Installing the Firefox Browser Extension
uberAgent's browser web app performance functionality requires a browser extension to be installed\. This article lists the necessary steps for the Firefox extension\. The requirements can be found here\.
Enabling the Agent Metric
To enable data collection from Firefox make sure uberAgent's
BrowserPerformanceFirefox metric is enabled in the configuration\. In the default configuration, BrowserPerformanceFirefox is enabled\.
Installing the Firefox Extension
Note
As of uberAgent 7\.2, the version 4\.0\.1 or newer of the Firefox browser add\-on is required\. This version is based on a V3 manifest file\.
Manual Installation
For tests and PoCs, it may be easiest to install uberAgent's Firefox extension manually\.
Install the extension from the Firefox Web Store\.
User Consent
The extension version 2\.6 or newer initially does not collect any data\. To enable data collection click the uberAgent icon in the upper right corner\.
Automated Installation
Add\-on Deployment
Deployment of uberAgent's Firefox extension is easily possible with Group Policy (Firefox 60\+ required)\. Please follow the steps in Mozilla's documentation\.
Below is an example JSON code to block the user from installing any extension but force the uberAgent extension installation through Group Policy\. Put it in
Policies - Administrative Templates - Mozilla - Firefox - Extensions - Extension Management\.
{
"*": {
"blocked_install_message": "If you need this browser extension, please contact the helpdesk.",
"installation_mode": "blocked"
},
"{483699ec-db40-4a13-b984-fd7496844dc0}": {
"installation_mode": "force_installed",
"install_url": "https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/downloads/latest/uberagent-mv3/latest.xpi"
}
}
User Consent
As of 2019\-12\-02, Mozilla enforces showing a consent dialog to users if an add\-on collects information about visited URLs, even if the add\-on was deployed through Group Policy\.
This change forces us to publish a new version of the add\-on that initially does not collect any data\. To automatically enable data collection set the new managed storage setting
EnableBrowserDataCollection to true\. This can be achieved in one of two ways\.
Automatically declare consent and enable data collection by running a script to set
EnableBrowserDataCollection to true:
-
Make sure that cookies are enabled and Firefox's setting
dom.storage.enabledis set totrue -
Copy the following PowerShell snippet and paste it into a new file that you name
Set-uberAgentFFEnableBrowserDataCollection.ps1.
#Requires -RunAsAdministrator
#Requires -Version 3.0
<#
.SYNOPSIS
Prepare the machine for Mozilla Firefox browser data collection.
.DESCRIPTION
Prepare the machine for Mozilla Firefox browser data collection.
.EXAMPLE
PS C:\> .\Set-uberAgentFFEnableBrowserDataCollection.ps1
Enables the browser data collection
.INPUTS
The script does not allow any inputs
.OUTPUTS
The script does not produce any output
#>
[CmdletBinding()]
$uberAgentInstallationDirectory = "$(Join-Path $env:ProgramFiles 'Citrix\uberAgent')"
$FirefoxSettingsFile = 'uAFirefoxSettings.json'
$RegPath = "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Mozilla\ManagedStorage\{483699ec-db40-4a13-b984-fd7496844dc0}"
$FirefoxSettingsContent = @'
{
"name": "{483699ec-db40-4a13-b984-fd7496844dc0}",
"description": "ignored",
"type": "storage",
"data": {"EnableBrowserDataCollection": true}
}
'@ -split '\r\n'
If (!(Test-Path $uberAgentInstallationDirectory)) {
Throw "The directory $uberAgentInstallationDirectory does not exist. Please change the path to uberAgent's installation directory in the script manually."
}
try {
# Firefox setting file
If (!(Test-Path $(Join-Path $uberAgentInstallationDirectory $FirefoxSettingsFile))) {
New-Item $(Join-Path $uberAgentInstallationDirectory $FirefoxSettingsFile) -Force
}
Write-Verbose "Create the Firefox setting file"
$FirefoxSettingsContent | Set-Content $(Join-Path $uberAgentInstallationDirectory $FirefoxSettingsFile) -Force
# Firefox registry entry
If (!(Test-Path $RegPath)) {
New-Item $RegPath -Force
}
Set-Item $RegPath -Value "$(Join-Path $uberAgentInstallationDirectory $FirefoxSettingsFile)"
}
catch {
Write-Error $_ -ErrorAction Stop
}
-
Run the script with elevated permissions on every endpoint:
powershell.exe -executionpolicy bypass -file Set-uberAgentFFEnableBrowserDataCollection.ps1 -
Only upgrade to or install version 2\.6\+ of uberAgent's Firefox add\-on once the script has been run on all endpoints
If you prefer to change things manually instead of using our script we have you covered, too:
-
Create the file
uAFirefoxSettings.jsonin uberAgent's installation directory with the following content:{"name": "{483699ec-db40-4a13-b984-fd7496844dc0}", "description": "ignored", "type": "storage", "data": {"EnableBrowserDataCollection": true}} -
Create the registry key
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Mozilla\ManagedStorage\{483699ec-db40-4a13-b984-fd7496844dc0} -
Set the key's default value to the full path of the JSON file from step one, e\.g\.
C:\Program Files\Citrix\uberAgent\uAFirefoxSettings.json
If you do not set
EnableBrowserDataCollection to true before upgrading to or installing version 2\.6\+ of uberAgent's Firefox extension users have to opt\-in at first run\. If they do not opt\-in, uberAgent cannot collect any website metrics\.
Future versions of uberAgent (> 5\.3) will set
EnableBrowserDataCollection to true automatically unless this is specifically disabled in uberAgent's configuration\.
Note that setting
ShowConsentDialog to false has the same effect as setting EnableBrowserDataCollection to true\.