FileWave Foundry

Everyone who uses FileWave appreciates learning more about it, but attending training is hard - we get it! Sometimes the timing or the location of the training won’t work, sometimes the budget won’t allow for it, but more often than not, the lack of TIME prevents IT staff from joining us in the classroom.

Enter the FileWave Foundry: Where great FileWave minds are forged!

What is it?

The FileWave Foundry is an online training and certification platform created by the FileWave team that gives access to learning materials on all things FileWave. This material is available 24x7, from any location, compatible with any device, and allows you to train at your own pace!

The Foundry’s learning materials (30 hours and counting!) are comprised of 3 levels of training content:

101 Level Material is available to all Alliance members. This material is primarily introductory in origin and gives a high-level overview of how FileWave works, along with a walkthrough of a basic FileWave server installation.
201 Level Material is complimentary to any active FileWave customer's named contacts (those who can submit tickets on filewave.com) and available by subscription* for all others. This material is everything a day-to-day FileWave administrator would want to know and comprises lectures, examples, best practices, and video walk-throughs.
301 Level Material is made up of some seriously deep content like expert troubleshooting and API work and is intended primarily for partners and internal staff (301 level materials are currently under construction).

If just learning about FileWave isn’t enough, and you’d like to become a FileWave Certified Administrator (FCA), then the Foundry has you covered for that as well!

The FileWave Certified Administrator course:

Has homework assignments for each stage of the training that are reviewed and commented on by an actual human being (we still have those too!)
These assignments give an opportunity to ask for clarification or provide feedback
Includes up to 3 hours of one-on-one time with an instructor to review anything that may be causing you trouble
Provides access to the FileWave Certified Administrator exam (once requirements are met) for up to one year
Upon successful exam completion, a serialized FileWave Certified Administrator Certificate is automatically created

So whether you are interested in certification or just learning a little more about FileWave, the Foundry has you covered!

Accessing the Foundry

You can find the FileWave Foundry at https://foundry.filewave.com and can log in with the same single-sign-on credentials you use to log support tickets and Alliance Forums, but you do not need to be a support contact for Foundry access. You can also download the mobile app to use Foundry on the go!

We hope you love the Foundry as much as we loved building it for you!

Please contact Customer Experience for details on pricing for FCA. If you have any feedback about Foundry itself, you can email Foundry@FileWave.com any time.

Foundry Index of Materials

There is a lot of great educational material in the FileWave Foundry, but knowing what is in each module can be a bit of a challenge. In the below index, we lay out for you a rough guide of the content (broken out into categories) so that you can quickly get to the content you want.

Server Installation, Configuration, and Upgrades:

FileWave Server Installation (27 minutes) Synopsis: Basic server installation for each platform (macOS, centOS, Windows)

Basic FileWave Server Configuration (27 minutes) Synopsis: Configuration of FW server elements for managing computers. i.e. the non-MDM and non-Chromebook configurations

FileWave MDM Server Configuration (64 minutes) Synopsis: Review of the necessary configurations for the MDM elements of the FileWave server (including VPP & DEP configuration)

Using Webmin to Configure Server Details (8 minutes) Synopsis: On (centOS) initial server setup you probably want to set a static IP and change the root password–webmin makes this considerably easy

FileWave Server Upgrade Process (43 minutes) Synopsis: FileWave Upgrades are released on about a quarterly basis. This material walks through that process

New Version/Feature Overviews:

FileWave 12.7 Overview (18 minutes) Synopsis: Overview of new 12.7 features, including whiteboxing and custom fields

FileWave 12.8 Overview (28 minutes) Synopsis: Overview of 12.8 Apple specific release related to iOS/tvOS 11.3 and macOS 10.13.4

FileWave 12.9 Overview (17 minutes) Synopsis: FileWave 12.9 included mostly internal security updates and support for FileVault 2 key escrow

FileWave Client Enrollment:

FileWave Client Deployment Overview (20 minutes) Synopsis: Overview of methods and requirements for deploying FileWave clients (non-MDM)

Manual Client Deployment (15 minutes) Synopsis: Overview of client preferences during manual enrollment and overview of custom client creation

Using ARD for Initial Client Deployment (5 minutes) Synopsis: Walkthrough of using pre-existing ARD to enroll macOS clients in FileWave

Using an AD GPO for Initial Client Deployment (7 minutes) Synopsis: Walkthrough of using Active Directory to mass enroll Windows devices

Remotely Deploying Clients using Local Accounts (14 minutes) Synopsis: Challenging pre-requisites to use local accounts, but better than deploying by hand

Mobile Device Enrollment (70 minutes) Synopsis: A big module covering all of the deployment methods for mobile devices including iOS, Android and macOS

New Clients and Placeholders (18 minutes) Synopsis: Overview of how clients are "quarantined" upon first enrollment and discussion on using placeholders

Working with Client Devices:

Working With Computer Clients (Part 1) (39 minutes) Synopsis: Everything you ever wanted to know about the Client View, Client Monitor, and Client Info for desktop devices

Working with Computer Clients (Part 2) (37 minutes) Synopsis: Using Client State, Management Mode, the Observe (remote control) function, and geolocation lookup

Working with Mobile Devices (68 minutes) Synopsis: Using Client View, Client Info, and geolocation lookup specifically for mobile devices

Inventory Data:

Basic Groups and Smart Groups (47 minutes) Synopsis: The basics on using groups and smart groups, but does not include using inventory queries in smart groups

Inventory Queries (45 minutes) Synopsis: Examples of doing both simple and more complex inventory queries, looking at scheduled reports, and using inventory queries to support smart groups

Custom Fields (48 minutes) Synopsis: Custom fields provide you the ability to define your own inventory fields and use them to police your environment and build truly automated workflows. This module walks through some example field creation

Custom Field Examples (book form) Synopsis: Custom fields ideas that you may find very valuable to your organization

Mobile Device Inventory Differences (27 mins) Synopsis: Inventory Information for mobile devices is mostly the same as for computers, but there are some differences in fields that matter to us, and the kinds of smart groups we might build. This gives several ideas and best practices on managing the information coming from your mobile estate

Administrators and LDAP Integration:

Admin Rights and LDAP (63 minutes) Synopsis: Overview of admin permissions, setting granular rights on filesets/clients, and integrating FileWave with LDAP for admin authentication

Admin Changes with FileWave 12.9 (17 minutes) Synopsis: Overview of Admin rights changes that accompanied FileWave 12.9

FileWave Filesets:

Filesets Overview (49 minutes) Synopsis: Uses APP/Folder type filesets to review all of the properties of filesets in general including verification settings

Empty Filesets and the Import Process (46 minutes) Synopsis: Using empty filesets for Super Prefs, basic scripts, and client-side custom fields as well as review of importing filesets

macOS Config Profiles and MSI/PKG Filesets (57 minutes) Synopsis: Touches on App Store filesets and Software Updates, but focuses on computer Profiles and MSI/PKG fileset types

Mobile Device Filesets (121 minutes) Synopsis: Thorough review of all of the different fileset types for mobile devices. Includes VPP apps for iOS and macOS, Android APKs, iOS Enterprise Apps, iOS Media Files, and configuration profiles

Fileset Magic (37 minutes) Synopsis: Walkthrough of Fileset Magic filesets on both Windows and macOS

Fileset Groups and Reports (19 minutes) Synopsis: Review of fileset groups being used for organization and association purposes and using fileset reports to track deployments

Scripting and Other Magic:

Requirements Scripts (13 minutes) Synopsis: Requirements scripts got more flexible with version 12.7 of FileWave. This module looks at how to use them for various fileset pre-checks

Blocker Scripts (9 minutes) Synopsis: Using empty filesets for Super Prefs, basic scripts, and client-side custom fields as well as review of importing filesets

Whiteboxing (Customizing Kiosk) (12 minutes) Synopsis: Your customers are much more likely to use self-service tools if they look and feel like they come from your organization. This module walks you through modifying the kiosk for this purpose

macOS FileVault2 Encryption and Key Escrow (37 minutes) Synopsis: FileWave has the ability to encrypt MDM enrolled macOS devices through the use of a configuration profile, including the ability to escrow both institutional and personal recovery keys

Patch Management:

OS and Software Update Management (52 minutes) Synopsis: Review of both Operating System and third party software updates. If you are interested in keeping software up to date, this is where you want to be

Integrating AutoPKG with FileWave (48 minutes) Synopsis: If you are looking to integrate FileWave with AutoPKG to setup some truly effortless third party updates, then this is your module. (macOS only)

Associations:

Associations Overview (69 minutes) Synopsis: Managing associations properly is key to a well-oiled FileWave machine. In this module we do a deep dive into associations, including best practices for keeping things neat and organized

License Management:

License Management (32 minutes) Synopsis: Want to save money on licensing expensive software for people in your organization? This license management overview walks through license setup and reading actual app usage information

Boosters:

Booster Management (53 minutes) Synopsis: Boosters are used to lessen traffic on the FileWave server, and to address network bottlenecks. This module reviews booster setup and some basic guidelines for booster location recommendations

Apple Caching Server (6 minutes) Synopsis: Of course Apple Caching Servers are not boosters, but they perform a very similar service for deployment of VPP applications and are important to understand

Chromebooks:

Chromebook Management (25 minutes) Synopsis: In this module, we walk you through the entire process of setting up your FileWave server to talk to your Chromebooks. We also look briefly at some of the functionality and at location lookup for Chrome devices.

Imaging:

Imaging Virtual Server (IVS) Setup (23 minutes) Synopsis: Before we can do any network deployment of macOS or Windows images, we need an IVS to serve them...this module walks through IVS setup and configuration

Imaging with Lightning (legacy macOS Only pre-HS) (29 minutes) Synopsis: This material is meant for pre-High Sierra only as imaging methods have changed drastically with HS and beyond. Lightning is a beautiful tool though for creating and deploying pre-HS macOS images

Imaging macOS Using the IVS (legacy macOS Only, pre-HS) (24 minutes) Synopsis: This material is meant for pre-High Sierra only as imaging methods have changed drastically with HS and beyond. Lightning is a beautiful tool though for creating and deploying pre-HS macOS images

Creating a Windows Image (38 minutes) Synopsis: We'll be using sysprep in this module to learn how to create a clean Windows image in a virtual machine environment

Windows Image Deployment and Driver Packs (31 minutes) Synopsis: Once we have our image created, we need a way to deploy it. And, if we want it to work on any hardware, we need to learn to build driver packs. This module covers both topics

Building Imaging Workflows (32 minutes) Synopsis: We want imaging to be as painless a process as possible...we want devices setup quickly, tailored for the customer, and with as little effort as possible by the IT staff. This material covers best practices and general ideas about building workflows for imaging

The High Sierra "Imaging" Conundrum (8 minutes) Synopsis: Pre-High Sierra devices cannot be directly refreshed to High Sierra...they must be upgrade first. This module covers the why and how behind this

Remote Refresh of High Sierra (28 minutes) Synopsis: Why do we not call this "imaging"? The most recent method of "imaging" really isn't imaging at all...it is rather a method for doing a remotely initiated clean install of the OS. This module walks you through the whole process

Education Specific:

Setting Up and Using FileWave Engage (66 minutes) Synopsis: FileWave Engage is built for educators to manage a cross-platform classroom with ease. This module reviews setting up the Engage server, and gives a walk-through of the feature-set

FileWave Support for Apple Classroom (37 minutes) Synopsis: FileWave supports Apple Classroom through the deliver of education configuration profiles to student and teacher devices. This module walks you through a proof-of-concept for bring in students and teacher info for support of this tool