View - Devices

View - Devices Overview

What

The Devices View () is where you will work with all of the devices that are enrolled in FileWave, and also where you can choose to enroll new devices.

When/Why

You will use this view whenever you want to see specific information about a particular device, whenever you want to manage/see devices that are in groups and smart groups, and whenever you want to dig a little deeper in troubleshooting.

How

From this top level Device view, you'll be able to do all of the items listed below.  Check out the articles in this book to go into depth on each topic.

Basic Filtering

What

Operating System and manual filters in the Devices view help you isolate specific platform and device subsets from your client pool.  For instance, if we were in a role only responsible for Windows devices, we would probably always filter for Windows devices only.

When/Why

The primary time we'll use these filters is when we care about a singular platform or a singular device.  For instance, looking very quickly for a singular device by asset tag as shown below:

Note that a manual filter only functions on fields that are actually in the view...the tool only evaluates fields that you can see.  So, in the above example, Asset Tag (a custom field) was added to the view.

Also note that these filters are "sticky", meaning that moving to another view and then back will NOT remove these filters automatically.

The OS and manual filters are additive to each other and to the relative location in the Group navigation.  Meaning all three items combine to show you results.

How

Selecting a group at left will show only items in that group at right; adding an OS filter will then additionally isolate for that platform; filtering on top of both of those with a manual filter can further isolate as shown below:

Adding Devices

What

Shows a list of devices awaiting enrollment and allows the creation of placeholders. Additionally you can specify Actions, such as what group the device(s) is added to, what fields to set, and more.

When/Why

If you don't have automatic import turned on for new clients, you will come to this dialog to allow new clients to enroll.  You will also use this dialog anytime you want to create placeholders for not-yet-existing devices.  (i.e. if you want to image a Windows device that has never been enrolled before, or if you want to assign content to a device so that it gets installed immediately upon enrollment)

Inevitably you are going to want to add new devices into FileWave.  The "Plus" and the "Upload" icons in the Devices View allow you to accomplish this: 

image.png

How

From the devices view press the plus () to enter the UI on the Selected Devices screen.  See articles listed below to get details on the individual tabs within the dialog.

Actions

Fields, destinations, and other actions to take once a devices is brought in

"Actions" is where you can set data for inventory fields, manually assign a DEP profile, and set destinations for the imported devices/copies (aka "clones") after a device has been enrolled.

You would use the import actions listed above typically only when you don't have "automatic" import turned on.  These actions are only preformed after everything has been saved. 

How

  1. Select the action dropdown and choose one of the following:
    1. Assign Field Value - Allows you to set inventory values fields 
      1. Then select a Device Field (like "Comment")
      2. Then Select a Value for that field (like "Front Desk Checkin Station")
      3. (Optional for string/text fields) Select "Replace" (overwrite any value the device currently has), or "Append" (add your text to the end of the value)
    2. Import/Move to group - Specify the group where the original device will go 
      1. Then select the group you want the original sent to
    3. Create Copies in Group(s) - Specify where clones/alias/copies of the original will be created
      1. Then select any groups you want copies created in
    4. Copy in the same group - Copy your incoming devices to that of an already existing device (i.e. mirror its groups)
      1. Then select an existing placeholder or device
    5. Associate DEP Profile - Manually assign a specific DEP profile for this device
      1. Then select the specific DEP profile
  2. If you need more than one action taken, press "Add Action" and start from 1 again 

Assign Field Value can be added many times. The other Actions can only be selected once.

If you select "Import/Move to group" you can't also select "Copy in the Same Group".
Similarly, if you select "Copy in the Same Group" you can't select "Import/Move to group"

Add Placeholder

A placeholder is a temporary item that represents a device you intend to enroll at a later date.

You can use placeholders for a device that you will be adding eventually.  Placeholders allow you to specify the connections from payloads to the device through deployments so that when a device is ultimately enrolled, it will immediately get all assigned content. 

How

  1. From the Selected Devices interface, press the "Add placeholder" button
  2. Enter text into the fields
    • Name (required)
    • Comment (optional)
    • Platform (required)
    • Serial / MAC (Serial number for Apple devices, MAC address for Windows devices)
  3. Press "Add Placeholder"

Related Content

Digging Deeper

Selected Devices

These are devices pending enrollment. They can be devices checking-in with a client already installed or from a service such as Apple DEP/ Android EMM

Shows a list of pending devices that are either clients checking-in or devices in your pending DEP/EMM list. You will select devices from the list for import whenever you are ready for them to be a part of the managed environment. You do not have to import all devices that show in this list (you can pick and choose individuals).

How

Once you have started the Adding Devices process, Select Devices is the first tab showing what can be added.

  1. From the Pending Requests section you can select devices or DEP/EMM placeholders for import
  2. Select the checkbox to the left of each device you wish to include
  3. Press the Move to Selected Devices button
  4. (Observe) that device moves to the lower list
  5. (Optional) Add Placeholder devices
  6. Select "Next" to move onto Actions

Summary

Preview the results of your changes

The summary tab view will show a preview of the action you are about to perform.

Some views, Like the Summary in Mass import Upload Devices and/or Data will have check boxes for confirmation of changes.

Use this view to verify what you want to happen.

How

Upload Devices and/or Data

What

Mass import devices/data from a CSV

The upload option () allows en masse import of devices and/or field data, and allows you to specify additional import actions.

When/Why

You would use this option any time you need to create a lot of placeholders at once or if you need to update data fields for a large number of devices.  For instance, if my asset management system had given me data in a csv linking device serial number to a physical asset tag number, then I might use this tool to upload that asset tag information into FileWave.

How

  1. From the View - Devices 
  2. Press the upload icon (

)

  1. This takes you to the Import File tool
  2. Select your txt/csv file and move to Map Fields
  3. In Map Fields, match the fields you want to import to FileWave fields
  4. In Actions, define other options

Import File tool

This window will allow us to import a large amount of data from a CSV source.

We'll use this method whenever we have a large number of new device placeholders to enter or whenever we want to update fields for existing devices. 

How

To import a file, we will:

"Serial Number","OS Type","Device Name",comment,location,asset_tag
C02WP0hgHTDF,macOS,"HR-John-MBP","John's laptop","north site","123456"
ABC456123DEF,iOS,"ThatsABeautClark ","no comment","Normal, IL","651241"
215487958754,Windows,"PR-Sal-1258","that other device","south site","654321"

The data can be in pretty much any order, but it must include at minimum a device name, and an OS Type.

Map Fields

Connect CSV columns with FileWave inventory fields

Here is where you match up the columns heading with existing FileWave Inventory Fields.

How

From the Actions Tab

  1. From the dropdown
  2. Pick the appropriate FileWave inventory that matches your column head
  3. Continue onto the Actions tab next

Group Navigation (Devices View)

What

Primary navigation within the devices view is done using the Groups pane in the left portion of the devices view.

When/Why

We will use this navigation pane extensively to set our location and just generally to browse the device tree.

How

How your devices are organized into groups and smart groups will largely influence the navigation, but the levels of the tree are always organized alphabetically, the same as the native FileWave admin.  You can expand and collapse groups to navigate quickly.  And notice below that when you select a group at left (selected groups show highlighted with blue text), only devices that are in that group will show at right:

When using either search or OS based filters in the devices view, the choices are additive.  So if we are filtering for macOS, and then highlight a specific group, then we are ONLY  going to see macOS devices that are in that specific group.  (Filters themselves have no impact on the display of groups in the left-hand pane, which always show)

Individual Device View

What

The individual device view is a detailed level view of all pertinent details about any individual device.  The URL for this view is always going to be in the form of https://my.server.address/devices/<fw_device_id>/info.  This deep url allows you to easily share a link to this specific device with any other administrator.

When/Why

We'll use this view extensively for general data browsing purposes, but especially when we are looking to troubleshoot the behavior of any particular device.

How

The Device Detail view is accessed primarily by clicking on the name of any device showing in the Devices View:

Once you are in the detail view, you'll see tabs that break out all of the data.  We'll cover each of the tabs in the articles linked to below

You can send pertinent action commands to a device in the device details view from the vertical ellipsis (top-right):

Applications

The Applications tab in the Device Detail view gives you a list of applications installed on the particular endpoint.  The details provided differ by platform and type of enrollment.  The view is directly linkable via https://my.server.address/devices/<fw_device_id>/apps

This view will gives us details on installed applications, which allows us to quickly look and see information such as what version of a particular application is installed.  Note that the data that shows on this tab is only as accurate up until the last time the device reported inventory.  Assume that you have a device that has been offline for 3 months in a desk drawer while you are rolling out a new version of Chrome.  This view for that device is going to show an old version, as we would expect.

How

We access the Applications tab just by clicking on the tab at the top of the view.  This view can be controlled by sorting and pinning columns.  The filtering option for this table makes it really easy to isolate records.

Certain enrollment types (like iOS BYOD enrollment) prevent the inventory of applications beyond the applications that are "managed".  That is, with those devices, you can only see what has been installed by FileWave.

Command History

The Command History tab is only shown for devices that are Apple MDM enrolled.  This tab shows the recent history of MDM commands that have been sent to this device.  Command History is reached at https://my.server.address/devices/<fw_device_id>/commands

This view is used very heavily whenever troubleshooting anything related to an Apple MDM device.  For instance, if a device seems to not be getting a profile installed correctly, one might go to the Command History view to see the status of the latest Install Profile command.

How

Simply click on the Command History tab to see the latest info:

Note that the default view is ordered showing most recent commands at the top.  We hope to see "Acknowledged" as the state for any good command, but sometimes you might see errors as well, and this view gives good detail on what the issue may be as you can see below:

The Command History view has a special filter in the top-right of the view to filter by command states.

Device Info

The Device Info tab of the Device Detail view allows you to see the most pertinent inventory details about any particular device.  In this view, you will see an overall deployment status, you can see how much memory a device has all the way to how many, and what type of Network cards are installed.  The Device Info tab is addressable here: https://my.server.address/devices/<fw_device_id>/info

We'll use this view whenever we want to see device specific information.  We could create a report to do the same thing of course, but this view is much simpler and quicker.

How

The Device Info tab is the default tab when you click on a particular device in the Devices view.  You'll see some of the most used summary information at the top of the view:

With detailed tables below broken out into data categories.  Here we are looking at network details for a Windows device:

The sub-tables in this view do have their own filter.  Filtering for search terms will highlight the content in the view:

Groups

The Groups tab of the Device Details view gives information about in which FileWave Groups a device is located.  This view is addressable at: https://my.server.address/devices/<fw_device_id>/groups

This group information is generally not actionable content, but sometimes can let you see that you have "surprise" group membership.  That is, the device is in a group you didn't expect it to be in...perhaps from a custom field wrongly set, or a mistaken criteria on a smart group.

How

Just click on the Groups tab to see what FileWave groups the device is in as we have done on the Windows device below: 

Location

The Location tab of the Device Detail view gives information about the reported last location of a device.  This tab is only shown if location data has been submitted for the particular device.  The url for this tab is: https://my.server.address/devices/<fw_device_id>/location

Seeing this data is very helpful for either a lost or stolen device.

How

Simply click on the Location tab to see the map (if available):

Media

The Media tab of the Device Details view shows documents that are managed on the endpoint through FIleWave.  This tab will only show for iOS device types.

PDFs are the most common type of media delivered to endpoints, and the PDFs (once installed) will show in the Books app.  You can get to the Media tab at the following url: https://my.server.address/devices/<fw_device_id>/media

How

Just click on the Media tab to access the data reported from the endpoint.  As with all inventory, the data shown is accurate as of the last data submission from the device.

Payloads

The Payloads view is one of the most important tabs in the Device Details view.  This table shows you all content assigned to the  chosen endpoint and is accessable at: https://my.server.address/devices/<fw_device_id>/payloads

We will typically use the payloads tab to get summary information on payloads sent to (or pending) to an endpoint.  This information can tell us where we have potential issues with deployments.  It also can be very useful simply to backtrack how something is associated...that is, how that particular payload is assigned to this device.

How

Note that the Associations column shows how the individual payload is assigned.  In this case, three individual associations and one association to a smart group:

From the ellipsis to the right of any payload, you can choose to Reinstall if you have an error as you see below:

Software Updates

The Software Update tab shows all pertinent software updates for the particular device.  The URL for this tab is: https://my.server.address/devices/<fw_device_id>/updates

Using this tab is an excellent way to see any missing patches for a particular device, which gives us a sense of the device's relative health.

How

Note that the updates that are shown will be any updates not yet applied, as well as updates deployed through FileWave that still have an association remaining.  Examples shown below for macOS, Windows, and iPadOS respectively.

.   .   

Clicking on the "Install" button to the right of any update will associate that update to this particular device.  A subsequent model update will make that change effective.  While that association exists, you'll see a status for the particular update.

Users

The Users tab in Device Details gives information about users who have logged into the endpoint.  You can reach this tab at: https://my.server.address/devices/<fw_device_id>/users

Normally, we are going to use the users tab to get information about who has logged onto a device.  Login count gives a pretty good indication of whom the primary user is (assuming of course that folks do logout/login occasionally).

How

Note that data will only show where it makes sense for the OS flavor.  Below is an example of a simple Windows device:

Tree / List View Toggle

What

The Tree/List View option within the Devices view allows you to toggle between a traditional "tree" or "directory" type of view and a more "flat" view that just shows endpoints.

When/Why

In the Tree view (the default), as you navigate the group structure on the left, you will only see devices and groups on the right that are specifically in that group.  In the list view, if you click on the same group, you will only see the devices in that and all downstream groups (you won't see any nested groups).

How

In the below, we'll show you an example of toggling between the views from the same location so you can see the difference:

Working with Groups and Smart Groups

What

Groups and Smart Groups are essential organizational elements within FileWave.  They allow us to look at devices at a higher level than on a device by device basis, such as by department, by location and even by company. 

When/Why

We are going to use groups throughout FileWave to help us organize, and to help us improve efficiency...which is the point of FileWave after all.  We'll use these group and smart group elements to help us perform actions in meaningful, efficient, and wholesale manner.

How

The articles linked below will give you quite the overview of these tools, and we think you'll find that groups and smart groups will become the backbone of your FileWave implementation:

Creating a Group

Groups are a very important concept within FileWave.  Groups allow us to organize devices and even other groups.  You can think of them similarly to folders in a filesystem.

We are going to use these (static/manual) groups whenever we have a need to organize in general or to group devices in some non-programmatic way.  For instance, if we need to deploy an application to random devices throughout the environment based on random license purchases, then we might use a manual group.

How

Creating a manual group is as easy as clicking the new group icon () and giving the group a name (the name must be unique).  See an example below:

Related Content

Creating a Smart Group

Smart groups are the brains, and most of the power, behind FileWave.  In a nutshell smart groups are like regular groups, except devices end up in them automatically based on the criteria you specify.  Smart groups are essential in automating your workflows, and hence, reducing your work load.

We are going to use smart groups just about every time that we can define a rule in our heads for them: 

How

There are multiple levels of complexity when creating smart groups (and reports), but we'll start simply.  Watch below as we define a a smart group that will contain all Windows devices.  Also, please check out all of the additional related content to go deeper into building complex smart groups!

Condition Groups

Condition Groups within Reports and Smart Groups are a method of isolating specific logic for data queries.

Condition groups are always used when you need to combine AND with OR logic within the same report.  If you are familiar with SQL, Condition Groups in FileWave are the equivalent of parentheses in SQL.  If you wanted a report that looked at all Windows or macOS devices, you wouldn't need a condition group, but as soon as we look for something like macOS or Windows AND Office is installed, then we need a condition group, because we need to combine AND with OR.

How

Following our example from above, watch below as we create the more complex smart group using condition groups:

Digging Deeper

Note that you'll find some quite complex examples of advanced condition groups in the Reports view under Sample Queries:

Conditions

Conditions are used to define what devices or other elements will show in the results of our smart group or report.

We will almost always use at least one condition in a smart group or report (unless we wanted to see literally every device).  The conditions allow us to refine the list down from "everything" to just specific devices, such as "Windows devices that have an older FileWave client".

How

Watch below as we specify criteria (conditions) to match our example above:

Fields in Smart Groups (Preview)

When we are building smart groups and reports, it is very helpful to have a live representation of what our query is returning.  This data preview (the bottom half of the smart group/report definition window) gives us this data live as we edit the query.  Frequently though, we want different fields in this preview than what are given to us by default.

Let's assume for a moment that we want a smart group or report that contains information on FileWave clients that have not been upgraded to version 14.  Now, we can edit our conditions to say "FileWave Client Version" ≠ 14.0, and we can just trust that this works and we have the proper results.  Yeah, we wouldn't trust that either!  Much better to actually put the FileWave Client Version field into our preview so that we can "eyeball" the data to make sure it is right.

How

Watch below as we remove some of the default provided fields and add FileWave Client Version:

Note that in Version 14, smart groups do not have preview fields, but this will be added shortly.

Finding Fields for your Condition Statements

When it comes to creating smart groups and reports, we will always want to filter by some criteria.  This article explains how you can find the data elements available for these filters.

If you know the field name you are looking for, you can always just type it in and allow the type-ahead to help you.  Alternatively, we can browse through all of the fields to find specific elements.

Sometimes it is helpful to have context to find a field name...that is, having the data showing with the field name.  The easiest way to do that is to go look at the Device Details page for any particular client where you can see the fields and the data together.

How

Type-ahead is useful (albeit a bit cramped), so the full field browser is a bit easier, and includes field descriptions.  Let's look below as we look for any software developed by Microsoft:

Smart Group/Report Example Conditions

The world of advanced smart groups can be a little daunting at first blush.  That is why we try to help you get started with examples pre-built into FileWave.

Sometimes the smart group criteria can be quite complex, but it almost always pays off to try to map out a sentence that mirrors your needs.  If you can write the sentence, then you can also build the smart group.

How

Here are some good examples to get your creative juices flowing:

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