Conflict Resolution
- Prevent Duplicates During Enrollment
- Automated Client Conflict Resolution
- Automatic Enrollment Permissions
- Manual Client Conflict Resolution (Multiple Devices)
Prevent Duplicates During Enrollment
A Desktop device (Client) is identified in FileWave by Client Name and Device Fingerprint. Have a device duplicated in FileWave could cause issues in communication, incorrect inventory information as well as re-enrollment issues.
- Client Name - The name as displayed in FileWave admin console (not to be confused with the device name)
- Mainly used for Fileset deployment
- Device Fingerprint - Which is based on the serial number (macOS) or MAC addresses (Windows)
- Mainly used for inventory reporting and the client certificate identifier
It won't be possible to enroll multiple devices with the same client name or fingerprint. FileWave will detect the conflict and not allow enrollment until it's resolved. A FileWave Admin will have to decide what to do to resolve the conflict.
There are three options:
-
Remove the new client
Select this option if you want to refuse the client for now. You can fix the device identifier and re-enroll it later -
Remove the old client and enroll the new client
Select this option if the old entry is obsolete and can be safely removed; all clones will be removed -
Replace the old client with the new client
Select this option if you want the new client to replace the existing entry (This will take over the old record with all clones, associations, etc)
How you resolve these duplicate conflicts:
Devices in conflict will appear as such in New Client dialog. To resolve, select the device and click Solve Conflict on the bottom left.
Then, simply choose which option best suits your situation and Update Model.
"Replace the old client with the new client" is the only option that will allow the device to take over the same associations and placement in the FileWave structure.
Automated Client Conflict Resolution
What
FileWave can automatically resolve conflicting new desktop clients when they enroll.
When/Why
Client enrollment conflicts are common in production environments. Devices may be re-imaged, certificates may no longer match, or a device may return with a name or fingerprint that conflicts with an existing record. The conflict itself is not the problem; it simply means FileWave needs to know how to handle the incoming device.
Automatic conflict resolution can save time during large imaging or enrollment windows, but it also bypasses part of the protection provided by client-based certificates. Only enable it when the resolution behavior is understood and matches your enrollment process. In higher-security environments, or when you are unsure which action is safe, use manual or mass conflict resolution instead.
Prerequisites
- Automatic enrollment must be enabled. The automatic conflict resolution option is only available when auto-enrollment is enabled.
- The FileWave administrator must have permission to manage automatic enrollment and automatic conflict resolution.
- You should have already tested the conflict-resolution behavior on a small set of devices before relying on it during a large enrollment event.
How
- Open the New Clients/Desktop Clients dialog in FileWave Central.
- Confirm that automatic enrollment is enabled.
- Enable Automatically resolve conflicts.
- Choose the resolution behavior that matches your policy for conflicting clients:
- Ignore new conflicting clients leaves the existing client record alone and refuses the incoming conflicting client for now.
- Remove old clients and enroll new removes the old record and enrolls the incoming client as the new managed device.
- Replace old clients with new lets the incoming client take over the existing record, including its existing clones and associations.
- Click Save to confirm the preference.
Do not enable automatic conflict resolution just to clear a busy New Clients list. During re-imaging or back-to-school enrollment windows it can be useful, but a wrong automatic choice can replace or remove records faster than an administrator can review them.
Related Content
- Automatic Enrollment Permissions
- Manual Client Conflict Resolution (Multiple Devices)
- Prevent Duplicates During Enrollment
Automatic Enrollment Permissions
What
There is a administrator permission that either allows or denies the ability to make changes to auto-enrollment and automatic conflict resolution.
When/Why
We'll want to add this particular permission to any administrator we expect to manage the automatic enrollment of devices. That is, if devices will be allowed to auto-enroll, and whether auto-conflict resolution will (or can be) be enabled.
How
The permission is very simple to enable for any administrator in the Manage Administrators Assistant:
Typically a new permission would be off by default for pre-existing users, but in this case all pre-existing administartors who had the ability to Modify Clients and Groups will automatically have this new permission enabled.
Related Content
Manual Client Conflict Resolution (Multiple Devices)
What
In large production environments, there may be times during mass enrollments where resolving onboarding conflicts is time-consuming when approached at an individual device level. There is a capability to mass-resolve client conflicts to make this process simpler.
When/Why
Especially during re-imaging periods, client conflicts can arise from natural actions. For instance, wiping a device and setting it up with a fresh OS with the same name will always result in a conflict because the device certificate will not match the new device with the same name. We'll use the mass-resolution capabilities of FileWave to more easily resolve these conflicts in one fell swoop.
Device enrollment conflicts (based on name, fingerprint, certificate, etc) are a protection mechanism against database duplication and for security reasons. Use appropriate caution when mass-resolving conflicts to ensure that you are resolving the conflict in the proper manner. It is always best practice to test any action on individual devices before taking the solution to a larger number of devices.
How
To solve multiple conflicts at one time, simply choose multiple records in the new clients window, and choose solve conflicts, as shown below:
You may find it easiest to sort by the status column as I have above to group similar conflicts for simpler resolution.
In the resulting window, you can choose to look at detailed information about why there are conflicts by clicking the Show Details button:
In the detail view, you can inspect any particular device:
Finally, in the resolution window, you can choose how you want to resolve the selected devices, and click on OK. In this case, we are choosing to replace the existing records with the new clients.
