Overview
Device templates are a feature that allows you to efficiently and effectively update the software of remote devices. Creating and implementing a device template will allow you to send over important files, software packages, and command-line commands and scripts.
The process of creating and using a template consists of the following steps:
- First, create a group
- Create a device template.
- Assign the device template to the group.
- Add content to the device template.
- Assign and execute the template's roll-out on the devices in the group.
1st Step: Creating a Group
To use a device template, we must first create a group of devices. A group can consist of a single device or more. Consult “Creating a Group of Devices” for detailed instructions.
2nd Step: Creating a New Device Template
1. In the Radix Device Management Platform, click on the Device Templates icon, to open the Device Templates Console.
2. Click on the Add new Device Template icon, to open the Create New Device Template window.
3. The Create New Device Template window opens.
4. Supply a name for the template.
5. If you click on the Run with other templates checkbox, this template will be listed as a “non-priority template”. You will notice in the main Device Template Console, that there are two categories of device templates:
- Priority Templates are applied to their associated group of devices according to their listed priority. If two templates are assigned to a group, the template with the higher priority will apply first. If you change the priority level at a later time, then another template will be applied.
- Non-priority templates are not limited by their priority number. Thus, they will be applied to their respective groups at all times. Thus, when we check “Run with other templates”, our new profile appears in this section of the Device Template Console:
Figure 1: Template "Jan 21st " appears among the "non-priority templates"
If you have several Priority Templates that you want to execute on a specific group, you can change their priority by clicking on the Set Templates Priority button in the Device Templates Console.
In this mode, your mouse pointer will appear as a hand icon, allowing you to move the profiles up and down in the listing:
3rd Step: Populating the Device Template
Device templates are assigned to groups of devices. After creating a device template, you then associate a group to the template. You can populate a template with several groups of devices at a time.
- Click on the Population tab. You will be prompted to attach a group to the template. In our example, we will attach the group rbp group to the template.
4th Step: Adding Content to the Device Template
1. Click on the Content tab. The Content tab allows us several options of activities to perform on the devices in the group:
- Agent & SCM: These include Radix installation files and SCManager files to be applied to Android devices included in the template.
- OTA management: To apply Over-the-Air updates to the device’s operating system. You can also specify a post-installation message to be sent to the remote devices after these updates have been performed.
- Packages: Installs software packages on the devices in the group
- Files: To send files to the devices in the group. There is no limit to the number of files you can send.
- Remote execute: The ability to send command lines and scripts to the devices in the group,
- Policy/Kiosk: The Policy/Kiosk window appears as follows:
This allows you to either:
- Apply a software policy to the devices in the template (= to block particular apps, or allow access to only certain websites) or
- Put the devices in kiosk mode (=a locked-down, capsulated environment, where the devices can only be used for certain apps and with access to only certain websites).
- Views: A View is a specialized type of kiosk option. It consists of allowed apps and the URL of an online video to be displayed on remote devices.
- Settings: This tab allows you to adjust settings on the remote devices (WiFi settings, display settings, wallpaper, and more).
2. When you have decided on the content to add to the template, click Save in the lower right corner. You will receive a pop-up notification that the template has been saved successfully.
5th Step: Setting the Roll-out Configuration
The final stage of creating a device template is assigning a time to execute the template on the associated group. You can choose to execute the template immediately, at a specific time, or manually.
1. Click on the Roll-out tab to set the time when to execute the template.
You will encounter two panes:
Left Pane: Roll-out configuration
When you click on the Roll-out configuration button, you will be able to set the following parameters:
- The number of devices per batch to apply the device template.
- The waiting time until applying the device template to another batch of devices. The waiting interval can be set to hours or even days.
- The percentage of successful deployments of the device template, before proceeding to apply the device template to another batch of devices.
Right Pane: Execution configuration
There are three options to specify when to execute the template:
Option 1. Immediate - To execute the software package associated with the template as soon as the device gets the template.
Option 2. Time Frame - You should employ this option if you want to execute the software package associated with the template within a specified time frame. You supply a start and end time.
There are two possible scenarios where you may want the execution to be delayed:
-
Apply only if idle - Executes the software package within the defined time frame only when the device is idle, preventing disruption to the remote user.
- Set maximum attempts - This allows you to set the maximum number of attempts to execute the items in a template. The default is three attempts.
Option 3. On Demand - This option is available for an OTA software update only. The update is executed when the user initiates it.
Post installation message – This allows you to create Advanced Messages and send them to the user if the template is executed successfully or fails to execute.
Figure 2: A Success message or Fail message will be displayed after execution of the template
3. After specifying when to execute the template, click Save. This will save the details of the template.
We saw in Step 3 that you can populate a template by providing it with groups. You can also select a group and associate an existing template with it. You can do this with the Group Management option. We will examine this in the next section.
Executing a Template
Once the device template has been fully configured, you can apply it to the selected groups.
To roll out a template:
1. Click on the Device Templates icon in the sidebar menu, to open the Device Templates Console.
2. Click on the row of the template you would like to apply.
3. In the dropdown menu in the upper left corner, select Draft version.
4. In the Draft version window, click on Start roll-out.
5. A prompt appears, as to whether to activate the template. Click Yes.
A popup notification appears, informing you that the template has been activated.
Stopping a Template
If you wish to stop a template from being executed, you must first remove the group of devices from the template in the Population tab. When you roll out the template once again without the associated group, the device will return to its original functionality.
To stop a template:
1. Click on the template that you want to stop. In our example, it is the profile “Jan 21st”.
2. Go to Draft Version to allow you to make changes to the template.
3. Go to the Population tab and remove the group of devices from the Template.
4. Go to the Overview tab and click Start roll-out. It will now run the template again but with no groups associated with the template.
5. Click Yes in the notification popup to activate the revised template:
You will receive a notification that the Device Template has been activated, without the associated group.