Dispel Admin Console

What is the admin console?

Ethan S avatar
Written by Ethan S
Updated over a week ago

The admin console (usually just called the console) is a tool for administering enclaves. An enclave can roughly be described as a disposable concealed network that can exist across multiple cloud providers and countries. Any resource, for example an engineering workstation, that you place inside of the enclave is effectively invisible to anyone who is not connected to the enclave.

The console allows you to create multiple enclaves and manage the resources and users who should have access to them.

Overview

TL;DR

  • Organizations: Entity which contains enclaves and users.

  • Enclaves & Clients: An enclave can be created by an admin or owner of the parent organization. You connect to an enclave through a client application, assuming an admin has given you permission to use the enclave.

  • Resources: When you have connected to an enclave you can use the enclaves’ resources (Video Conference, VDIs, Messaging, File-sharing, Entry and Exit Points) and protects their internet connection.

Overview: Organizations

An organization is the term for an entity that contains users, enclaves and credit cards. You can have multiple organizations on your console and administer different groups of users within them. It could for example be useful to silo different parts of your company and manage your Dispel implementation on any scale.

With organizations, your implementation and users are protected on all levels. In a single console you can manage permissions, enclaves, and billing across your company.

Overview: Enclaves and Clients 

An enclave is a disposable concealed network. But what does that mean? It means that anyone connecting to an enclave, using one of the client applications, can now obscure their location. It also means that their connection that flows through the enclave has all the personally identifiable parts encrypted or removed before it moves through and accesses the internet. This will make you look like an anonymous robot online, which means (1) you are safe from surveillance, but also (2) you will be asked to fill out more captchas. Sorry about that!

Some find it easier to understand when we say it is kind of like a VPN (virtual private network) service, but with heavier security and you have control over the different parts. Also those different parts can cross different cloud providers and country boundaries, putting you in multiple jurisdictions. Obtaining information about your activity becomes a nightmare for any adversary.

But an enclave can actually do so much more! Once you have a secure enclave booted, any resources you put inside of it are only accessible by users who are connected to the enclave, and you control who has access.

Overview: Resources

Resources that live within an enclave are only accessible to people that can access the enclave. Since the networked nodes that constitute an enclave are only used by those users, the enclave and the resources are, for all intents and purposes, your own private slice of the internet.

A common use for enclave resources is for communication and collaboration (Video Conference, VDIs, Messaging, File-sharing, Entry and Exit Points). To use enclave resources, you will need to connect to the enclave in question through the Dispel application that is available for macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS, and Android.

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