What makes Deployments better than Associations?

What

Deployments and Associations both assign Filesets or payloads to devices. Deployments are new,usually easier to maintain because one Deployment keeps its targets, exclusions, Filesets, and willshared replacedelivery Associationsoptions entirelytogether.

eventually.

Deployments But,are doesnot thisautomatically makebetter for every existing assignment. Use them better?when Whythe yes,included indeedcontent itshould does!share Howeverthe theresame arebehavior. exceptionsKeep whereor Associationssplit stillassignments maywhen betiming, required.installation type, licensing, targets, exclusions, or Fileset revisions need to differ.

DeploymentsWhy use Deployments?

First

considerDeployment deployments.capabilityOperational

When/Why

benefit

Why

DeploymentsMultiple ratherFilesets thanand Associations? There are three primary improvements with deployments over associations:

The ability to specify Exclusionstargets in aone deployment
ruleUpdate Newthe targets/payloadsshared canassignment beonce addedinstead toof existing deploymentsfinding and will inherit the options Neater Fileset grouping

Exclusions allow you to specifyediting a bigset targetof separate Associations.

ExclusionsTarget a broad group likeand “Allomit Windows”,specific devices or subgroups without building a separate assignment structure. Shared optionsApply one installation type, timing configuration, and EXCLUDEapplicable fromVPP/Apps theand deploymentBooks alicense-distribution subset, perhaps the “Staff Windows” group as an example

Once an Association is converted to a Deployment, the Association will currently still show in FileWave Central, but will no longer be editable as an Association; the Deployment is now managing the assignment of any Filesets included.

How

Let’s look at a case study. If we were to create associations for the following 4 appsmodel to the Windowsincluded Computerscontent.

group:Tags

and

Thennames

Group thatand willfind resultrelated incontent-delivery 4rules associations,without reorganizing the Fileset tree around each withassignment. theirOngoing own properties. And if we want to switch them all to Kiosk, then we must find/edit them togethermaintenanceAdd or individually.remove Iftargets weand decidedFilesets tolater thenwhile addretaining the BGInfoDeployment's payloadshared as well, we’d have to create another association, and edit that one too.

But, the same exact scenario with a deployment is only one entry, with multiple parts:

Therefore, we only need to edit these in one place and one time to change them all to Kiosk. This makes them more efficient, and if we want to add BGInfo to this deployment, then we can do so -- with that installation now inheriting the same rules.

Fileset Grouping

Deployments do not impact Fileset Grouping.  Perhaps it is nice to group Filesets by type or by Vendor:

options.

When one Deployment is a good fit

DeploymentsGroup makecontent itin easyone toDeployment keepwhen Fileset structure, with the assignmentall of the Filesetfollowing containedare withintrue:

The same targets and exclusions should receive the Deployment.content.

Without Deployments, it would be typical to have something like:

The Defaultinstallation Appstype Group, although desirable, has fragmentedis the Filesets.same, such as Direct Installation or Kiosk Self-Service. The latesttiming versionsoptions ofmatch. AdobeApplicable Reader DCVPP/Apps and GoogleBooks Chromecontent uses the same Device or User license-distribution model. There are no longer in their respectiveconflicting Fileset Groups.revision Withrequirements. the addition of multiple default and Kiosk Apps, this fragmentation issue is compounded and makes it harder to keep a neat Fileset structure and to find Filesets.

Digging Deeper

For thoseexample, whoa alreadystandard efficientlyset useof Fileset/Payloadrequired groupsWindows inapplications associations,can youshare mayone beDeployment askingwhen “Isn’tevery thatapplication targets the same thing?”.device It is, almost…even if you are already efficient with this, Deployments still bring exclusionsgroup and the ability to easily find them (by name). So, even then there is an advantage.

Associations

How about Associations?

Associations stand out due to a key feature when working with Fileset timings.  Imagine one of the Filesets is chosen to be set for Deletion or to be made Inactive for a period of time, but to be made Activate again later.  

It is not possible to change the timings for just one Fileset within a Deployment and so that Fileset will need to be removed from the Deployment.

Associations allowuses the same Filesetdirect-installation (butand differingtiming Revision)options. Adding another application later requires changing only that Deployment.

When not to becombine associated to the same Client Group. 

Fileset Timings

assignments

DeploymentUse timingseparate optionsDeployments—or showretain as:

existing

Associations

All options apply to all containing Filesets.  If there wasuntil a requirementdeliberate toconversion alteris oneappropriate—when Fileset,any toincluded perhapsitem makeneeds itdifferent temporarily disabled, with Deployments it would involve either:behavior.

• AOne temporaryapplication Deploymentis wouldoptional bein createdKiosk towhile moveanother themust install directly.

One Fileset into,needs returninga thedifferent Filesetactivation, backinactivation, onceor re-activationdeletion is approvedschedule. ADifferent permanenttargets newor Deploymentexclusions isshould createdreceive different combinations of content. VPP/Apps and thisBooks oneapplications Filesetneed willdifferent nowlicense-distribution only live within this one new Deployment thereaftermodels. AnotherMultiple Deployment will be created, but the new Deployment will be 'closer' to the target device(s) and set as inactive, until re-activation is required and this new Deployment may then be deleted

Associations are handled individually, as such the current association timing may be changed without any other concerns.

Revisions

Each Fileset may have multiple Revisions, but why is this beneficial?  Consider the question 'How and, more importantly, when is one Revision going to replace another?'

Associations may have differing Revisionsrevisions of the same Fileset Associatedmust toremain theavailable sameor grouptransition of devices Deployments can only handle a single assignment of a Fileset, regardless of Revisionsindependently.

Kiosk

Association

Byconversion supplyingis multiplea revisionsreal toreplacement.

 The conversion tool replaces the Kiosk,selected usersAssociations can havewith the abilityresulting toDeployment chooseafter betweenyou Revisions.publish Withthe Deployments,preview. Review every target, Fileset, option, revision, and added or removed assignment before publishing.

FileWave Central 16.4

FileWave Central 16.4 shows included targets and Filesets side by side in a newunified Deployment wouldeditor. haveExclusions toand beshared createdoptions toexpand allowbelow the included items, and Tags are available for eachorganization alternateand Revision,filtering.

whilst

with

FileWave Associations,Central all16.4 chosenkeeps Revisionsincluded maytargets beand associatedFilesets totogether in the sameDeployment Client Group.editor.

Timed

Decision Revisionsummary

Updates

ItSituationRecommended isapproach often

desirableContent toshares transitiontargets, betweenexclusions, twoinstallation Revisionstype, attiming, alicensing, chosenand time,revision for example, out or hours.  Achieving this with Associations is much neater.  The same group that already has the current Association will receive the Association to the new revision.  Within each Association, the time would be altered,behaviorUse one setDeployment. asOnly Deleteone and the other set as Activate.  When that point in time is reached, the magic happens and the Revision on the devices is replaced.

As an example, below are 2 Associationspart of the macOSassignment EyeBrowseneeds App,different both to the All macOS group, but the current version 1.0 is set for Deletion at the same time that version 2.0 is set for Activation.

Again, with Deployments,behavior

Use a new Deployment would need to be created, just for this one new Revision.  Actually 2 new Deployments!

Why 2 new Deployments?  A single Deployment may only handle one Fileset (regardless of Revision).  The original Deployment will have no timings set, nor should it.  As such one Deployment needs to be created for the Deletion and anotherseparate Deployment for thethat Activation.

content

Onceor target scope.

Existing Associations already express intentional differencesKeep them until the targetconversion Datepreview proves that a Deployment preserves the intended result. Several matching Associations should be managed togetherUse the Associations-to-Deployment conversion tool and Time have been reached,review the additionalpreview Deploymentsbefore themselves could be removed, with the Fileset being reinstated, back into the original Deployment.

If you do this with many Revisions, then the quantity of Deployments becomes unwieldy, with differing Deployments handling differing Revisions.

For this same example, the Eyebrowse App is contained within the Deployment:

As such, new Deployments would need to be created to handle the timed Revision changeover. 

Original Deployment

(EyeBrowse Removed)

publishing. Deletion Deployment Activation Deployment

Neatness

Related

Thiscontent

Deployments in FileWave Central How to decide what is aincluded fundamental consideration of the choice between Associations and Deployments.

On the one hand, Deployments are neater.  Filesets can be grouped, sensibly by either vendor supplied, Fileset contents type, etc. however seen fit.  The Deployment then handles the link between the Filesets and the Clients.  Associations causes Fileset grouping to be dictated by the Association instead, fragmenting the Fileset structure.

On the other hand, Associations keep things neat, where Fileset Timings are concerned.  One single Client Group can handle all Revisions for any single Fileset orin a single FilesetDeployment

Association'sCombining timingspayloads caninto bea altered,singular preventingDeployment thebased needon tometadata buildThe outFileWave lotsAssociations-to-Deployment ofConversion Deployments.Tool

Conclusion

Resolving

Yes Deployments are better, but currently onlyConflicts in some instances.  Each assignment of Filesets to Clients should be considered, with merits given and choices made appropriately, be that Association or Deployment.

Like to see examples in action?  Check out the Foundry Onboarding section on

Deployments, which contains a comparison video.