previous person is not moved.
Ignore dismisses a number, with an optional reason, so it does not resurface. Restore to inbox reverses it.
Punch history opens the punches that number has made, assigned or not.
Take number away unassigns a person from a number. Their future scans with it stop counting, and anything not yet sent to a device is cancelled.

The queue is live: when a new unrecognized number punches, a toast offers Show to jump straight to it.

People is the inverse view: one row per person, carrying every number they hold in this group as chips, with a role badge and, for someone who has left, a left badge.

Add a number by typing it into the box and pressing Assign. This also recovers parked punches and adds the person to the group’s devices.
The filled chip is their main number, the one written onto readers. Click another chip to make it the main number. Their other numbers still resolve punches.
Remove a single number with the chip’s remove control. Only that number is cleared.
Filter by Show (not enrolled or enrolled), Role, and Attendance site.

Devices lists every reader in the group, with its Transport and Status, and a Move to another group action. Devices in the same group share their people and numbers, so moving one changes who its future punches belong to, and it can recover punches that parked before it joined.

Move a device between groups

Move a device from its own page, with Move to another group in the device group panel, or from the group’s Devices tab. Pick the target group, or start a new one. Before anything commits, you get a preview:

how many numbers become assigned, change owner, or become unassigned;
what happens to the group the device is leaving: still used by other devices, kept with numbers but no device, or left empty and deleted;
which other readers move with it, when it sits behind a central node;
whether the device will be filled with the new group’s people. A number it holds under another name is left for you to review.

You can also tick Also recover N parked punches, which turns scans that never matched a person into attendance and can change past days. It is off unless you ask for it.

Join two groups

Join groups moves one group’s devices and numbers into another and deletes the first. The picker previews how many devices and numbers move, how many numbers already agree, and lists the conflicts it cannot resolve: a number that is one person in one group and a different person in the other. Those block the join until they are resolved in the group’s review queue.

Relay agents

Relay agents are on-premises software that sit between your devices and the platform. A relayed device does not dial out itself: the agent polls it, and reporting to Eban originates from the agent. Agents also host central nodes, vendor servers such as a BioStar server that groups of devices sit behind.

The agent list shows each agent’s label with its location, its Status (Online, Offline, Pairing pending, or Revoked), its Version, its Devices count, and its Central nodes count. Rename edits the label and location.

Pair a new agent

On the Relay Agents tab, select Pair new agent.
Give it a Name, such as “Head office BioStar server”, and an optional Location.
In the Claim code window that appears, a one-time code is shown and expires. Copy it now.
On the on-premises machine, install the Eban Device Agent, open its local console, and paste the code to pair. Nothing else needs configuring.

The agent shows Pairing pending until it checks in, then turns Online.

The agent page

The header shows the agent’s status badge, Location, Devices, Central nodes, Version, and Last seen.

Regenerate claim code mints a fresh one-time code. It is shown up front while the agent is still pairing, and under the menu otherwise. Use it to re-pair or recover an agent.
Revoke agent stops it relaying immediately. It must be re-paired with a regenerated claim code to work again.
Delete agent removes it. Unlink its devices first if it still manages any.
Reactivate returns a revoked agent to pairing pending with its devices intact, so you can regenerate a code and re-pair.
Rename edits the label and location.

Devices lists the devices this agent relays: the device with its serial, its Site, its Connection as the device’s own or behind a node, its Enabled state, and its Health. Use Add device or Link existing to attach devices, and Unlink from agent to detach one.

Central nodes lists the vendor servers the agent polls, each with its Name, Vendor, Address, and Devices count. Add central node asks for:

Name, such as “Head office BioStar server”.
Vendor, from the supported central-node vendors.
The vendor’s connection fields: the host, port, and options, plus any secret login credentials. On edit, leave a password blank to keep the current value.
Test connection verifies that the agent can reach the node before you save, and reports success or failure.

Place a device behind a node from the device’s edit form, under Connection → Behind a central node. Devices behind the same node share the node’s connection, are addressed by serial, and Eban keeps them in the same device group for you.

Logs is the agent’s own diagnostics: pairing events, config pulls, vendor sessions, and updates, which previously existed only on the customer’s machine. Collect logs asks the agent to send its full log tail on its next check-in, usually within a minute, and Download saves the exported lines. Filters and live search make it usable for troubleshooting a flaky agent.

Process logs, status logs, and status analytics

These three tabs are the device health and traffic history:

Tab	What it shows	What it is useful for
Process Logs	Every device submission, and what the platform did with it: the Date, Device, Source, Status, such as processed, failed, unknown schedule, unknown identification, or backend disabled, and the Message. Exports to Excel or PDF	Answering “did this punch land, and why not?”. The Number filter takes you straight to one person’s scans, and Device group narrows to one group
Status Logs	Device connectivity history. Each row shows a change as a before and after status pair, such as Online to Offline, the time it changed, and how long the previous state lasted	Seeing the pattern of a device dropping, for example every night, or every five minutes, which is flapping
Status Analytics	Per-device availability over a date range: Now, an Uptime percentage bar, Offline duration, No Reading duration, and a Changes count. A warning icon flags devices that changed state unusually often	Filling in a device that is reporting but jittery. The flapping flag is the early warning

Common tasks

Set up the hardware for a new site

Create the attendance site with its geofence.
Select Register Device, and pick the site, the vendor and model, the device use, and the device group, usually Start a new group for this device.
Copy the server address and token into the physical reader for a Direct device.
Pair a relay agent if you chose Relay, and add a central node for a vendor server, placing the device behind it if that is how it connects.
Watch the Health pill turn Online.
Select Sync users so the directory fills with names.
Triage the first punches in the group’s Numbers tab, assigning numbers so punches resolve.

Get a new employee onto the readers

Open the device group the person’s devices are in, and its People tab.
Find the person. Switch Show to Not enrolled to see everyone still missing a number.
Type their number and press Assign. The number is mapped, and any of that person’s parked punches recover.
Select Add people to devices, or Add people to this device, to push the number and name to the reader.
The person still has to enroll a finger or a face on the physical device before they can punch.

Fix punches that are parking

Open the attendance Needs Attention queue. It lists unresolved scans.
Go to the relevant device group’s Numbers tab, and search the number.
Assign it to the person. The suggestion is usually pre-filled, and parked punches replay into attendance.
If the number is a person’s staff ID, consider turning on staff-ID fallback so later unassigned numbers match themselves.

Take a device out of service or replace it

Move it to another group: from the device page’s device group panel, or the group’s Devices tab, with Move to another group. Preview first, and opt in to recovering parked punches if you want them.
Repoint its site: edit the device and change the attendance site.
Take it out of service for a while: Archive it from the list, then Unarchive when it comes back.
Decommission: unlink it from its agent, Delete the device, then delete the group if nothing reads it any more.

A device that is offline

Check Status Analytics to see whether it is flapping or fully down.
Check Status Logs for the before and after pattern.
Select Recheck physical device status to force a live probe.
Reboot or re-sync the clock from the device header, if the device supports it.
If it was down for a stretch, Repush attendance for the gap once it is back online.

A device that is not showing the group’s people

Open the device, then Overview. If the fill panel says the device did not send its list of people, select Sync users, then Add people to this device.
If it lists Numbers held under another name, decide each one. The reader already holds that number under someone else, and putting the group’s person on it replaces them.
If the device never reports anything, the group’s people cannot reach it. Check its transport, and the agent or node in its connection path.

Set up the physical locations first: Attendance sites.
Who is told when a device goes offline: System alerts.
What each reader submitted, and how it was processed: Device logs.
Where a person’s numbers appear: The employee profile.