FileWave Central / Anywhere FileWave Central is the native admin application and FileWave Anywhere is the web. You can do many of the same things in both tools. Installing the FileWave Central application Depending on deployment plans, the FileWave Admin application can be installed on two different types of systems; the systems administrator's primary workstation, and a desktop or portable being used for creation of Fileset Magic Filesets and/or primary images for the Imaging Appliance. System Requirements for the FileWave Central application The FileWave Admin application runs on both OS X and Windows computers supporting the following operating systems: macOS generally the most recent 4 major versions will work Windows 10 or 11 Installing the FW Admin application Download and open the FileWave .pkg/.msi from the FileWave Software Downloads . Select the Admin Installer and double-click or open it. You will be required to authenticate as a local administrator on your target machine in order to complete the installation. Once the FW Admin application is installed, you will launch it and begin the configuration. Logging into FileWave server from the FW Admin application When you launch the FileWave Admin application, you will be presented with a login window. You can search for FileWave Servers in your network with the Bonjour menu (OS X only). Recent server connections are saved in the Recent Servers Menu. In case your Server operates on another port than the default (20016), specify the port needed. Otherwise please leave the port on the default. Enter the IP address or domain name (FQDN) of the FileWave Server you are going to administer. Note : The default administrator account is " fwadmin " and the default password is " filewave ". You should change the primary admin password when you first set up the server (see the Security section on FileWave Server Installation ). Click on  Connect to log into the server and you will be presented with the default layout. Note: The Windows version of FileWave Admin has two additional buttons: - Client Monitor. Allows you to view the status of any FW client without logging into the FW Central application. - Fileset Magic. Allows you to open Fileset Magic to create custom Filesets without logging into FW Central. Related Content FWAdmin CLI (Command Line Interface) Configuring FileWave Server License All of the settings that are used to establish the core configuration of FileWave server are performed within the Preferences panes located under the FileWave Admin menu item. However, before you can begin configuring your settings, you must activate your FileWave server with the license you purchased. This is a one-time task, unless you purchase a different number of licenses in the future. Activating the FileWave server FileWave Server requires an activation code if you are going to manage more than the Evaluation version (1 administrator user, 5 laptop/desktops, 5 mobile clients). Upon purchase of the FileWave solution, you are provided a custom activation code created specifically for the number of licensed devices you specified in your order. The activation code will also let you create additional FileWave administrators above and beyond the single "super-administrator" account provided by default ( fwadmin ). The license code will also specify the number of administrators who can be logged in simultaneously. To activate your FileWave server, select  Activation Code… from the Server menu. Select the Enter or Update Code button, and paste the activation code you received from FileWave with your purchase. Only one code can be stored at a time. If you upgrade your server by adding more client or mobile licenses, then you can overwrite the existing activation code with a new one. Security - change the primary password Once you have the FileWave Server up and running, you should change the password from the default ("filewave") to something a little more secure. The default master administrator account is fwadmin . You change the administrator's password by selecting the Manage Administrators… command from the Assistants menu, then select the fwadmin account and replace the default password ( filewave ) Prevent user data collection via license If your institution or locality requires that you not track user data within the FileWave Inventory database, you must request a special "non-tracking" license. When this license is entered, the user data will not be collected by the FileWave Client for reporting to the Server. If, at some point, you desire to activate user data tracking, you may request a standard license. In order to activate the user tracking capabilities, you will enter the new license and reboot your server. By default, the full capabilities of FileWave inventory are enabled. This includes the ability to track application usage, install dates, launch times, current user and login dates. If an organization feels they don't need this information or that this information would be too sensitive to retain, they should contact support with a request to "Please change my FileWave inventory license to not retain user and app usage information." The next series of tasks are to get the key FileWave Admin preferences configured . Related Content Configuring Basic FileWave Preferences Settings Configuring FileWave Server Basic Preferences This section covers the basic FileWave preferences of General, Organization Info, Kiosk, Inventory, Mail, Editor and Proxies . The more complex preferences, including Mobile, LDAP, VPP&DEP, and Imaging , are covered in their own sections. General preferences FileWave General settings break down into four sections: Local settings These are settings for each computer the FileWave Admin application is installed on. These are items that effect the interaction of the FW Admin with the FW Server. Server settings The only setting here is your ability to limit the bandwidth for Fileset transfers from the Server to Boosters or Clients. Local Settings Theme can be set to Light mode, Dark mode, or Automatic where Automatic will follow your OS' setting. FileWave Admin Auto Logout and Quit Time . Defines the longest interval the FW Admin application will sit idle before logging out the connected administrator and quitting. More Confirmation Dialogs . Enables extra confirmation dialog boxes when moving/deleting items. Show non-generic Unix owner and Group names . If enabled, Unix user IDs in Fileset contents windows will resolve to the local user account names. Make new associations Kiosk by default (not including Software Update) . Sets all new Fileset/device associations to automatically use the self-service Kiosk as their distribution method. This does not apply to Filesets created from the software update pane. Use Alternating row colors…. Changes the view in the Admin panes to display a spreadsheet-like array of rows. Ctrl-C copies just the active cell…. Allows the administrator to copy cells or entire rows of data within the various panes. Organizational Info preferences This setting pane provides the basic information concerning the managing organization. The data provided here will be shown as part of the overall device information. Kiosk preferences The self-service Kiosk preferences allow you to create and edit the various categories of Kiosk items offered to end users. You can also change the icon for an existing Kiosk item. Use the [] or [-] buttons to add or delete a Kiosk item. When you have selected an existing Kiosk item, clicking on the [] button allows you to create sub-categories. Double-clicking on the title of a category allows you to change the name of the category. The Change Icon button lets you select a new graphic to display as the icon for a category. Icons should be in .png, .tiff, or .jpg format. They should also be no larger than 512x512 pixels in size. This is to keep the file size reasonable. If you want to clear out your category set and return the FileWave defaults, click on the Revert to Defaults button and you will return to the eight (8) entries you started with. The Kiosk can be further customized with background images and titling. See the FileWave Support site for more information and directions. Inventory preferences The current version of FileWave has the asset management process, Inventory, included in the main FileWave Server install. Earlier versions of FileWave supported an Inventory server that could run on a different computer. The settings for Inventory on the current version can be left at the defaults; but information on the provided settings is below: Inventory Server The FileWave Inventory server and MDM server are now running on the same server. The server address should be a valid FQDN (fully qualified domain name). The default TCP port is 20445. If you change the Shared Key in Inventory, it will break any RESTful API scripts or interfaces you are using, until they are updated to use the new key. iOS Inventory Device Inventory Poll Interval - Default is 24hrs. This setting is how often all iOS devices will report their profiles, application, security and device settings. Device Not Checked-In Notification  – (applies to all MDM-enrolled devices) Default is 30 days. When a device exceeds the timeframe set, the color changes in the Client and Inventory view to alert the administrator that that device has not checked in with the MDM server. Smart Groups The button Refresh all Smart Groups forces a system-wide refresh of all the data requested by existing Smart Groups. (Smart Groups are discussed in detail in Chapter 8 .) Mail preferences The mail preferences in the FileWave Server are used to support both scheduled reports and VPP email invitations. Both of these capabilities are covered in later portions of this manual. Setting up the mail preferences involves you having a common email account that will act as the sender or source of all outgoing mail from the FileWave Server. This account will show as the source of emails sent for scheduled reports and VPP MDM invitations. You can select the sending (SMTP) server, port number (default is 587 with TLS), and whether to use encrypted email (TLS - transport layer security). You must enter a valid email account that can send mail from the designated email host. You can also setup OAuth for Microsoft and Google. The Send test mail button allows you to verify that your settings work. It will have the FileWave Server generate a test message that will be sent from the host server, using the account you specify, and will come to the inbox of a designated user account. To setup OAuth for Microsoft for example you can do the following to get the 3 items needed for Microsoft OAuth; Open MS Entra admin center ( entra.microsoft.com ) The authorized user must have "Exchange Online" license Go to App registrations on the left Create a new App registration A very important step in creating the App Registration is to add a Redirect URI for Web : https://servername:20445/inv/notifications/configuration/auth-callback and replace "servername" with the FQDN of your FileWave Server.  On the details page for that app you'll find the Client ID and Tenant ID to use in FileWave Central You will need to create a Secret by going to the created app and picking Clients and Secrets on the left and then on the Client Secrets tab you will create a new secret. It will expire after a max of 24 months so make sure you put a note on your calendar to update the secret in less than the max life of the secret. Now you'll have the Client ID, Tenent ID and the Secret giving you all 3 things you need for setup. Finally you'll be able to click Authorize on the Central dialog as seen below and it'll authenticate you to Entra and then you can send a test email. To setup OAuth for Google for example you can do the following to get the 2 items needed for Google OAuth; Open Google Cloud Console ( console.cloud.google.com ) Login with credentials that can create projects in your Google account On the top left you should see the project picker next to the Google logo. Click that and then pick "New Project" Give the project a name like filewave-email so you'll know what it is. Click Create to make the project On the top left you should now pick the new project you had made from the project picker. Go to https://console.cloud.google.com/auth/clients and you'll see something saying the Google Auth Platform not configured yet. Click "Get Started" Create the app App Name - I named it the same as my project User support email - my email Audience - Internal Contact Information - my email Agree to API services agreement - click checkbox Click Create Now you will be on the overview screen for the app. Click on Clients on the left and then click "Create Client" Application Type - Web Application Name - I used the same name as the project Authorized JavaScript Origins - Don't add any Authorized redirect URIs -  https://servername:20445/inv/notifications/configuration/auth-callback but change "servername" to your server's FQDN Click Create and on the summary screen SAVE the Client ID and the Client Secret because you will need them .  Now we need to enable the Gmail API by going to https://console.cloud.google.com/apis (Make sure the project picker still shows the same project on the top left) Click on Enable APIs and services Search for "Gmail API" and then pick it Click Enable to enable the Gmail API Now that you have the Client ID and the Secret giving you all 2 things you need for setup and you've enabled the API for Gmail in the project you can continue in FileWave Central. In FileWave Central you should now click Authorize on the Central dialog as seen below and it'll authenticate you to Google and then you can send a test email. Note that if you use an email that requires 2FA then you may need to setup an app password to allow sending of email without 2FA for a server. Google and Microsoft are moving to OAuth and support for this was added to FileWave 16.1.1. Editor preferences FileWave's Filesets can contain plain text files, such as batch (.bat), configuration (.conf), and property list (.plist). The Editor tab allows you to customize which extensions can be edited within the Fileset Contents Window's text editor. This capability allows you to make simple changes to a file, even a script, inside a Fileset. You can add the extension of a specific type of file so that it can be edited within the FileWave editor.  The below image shows adding .json to the list. (As of 15.4, .json will be included in the default list). File types are usually limited to those that contain Unix or Windows line endings. You should test any file type that you plan on supporting before making that extension known to all of your FileWave administrators. More information on this capability and its use is in the Filesets / Payloads  Chapter of this guide. Proxies preferences If you are using proxy servers in your environment, this preference pane will allow you to enter the credentials needed to let your FileWave Server authenticate with the proxy service. If your users' devices must go through a proxy server to access the FileWave server from outside your network, then you will need to add credentials here to allow your FileWave server to respond through that same proxy. You may also create unique override credentials for your FileWave Admin to use or bypass the proxy service, as needed. Server Proxy Credentials – HTTP and SOCKS5 are the two protocol options, followed by host name, port, username and password. Admin Proxy Credentials Override – HTTP and SOCKS5 are the two protocol options, followed by host name, port, username and password. A Test button has been provided in the bottom right of each section to give feedback for your entered settings. Sofware Updates In FileWave 16.2.0 and higher the Software Updates tab is where you can define how OS updates are determined to be obsolete. This will allow you to use "Obsolete Filesets Cleanup" in the Software Updates area of Central to remove updates that haven't been requested by any device for a set period of time.  Related Content FileWave Server Mail test receives Bad Request with Google Accounts FileWave Central Inventory Toolbar The Inventory toolbar consists of six simple tools plus the Delete item: New Query – Creates a new blank query New Group – Creates a new query Group to contain queries specific to any criteria you choose Edit Query – Opens the designated query for alteration Refresh – Forces a rescan of the Inventory database to reload the data for that query Duplicate – Creates an identical copy of a query so you can edit the copy and not the original Refresh Samples – Restores the default sample set we provide to their original state FileWave Anywhere Overview The FileWave Anywhere interface is an Inventory tool designed to help with quick FileWave inventory references for specific clients in your server. Within the Web console you will be able to view all devices currently enrolled, their Filesets, installed applications, users who have logged in, what groups they are apart of, and in the case of MDM enrolled Apple devices the command history. To access this Web Console for the FileWave server you can use the following: Log into the FileWave Central Admin, select File at the top, then click Web Console Or Simply go to: https://FileWaveServerAddress If your server address is tony.in.filewave.us then: https://tony.in.filewave.us  This web console utilizes port 443 and the FileWave server must be accessible to connect. So if your FileWave server is not accessible outside your internal network then you cannot expect to connect with the Web Console outside your network. If you currently have a service running on the FileWave server that is already using port 443 the initial installation and an upgrade will fail. To resolve this, you will need to shutdown that other 443 service.  The error message in the macOS install log and Windows/CentOS terminal appears as follows: 'FileWave requires port 443, but has noticed this port is already in use. To prevent a broken installation, FileWave has not installed/upgraded and your system has NOT been altered. Please contact Support for more information.' The inventory information visible in the Web Console will be determined by the permissions of the admin account that logs in. For more information on setting permissions for FileWave administrators please visit the  manual page linked here . The information you have access to from inventory under the Details section for each client is the following: Applications Device General Hardware Security Settings Filesets Fonts FileWave Policies Groups Network Interfaces Operating System Profiles Users VPP Users Below are some examples of the data you have access to in the Web Console and corresponding screenshots: You will initially see the Clients dashboard that lists out every device currently being managed in your FileWave server: From there you will be able to select a client and view inventory and Fileset status information including being able to reinstall selected Filesets: Client Information tabs: Client Details: FWAdmin CLI (Command Line Interface) Using FileWave Admin CLI (Command Line Interface) for OS X and Windows Admin CLI allowances include: Importing Folder Package Image Removing Associations Filesets Updating model Reporting Clients Filesets Associations Default Location macOS /Applications/FileWave/FileWave\ Admin.app/Contents/MacOS/FileWave\ Admin Windows (FW v15.4.2 or lower) "C:\Program Files (x86)\FileWave\FileWaveAdmin.exe" Windows (FW v15.5.0 or higher) "C:\Program Files\FileWave\admin\FileWaveAdmin.exe" Just running the above commands with no arguments will launch the UI version of the Admin Command Options Running the command with --help will provide the full list of possible options: macOS /Applications/FileWave/FileWave\ Admin.app/Contents/MacOS/FileWave\ Admin --help Windows (FW v15.4.2 or lower) C:\Program Files (x86)\FileWave\FileWaveAdmin.exe --help Windows (FW v15.5.0 or higher) "C:\Program Files\FileWave\admin\FileWaveAdmin.exe" --help Here is a list of some of the options available: FileWave Command Line Tool Options: -h, --help Displays this help. -v, --version Displays version information. -u The filewave admin username. -p The filewave admin password. -H The filewave server hostname. -P The filewave server port number (defaults to 20016). -k Allows connections to filewave server without checking certificate. --listClients Lists all the client client/clone/group information. --listFilesets Lists all the fileset information. --createFileset Creates a new empty fileset with the specified name. --importFolder Imports a folder as a fileset (not as a package). --importPackage Imports a package (pkg, flat, mpkg or msi) as a fileset. --importFileset Imports a previously exported FileWave fileset or template. --exportFileset Exports the given fileset name/id to the specified path --setRevisionAsDefault the imporing revision will be set as default. --addRequirementsScript Adds requirements script (only valid for --importFolder). --addPreflightScript Adds preflight script (only valid for --importFolder). --addActivationScript Adds activation script (only valid for --importFolder). --addPostflightScript Adds postflight script (only valid for --importFolder). --addVerificationScript Adds verification script (only valid for --importFolder). --addPreuninstallationScript Adds preuninstallation script (only valid for --importFolder). --addPostuninstallationScript Adds postuninstallation script (only valid for --importFolder). --importImage Imports an image as a fileset. --deleteFileset Deletes a fileset by ID/Name. --listAssociations Lists all the associations held in the system. --createAssociation Create an association between a client/clone/group ID/Name and a fileset ID/Name. Use the --clientgroup and --fileset options. --deleteAssociation Deletes an association between a client/clone/group ID/Name and a fileset ID/Name. Use the --clientgroup and --fileset options. --kiosk Make this a kiosk association. --software_update Make this a software update association. --licenseDistribution The license distribution model (only for associations to VPP filesets). Can be "user" or "device". --updateModel Updates the FileWave model (as long as no other admins have locked objects). --setProperty Sets a fileset property value, use the --fileset, --key and --value parameters to determine for which fileset this is done (Used solely by AutoPkg FileWave Importer) --delProperty Removes a fileset property value, use the --fileset and --key parameters (Used solely by AutoPkg FileWave Importer) --setCriticalFlag Sets the critical flag value for a fileset ; use the --fileset and --value (0/1) parameters --name The name value which will be applied to any newly created object. --comment The comment value which will be applied to any newly created object. --filesetgroup The ID/Name of the target fileset container, if not specified all objects are created in their respective root container. If the Name of the container does not exist then its assumed to be a Fileset Container and will be created automatically. --fileset The ID/Name value of a fileset object. --revision The name of a revision object. --clientgroup The ID/Name value of a client, clone or group object. --root When importing, if you specify the root then all the data that was imported will be moved into this root folder. The root folder will be created if required. --key The key used in the --setProperty call. --value The value which will be used in the --setProperty call. --listExitCodes Lists all exit codes and their description. ** You are seeing this because the -h option was used ** Best Practices You should use a separate FileWave Administrator account in order to protect other administrator passwords from accidentally being exposed in scripts. Along the same lines, if you run a command with an admin who is already logged in. It till auto-kick them off from wherever there are at, and from whatever they are doing. Model update WILL update the model, no conformation Know what the Exit Codes mean $ FileWave\ Admin --listExitCodes 0: No Error 100: Unknown Error 101: The given fileset does not exist 102: The given client does not exist 103: The given group does not exist 104: The given target is not a group 105: Database internal error 106: Error while uploading fileset 107: Error while updating the model 108: Login Error 109: Error while importing a fileset 110: Package Type not supported for import 111: Command line parse failed 112: Can't create association with an imaging fileset Examples Import Fileset: $ FileWave\ Admin -u api -p --importFolder /Applications/TextEdit.app --name "My New Application” Import Package: $ FileWave\ Admin -u api -p --importPackage ~/Downloads/MyExamplePackage.pkg Import Revision: To add the above PKG to an existing Fileset with ID 537136 and define a revision name of Revision2. $ FileWave\ Admin -u api -p --importPackage ~/Downloads/MyExamplePackage.pkg --fileset 537136 --revision Revision2 Since FileWave 13, it is not possible to add into a current Fileset. Undocumented FileWave Admin includes more than one language option.  If unspecified, the Admin Application should open in a language to match the users chosen language if supported.  Current supported languages are: English – en_GB or en_US German – de_DE Korean – ko_KR Japanese – ja_JP Chinese (Traditional and Simplified) – zh_TW or zh_CN FileWave Admin will default to English otherwise. Any of the supported languages may be launched, by use of the language command line option, overriding the current set language: Windows Korean example & 'C:\Program Files\FileWave\admin\FileWaveAdmin.exe' --lang ko_KR macOS German example /Applications/FileWave/FileWave\ Admin.app/Contents/MacOS/FileWave\ Admin --lang de_DE Related Content FileWave AutoPkg on github Working with FileWave Clients Once the various devices have the FileWave Client installed, and they are enrolled with your FileWave Server, there are several options for configuring and working with these clients. This section will cover some of the common configurations and additional settings. Clients View information Within the Clients pane, you are presented with key information to help you track of the status of your devices: Name - The device or device Group name, or the Smart Group name ID - A unique ID created by FileWave to identify all devices, device Groups, or Smart Groups Model - the latest version of the FileWave model to have been loaded onto the device or Group IP - the IP address of the device as reported to FileWave (devices behind a firewall may all report using a NAT'd IP) Last Connect - the date time Group showing the last time the device reported to the FileWave server State - shows the condition of the device (Normal, Missing, Not Tracked, Archived) Free Space - shows the amount of free space reported by the device Platform - shows the reported operating system of the device Comment - custom comment entered by a FW administrator concerning that device or Group Lock - shows if the device has been locked down so that it cannot be affected by any model updates (see:  Locking Devices ) When devices are enrolled in FileWave, you can start performing administrative and management tasks on them. Search At the top of the Clients view pane, you can see a Search : area that lets you quickly see one or four different views of all your devices (Everything, Clients, Mobile, and Groups) There is also a quick view of the total number of clients, Clones, Groups, and mobile devices. Finally, there is a global search field that allows you to type in a name or portion of a name, ID, database model number, or any other possible identifier to locate a specific device or Group. Any search you start can be cleared by clicking on the Clear all filters button just above the viewing window. The next section discusses the types of tasks that you have access to from the Clients pane. Client toolbar options The toolbar that is active when the Client pane is selected gives you many options for performing various tasks on your devices. You can add new clients, create client Groups, create Smart Groups, associate devices with Filesets, monitor your clients, and perform several administrative tasks. First, we need to look at the global toolbar items; then we will explore the direct action tools for specific clients or client Groups. Update Model When you perform actions on your client devices, you should update the "Model." The Model is the current state of the FileWave database after changes have been committed by an administrator. When the Model is updated, all pending actions are written to the database and a new Manifest is generated for every device detailing any changes that have taken place. New Client This tool allows you to register with the database new clients for computers that have had the FileWave client installed and have checked-in initially, from mobile device that have enrolled with the FileWave MDM server, or by creating placeholders for devices or computers manually or using either text files or ADE. See Enrolling Computer Clients in to FileWave Enrolling Mobile Devices into FileWave Working with Apple’s Automated Device Enrollment (ADE) New Group The New Group tool allows you to create a named Group that will include individual Clients or Clones. New Smart Group This tool allows you to create a named Group of devices based upon inventory criteria. New Association The focal point of FileWave is being able to create and distribute Filesets to devices. This tool provides one approach for you to associate a Fileset or Fileset Group with a Client or Group. Client Monitor The Client Monitor lets you view the current status of your Client after selecting that Client from the list. It provides you with quick look at the current FileWave model running on that Client, as well as allowing you to send a command to the Client to verify its status with the FileWave Server, and allows you to view the Client's FileWave log file. Customize Columns You can edit the Client pane view by adding/subtracting data columns. You can remove all but three of the data fields (Name, ID, and Lock status). Take Control By "taking control" in FileWave Admin, your administrator locks out all other FW administrators from making any changes to the FileWave model. This level of control is global, in that any other administrators, no matter where they are, cannot push any Filesets or changes to client devices or Groups. This ability is very useful when you are making large, detailed changes to clients or Filesets and do not need those changes being preemptively sent to your managed devices before you are finished. When you have finished being in "control" remember to release the lock so other FW Admins can resume managing their assigned clients. Tools The Client tools are tasks that you can perform on a selected Client or Group. The specific tasks available vary between the different types of client devices or Groups. The next section will go into detail on each of the tools as they relate to the various types of clients and client Groups. Delete The Delete tool will remove the selected Client(s) or Group(s) from the database. If you delete a Group, then all nested items within that Group will also be deleted. Client Tools Here are the tools you have to directly impact a specific client. Depending on the client device, you will see differing settings. When you right-click on a Client, or select a Client then select the Tools task bar item, you will see the listed tools that are available to interact with that type of Client. The same happens if you select a device Group or Smart Group, with a lesser number of options. Let's take a look at the various options available in the Tools: Show Associated Filesets When a Client or Group has had Filesets assigned, or associated, with them, you can view those with this tool. The view will come from the Associations pane in FileWave Admin. Client Info… The Client Info window shows the current condition of a Client through Device Details and Filesets Status . You can see the status of associated Filesets, open the Client Monitor, send a remote wipe command, view the current log file, and push a Verify command, which causes the Client to verify that it's current state matches what the current manifest says it should be. Depending on the device, you will get differing amounts of information. As of FileWave 11, the list of Filesets is displayed as a tree, where dependencies appear as children of the Filesets that require them. When a dependency is required by more than one Fileset, the same dependency will appear more than once in the list, as a child of each of the Filesets that require it. There is a selection box on the top-left corner that allows filtering Filesets. By default, it is set to "Show All. Other values are "Only successful" and "Only failed," that cause only Filesets without errors/with errors to be shown. "Filesets without errors" means any Fileset in any normal state, when nothing failed. Filesets that are associated but haven't been installed yet are considered "without errors If the client version is 11.0 or later, it also supports reporting the results of the scripts that were executed. In this case, selecting a Fileset causes a list to appear on the right side, where the results of the last round of scripts is reported. Whenever a script fails, processing stops, and the exit code of the script can be seen in the Status column. Client Monitor The Client Monitor lets you view the current status of your Client after selecting that Client from the list. It provides you with quick look at the current FileWave model running on that Client, as well as allowing you to send a command to the Client to verify its status with the FileWave Server, and allows you to view the Client's FileWave log files. Note that Client Monitor leverages NATS to be able to interact with systems on any network as long as they are able to connect to the FileWave Server. More detailed information is here . The Client Monitor also lets you change several of the preferences used by the FileWave client. Many of these Preference settings can be configured during installation of the client; however, some of them exist only in the Client Monitor and in a Superprefs Fileset. The extras include settings such as the Debug level and the amount of free space that will trigger a disk full message. Personal Data refers to device tracking . Tracking is covered in detail later in this Chapter . TeamViewer refers to the remote screen sharing capability of FileWave. If you select Enable TeamViewer remote control, you will have access to observe / control that computer. If you select Prompt client for remote control access, you will present the end user on the computer with a dialog requesting permission to remotely control the device. If this dialog is not responded to with permission granted, it will time out in about 30 seconds and default to permission denied. There is a set of easy videos to learn how TeamViewer works in the Foundry here: https://go.filewave.com/foundry-teamviewer   Edit Custom Fields(s) Values This option will allow you to change the values of Custom Fields that have been associated to this device or group of devices. For example if you manually change the value of a Custom Field that is syncing with LDAP with this option, then your change will remain until LDAP scans again at which point your change will be over written with whatever data is synced from LDAP. Edit Custom Field(s) Associations Here is where association between Customs Fields and devices are made. If you select one or multiple devices you can set which Custom Field(s) you would like those devices to have. If you select a group (smart or standard) then you will select which custom Fields you would like to set for the devices under this group. If new devices enter this group after you have the Custom Field associated, you would need reassign that Custom Field to the group or those new devices specifically. Custom Fields do not auto-associate to new additions in a group. Lock / Unlock When a client device is locked, it can no longer receive model updates from the FileWave server. You might use this setting if a device is being used for some operation that would be interrupted during a Fileset activation. See Locking Devices Create Association(s)… The primary function of FileWave Admin is to associate Clients and Groups with Filesets. This task will send you to the Associations pane and allow you to select Fileset(s) for association with the selected device. Detailed instructions on using Filesets and associations are in Chapter 5 . Create Clone… Clones give you great flexibility with FileWave management. You create Clones of a device to add them to different Groups instead of dragging the device itself into a Group. This allows you to let a Client belong to several Groups based on organizational needs, geographies, or even just for application usage. A Client can belong to several Groups, and any associations made to any of those Groups will be reflected at the client. Since a Clone is essentially an alias of the original Client, you can leave the actual Client sitting in the "root" Group of the Client directory, and do all of your Group assignments by way of Clones. This way, if you delete a Clone from a Group, you have not impacted the original Client record. You may also create a Clone of a Group if you are going to add several sub-Groups into a larger Group. The Create Clone… task presents you with a list of your Groups into which you can place a Clone. Clone to Same Groups As… This task lets you choose another Client device as the template to create Clones of the selected Client. If the template device has Clones in several Groups, then your Client will end up with Clones in those Groups. Move To… This task lets you move your Client into a designated Group. This does not create a Clone; but places the original Client record into that Group. Delete If you no longer need a specific Client or Group in the FileWave database, you can delete it with this command. If you delete a Group, then all Clones and original Clients situated inside that Group are also deleted. Original Clients outside the Group will not be deleted, even if their Clones were inside the Group. Make sure you update the Model when you delete Clients or Groups. Rename To rename your Client or Group, use this command. You can also click twice on your client (slower than a double-click) to edit the name. Comment This task allows you to add a comment to your Client or Group record. Set Permissions… This task lets you specify which FileWave Admin accounts can access a specified Client or Group. You use this assignment capability to manage large deployments with many sub-administrators. For example, you could have an administrator designated to manage and maintain only the Windows computers and another to manage only the iPad cart in a classroom. Some administrators could be assigned only read permissions in order to create reports. Duplicate Client This task lets you take a Client as a template and create a new Client that can be renamed to match an, as yet, un-enrolled device. When the new device enrolls, it will assume the identity of that duplicated Client, as well as automatically being part of every Clone used by that duplicated client. For example, Lab-WinPC07 belongs to two Groups - Beta Group and IT Shop; the client gets duplicated and its new name is Lab-WinPC07.1 When the duplicate is renamed, all of it's Clones get renamed also, and when you enroll the new device with the name Lab-WinPC08 , the new client automatically belongs to all the correct Groups. Add Client… This task is for adding a Client into the selected Group. Selecting this task opens the New Client window. Add Group… This task adds a Group to the selected Group. Selecting this task opens the Create New Group window. Edit Smart Group… This task allows you change the settings and criteria for a Smart Group. Request Check-in This task sends a command to the mobile device to check in with the MDM server. Sending the Check-in command will send along every item in the command history that has not been received. Lock Device This task sends the command to the mobile device to return it to the lock screen (as if the power button had been pressed). It sets a message on the screen to say that this device is "lost," along with an optional message and phone number to call if found. This is not the same as the Lock command for non-mobile devices. Clear Passcode This task turns off any passcode set on the mobile device. Refresh Inventory (Verify) This task sends a request to the client to report back to the FileWave Server an inventory report. This is more inclusive than the Check-in command in that the client gets a push command to supply the following information: Managed Application list Security info Restrictions Installed Application list Profile list Device information Plus perform any self-healing needed and install/remove any Filesets that have been modified. Wipe Device… This task sends a command to mobile devices to erase all content and settings. For mobile devices, the command is located in the right-click popup. For computers, it's located in the Client Info… window. You must enter the FileWave "super administrator" (fwadmin) credentials in order to proceed with the device wipe. Set Organization Info (iOS only) This command appends the Organization Info that is configured in FileWave Admin/Preferences to the selected device. This information is sent to the device at enrollment; but if the information changes, it needs to be manually updated using this menu item. Clear Restrictions Passcode (supervised iOS 8+) This command will flush the restrictions passcode set on a supervised iOS device. Archive Client This command allows an administrator to remove a Client from active use in the FileWave database. All inventory data on the device is frozen and the device is no longer counted as a client for license purposes.  A Model Update is required to complete this action. In order to re-add the client to the active FileWave database, you must fully remove it from FileWave, update the Model, then re-add it through the New Client window. Archiving MDM enrolled clients will send a command to the device to remove enrolment, for any MDM enrolment type, if configured to do so in the Mobile Preferences. Removal of the MDM Enrolment Profile should cause managed Profiles to be remove.  Managed Apps and as such App Data may also be removed. Groups & Smart Groups Putting Clients into Groups gives you tremendous flexibility in overall control and management of your deployment. With Groups, you can configure sets of Clients by type, function, location, and any other association that you can think of. Smart Groups go even further by letting you create criteria that will automatically assemble sets of clients. The real power of Groups in FileWave comes from being able to associate Filesets with Groups at the same time, instead of having to match individual Clients with specific Filesets. You can also have nested Groups. Creating a Group You can use any criteria you desire to create a Group. Select the New Group tool from the toolbar and fill in the name of the Group and, if desired, a comment on the Group, such as its purpose. Once the Group is created, you can assign Clients to it either with the pop-up menu (right-click on the Group, select Add Client… ) or you can add a Clone of a Client to the Group by holding down the Alt-key (Windows) or the Option-key (macOS), selecting the Client, and dragging the Clone onto the Group icon. You can also use the Create Clone… command to build a Clone of a Client, then add the Clone to the Group. Finally, you can create Groups to be sub-Groups, then add those Groups to the "upper" Group. When you associate Filesets with the uppermost Group in a set, all of the clients assigned to that Group, or to Groups inside that Group, will all get those associations. Setting permissions for a Group Once you have created one or more Groups, you might want to distribute overall management and maintenance of those Groups. The "Super Admin" account (fwadmin) will always be able to edit or delete any Client or Group in FileWave Admin. What you might want to have is one or more "sub-administrators" who can take over maintenance of one or more specific Groups. This is where the permissions come in; right-click on a Group (or select the Tools item in the toolbar) and choose Set Permissions… All of the FileWave Admin accounts will be available and you can choose which administrators have permission to work with the selected Group. Your choices are: read/write/delete) read/write read no permissions, which equals no access. The permissions can also be set to Propagate to children, which then assign the same permissions to any Group or Groups nested within in that Group. Creating Smart Groups The Smart Group is a collection of Clones based on specific criteria. The options you can choose are extensive: The specific criteria are defined as follows: Search Type Qualifiers Criteria Client Name equals / contains / begins with / ends with / less than / greater than alphanumeric text of a client name or portion of a name Client Comment equals / contains / begins with / ends with / less than / greater than Any alphanumeric text comment or portion of a comment Client OS Platform equals OS X (Intel / PPC, 10.3 -10.9), Windows (XP, 2000, Vista, 7, 8) Client IP Address equals / contains / begins with / ends with Any logical numeric value that meets standard IP address format (xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx) Client IP Subnet equals / contains / begins with / ends with Any logical numeric value that meets standard IP address format (xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx) LDAP User in A user name in an associated LDAP directory server database LDAP Computer in A computer name in an associated LDAP directory server database Inventory Query in Any valid Inventory Query from the MySQL server (v.9.x) or from Inventory (FW v8.x) iOS Device Type equals iPad / iPod / iPhone / Any Once you have selected one or more search types and filled in the criteria, FileWave will automatically add a Clone of the qualified Clients to the Smart Group. You can use these types of Groups to track devices as they move around the institution, fall behind in updates, have their name changed, or any other combination of conditions you desire. Permissions for Smart Groups are set up with the same steps used to set permissions for regular Groups. Using LDAP / Directory Services Groups FileWave can create Smart Groups based on your LDAP server directories. If you have added LDAP server(s) to your preferences, then your Clients pane will be populated with an LDAP Smart Groups set. These Groups will be automatically populated with computers that are bound to the directory. You can associate Filesets and set permissions for any of these Groups. Devices registered by users with their LDAP credentials show up under Users in the LDAP Smart Groups listing. This links the user to the device for tracking purposes. To set up LDAP for authentication, see Chapter 2. Client Monitor (16.0+) What The FileWave Client Monitor is a tool that provides administrators with real-time insights into device connectivity and status. It helps diagnose and resolve issues efficiently, ensuring seamless communication between clients and the FileWave server. FileWave 16.0 introduces a major upgrade with a streamlined interface, improved Network Address Translation (NAT) compatibility, and enhanced security features. With these improvements, there is no longer a "Client Preferences" password used or needed to be able to use the new v.16+ Client Monitor with any FileWave managed devices that are running v.16+ of the FileWave Client. When/Why Use the Client Monitor to monitor and troubleshoot device connectivity, whether on local networks or remote environments. The enhancements in FileWave 16.0 improve: NAT Compatibility – Visibility into devices across remote networks without additional configuration. Security – Strengthened authentication and encryption for safer device management. User Interface – A modernized layout for easier navigation and usability. Troubleshooting – Detailed logs and insights for faster issue resolution. Note that although the standalone Client Monitor app is included with 16.0.0+ Admin installs, it is only functional for monitoring macOS and Windows clients running less than FileWave Client 16.0.0, but it also still is used to monitor a FileWave IVS for Windows Imaging as of 16.0.x. The old Client Monitor app will eventually be removed in a future version.  How Before you try to use Client Monitor it's important to understand how access to it is controlled. Below is an image of the permissions in a FileWave Server. "Modify Clients/Groups" is the relevant permission. If you do not have this permission then you will only be able to monitor a client, and will not be able to make settings changes. If you do have this permission then you will be able to make settings changes.  You can access Client Monitor from both FileWave Central as well as FileWave Anywhere. In FileWave Central you can either use the "Client Monitor" button in the toolbar or the button when looking at Client Info.  It should be noted that the new Client Monitor in 16.0+ can not monitor an earlier macOS or Windows client. For this reason we still include the standalone version of Client Monitor that is installed with FileWave Central. You can still use that to monitor an older client.  In FileWave Anywhere you can select a client and then pick the "Client Monitor" button. In FileWave Anywhere you can also use the Device Actions menu when viewing a device to launch it. Both methods provide quick access to the Client Monitor.  Now that the Client Monitor is open, you might be wondering how many computers you can monitor simultaneously. FileWave supports monitoring up to  50 devices at once , which should be more than enough for most use cases. However, if you regularly need to monitor more than 50 devices at the same time, let us know! The Client Monitor has two main tabs—let’s take a closer look below. Details & Logs This tab provides real-time information about how the FileWave Client is performing on macOS or Windows devices. One of the biggest improvements in the new Client Monitor is its use of a NATS connection , allowing you to monitor devices even if they are on a different network. This eliminates the need to manually enter an IP address and removes the limitation of only monitoring devices you can directly connect to within your local network.   Key features in this tab:   Last Successful Connection - Useful to determine when your monitored client last communicated with the server. Additionally, the green dot seen on the top left next to the client name indicates that the device is currently online and in contact. If the dot is red, it means the device is offline, and the dialog will reflect its disconnected status Server Model Number vs. Client Model Number - Important for ensuring your client is receiving updated manifests . Status - This updates live as the FileWave Client works through items that are assigned to it. Logs - Displays various log files that can now be retrieved from macOS and Windows clients. The available logs differ by platform; for example, system.log and install.log are specific to macOS. Grabbing a log is as easy as clicking the download icon. Preferences This tab simplifies altering/setting the client settings.  We’ve streamlined this section to make adjustments more intuitive and effective.   Key settings include:   Boosters - Displays only the Booster's DNS name and assumes the default port. If using a custom port, a  Superpref is still the best way to configure it. Debug Level - This previously used numeric values, logging levels are now set with Normal, Debug and Trace. Verify, Free Space, and Heartbeat Interval - These function the same as before. The default Heartbeat (previously known as Tickle) Interval is 120 seconds and determines how often the client checks in with the server for new commands. In high-traffic environments, increasing this value could help to reduce server load. Previously called the tickle interval, rarely should it be set lower than the default. Disable Personal Data Collection - Can be referenced here and can be set at the device level, but most admins configure this at the license level. Location Refresh Interval - Defaults to 15 minutes and requires prerequisite setup to collect location data. Enable TeamViewer Remote Control - Allows Teamvier integration if the TeamViewer Agent has been deployed to the device. Prompt Client for Remote Control Access - If checked, the end user will be prompted to approve the remote session before it starts; if unchecked, the session may be started without prompting the end user. Related Content Working with FileWave Clients How the FileWave Client Communicates Conflict Resolution 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) Automatic Client Conflict Resolution 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. Related Content Automatic Client Conflict Resolution Automatic Enrollment Permissions Understanding FileWave Clients, Groups, and Smart Groups Client operations The FileWave Client needs to be installed on computers that you want to manage with FileWave. The FileWave Client should to be given a unique name so that the FileWave Server can identify the FileWave Client. During startup, the FileWave Client reads its configuration file to initialize its settings. The most important setting (aside from Client Name) is the FileWave Server address. The Client uses this IP or DNS address to attempt to connect to the FileWave Server. If the FileWave Server can't be accessed for some reason, the FileWave Client waits for a specified amount of time (Tickle Interval - default is 120sec, and can be altered as needed) before it tries to connect again. If the FileWave Server is available and the FileWave Client authenticated successfully, then the FileWave Client checks the model version on the FileWave Server. If the model version of the Server is greater than the last value found by the FileWave Client (stored in it's Catalog file), then the FileWave Client will request to download a manifest for the current model. The manifest is a list of Filesets that are associated with this Client. The database model version is incremented each time an administrator updates the model. Following a model update, the Client reads the new manifest and executes any actions required. This includes downloading and activation of Filesets (adhering to any time attributes), deletion of Filesets, deactivating Filesets (but leaving the contents in place on the computer for possible future reactivation), and update commands for existing Filesets . When downloading Filesets, the Client attempts to download from the first Booster listed in its preferences, or the Server if no Boosters are set. One other piece of the workflow that may be needed is Apple's Configurator tool. If you are deploying iOS devices and want to supervise those systems, you have to either use Apple's Automated Device Enrollment (ADE) or Apple Configurator, which requires 'tethering' the devices using a Lightning cable. FileWave Client The FileWave Client itself is a process ( fwcld ) that runs as a daemon on a Client. The visible effect of a client is usually the Kiosk , FileWave's self-service tool. On macOS and Windows computers, the FileWave Client is installed using a . pkg (macOS) or . msi (Win). On an Android device, the Client is downloaded and installed as a . apk directly from FileWave during the enrollment process. All FileWave Clients include the self-service Kiosk, which will be visible when content is assigned to the device for user-controlled install, and can be made permanently visible through a configuration setting. FileWave Groups FileWave Clients can be gathered into fixed Groups for convenience. The Groups can be named and populated as needed. The advantage of fixed Groups is the ability to associate content with Groups versus having to pick out individual clients. A FileWave Client can be assigned directly to a Group, or you can create a Clone of that Client to assign it to the Group. Smart Groups In FileWave, you can create dynamic Groups based upon selective inventory queries, such as "All devices with these fonts" or "Devices that are not running the latest security update." A Smart Group allows you to isolate specific devices and perform actions on them as part of your management workflow. The devices that show in Smart Groups are Clones, as distinguished by the italicized Client name as well as the upward hooking arrow on the lower-left side of the Client type symbol. More ideas for Smart Groups are provided in the Inventory Chapter, such as using a Smart Group to track down and remove rogue software from devices. For Smart Groups that need faster membership updates, see Fast Smart Group Evaluation . Clones Instead of assigning FileWave Clients to a single Group, you might want to have a Client assigned to several Groups - such as "Building 7" and "Admin Dept" at the same time. Creating Clones can make this possible. A Clone is essentially an alias of the Client. A device can have several Clones. All assigned to different Groups. Clones can have content (Filesets) associated with them, just as Clients can. The advantage of using Clones is that you can assign Clones of a client to many Groups; but you can assign a Client device itself to only one Group.  Last Connect vs. Last Connected What OK, we'll cut right to the chase, the naming of these fields is silly and confusing.  We'll try to untangle that a bit in this document. When/Why The two versions of the Last Connected fields can be quite confusing, and they mean two different things.  Generally we will use the fields whenever we are trying to understand the last time a device talked to the FileWave server. How The confusion here comes from the fact that the data seems inconsistent.  It is not actually inconsistent, but it is certainly confusing.  We'll use the following image to help explain: In the above diagram, the "Last Connect" you see highlighted by the red arrows is the last time the device spoke to the server at all.  Devices reach out to the server differently depending on the operating system.  The red arrowed fields are NOT included in inventory and are only meant to show "pings" from a client device.  Basically, this value means that we "heard something" from the device.  On macOS and Windows, the client will "tickle" every two minutes and update this value.  No other platforms modify this field, so for iOS, Android, and Chrome, the only "Last Connected" time is the field that is in inventory. For ALL platforms though, the field highlighted by the green arrow is the inventory field that is updated whenever the device sends inventory information to the server.  That is, this date indicates the last time the device sent information about hardware, software, and custom fields.  For macOS and Windows, this value will ALWAYS be different from the last tickle time.  And the data in this field is important, because it tells you how old the "data" is about this client. This field is very useful for troubleshooting (looking for devices that maybe aren't reporting inventory), and also for EXCLUDING data from reports.  For instance, if I want to look for devices that don't have virus definitions updated in the last 3 days, I also want to add a criteria to look for the inventory data to be updated in that same time frame.  This avoids having devices in my report that couldn't possibly have updated definitions, and would just clutter the report unnecessarily. Inventory Queries (Reports) Creating and Editing a query This will discuss how to create and edit a query.  When you create a new query, you start by giving it a name and choosing a starting criteria - in this case, we want to have all of our clients report back if they have an application containing the name "chrome". Next, we decide what fields will be displayed when the query executes. As you drag and drop component fields into the display window, FileWave immediately begins filling in the blanks with data from your Clients. You can re-order those fields by dragging them back and forth until you are satisfied with the results. You should choose a  Main Component, which is the index field for the query. For example, in this query, if the main component was the application , then you would get a report that showed every instance of "chrome" that existed in the database. The results would display every instance of the Chrome application, even if it was stored away from the Applications folder and not being used. By choosing the correct component, and the right criteria, you can create queries that will tell you exactly what you want to know. In the main Inventory window, you can select your query so that it will display just by clicking on it. Components Key to being able to create a useful query is understanding the components you have access to. Here is a sampling of those items:   One of the most important new component types is the custom field. There are four different sets:  Boolean; DateTime; Integer; and, String . You can create custom fields to go beyond the basic information provided by the Clients to look for unique combinations that include searching for files created prior to a certain date, or add marker files to clients that include a filename or text that meets custom criteria. You do this by passing arguments to the fwcld command. The general format used to set any custom.ini value (including new keys) follows this format: $ fwcld -custom_write -key [-value 'Name' to the criteria and set the following: Application/Name Is Firefox.App Note we have 'Is' selected.  Selecting 'Is Not', 'Does Not Contain', etc will not yield the desired results.  Selecting 'Is Not' for instance, will list all devices that have any application on those devices that are not called Firefox.app.  In essence, this will be all devices, those with and those without Firefox.  Instead, we tick the Not box. By using the Not box, it gives the reverse of the query.  List all the devices that have Firefox and then give the opposite result (based on the Main Component, which will be covered next). Since this is a MacOS query, then additionally the OS Type can be added: OS Type Is macOS What Main Component should be used? The main component is the key ingredient that the criteria will be based upon.  Imagine two fields: FileWave Client Name and Application > Name With the main component set to Application, the query will be: Show all Applications that are not Firefox.app A query set up this way will therefore show all devices, as any App that is not Firefox.app will be a successful hit on this search With the main component set to macOS/Windows Device, then the query will be: Show all devices that do not have Firefox.app This will be a different set of results, as now any device that has Firefox installed will no longer show.  This is the desired result. What Fields do you really need present? The above has given the desired result, but there are multiple entries per device.  From a Smart Group association point of view, strictly speaking, this should not matter.  There is only one of each device in reality, but it makes it hard to read and does not work well as an Inventory Query for reporting.  As such, removing any relationship that will create a 1:many relationship would be ideal, such that there is only one result per device. 2) Unexpected Entries Sometimes some entries seem unexpected.  This is usually related to one of the query items in the last example not being set as expected.  From the last example, changing the Main Component to Application will still have an undesired result, as this will be searching the criteria against Application entries in the database even though that Field is not shown.  There will still only be one entry visible per device, but the search is now listing all Applications that are not Firefox, so every device. It is possible though, that with an incorrect Main Component and certain fields added, the output can appear confusing.  Start with a fresh Inventory query and by setting the following, many entries can be seen with no FileWave Client Name: No Criteria Add FileWave Client Name as a Field Add Operating System as a Field (by dragging this in, all sub-inventory items for Operating System will be added to the Fields view). With the Main Component set as Operating System, there will be many entries with no FileWave Client Name. This will be because entries have been made into the database from machines running these OS versions that are no longer appropriate for any of the active devices.  Changing the Main Component can provide a true representation of the current installed OS versions. Saving the above with the Main Component set as Operating System these entries can be seen to have no client.  Right-click on an entry.  As well as Copy, is there the option to Reveal Client: If there is no Client to Reveal, then there is no representable entry in the database.  If you have a FileWave Client Name that shows but does not have the option to Reveal Client, it may be an old static record that will require manual removal.  In this instance, you could contact support and they would be able to assist in tidying this up. Inventory Only and Archived Clients When attempting to Reveal Clients, if the client is either Inventory Only or Archived, the relevant option to view these would need to be set through the contextual Menu Item 3) None and Not Not can in many instances be more useful.  A question was posed: "We would like an Inventory query to show devices that have multiple specific Filesets installed. The issue I am seeing is that if you try to enter multiple Fileset IDs to an inventory query it will show no results because I am guessing it is trying to look for every Fileset to have multiple IDs. So basically I want to find a device that has Fileset 1, 2, and 3, installed and they must have all 3 to go into the query." Taking from the information above, the negative logic will be seen to be the approach.  Trying to search for each of these using positive logic will again not yield the correct results.  Instead, Not can be used with desired results when mixed with None. Take some time to think about how this works.  Understanding this will make Inventory Query building in general more successful and ensure you don't have unexpected results. What are Sample Queries? We are frequently asked about the intention of the Sample Queries that you find in the Inventory Queries view in the FileWave Admin. Problem For new users of FileWave, the intent of Sample Queries is sometimes a bit of a mystery.  We'll clear that up here! Envioronment Sample Queries are provided by default in the Inventory Query view of your FileWave Admin as you can see below: Resolution Sample Queries are actually provided for two primary reasons: To provide you with pre-built common queries so you can get started quickly.  These would be queries that are useful just as they are, such as All iOS or All Mobile. To provide you with complex queries that you can use as examples to build your own queries.  Sometimes it is just hard to get started on a complex query, like a query you might have to do for an Office Suite.  These complex samples give you a starting point to building your own complex inventory queries. Additional Information For best results, duplicate sample queries before you modify them so that you don't change the original.  The Refresh Samples button in the Inventory Query view will put back any sample query that you may have deleted, but it will NOT over-write a modified query. How do I export the results of an Inventory query? Description Results of Inventory Queries are viewable though the FileWave Central App.  However, if other members of staff require these details, then those results may need exporting. Requirements Mainly, just the FileWave Central App Optionally (for Scheduled Reports), Email configured in FileWave Central > Preferences Optionally (for API method), API token Steps Export View With any Inventory Query actively being viewed in FileWave Central, use the Drop Down menu option 'Export Current View': On export, a Text file should be generated, consisting of a header line, including all included columns and preceding lines with the respective results: Scheduled Reports From the Assistants drop down menu, is an option Show Scheduled Reports: This method should periodically send emails to chosen recipients, for any included query set within the schedule definition. Details of building out such a thing can be found in our KB: Generating Scheduled Reports API Queries As demonstrated in our KB pages for FileWave API , it is possible to build out queries using the API as well as reporting on them.  Please view the KB pages for extensive details.    Generating scheduled reports Being able to look at the various queries while logged in to the FileWave Admin is one thing. Being able to have the results of a query automatically sent to your or someone else's email inbox at the same time every week is much better. FileWave supports creating scheduled reports from queries and the process is very simple. How to create Scheduled Reports First, you select  Assistants → Scheduled Reports…  from the FileWave Admin menubar. Then click the "+" in the lower left of the window to create a new report. If you had existing reports they would be visible here. You can now choose a  Report Type  which are a License or Query report. License: This will create a report of everything that is listed in your  License Management  section in FileWave. This includes all VPP licenses and manually created licenses from Filesets or inventory. Query: This option will send a report with the results of a specific inventory query that was created in the  Inventory Management  section in FileWave. Next is to type in what email address you want to send these reports too.  Multiple Email Addresses If you would like to send to multiple email addresses, you will need to separate the addresses by a semicolon. Then add in a  Mail Subject  and the  Email content/body , these will give some definition to the reports sent. Next if you are signed into the FileWave Admin as the  Superuser  you will see a section for  Owner.  Whichever user account is selected will affect the results of the Scheduled Report based on that users permissions.  Example: If the user Greg Stevens was selected as the owner of this report for a query of all devices but Greg does not have access to see any iOS devices then the report will not show iOS. If you are not the Superuser you will NOT see the Owner section at all; as you can see in the screenshots below, only the Superuser can assign a user to reports. After you have selected an  Owner  you will need to set when the report is going to be sent out Every day skip weekends Every week on Every month on Optional - if the  Report Type  is set to  Query  you will need to select which query the report will send Click  OK  to save this scheduled report, you will then be able to view any previously created reports as well as the option to send the report out immediately. Scheduled Reports Results The reports that get sent will be tab-delimited text files that you can easily convert or import into any editor you like to use. Query Results License Results Sending Scheduled Reports to More Than One Address If you want a scheduled report to go to more than one recipient, enter all email addresses in the recipient field and separate them with semicolons. Problem Scheduled report results often need to go to more than one person. A shared mailbox can work, but sometimes you need to send the same report directly to several recipients. Environment This applies to scheduled reports created from inventory queries and license reports. Resolution In the recipient field, enter the addresses as a semicolon-delimited list, matching the format shown below. user1@mail.com;user2@mail.com;user3@mail.com;user4@mail.com Additional Information Scheduled reports are sent on their normal schedule, but you can also use Send Now in the Scheduled Report Assistant to confirm the report is delivered to all recipients before relying on the schedule. Filtering in Inventory Queries What Historically inventory queries in FileWave did not allow you to filter for specific values.  In v14(+) you can now filter for text objects in very much the same way you can filter in the Clients view. When/Why We are going to want to filter whenever we need to get to data quickly.  For instance, when a customer in the field calls with an issue and we ask them to give us the Asset Tag info for quick identification. How Filtering in any inventory query view is as simple as entering search text in the upper right filter field when the query is open.  Note that filters in FileWave admin are "sticky" and will remain even when you leave the view and come back to it.  See example below: Exporting & Importing Inventory Queries Description As of FileWave version 15.4, it is now possible to export and import Inventory Query definitions.  This makes sharing them easier than ever. Also export and share any included Custom Fields utilised in an exported query. Importing & Exporting Custom Fields Each Custom Field has a unique name: 'Internal Name'.  When uploading a Custom Field, if another Custom Field already exists with the same Internal Name, the newly imported Custom Field Internal Name will be altered to prevent conflict. Imported Inventory Queries referencing Custom Field Internal Names, will be referencing the Internal Name.  Where a conflict has occurred, the Query must be updated to reference the new, altered Internal Name of the newly imported Custom Field. Information Prior to 15.4, sharing Inventory Queries relied upon a FileWave API command to grab the definition from one FileWave Server and then subsequently import that definition into another FileWave instance also using API.  However, exporting and importing is now available via the right click contextual menu within the FileWave Central Admin Console. Directions From the FileWave Central > Inventory Queries view... Export Query Select a query from the main window Right click Choose Export Import Query Select a category to include the query for import Right click Choose Import Query Inventory of IP Addresses Description Out of the many Inventory Items collected, IP addresses are  included in those automatically provided.  However, what does that mean.  For device communication, many IPs exist for communication and there is more than one address obtained from some devices. Information There are two distinct IP Inventory entries: All Devices > IP Address Network IP Address > IP Address All Devices IP This IP is how the server sees the incoming traffic.  As such, it isn't as much device inventory, but inventory of live traffic to the server. Network IP The value reported as the Network IP Address, however, is inventory.  Each network adapter will be included in the report back to the FileWave Server during the inventory phase; thus multiple entries per device. Apple mobile devices will have a blank value, since this IP is provided by the FileWave Client Considerations All Devices IP Since the IP for All Devices is actually the IP of incoming traffic, in reality it is the last leg of the communication between devices and the FileWave server. What does this mean for this inventory field.  In many setups, not much and is really useful.  By reporting the last leg of traffic, it immediately provides some information about the device.  For example, if this was a company NAT address, the device is clearly talking back to the server from an alternate location.  Yet, there are some other examples where this may not be the best. Hosted Where servers are cloud hosted, the last leg of traffic is from the Load Balancer to the FileWave Server.  Since all traffic will be through the Load Balancer, then the reported IP will be the local IP of that Load Balancer. Booster Routing This has a similar consequence with Hosted.  Since FileWave Client communication is through the Booster, the last leg of traffic (as viewed by the FileWave Server) will be the Booster (the last Booster if cascaded).  On face value, this would appear initially as useful as first described.  Immediately, it is clear that a client is either reporting directly to the server or through a Booster.  In the latter case, which Booster if multiple exist.  However, there is an additional complication. Due to requests, the software was altered to provide the local client IP of devices routing through Boosters, with the intention of improving the experience of the Client Monitor. When a device using Booster Routing first checks in, the IP actually reported will initially be that of the Booster.  From this communication, after a period of time, the value will be updated to reflect the Client IP instead.  However, it may be likely that the communication will be re-established at a later date, causing the Booster IP to be reported again.  As such, there will be a duration of time where the Booster address will be seen, before the Client local IP is shown instead. Custom Fields Scripted Custom Fields can return any value that is programatically obtainable.  If a different value was desired, it may be possible for a Client Script or Client Command Line Custom Field to report an alternate chosen value. Scripted Custom Fields are only available for computer devices: macOS & Windows. Smart Groups Smart Groups, Inventory and Application Version Numbers Description By default, FileWave treats software version numbers as strings.  This is because it is legitimate for software versions to contain characters as well as numbers.  The below script is designed to assist with Smart Group analysis and Inventory Reporting. Information The following script will attempt comparisons between a supplied software version and the version as shown from the bundle Info.plist file.  If the version contains characters though, the script will exit. Output should be one of: Newer - version on device is newer than supplied version to compare Outdated - version on device is older than the supplied version to compare Current - version is the same as the supplied version to compare NA - Supplied Application path was not found on device Uncomparable - Non numerical characters were found The script accepts three Launch Arguments: App path Version to compare Key/Value item to collect from Info.plist Item 3, if not supplied, defaults to: CFBundleShortVersionString Directions Create a  Custom Field . Name the script, e.g. Compare Chess Version Provided By: Client Script Data Type: String Client Script Type: macOS Shell Optional: Assign to all devices Launch Arguments: /Applications/Chess.app 3.15 CFBundleShortVersionString Paste the following into the script window: #!/bin/bash # Compare version numbers of apps for Inventory Reporting and Smart Groups # V1.0 -May 2019, sean.holden@filewave.com # $1 - Application path, e.g: /Applications/Chess.app # $2 - Version to compare against # $3 - Version string, e.g.: CFBundleVersion, CFBundleShortVersionString # Return Newer, Outdated, Current, NA or if non-numerical characters are used Uncomparable. app_path="$1" if [ ! -x "$app_path" ] then echo NA exit 0 fi dotted_check_version=$2 if [[ "$3" == "" ]] then # Default if not supplied: CFBundleShortVersionString" version_string="CFBundleShortVersionString" else version_string="$3" fi dotted_installed_version=$(defaults read "${app_path}/Contents/Info.plist" "$version_string" ) if [[ "$dotted_installed_version" =~ [A-Za-z] ]] then echo "Uncomparable" exit 0 fi function convertVersion { OLDIFS=$IFS IFS='.' read -r -a array_add <<< "$1" IFS=$OLDIFS } function compareVersion { array_counter=0 while [ $# -gt 0 ] do compare_to_me=${check_version[$array_counter]} if [[ $compare_to_me == "" ]] then compare_to_me=0 fi if [ $1 -lt $compare_to_me ] then echo "Outdated" break fi if [ $1 -gt $compare_to_me ] then echo "Newer" break fi array_counter=$((array_counter + 1)) shift if [ $# -eq 0 ] then echo "Current" fi done } convertVersion "$dotted_installed_version" declare -a installed_version=("${array_add[@]}") convertVersion "$dotted_check_version" declare -a check_version=("${array_add[@]}") while [ ${#check_version[@]} -gt ${#installed_version[@]} ] do installed_version+=('0') done compareVersion ${installed_version[@]} exit 0 Save and then create a Smart Group as required. Using Queries to create Smart Groups Outside of creating queries for informational purposes, FileWave can help you create powerful, dynamic Smart Groups. The concept behind a Smart Group is to gather clients together who meet certain criteria. That would be, for example, all of the devices residing on a certain IP subnet. By adding Inventory queries to the criteria, then adding Filesets to the Group, you can create a Smart Group that will gather a Client device due to its meeting specified criteria, perform Fileset actions on that device, and as a result, the client no longer meets the criteria and drops out of the Group. Note: If a Smart Group needs faster membership updates for an enrollment, first-check-in, or other time-sensitive assignment workflow, see Fast Smart Group Evaluation . This article focuses on building Smart Groups from inventory query criteria. Example - Locating Filesets that contain SIP violations Apple has released a security policy with OS X 10.11 called System Integrity Protection . In a nutshell, it says that no process will be able to have write access to any area of the OS that is protected. FileWave administrators may have scripts that violate this policy, and need to find out which are affected other than just seeing their Fileset(s) fail. There are two new fields in Inventory that identify whether or not a Mac has SIP active or not, and another field that identifies files that contain code that would violate the SIP rules. Here are the two query items: If you use either one of these to create a Smart Group, you will be able to rapidly identify your Macs that have SIP active, or your Filesets that have incompatible code in them. As you repair the Filesets, they will drop from that Smart Group. If someone turns off the SIP settings (not an easy task), the affected Mac will drop off that Smart Group. Example - Removing contraband software For example, you need to scan your clients for contraband software. If the client meets the criteria of having the software you are looking for, then you will have a Fileset execute that will remove that software. Since the Group is dynamic, as soon as the device responds that it no longer has the software and it has that Fileset installed, it will no longer qualify for that Group, and will drop out. Here is the workflow for setting this up: Once you have executed the Update Model command, the Fileset will execute and delete the software. Fast Smart Group Evaluation What Fast Smart Group Evaluation lets selected Smart Groups evaluate on a shorter interval than normal Smart Groups. Use it when waiting for the normal Smart Group refresh would delay an important action, such as a newly enrolled device needing required assignments after its first check-in or inventory update. When to use it Use fast evaluation for a small number of time-sensitive Smart Groups that drive initial device setup, enrollment cleanup, urgent remediation, or another workflow where group membership needs to update quickly. Do not enable it on broad reporting groups or every deployment group. Fast evaluation does not make clients submit inventory faster; it evaluates eligible Smart Group membership more frequently once the server has the data needed to evaluate the criteria. Performance limit Smart Group evaluation consumes server resources, especially in large environments or when criteria are complex. FileWave allows up to 3 Smart Groups with Fast Smart Group Evaluation enabled. This keeps fast evaluation useful for critical workflows without allowing many Smart Groups to add constant recurring load. Configure it The Fast Smart Group Evaluation checkbox is available when creating or modifying a Smart Group. Enable Fast Smart Group Evaluation on the Smart Group that needs faster membership updates. Set the server-wide fast interval in Inventory preferences using Fast smart group refresh period . If FileWave reports that the limit has been reached, review the existing fast-evaluation Smart Groups and disable it on a lower-priority group before enabling another one. Related Content Configuring Inventory preferences Using Queries to create Smart Groups Understanding FileWave Clients, Groups, and Smart Groups Create a Smart Group from an Inventory Query (Report) What Smart group creation in FIleWave has always been a duplicated effort if you wanted a smart group that was identical to an inventory query (report) that already existed.  This duplication of effort was inefficient. When/Why With version 14+ of FileWave, you can now directly create a new smart group from an existing inventory query. (and the crowds cheered!) How Creating the smart group is easy: Right-click the Inventory Query you want to "copy" to a smart group Choose "Create Smart Group" Pick the destination where you want your smart group created The newly created smart group will have no direct associations (deployments) assigned to it, but if you place it underneath a group that does have associations, the smart group will inherit them. See example below: Related Content Duplicating Smart Groups Duplicating Smart Groups What Prior to version 14 of FileWave, creation of similar smart groups could be quite tedious.  With version 14+, you can now duplicate a pre-existing smart group. When/Why We are going to want to use this function whenever we have a very similar smart group to create.  This is VERY  useful, especially when combined with custom fields. Consider the following: We have a smart group for "IT" based on a custom field called "Department": Prior to v14, if we wanted to duplicate this smart group, we had to build the entire smart group from scratch, including the inventory query the smart group was built upon.  Now, we can duplicate it, and just change the name and the criteria in the inventory query to create a new smart group for "HR".  (see example video below) How Duplicating the Smart Group is easy: Right-click the smart group you want to duplicate Choose "Duplicate Smart Group..." from the menu Change the name to be what you want Edit the now duplicated inventory query criteria Save The new smart group is  ONLY  a copy of the original criteria.  The new smart group will have nothing copied as far as associations or deployments to the original smart group are concerned. See example below: Related Content Create a Smart Group from an Inventory Query (Report) Smart Group Preview What When creating a smart group based on an inventory query, the number of results in the query preview can potentially be different from what will actually be in the smart group once you save it.  This can happen for a number of reasons: For example if a device has been deleted from inventory, but a model update has not yet happened, it would show in preview because the inventory exists--but not show in the smart group, because it has already been deleted.  This can create some confusion. When/Why To address this in version 14(+) of FileWave, we have added an additional tab in the smart group editor, called "Clients" next to the "Fields" preview tab.  This new tab previews only the clients that will be part of the smart group. The columns shown in this view are independent from those selected in the "Fields" tab and only include those relevant to identify a client.  How Examples illustrate this best: An Inventory Query is used in a Smart Group, criteria is "Device ID is not null". On the "Fields" tab enrolled clients, pre-enrolled clients, deleted clients and boosters are displayed (placeholders are  filtered): But see on the new "Clients" tab, only the enrolled client is displayed and this matches what will be in the Smart Group: Known Issue: if there are 2 records with the same filewave_id, both of them will be displayed on new Clients tab today although only 1 client will be in created Smart Group.  This will be addressed in a later update. Filesets Move To... for Filesets What FileWave has long had the ability to move client device records either by drag and drop, or by the "Move To..." command.  Version 14 brings this same "Move To..." capability to filesets as well. When/Why Drag and drop is all well and good, but with thousands of filesets potentially, it could take a long time to drag and drop filesets around the fileset window.  Plus, drag and drop also has the distinct possibility of accidentally dropping in the wrong place.  For those reasons, we recommend you try the new "Move To..." option if moving filesets around. How Moving a fileset is in fact even easier now, just: Find the fileset you want to move and highlight it Right click on the fileset and choose "Move To..." From the dialog, choose the destination for the fileset (i.e. where you want to move it to) Example follows: OS Software Updates - Automation Rules What Managing OS updates can be a burden with the quantity and frequency of new updates, requiring new Filesets and correct grouping for assignment. FileWave 16.2.0 makes this process much simpler for both Apple and Microsoft updates. When/Why Apple and Windows devices report which updates are relevant, back to the FileWave server.  The Client Info of any one device will list those updates reported: However, the Software Updates view in FileWave Central shows all updates, reported across all Apple or Microsoft devices, with further filter options.  As devices report into FileWave, this view will continually update. The 'Is New' entry is of key importance for the Automation Rules. Entries freshly reported, automatically have 'Is New' set as 'Yes'. Automation Rules are used to target any chosen updates, set as new, and build out Filesets, aiming at only desired updates or ignore others, by way of inclusions or exclusions.  For example, are all Windows driver packs desirable? Setting Automation rules allows for futuristic updates, not yet existing, but reported by devices subsequently. When the Automation Rules are actioned, a Fileset per update should be created for any included updates, whilst excluded updates will be ignored.  This 'Is New' flag will be set as 'No' when Filesets are generated, meaning excluded updates will remain as new. It is possible to manually alter the 'Is New' flag for one or more updates, by way of the right click contextual menu: Resetting the 'Is New' flag for any updates back to 'Yes', will cause them to be included once more when the Automation Rules run, whilst setting any to 'No', will exclude them for rule consideration, regardless of rules created. Once rules are configured, they are actioned by the 'Run Automation' button; a manual process at the time of writing, but will hopefully be an automated, scheduled process in a future FileWave release. For easy reference, only when a rule will cause a Fileset to be generated, will the 'Is New' flag be altered from 'Yes' to 'No'. How Only FileWave Administrators with necessary permissions may perform some or all of these actions, as set in: Assistants -> Manage Administrators: Manage Updates Configure Automation Rules  Select "Automation Rules" in the Software Update's toolbar to view current or create new rules, as below: The above example has 3 defined rules in place (one exclusion and two inclusion) and a designated Default Group.  Any updates set as new, which do not meet the criteria of the rules, will generate Filesets within the Default Group.  This can help identify new updates not impacted by the rules.   Unless set, there will be no Default Group. Rules may added or removed using the + and - buttons respectively, whilst the highlighted rule may have the target group or assignment type edited.  Default Group may be cleared if set. If there is no Default Group , then (as with Exclusions), the 'Is New' flag will remain as 'Yes' for any updates not matching Inclusion rules; no Fileset will be created. Rules run top to bottom.  Exclusion rules prevent updates from being considered in any subsequent rule.  The first matching Inclusion rule will generate a Fileset and then set the 'Is New' flag to 'No', such that subsequent rules will no longer be appropriate (for any updates matching more than one rule).  Hence, only one Fileset will be generated for included updates each time Automation Rules are Ran. Drag rules up or down to alter order. Add Exclusion rules at the top of the list to prevent Filesets being created for updates meeting the exclusion criteria. The rules view should seem similar familiar.  As with Inventory Queries,  each rule should be given an appropriate name, for reference, and criteria components may be added to define rules: Fields tab should list updates caught by the rule definition: Example Consider the following rules: These will run in the following order: Rule Description New 1: Exclude Drivers The criteria of this rule is set to ignore all Windows Drivers.   Updates remain as 'New'. 2: Defender Updates As suggested by name, this rule targets Windows Defender updates, placing them in a similarly named Fileset Group, ready for testing and assignment. Updates altered to 'Not New' 3: Rule for macOS Update Again, the name explains the rule, with all macOS updates being added to a Fileset Group named 'macOS'. 4: Default Group   Any updates not caught by the above rules, yet set as new at the time of running the Automation Rules, will have Filesets created with this group; 'Unfiled Updates' This helps highlights which updates were new, but not matching any of the rule criteria. Exclusion Example As described, updates excluded remain as new.  Consider the following 3 rules: The macOSUpdate 26 rule is set to include all macOS 26 Updates.  Likewise, the Windows Software Updates Security is set to include all updates that have the Category 'Security Updates'. The Exclusion Rule has been set to impact both of these other rules: Only where new updates are older than 10 days, will those updates be processed.  Any newer updates by date will be ignored and remain as new.  However, as days pass, those updates will become in scope of each below rule and Filesets will be subsequently generated. This provides an amount of grace period for testing, ensuring new updates will not be processed even if the Automation Rules are actioned. Updates may be manually generated into a test Fileset Group.   Manual Fileset creation from the Software Update view also sets the 'Is New' flag as 'No'.  Updates left untouched will remain as new and come into scope after the defined period of time. Associated devices with this group should receive the updates.  Once testing has been approved, these updates could then be considered for generic deployment. Each approved update may then have the 'Is New' flag manually reset as 'Yes'.  When the updates come into scope by date, being set as new again, they will now have Filesets created within the groups as targeted by each rule.  If not internally approved, those manually created updates will remain as 'No' and will not be included when the date scope has been reached. This method allows for pre-assignment of both test group and live deployment of updates, negating subsequent manual actions.   Related Content Automated Windows OS Updates Policy Best Practice Guide: Software Update Deployment (16.0+) OS Software Updates - Obsolete Filesets Cleanup What In FileWave you can patch your Apple and Windows devices very easily but over time you will accumulate many Filesets related to OS patching.  This feature that was added to FileWave 16.2.0 will allow you to perform a quick and easy cleanup. When/Why While the updates don't occupy much space at all on your FileWave Server, you may not want to have hundreds or thousands of OS update Filesets in your Filesets view. In the past you would have to manually figure out what patches were old enough to want to purge. Now you can simply purge updates that have not been requested in a set amount of time.  How First it is important that your account has permissions to perform these actions. In Assistants -> Manage Administrators as shown in the below image notice if you have Manage Updates enabled. If you'll be using Automations then ensure you have that right as well.  The next thing is to determine what you consider to be old enough to purge. In Preferences within FileWave Central you can pick 30, 60, 180, or 365 days. For most people 60 or 180 days is the best value. It gives an update enough time that it hasn't been requested. You'll want to go in to Preferences and pick a value. Next to do the cleanup you'll want to go to the Software Updates section of Central and click on the Obsolete Filesets Cleanup button in the toolbar. A dialog like the below will appear. Now simply click Select All and then click the Delete Selected button to purge them.  Note that this will only purge OS updates, but will purge both Apple as well as Windows OS patches. If a device later needs an update that was purged it will appear as New in the Software Updates section and you can make a Fileset for it again. For this reason it might be too aggressive to pick 30 days since you might find that updates are often purged and then need to be created again. Those are the only steps. For now this is a manual process but in the future it might be something where automation is added for it.  Related Content OS Software Updates - Automation Rules OS Software Updates Settings Configuring and using the Dashboard In FileWave Central, the Dashboard is the first view an administrator gets of their FileWave environment. The Dashboard is designed to give the FileWave administrators a quick view of their server and be able to focus in on a missing setting, or a possible service interruption. There are seven major sections on the Dashboard. Primary Services This section shows the major services - DEP, VPP, Email, etc with last update and, if there is an error, a direct link to the settings that can address that error. Sync Status This section shows the latest 'check-in' times for certain services, such as VPP, DEP, LDAP, and Smart Groups. These services all have preferences requiring synchronization between a remote service, for example your LDAP server, and the FileWave server. Server Performance Status This section is an active chart of the status of the primary FileWave server's storage space, CPU usage, and RAM utilization. Distribution of clients This section displays a graph showing the breakdown of FileWave clients based on operating system. Mail Queue This section displays a running graph of the status of emails sent from the FileWave server. The focus will be on the VPP / MDM invitation emails. This will help you see situations where your local email server may be getting overwhelmed by the large number of MDM invitations going out at the same time. Enterprise IPA URL Check This section shows the validity of your institutionally created iOS apps as well as the enterprise apps provided by FileWave (iOS App Portal / Kiosk). Server Licenses This section shows the current status of your FileWave server license. Alert Settings The Dashboard provides FileWave Central with the ability send notifications out to individuals at status changes on the server. You toggle between the Alert Settings and the Dashboard in order to configure the types of alerts sent out and who they are sent to. The result is an email when an event is triggered being sent to the designated email account. "Detachable" Dashboard The Dashboard is part of the FileWave Central application; but it can also be dragged off to be viewed as a separate window on the administrator's computer, opened in a browser, or provided as a URL to other interested parties to view on their own computers or devices. Dashboard Alert details A table with explanations of all of the available alert items from the Dashboard is available in the Dashboard Warning levels and Descriptions  KB. Related Content FileWave Server Mail test receives Bad Request with Google Accounts Dashboard Warning levels and Descriptions Mobile Preferences - iOS / Android The Mobile preferences are designed around Mobile Device Management for Apple's iOS/macOS and Google's Android/Chromebooks. This section discusses setting up the basic components in FileWave Central/Preferences.  Configure MDM Server MDM Server Address - Enter your MDM server's FQDN or routable IP address. Port - The default port for FileWave MDM is 20445 . Shared Key - This is used to create a secure connection between the MDM Server and the FileWave Server. Generate a new key on Save only needs to be done once and is applied when the preferences are closed with the OK button. Mobile Certificate Management (HTTPS Certificate Management) This section shows the information used by FileWave to create a valid certificate that will be used to authenticate the FileWave MDM server with your clients and with Apple's Push Notification System. Details – Shows the details of the current certificate uploaded. Upload PKCS12 Certificate - This is used to upload a SSL certificate issues by a Certificate Authority. Get Current Certificate - Once you have a valid certificate, you can download a copy to be used with Apple Configurator. Note: Self-signed certificates are no longer able to be generated in FileWave. A certificate signed by a CA is required for iOS, MDM enrolled Macs, and Chromebooks. Apple Push Notification Certificate (APN) for iOS The APN certificate is required to allow the application developers to send notifications to their applications, such as the Weather app getting current storm alerts. In order to allow the applications you deploy to your mobile devices to get these notifications, you request a secure certificate from Apple. The process for getting the certificate is detailed in the Appendix for FileWave administrators running either OS X or Windows. Once you have received your APN Certificate from Apple, you will add it by clicking on the Upload APN Certificate/Key Pair button. This will configure your FileWave MDM server to support secure communications with Apple's Push Notification service. Android/Chromebooks MDM Configuration If you are deploying Android clients, then you will need to configure the Android/Chromebooks section of the Mobile preferences. You will need to get a Project Number and API key from Google. Instructions on how to accomplish that task are in the Appendix. Once you have those two items, go to the FileWave Preferences / Mobile pane and select the Android/Chromebooks tab. Select the Configure GCM button, authenticate as the FileWave super administrator, then enter the Project Number and the Server API key you were given. Click on  Save and you should immediately see that GCM is correctly configured. Override FileWave Server configuration The Android client is a composite of the computer and iOS client. It must connect to both the FileWave Server and the FileWave MDM server. Enrollment is done the "iOS" way through the MDM portal; but the client must also connect to the main FileWave server for additional functionality. In most cases, this is not an issue because the FileWave Server and the FileWave MDM server are on the same system. However, it is possible for you to configure the two services to run on different systems with differing external IP addresses. If you are hosting the MDM service on a different system, then you will need to check the  Override FileWave server configuration checkbox and enter the FQDN name of your main FileWave server. Do not enter anything in this section if you are running your FileWave MDM services on the same system as your primary FileWave server. macOS MDM configuration For macOS devices, you will need to request a custom FileWave Client installation package (.pkg) and upload it to your FileWave server. This allows FileWave to provide the package for all MDM enrolled devices. When a MDM macOS device is added to your FileWave server, it will automatically receive the client installer package and will be configured as one of your client devices. macOS Client Package Installation Triggers The FileWave macOS client package will install on newly enrolled DEP and Profile MDM enrolled macOS devices. The macOS client package will also get pushed out to ALL existing enrolled MDM clients if you upload a new macOS client package into the FileWave Preferences. Be sure not to accidently upload the non-custom client pkg or upload a custom client pkg with the wrong FileWave server address, if you do then all exsisting MDM enrolled macOS devices will install the newly uploaded client and then in turn lose connection to your FileWave server. The first step is to go to the FileWave Support site and request a custom installer:  https://custom.filewave.com Download the zip file and then expand it to have the PKG. When you have the package, you will upload it to your FileWave Server using the button in the macOS MDM preferences pane: Authenticate as the FileWave Central superuser ( fwadmin ), then locate the newly downloaded package. Note: You must unpack/unzip the package before being able to upload it to your server! Ignore status notifications In the lower left corner of the main FileWave Central window is the status box for your key external services - Apple Push Notification (APN), Google Cloud Messaging (GCM), Apple Device Enrollment Program (DEP), and Inventory. You have the option of installing the MDM services on a different system, or not needing APN, DEP, or GCM at all - assuming you aren't using any iOS devices, macOS systems with VPP, or Android devices. If any of these services are not running, the status indicators will show that there is a problem. You can disable status notifications and FileWave Central will report only the services you are using. LDAP Preferences FileWave supports connecting your LDAP network directory – Active Directory, Open Directory, or eDirectory – to your FileWave Server. This capability provides access to directory information for use in Smart Groups and parameterized profiles. You can also use LDAP for enrollment authentication. Using LDAP to authenticate your devices gives you a way to know who (which LDAP user) enrolled what device. Creating an LDAP server entry in Preferences Use the [+] button to create a new LDAP server entry and enter the needed connection information as described below: Name - a reference name used by you to differentiate your LDAP servers Host / IP - enter either a FQDN or IP address for your LDAP server Port - enter the TCP port required to access your LDAP server (you may need to check with your network support) Protocol – select LDAP, LDAPS, STARTSSL. For LDAPS and STARTSSL you have a checkbox that you can potentially uncheck so that the server certificate is not checked against the machine's trust store. IF LDAPS or STARTSSL it is recommended to be using a trusted LDAP cert. Server Type - choose Active Directory, Open Directory, or eDirectory Base DN - enter the primary distinguished names (DN) for your LDAP server using the domain components separated by commas. For example, if the LDAP server is running on the same box as the FileWave server, your base DN may be as simple as "dc=home,dc=local"; but if the LDAP server is running on a different system, the value of the base DN may be involve using a more extended value, such as "dc=tanner,dc=filewave,dc=net". LDAP User DN - if you are doing authenticated binds to your LDAP server, you will need to enter a valid user account that has been designated for binding. If you are doing anonymous binding, this entry is left blank. LDAP User Password - enter a password to complete the authenticated bind; not needed for anonymous binds Refresh Interval (sec) - enter a value in seconds for the FileWave Server to contact the LDAP server to refresh the available data. If you are just setting up a FileWave server on a network with an established LDAP server, you should set the interval relatively short (~120 seconds) while you are testing and making changes. Once you go into production mode, you should change the interval to 24 hr. (86,400 seconds). Change Limit (%) - LDAP related items will not be removed if more than the given percentage of the items disappear after a sync. This is to avoid loss of data if something goes wrong with the LDAP configuration. If for example an entire OU is suddenly missing that makes up 25% of your LDAP directory, then the amount of change will be so large that FileWave will not initially accept the changes if you set Change Limit from 1% to 25%, but if you had it set to 26% it would accept that removal. When considering the next option in conjunction with this it can still take X amount of syncs for removals to occur.  Remove Missing items after - 0 means that records not found in the LDAP server, but are still present in FileWave will be removed immediately.  Setting it to a number that is equivalent to 24 hrs is recommended for safety. (Refresh Interval / 60(second to min) / 60(min to hrs)) * x = 24(hrs) So if I wanted an interval of 1800 seconds (30min), I would set my interval to 48 Enable Automatic Group updates for this LDAP creates a visible set of entries (Smart Groups) in the Clients pane under an LDAP designator. These Smart Groups will be updated by FileWave at the designated refresh interval The information provided in the Clients pane for LDAP is a one-way view of your directory server. While changes made at the LDAP server are automatically reflected in FileWave; changes made in FileWave Admin do not affect the LDAP directory information. Choosing to enable the automatic Group updates creates a visible set of entries in the Clients pane of FileWave Admin, and keeps that information up to date; however, for an LDAP environment of over a few hundred records, the load on the LDAP server can get extremely heavy.  The  Test Connection  button pings the server to see if it is online; but does not verify all connection settings. You should always use an LDAP browser tool to verify the link to your server. You can create entries for multiple LDAP servers, and an LDAP server can be running on the same device or VM as the FileWave Server. An LDAP server can be chosen as the Authentication server  which, in this case, means that the directory for that server will be used for profiles that support parameterized settings. Selecting the  use it for extraction  setting adds the directory information to the FileWave database. You can view the LDAP settings in the  Assistants/LDAP Browser  in FileWave Admin. At the Bottom right of the LDAP server pane, there is a Synchronize Now option. This option will allow you to synchronize all your LDAP servers, just one, or sync LDAP Custom Fields.  VPP and ADE Preferences FileWave supports both Apple's Volume Purchase Program (VPP) and Automated Device Enrollment (ADE) which was formally called the Device Enrollment Program (DEP). In order to get these working within FileWave, you will need to configure certain preferences. This section just discusses the settings required in the Preferences. Note: Instructions for joining and working with the Apple VPP and ADE programs from the Apple side are outlined in detail on these web sites: Business Manager User Guide School Manager User Guide Deployment Reference Guide - iPhone & iPad Deployment Reference Guide for Mac Warning: All of the configuration steps in this section must be done while signed in as fwadmin. FileWave supports multiple tokens for the VPP service. This allows you to create multiple purchase authorities for your institution's App Store content. Content is automatically synchronized every 24 hours with the Apple VPP service. You may force a full synchronization when you are deploying a large number of App Store items, or any time that a delay may interfere with operational needs by holding down the  Option key and clicking on the Synchronize button. Volume Purchase Program preferences This pane contains the information for your VPP account with Apple. In order to proceed, you will have to have created a VPP for Education or VPP for Business account with Apple. Once you have a VPP account, you can download your VPP token for inclusion into FileWave. You may add as many tokens as you have purchasing agents. Configure VPP token(s) Select the Configure Accounts button (1 in the graphic on the next page). You will have to authenticate as the primary FileWave Admin (fwadmin). Adding a VPP service token Click on the [+] button (2) and import your downloaded VPP token (3). When you import the token into this pane, you will see a long alphanumeric hash as shown. Continue these actions until you have added all of the VPP tokens you plan to use for content distribution. Note: Make sure you are not using a given VPP token on more than one MDM server. Problems, such as loss of control of the token or automatic VPP user retirement, can result. Once the token has been properly imported, you will see a dialog pop up telling you that everything is in order. If you want more than the FileWave superuser/admin account ( fwadmin ) to be able to manage VPP applications later on, you will need to use the /Assistants/ Manage Administrators… pane to assign other administrators to manage the VPP token(s). This is covered at the end of this chapter. Auto-create Filesets The first time you set up VPP, you will get Filesets automatically created for each of your existing VPP purchases. You can assign those Filesets to a designated FileWave Group for management. The default is the (Root) Group.  VPP account protection (aka "Take ownership") One of the new features in FileWave v10 is protection of the VPP accounts and tokens that you use with your server. The concept is very simple: an identifier (called "client context") is sent to Apple for a given VPP account. When an MDM server has to use a VPP account, it will query this identifier and compare with its own; if they match, everything is fine. If they don't match, the server should not use the token. As long as you are the confirmed owner of the token, the  Is Owner flag says Yes ;. If you have changed servers, or let another process, such as Apple Configurator, use that VPP token, then you will get an alert stating that the token is owned by another server. If you have a mismatch, your VPP token entry will turn  red , and you will not be able to use that token. Your first indication of an issue may be an alert in your Dashboard: In order to regain control of the token, you will need to select the token entry and click on the  Take ownership button in the lower right corner of the VPP tokens pane. Once you have done that, you will get a confirmation dialog: The key to this process is making sure you do not apply any of your VPP tokens to a different server, tool, or application. If you are running a test/beta FileWave server or Apple Configurator , you should create a unique VPP account and token for that purpose. Create VPP users for newly enrolled devices Back in the Volume Purchase Program pane, you can elect to Create VPP users for newly enrolled devices . VPP users are internally created accounts that link your enrolled device to the FileWave VPP management process. It's not an actual "user" account; but more of a placeholder for the assignment of VPP apps and books. Each VPP user account may contain a link to an actual end user's Apple ID. If this checkbox is selected, then newly enrolled devices will automatically get a VPP user and that user account will be associated with the device. This can speed up mass deployments, as well as reduce the overhead on 1:1/BYOD deployments. Used in conjunction with settings in the VPP Assistant, your FileWave server can then automatically notify new user's to register their Apple ID with your FW MDM server. You can select a single VPP token to be the primary token related to those VPP users. Also, you can change which tokens are associated with specific VPP users as you need. Note: If you are using VPP device assignment for application distribution (versus assignment by user - Apple ID), a "ghost" or invisible VPP user account is created. This account is not visible within the VPP User Management pane. Synchronization The VPP Synchronization setting lets you determine how often the FW MDM server will match data with your assigned VPP token account. You can push an incremental synchronization by clicking on the Synchronize button; and you can force a full synchronization by holding down the Option key while pressing the Synchronize now button. Configuring VPP email invitation template This template will be used by your FileWave server to send an invite to users enrolling in your MDM from iOS devices and macOS computers. If you have configured your setup to use LDAP authentication for enrollment, then your users will get an email addressed to the mail account in their LDAP record. It will contain a custom URL pointing them to the Apple App Store where they will authenticate with their Apple ID to register that ID with your FileWave MDM. Minimum delay and Preferred Distribution Starting with FileWave v10, you have the ability to establish a delay between the time you associate a VPP application with a license and when the application is made available to install at the client. This avoids issues during large scale deployments where clients are trying to install VPP applications; but haven't gotten their license assignment yet. Preferred Distribution allows you to choose the method of deploying a VPP application. The original method has been to assign an application to a registered Apple ID (User). The license shows up in the user's Purchases, and the license can be managed by the FileWave MDM. The new method, supported in iOS 9+ and OS X v10.11+, allows you to assign VPP applications directly to an enrolled device (provided the app developer has coded the app to support this). This method applies only to VPP applications - iBooks are still required to be assigned to individual Apple IDs. The default setting can be overwritten for a given association of a managed license Fileset. Using  LDAP synchronization allows you to link your LDAP users with VPP users, who can then be associated with their email addresses (if those exist in the LDAP directory). This allows you to have VPP/MDM emails automatically sent to those users. This process can be left off if you are going to use device assignment of all your distributed VPP applications. Device Enrollment Program preferences Apple's Device Enrollment Program is designed to support OTA (over the air - Wi-Fi) supervision of devices. FileWave supports iOS devices and macOS computers using ADE. Institutionally purchased devices are registered with Apple, and Apple provides a ADE token for you to link your FileWave MDM server to the ADE service. When a device comes up online, it is recognized by the Apple ADE service, matched to the downloaded token, and automatically configured for supervised management with your FileWave MDM. The preferences you set to get this process up and running are shown below. Using the "Download certificate" button, download a special "FileWave ADE" certificate to your administrator machine. You will be required to authenticate with the fwadmin FileWave Admin account. Use that certificate to get a ADE token from the Apple ADE site ( https://deploy.apple.com  or https://school.apple.com ). Select the "Configure accounts" button, and authenticate using the primary fwadmin account. You'll be presented with the option of uploading new tokens. You can have a token for each of the ADE facilitators you have. The Synchronize button works the same as the VPP synchronize button. ADE will synchronize between Apple and your FileWave Server once a day. You can hold the alt/option key down to force a full, immediate synchronization. Use that sparingly, since it may take a long time to synchronize with lots of devices in the system. Managing FileWave Administrators FileWave supports tiered administration so you can create additional administrators in order to spread the workload, you are not limited to the amount of admins you can have in FileWave. How to log into FileWave Admin When you log into the FileWave Admin to access the FileWave Server you will be asked for the server address, and user credentials which can be a local account or an LDAP account. FileWave supports multiple admin connections from the same or separate admin accounts. If you try to log in with the same account that is already connected somewhere else you will get prompted to either end that first connection, start a second connection, or cancel.  If you are currently using a self-signed certificate then you may also get a prompt that the Admin cannot verify the identity of the FileWave server. The recommend way to fix this is to, hit connect and then switch to a root trusted certificate. Please visit the  KB linked here  for instructions on how to do this. You will also be able to see two active connections if you look in the  Administrators Online...  window located under the  Assistants  menu  The bolded entry is your current connection FileWave Administrators and Inventory In the FileWave Admin console you have the ability to set read/write/delete permissions to specific objects which include devices, filesets, and groups. These permissions will follow the user all the way into inventory so that only what the current administrator has access too can be seen in the inventory results. Example: Right click on an object (user, group, fileset) and select  Set Permissions Select the permissions you would like for each administrator. Setting it to  No Permissions will make that object no longer visible for the administrator.  You have to select Propagate to children if you are setting permissions on a group and want those permissions to be added to sub-objects. read/write/delete permissions are received from the original object and the clones will get the same permissions. If you modify these permissions on a clone, only this specific clone will get them not the original or other clones. In this case the user  greg  has no permissions for the group selected which is for all macOS devices and these permissions have been propagated to all sub-objects. So as you can see below the first screenshot shows what the user with full permissions sees and the second screenshot shows inventory information with the new permissions. Types of Administrator Accounts FileWave has three different account types;  Superuser - This will be the fwadmin account that came with FileWave by default, and is required for certain setup options in FileWave. Local User - A user name and password created directly from the FileWave Admin and saved on the server. LDAP Group User - Admin credentials are pulled from LDAP (Active and Open Directory) Other than the Superuser, which has full rights by default, you have the ability set granular permissions for your Local and LDAP users. Superuser The default credentials for your Superuser account is  fwadmin/filewave  which FileWave highly recommends that you change so the password is something more secure!  There are areas and features in FileWave that can only be accessed with the FileWave Superuser account. Three of these sections won't even be visible to any other Admin account, one (Software Update) is grayed out for all but the Superuser, and the other features will trigger a dialog window requesting the Superuser credentials to be entered. Only Visible from the Superuser logged in: Activation Lock Management ( Assistants  →  Activation Lock Management) Force Logoff Admin ( Assistants  →  Administrators Online... ) Scheduled Reports Owner ( Assistants → Scheduled Reports.. → "+" → Owner section) Software Update Sources Apple / Microsoft  (Preferences → General) All Admins will be prompted for Superuser credentials: VPP & DEP setup ( Admin Preferences → VPP & DEP) Configure OAuth token ( Admin Preferences → Chromebooks ) Upload PKCS12 Certificate ( Admin Preferences → Mobile → HTTPS Certificate Management ) Configure GCM ( Admin Preferences → Mobile → Android/Chromebooks ) Upload macOS client package ( Admin Preferences → Mobile → macOS ) SIS - Edit Settings... ( Admin Preferences → Education → SIS ) Apple Classroom - Manage Certificates ( Admin Preferences → Education → Apple Classroom ) Force log off ( Assistants → Administrators Online... ) Manage VPP Tokens ( Assistants → Manage Administrators → Manage VPP Tokens ) Local Account Local Accounts can be created very simply and then given whatever permissions you wish them to have. Keep in mind even if a Local Administrator Account is given full rights they will still be prompted for Superuser credentials in the areas listed in the Superuser section above. To create a Local Account for the FileWave Admin follow the steps below: Go to  Assistants →  Manage Administrators Click on the the "+" sign at the bottom left Then select Local Account You will now be able to fill in the user information under the  User details  tab. Since this is a new user you will also have to set a default password by selecting  Set Password  or  Generate and email password  (this will only work if you provided an email for this user and you also have the Email settings completed in the Admin Preferences)  If you selected  Set password  you will get the following window to type in the user's password: If you selected  Generate and email password  you will need to hit the  Apply  button at the bottom of the  FileWave Administrators  window and you will then get an email with the following information: Next you will need to give this user permissions in FileWave. You do this by selecting the user and going into the  Permissions  tab and checking which options you want this user to have. (There will be more information on what each of these options do at the end of this section) LDAP Group Account  If you have a LDAP server configured within your FileWave Preferences, administrators can authenticate using credentials stored in the LDAP server, based on Group membership. If a user is a member of multiple Groups, the final permissions will be the UNION of the permissions of these Groups. Only Active Directory is able to detect recursive membership. FileWave will not be able to detect nested Groups in an Open Directory or eDirectory.  To setup LDAP please see: LDAP Preferences To create a LDAP Group Account for the FileWave Admin follow the steps below: Go to  Assistants →  Manage Administrators Click on the the "+" sign at the bottom left Then select LDAP Group Account You will now be able to link this LDAP Group Account with a Group from your directory service. Click the  Browse...  button in the  User details  tab From here you will search through your LDAP structure to find the group you would like to use: (OPTIONAL) After the group is selected you can hit the Test button, this is used mainly if you typed in the DN instead of searching for the group in the browser Next you will need to give this user permissions in FileWave, you do this by selecting the user and going into the  Permissions  tab and checking which options you want this user to have. (More information on what each of these options do at the end of this section) Permissions Account permissions will determine what the Administrator can and cannot do in the FileWave Admin.  Selecting your Local Account or LDAP Group account and then going into the Permissions tab will give you all the permissions you can select for that user or group of users from LDAP. LDAP Group Account Permissions If you have a user in multiple LDAP Group Accounts the user will take the collective permissions from each group. You can check on what permissions a LDAP user will get by selecting the  LDAP user application tokens...  and searching for that user: As you can see in the screenshots above the user Kamala Khan is in both the FW Admins and the iOS Admins LDAP Group which has fewer permissions than the FW Admins group does. So this user will use the permissions gathered from both of these groups which will give her full access as you can see in the screenshot below: What are all the permissions you can choose from? Server / Model Update Model  - allows the administrator to approve changes to the server model. Updating the model sends notifications to all FW clients of any possible changes to any Filesets they have. Revert Model  - allows the administrator to cancel changes made at the last model update and revert to the previous model version. Auditing  - allows the administrator to view the Audit History of all actions logged by FileWave. Activation Keys  - allows the administrator to enter, change, or update the activation keys for the FileWave server. General Can Administer users  - allows administrator to add, edit, or delete administrative users. Change Preferences  - allows administrator to access the FileWave Admin Preferences Clients and Groups Modify Clients / Groups  - allows administrator the ability to add, edit, and delete FW clients and client Groups. Set Permissions  - allows the administrator to assign clients and client Groups to specific administrators. View Location -  Location map will be shown if the device is reporting location data. Clear Fileset Status  - allows administrator the ability to remove all messages in the client info window for a designated client. Change Enrollment Username - this allows the administrator to change the enrollment username for MDM enrolled device, located in the client tools. Turn Tracking On/Off  - gives the administrator the ability to switch the client state of a device for location tracking to Normal, Missing, or Not Tracked. Wipe Devices -  this allows administrators the ability to wipe devices in the FileWave Admin.  Filesets and Groups Modify Filesets  - allows administrator to edit Filesets , add or delete content within a Fileset. Export Fileset / Template  - allows the user to export a specific Fileset or a template for use on another FileWave server, or for archival purposes. Set Permissions  - allows the administrator to change the permissions within a Fileset or Fileset Group. Show Fileset Report  - allows administrator to view the Fileset report showing the status of that Fileset. Manage VPP codes  - with this unchecked and disallowed this will prevents administrators from accessing all VPP settings and menus, will also prevents the admins access to setup DEP tokens. Note: If you do not allow an administrator to  Manage VPP codes  then they will not be able to see any of the VPP purchased applications or ebooks. This is especially important if you have multiple VPP token support.   Associations Modify Associations  - allows the administrator to change the associations settings between a client or client Group and any Fileset or Fileset Group. Approve Software Updates  - allows the administrator to designate specific software updates as pre-approved for association by other administrators.  Modify Imaging Associations  - allows the administrator to change which Imaging Filesets are associated with which devices DEP Edit Profiles  - allows the administrator to change the characteristics of DEP profiles, including naming conventions, setup assistant workflow, and certificate assignment. Assign Profiles  - allows the administrator to designate specific client devices to be managed by certain DEP profiles. Dashboard Access Dashboard  - Which administrators can see the Dashboard in the FileWave Admin or via web browser. Configure Dashboard  - This determines which administrators have access to Dashboard Alert settings. Discovery Administration Configure, Run Scans, Delete Results  - administrator can configure and control network scans and delete discovery results. Custom Fields Modify Custom Fields  - Allows administrators to create, modify, and assign custom fields to devices. Delete Custom Fields  - This will allow the deletion of custom fields Full Disk Encryption  Configuration Full Disk Fields  - allows the FileWave administrator to access and configure  FDE Configure Management  located in the  Assistant  menu Retrieve Recovery Keys  - allows the FileWave administrator to access and configure  FDE Recovery Key Management  located in the  Assistant  menu Classroom Access Classroom  - allows the administrator to access the Classroom section in the FileWave Admin, this includes carts, cart clones, cart associations Important Note: If you are upgrading from below FileWave 12.9 this Classroom option will be unchecked by default. So you will no longer able to view Classroom in FileWave until this is checked for selected administrators. Application tokens FileWave security for inventory has been built on top of a shared secret, which is a long token generated randomly and shared between the server (inventory server) and clients (admin, FileWave server, client machines, scripts, etc) Any script or 3rd party component that needs access to FileWave Inventory will need to have this token that has been assigned to a user. These tokens can be revoked, re-generated, and a user can have multiple tokens assigned to it. Every Local account starts with a Default Token which can be used along with any news ones that are created.  The Default Token for your Superuser will be the same token that was originally in the Inventory tab in FileWave Preferences in versions 12.8.1 and below. If you upgraded from 12.8.1 or below then all communication with this token will stay intact unless you  Regenerate  the default token. Local Account New Application Token Setup: Select your Local Account and go into the  Application tokens  tab  Once there hit the "+" at the bottom left of the tokens pane This will then allow you create a new token This will show The raw token base64 encoded token An example script you can copy and paste to test with LDAP user application tokens Just like Local Accounts it is possible to define application tokens for LDAP users as well. This will not be done at the group level but for the specific LDAP Users. To setup the application tokens for LDAP users follow the steps bellow: In the  FileWave Administrators  window click on the  LDAP user application tokens...  button located at the bottom middle of the window You will then get the  LDAP Users Application Tokens  window, click the "+" at the bottom left of the token pane to create a new token Then you will need to type in the LDAP user you would like to use and click the  Test  button to confirm it LDAP User TEST The test will make sure the user belongs to the LDAP server configured for authentication in the FileWave Preferences and will also make sure the user belongs to at least 1 LDAP group defined in the main FileWave Administrators window. Note: The part of the test to check for the LDAP group in FileWave is cached for 1 hour. The cache is reset every time you save the user dialog, or change the LDAP server in preferences or if you do a LDAP "synchronize". If you search for a user that is not in your directory service or it doesn't belong to an LDAP Group Account in FileWave it will fail. Once it has confirmed you are ready to use the token Manage VPP Tokens To allow specific FileWave Administrators to access and see VPP purchases they will need to be given access using this  Manage VPP Tokens  option in the  Manage Administrators...  section. By default only the Superuser (fwadmin) has access to new VPP tokens imported in FileWave any other Administrators created needs to be given access.  Click the  Manage VPP Tokens  button at the bottom You need to authenticate with the Superuser Now you will check which users you would like to manage which VPP Token Once you click  OK  you will be able to view which tokens a specific user has access to by looking in the  VPP tokens  tab Brute Force Protection What Starting in FileWave 16.3.0, FileWave Central and FileWave Anywhere include brute force protection for sign-in attempts. When it is enabled, repeated failed logins place that user account on a temporary lockout timer. The lockout is tied to the username, not the source IP address, and the timer increases after additional failed attempts. If one account is locked, other accounts are not affected unless they also hit the failed-attempt threshold. The lockout clears automatically when the timer expires. This setting is enabled by default. You can find it in FileWave Central > Preferences > General , and it applies to sign-in attempts for both Central and Anywhere. When/Why Leave this enabled in most environments. It matters most when FileWave Central or FileWave Anywhere can be reached from the internet or another network you do not fully trust. In that situation, it slows down password-guessing and dictionary attacks against exposed login pages. You may also run into it during testing or troubleshooting if the wrong password is entered several times. That usually means the protection is working as designed, not that the server is broken. Default values shown in FileWave 16.3.0: Allowed failed attempts: 5 First lockout time: 60 seconds Lockout increase factor: 2.00 Maximum lockout time: 900 seconds With those settings, the first lockout lasts 1 minute. If failed attempts continue after that, the lockout time increases until it reaches the configured maximum. If you disable the feature temporarily for troubleshooting, turn it back on afterward. How Configure brute force protection Open FileWave Central. Go to Preferences. On the General tab, scroll to the Brute Force Protection section. Review or change the settings. Click OK to save. Available options Enabled Turns brute force protection on or off. Enabled by default in 16.3.0. Allowed Failed Attempts Sets how many failed logins are allowed before a lockout starts. Value shown in the 16.3.0 UI example: 5. First Lockout Time Sets the length of the first lockout. Value shown in the 16.3.0 UI example: 60 seconds. Lockout Increase Factor Multiplies the lockout time after later failed attempts. Value shown in the 16.3.0 UI example: 2.00. Maximum Lockout Time Sets the longest lockout time that can be reached. Value shown in the 16.3.0 UI example: 900 seconds. What users see when a lockout occurs After the failed-attempt threshold is reached, the user sees a message that the account has been locked because of too many unsuccessful sign-in attempts. The message also shows how long remains before the account unlocks. In the example below, the timer is 1 minute, which matches the default first lockout time. Only that account is locked. Other users can still sign in unless they trigger their own lockout. Recommended guidance Leave the setting enabled unless you have a specific reason to change it. If someone reports a lockout, check whether that account had repeated failed password attempts. Remember that the lockout is per user and timer-based. It is not an IP-based block. If you change the defaults, record the new values so support and administrators know what to expect. When testing, keep in mind that lockout times increase after repeated failures. Related Content Securing FileWave Server on the Internet for Remote Device Management TCP and UDP ports used by FileWave FileWave Security Digging Deeper This is a small setting, but it does real work when a FileWave server is reachable over public networks. It adds friction to repeated login attempts and gives you a safer default on exposed sign-in pages. Public-facing error messages are also handled carefully. During normal failed logins, the response does not disclose whether an account exists. The one exception is an active lockout, because that state is intentionally tied to a specific account. Failed login attempts and lockout events are written to the server audit log. Each entry includes the username, the client type, the source IP address when available on a best-effort basis, and the lockout expiry time. Log file location: /usr/local/filewave/log/audit.log To watch the audit log in real time on the server: tail -f /usr/local/filewave/log/audit.log If you want to review or test the behavior through the API, you can use the authentication endpoints below. Set the lockout parameters: curl -s -X PUT \ -H "Authorization: ${APPTOKEN}" \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ https://${HOSTNAME}:20445/auth/admin-lockout-params \ -d '{"enabled":true,"threshold":6,"base":51,"multiplier":4,"maximum":900}' Test a login attempt: curl -s \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ https://${HOSTNAME}:20445/auth/login \ -d '{"username":"fwadmin","password":"test"}' Embracing the Dark Side: Dark Mode for FileWave Central (15.3+) What Once upon a time, in a brightly lit world of screens, a shadowy figure emerged, promising salvation to our eyes: Dark Mode. As legends of its comfort and sleekness spread across the realms of software applications, we at FileWave decided it was time to embrace the dark side. Here's the tale of how Dark Mode came to FileWave Central, turning night into a friendlier place for all administrators. Dark Mode, the knight in shining armor (or should we say, 'shimmering darkness'?), transforms the blinding lights of your screen into a soothing, shadowy oasis. It’s not just a fashion statement; it’s a guardian of your eyesight, a curator of concentration, and a promoter of power saving. By inverting the bright white backgrounds into deep, dark hues, Dark Mode makes nighttime work less of a nightmare. When/Why As the clock struck midnight on yet another session of late-night device management, it dawned on us: our users deserved the option to go dark. Following a cascade of requests and after noticing the shift towards dark themes across the tech landscape, we knew the time was right. Our decision was fueled by the desire to not only keep up with modern UI trends but to also offer our hardworking administrators a visually comfortable and customizable working environment, proving our commitment to not just meeting but exceeding user expectations. How To embrace the dark side or bask in the light, journey to **Preferences -> General** in FileWave Central. There, under the Theme setting, select your allegiance: Automatic, Light Mode, or Dark Mode. Choose wisely, for each setting casts FileWave Central in a different aura, from the bright, welcoming light of day to the mysterious, serene shadows of night. Related Content FileWave Central / Anywhere FileWave Central - Additional Settings Menu Items In the FileWave Admin application, there are several other settings and menu items that come into play as you manage and configure your devices. They appear in two menu sets (Server & Assistants) as shown: Some of these items have already been covered, and others will be discussed in depth later in this manual. Here are basic descriptions of the function of these menu items. Activation Code… This is the access to the code you received when you purchased your FileWave license.  Update Model… FileWave, at its core, is a SQL database. As such, it is constantly managing large amounts of data as you, and possibly other administrators, add new clients, create Filesets for new content distribution, and manage your devices. When you are performing many of these operations, the information is being written into RAM on the server. A Model is an instance in time for the FileWave database. When you choose the Update Model , you are telling the server to write the changes you have made into the database, and create a manifest for the Clients. This manifest is sent to each Client when it checks in, telling it what changes have been made. If there is a change that effects the Client, it will then request any new or updated Filesets and will then make the appropriate changes on the device. Whenever you make changes to device(s), edit Filesets, or do anything that may affect the relationship between a device and the server, you should update the model. Revert to Last Model… If you have made a change to the Model , then realize that you may have damaged a setting, or distributed a broken application, you can revert to the previous model within the FileWave database. In many cases, this can be done without any irreversible changes to the client devices. Get Logfile… This menu item allows you to grab a copy of the latest FileWave server process log. It will tell you how your server is behaving, and what is going on. It is very useful for troubleshooting problems. Open Logfile Folder This menu item opens the folder on the FileWave Admin system that contains all of the logfiles that have been requested by that administrator. These are copies of the FileWave server logs retrieved when you selected the Get Logfile… menu item. Client Monitor The Client Monitor is a tool used to observe the status of a specific device. It displays the current state of the device, the current Model number on the device, and you can see if the device is reacting to changes being made by clicking on the Verify button. Detailed information on Client Monitor is in the Chapter Clients . Fileset Magic Custom content can be created using the Fileset Magic tool. It allows you to take a snapshot of the current status of a device, install and configure new content, take a second snapshot, and build a distribution Fileset from those changes. More on Fileset magic in the Chapter on Filesets . Find Software Updates… This menu item opens a management pane to look for all iOS / macOS / Windows software updates that are available. The updates can be viewed by just the ones that your devices have been requesting, or by every update published for that platform. The use of this capability is covered in the Chapter on Filesets . Imaging… This item opens the Imaging pane that allows you to associate disk images with OS X and Windows devices for re-imaging. This is covered in detail in Network Imaging / IVS . Enroll iOS Device… This item opens the pane with the various settings for enrolling iOS devices, and AppleTV, either manually or automatically.  Search App Store… This menu item opens a search pane to look for content on the Apple App Store. Details on using this item are in the Chapter on Filesets . VPP Code Management… / VPP User Management… These two menu items relate to Apple's Volume Purchase Program within FileWave. They allow you to manage the distribution of institutionally purchased content.  DEP Association Management… This menu item relates the Apple Device Enrollment Program within FileWave. You use this pane to configure DEP profiles, and associate them to institutionally purchased devices. . Activation Lock Management… This menu item displays the status of your supervised iOS devices with activation lock active. The bypass codes are stored on the FileWave server for your use when taking these devices out of service.  Manage Administrators… This menu item opens the management pane for creating, editing, and managing the FileWave administrator account and sub-admin accounts. Show Locked Items This menu opens the window with a display of any and all aspects of the FileWave Admin UI that has been "taken control of" using the Take Control button, or that is in use by another FileWave administrator. For example, when an administrator needs to work on editing the sub-administrators, changing some settings in Clients, or editing a Fileset, they can Take Control of those specific items (and when they are finished, they can Release Control ). In the meantime, any administrator trying to work on those areas, can use the  Show Locked Items menu to view areas they cannot control. If an administrator has left items locked too long, or walked away from their system with items still locked, you can force quit that administrator (see  Administrators Online… below). You should also make sure your sub-administrators set a reasonable auto-logout time in the General preferences of their FileWave Admin application. Audit History… This menu item displays a log of all actions taken by FileWave administrators, broken out by day. Administrators Online… This assistant menu lets you view the status of all of the FileWave administrators. If an administrator has been logged in too long, or has locked something you need access to, and they are not at available, you can force logoff that user. LDAP Browser… This menu selection displays a tree of your LDAP configuration that matchs what you entered in the LDAP preferences. File Search… This item displays a search window that allows you to locate any item in a Fileset using a text string search. Once you have located your item, you can click on Reveal in Fileset to display the contents of the Fileset with that specific item. Unmanaged Devices… This menu item displays a pane with the "non-client" devices you are keeping track of. You can enter items such as printers, scanners, cameras, etc. to the set by clicking on [+] in the window. Scheduled Reports… This menu item allows you to create and generate Inventory reports that are automatically sent to designated email accounts.  Configuring Inventory preferences The Inventory tab in FileWave Central Admin Preferences controls inventory polling for Apple MDM-enrolled devices, Smart Group refresh timing, LDAP Custom Field cleanup behavior, and IDP Custom Field synchronization. These settings affect how fresh inventory-based data appears and how much recurring work the server performs, so change them deliberately. iOS Inventory These settings apply to iOS, iPadOS, and tvOS devices enrolled through MDM. These devices appear in the normal Clients view as well as in the iOS Inventory section. Device Inventory Poll Interval – Controls how often enrolled devices report profile, application, security, and device-setting inventory. The default shown here is 24 hours. Sending a Verify command can prompt a device to report sooner. Device Not Checked-In Notification – Controls when a device is visually flagged for not checking in with the MDM server. When a device exceeds this value, FileWave changes the device color to alert the administrator. Smart Groups Refresh every – Controls the normal refresh interval for Smart Groups. The default shown here is 10 minutes. Fast smart group refresh period – Controls the shorter refresh interval used only by Smart Groups that have Fast Smart Group Evaluation enabled. The default shown here is 1 minute. Refresh all Smart Groups now – Forces FileWave to refresh the data requested by existing Smart Groups immediately instead of waiting for the next scheduled refresh. Use fast Smart Group evaluation only for time-sensitive workflows, such as enrollment or first-check-in groups where assignments need to happen quickly. FileWave allows up to 3 Smart Groups with fast evaluation enabled. This limit protects server performance; evaluating many Smart Groups more frequently would add unnecessary recurring load. Fast Smart Group Evaluation is documented with Smart Group guidance. Do not make Smart Group refresh intervals more frequent without a reason. In very large environments, longer intervals may reduce unnecessary server load. LDAP Custom Fields If this option is enabled, FileWave clears the value of an LDAP Custom Field when there is no longer a match between the client and the LDAP user or computer. IDP Custom Fields Schedule Sync queues an IDP Custom Fields extraction. Use it when custom field values populated from an identity provider should be refreshed outside the normal sync timing. The button requires an IDP Device Enrollment server to be configured. Related Content Fast Smart Group Evaluation Using Queries to create Smart Groups FileWave Client Configuration Settings FileWave Anywhere persistent user preferences (14.8+) What As a user of FileWave Anywhere, I frequently have to resize columns when I’m using it. When/Why In v14.8.0 we have introduced the ability to store preferences about column width so that when you login columns will retain their size as appropriate. How User preferences in main views will be stored on the user account: Pinned columns Width of the columns Visibility of the columns Order of the columns User preferences in main views will be stored in the active session: Filters Quick filters Search Applied sorting on a column Profiles section error handling improvements: Error handling in the profiles is more user friendly and the mandatory fields are better highlighted License Reporting Manual Licenses You can manage software licenses manually by creating an inventory query. Select New License from the toolbar, give the license a name, and set the license expression to track either an application or a font. Build the inventory search for the item you want to track, for example Chrome browser. FileWave can evaluate items installed across the operating systems it manages from the computer side. Android can also appear here because the FileWave client treats it as a hybrid of computer and mobile management. Next, enter the licenses you actually own. You can use purchase order details if you have them, or any internal tracking method that gives you a reliable count. You can add multiple purchases to the same license record, which also gives you a simple history for that item. Set a warning threshold so FileWave can alert you before you run out of available licenses. That completes the manual license query. In the License Management pane you can review the current results and compliance state. Double-click the license entry to view the query details and the device information behind the result. Font Licenses Many institutions or departments have purchased commercial fonts for use in their design, graphics, or marketing Groups. FileWave provides you with the ability to track and manage the use of license fonts. The workflow for setting up a font license is roughly the same as that for applications. First, you create and name the license; but this time, designate the expressions based on "font." As with application licenses, when your licenses are in compliance, you will see a green "jelly" in the main License Management window. When you have crossed the watermark trigger point, the "jelly" turns yellow. Finally, when you are out of compliance, you will see red. Creating Licenses from Filesets Since the FileWave Client can deep scan your Client systems, it can find any file that meets the criteria you wish to be aware of. This functionality also exists in the primary Inventory pane in FileWave Admin; but the License Management section allows you to tag the query with the watermark triggers. For example, you might have purchased or just deployed a few systems running an application that is being tested for later widespread deployment. You want to keep an eye on that application to make sure unauthorized copies of it don't leak out. Since you created a Fileset for the application to deploy it, you can easily create a license to track it. Instead of having to create any criteria for locating the applications, FileWave uses the Fileset definition. At the same time, it will key in on any copies of that specific package, should it show up on more devices than specified. Troubleshooting FileWave Server Mail test receives Bad Request with Google SMTP Accounts What Setting up the Mail settings within FileWave preferences to send reports is great. However, the first time configuring this feature with Google accounts may run into errors like Bad Request as seen below. When/Why When first-time setting up FileWave mail preferences, you need to set up 2FA with your Google account to add FileWave as a custom application for third-party management. This allows permission for FileWave to send emails to your Google account. How Be sure to enable 2FA on your Google account to have access to Signing in to Google. You may follow the Google documentation here: Manage third-party apps & services with access to your Google account . Once you have enabled it, there will be an option for App passwords. Here you may create a custom name for the app, and it will generate a password that you will copy and paste into FileWave email preferences. Attempt again by sending a test email to verify FileWave and Google account permissions. Related Links Generating scheduled reports Sending Scheduled Reports to More Than One Address Configuring FileWave Server Basic Preferences Adjusting the Idle Timeout in FileWave Anywhere (WebAdmin) What This article will guide you on how to change the idle timeout setting in FileWave Anywhere (WebAdmin). By default, the idle timeout is set to 25 minutes. This means that if there is no activity on the interface for 25 minutes, the user will be automatically logged out. However, depending on your needs, you may find this period too short or too long. When/Why You might want to change this setting if the default 25-minute timeout does not suit your work patterns or security needs. If you frequently need to step away from your work but find yourself logged out when you return, you might want to extend this timeout. Conversely, if you're concerned about leaving the interface open and unattended for too long, you might want to reduce the idle timeout. However, it is important to bear in mind that extending the idle timeout can potentially increase security risks. For example, if you log into FileWave Anywhere on a shared or public computer and forget to log out, you could remain logged in until the timeout occurs, leaving your account vulnerable. How To adjust the idle timeout, you will need to modify a specific line in the settings_custom.py file on your FileWave Server. This file is located at /usr/local/filewave/django/filewave/ on macOS or Linux systems. Please note: If you are a hosted customer, you will not have direct access to the server and will need to contact FileWave Support to have them make this change for you. Here is the process for self-hosted customers: Open the settings_custom.py file in a text editor. Add or modify the following line: UI_INACTIVITY_TIMEOUT = 25 * 60 # seconds the UI can stay inactive before auto logoff Replace the 25 in this line with the number of minutes you want for your idle timeout. For instance, if you want the timeout to be 60 minutes, the line should read: UI_INACTIVITY_TIMEOUT = 60 * 60 . Save and close the file. To activate the change, you need to restart the server. Do this by running the following command in the terminal: fwcontrol server restart . After these steps, the idle timeout will be set to the number of minutes you specified. Could not create the /Volumes/XYZ directory error when opening client info Problem Error when opening client info for a client machine that it "Could not create the directory". The error is caused when you select "Export Current Tab" in Client info and save the file to a directory that is now no longer on the machine. This is most common when you save the file to a external hard drive and then disconnect the drive. Since the directory path no longer exists it gives the error like the one shown below. The path will most likely differ. Solution The error is resolved when you select a new location for Export current view. To do this follow the below steps.  Double click on a macOS or Windows client Select "Export Current Tab" on the left of the client info window Select a directory that is local to the machine. I suggest selecting your Users desktop Select "Save"  Now when you close client info and re-open the window you will not see the error Dashboard Warning levels and Descriptions Problem The table below provides an overview of the information that is returned by the Dashboard in the FileWave Admin console. Environment FileWave Central Console Resolution Item Description Free Disk Space Free disk space on fwxserver (db location). Warning if < 50GB or < 20% Total space, Error if < 25GB or < 10% total space. CPU Load CPU Load on fwxserver. Always OK. Google Cloud Messaging Returns Google Cloud Messaging status. Cached 1 minute. Error if configuration is not correct. Total Disk Space Total disk space on fwxserver (db location). Client distribution Returns client OS distribution (OSX, Windows, iOS, Android...). Cached 1 minute. Free RAM Free RAM on fwxserver. Always OK as some systems like OSX will free memory on demand only. APN for MDM Returns APN certificate status for MDM. Cached 1 minute. Warning if certificate expires in less than 30 days. Error if certificate is missing, expired, or Root certificate is missing. VPP Tokens Returns VPP tokens status. Cached 5 minutes. Warning if token expires in less than 30 days. Error if token is expired or incorrect. FileWave Client/Mobile License Returns License Status. Cached 1 minute. If you have more than 50 licenses: warning if available count goes below 10, error when 0. If you have less than 50 licenses: warning if available count goes below 4, error when 0. Entreprise app file (ipa) Check ipa status. Cached 1 hour. Warning if IPA file is local but does not have expected size. Error is IPA file is not on disk for local IPA, or not reachable for external IPAs. DEP Accounts Returns DEP Accounts status. Cached 5 minutes. Warning if access token expires in less than 30 days. Error if token is expired or incorrect. Email sent Returns Email sent status for the 7 past days. Cached 5 minutes. Warning if mails are still in the queue (not sent) Error if mails could not be sent (SMTP error). Note that we can't check if the POP/IMAP server rejected the mail. returns the following dict : 'success': , 'pending': , 'error': : , ... Email settings Returns email settings status. Cached 5 minutes. Error if can't connect to SMTP server. LDAP Extraction status LDAP Extraction status. Warning if one or more servers have not been contacted yet, Error if there was an error during extraction. Total RAM Total RAM on fwxserver. Smart Group Count Number of evaluated SmartGroups. Warning if last report occurred more than 1h ago, error if 2h ago. Related Content Configuring and using the Dashboard Opening FileWave Central / Anywhere in a Specific Language (macOS) What FileWave Admin will automatically use the language, if supported, set on the workstation at installation (default English).  It is however possible to run FileWave Admin in a different language, as shown below. When/Why Sometimes even though your computer is running in a language like German you may wish to run Central in English. How macOS (FW 16.2.0 and higher) You can now pick a language other than the system on in both Central and Anywhere as shown below in the images. Although the image of Central is from macOS, it looks the same on Windows.  macOS (FW 16.1.x and lower) In FileWave versions below 16.2.0 you would need to use the command below to open Central in another language. Anywhere would use your Browser language; The following command may be used to both open and specify a chosen language at runtime. /Applications/FileWave/FileWave\ Admin.app/Contents/MacOS/FileWave\ Admin --lang en_US & Language Locale Code Notes English (US) en_US Use for American English. German de_DE Standard locale for German in Germany. French fr_FR Standard locale for French in France. Korean ko_KR Korean for South Korea. Japanese ja_JP Japanese for Japan. Chinese (Simplified) zh_CN For Mainland China. Chinese (Traditional) zh_TW For Taiwan. Opening FileWave Central / Anywhere in a Specific Language (Windows) What When you install FileWave Admin, it will automatically use the language you have set on your workstation (if not available, it will default to English). If you want to change FileWave to run in another language, you have to launch Central/Admin with an argument that specifies the desired language. When/Why Sometimes even though your computer is running in a language like German you may wish to run Central in English. How Windows (FW 16.2.0 and higher) You can now pick a language other than the system on in both Central and Anywhere as shown below in the images. Although the image of Central is from macOS, it looks the same on Windows.  Windows (FW 15.4.2 and lower) If you want to open the FileWave Central/Admin Application in a different Language, you would use the following command to launch. In this article, we’re going to automate the process so it opens with your preferred language every time using a Desktop Shortcut. "C:\Program Files (x86)\FileWave\FileWaveAdmin.exe" --lang en_US Windows (FW v15.5.0 or higher until 16.2.0) "C:\Program Files\FileWave\admin\FileWaveAdmin.exe" --lang en_US Available Language Options: Language Locale Code Notes English (US) en_US Use for American English. German de_DE Standard locale for German in Germany. French fr_FR Standard locale for French in France. Korean ko_KR Korean for South Korea. Japanese ja_JP Japanese for Japan. Chinese (Simplified) zh_CN For Mainland China. Chinese (Traditional) zh_TW For Taiwan. What is the difference between Revert and Restore? Problem Let's figure out the difference between revert and restore and when we need to use them. Something has happened and you want to take a step back. Maybe you have noticed under the Server menu → "Revert to Last Model" and in the command line there is a:  sudo fwcontrol server restore [version] Remember: when you open the FileWave Central admin we are making changes to a future model. Resolution Revert: Is like a typical revert you would see in a document editor and takes things back to the last saved state. Let's say I opened my FileWave Admin and the model was currently 10 (Any changes I would be making in the FW Admin would become model 11 once I applied it by updating the model). So I make a fileset called "My Fileset A" delete a fileset called "Old Fileset B", and change an association for "Fileset C" from being to a "Group 1" to "Group 2" At this point – if I did select "Revert to Last Model" from the server menu – It would undo everything I did by going back to the currently deployed model 10. IF however, I updated the model to 11 and realized I made a mistake, a revert isn't going to help me out there. As it would be reverting to 11 Restore:  Restore is not a Revert but has the ability to jump back to previous models. Taking the same story from above; Let's say I opened my FileWave Admin and the model was currently 10 (Any changes I would be making in the FW Admin would become model 11 once I applied it by updating the model). So I make a fileset called "My Fileset A" delete a fileset called "Old Fileset B", and change an association for "Fileset C" from being to a "Group 1" to "Group 2" If however, I updated the model to 11 and realized I made a mistake. I can restore model 10 by doing sudo fwcontrol server restore 10 The server only keeps the last 20 models. After the command finished: I would quit admin and open it again, seeing model 10 is now restored My FIleset A wouldn't be in the filesets view, but the data for it would see be on the server Old FIleset B would show in the filesets view, and the data would be missing on the server The association for "Fileset C" would be back to being to a "Group 1" Restoring a previous model will not unerase a removed fileset. You need your backups for that. Additional Information Often if you make a big enough mistake, it is better to just contact support and have them help you get back to where you need to be.