Device Tags page
Device Tags are generally associated with Explorer and can be used when setting coverage to target Instructions to particular devices, but they can also be used to define Management Groups optionally used by all applications.
Device Tags must be defined by a Full Administrator before they can be used to tag devices or used to set the coverage of Instructions.
This is done from the Settings→Configuration→Custom properties→ Device Tags page, which can be viewed by users with the Full Administrator role.
Device Tag properties
Device Tags are used as part of the tagging workflow in Explorer, where they can be applied to devices and subsequently used to set the coverage for questions. The following table shows the constraints of the text that can be used for property names and values.
Property | Constraints |
|---|---|
Name | Consists of a combination of alphanumeric characters, underscores, and dots - spaces are not allowed. Case is not significant, so names " |
Values | Consists of a combination of alphanumeric characters, underscores, dots, and spaces. Case is preserved. The maximum length of a property value entered via the Administration console is 32 characters. |
The following headings show steps to add, edit and delete properties and set property values.
Add a property and values
The following steps can be used to create a property name:
Navigate to Settings→Configuration→Custom properties→Device Tags.
Click the Add button.
Type in a name for the new device Tag.
You now need to add values to the property:
In the edit field below the Values heading, type in a value for the property.
If you want to add more values, click the + button beneath the Values heading.
Repeat step 4 to add as many values as you require for the selected property name.
When all the values have been added, click Add. (An error message is displayed if you exceed a maximum of 16 characters).
Edit a property
The following steps show how to edit the settings for an existing property:
Check the checkbox at the start of the row for the property you want to edit.
Click the Edit button.
You can change the Name or Property type and add and remove Values.
To add a value, click on the + icon and fill out the edit field.
To remove a value click on the trash can icon
that appears when you hover the mouse to the right next to the value field you want to remove.
Clicking on the trash can removes the item immediately.
Click Save, when you have made all your changes.
Delete an entire property
The following steps show how to delete an existing property and all its values:
Check the checkbox at the start of the row for the property you want to delete, click Delete.
A notification will be displayed asking if you wish to proceed.
Click the Yes, delete device tag button to delete the property and all its values, or click the No button to abandon the deletion.
Working with Device Tags
Using Device Tags allows you to create custom labels and associate them with devices. An administrator with either the Full Administrator or Group Administrator role can set Device Tags to devices in their environment, they can also create Management Groups based on the tag name and value. For details about configuring Tachyon users, Roles, and Management Groups refer to the Permissions Menu pages.
In the following example, we create a Device Tag for use with a planned phased deployment affecting devices in our All Managed Windows 10 Devices Management Group. We will have values for the devices used for Testing (TestGroup), Pilot (PilotGroup), Group1 and Group2. We will, set our Windows 10 devices as a Pilot group using tags, then ask a question using the Tag as our coverage parameter.
Note
Management Groups are containers used to group devices and the software installed on those devices. Management Groups are defined using configurable rules that look at various properties of the devices and their installed software, these are then evaluated to determine the group membership. This means that Management Group membership adapts to changes to the devices and software in your environment.
Refer to the Management Groups page and Management Groups - tutorial pages for details.
Note
For more details about using tags with client devices refer to Tagging client devices, and for more details about the system and custom Tachyon Roles, refer to the Roles page .
Create tags for a pilot group
To create our pilot group tag, our Full Administrator logs into Tachyon and switches to Settings→Configuration→ Custom Properties→ Device Tags
Then they click Add. In the Add Device Tag box type they type PhasedRollout in the Name field.
In the Values box, they add the following values by clicking the plus button, and click Add.
TestGroup
PilotGroup
Group1
Group2.
Apply Device Tags
Now our Full Administrator has set up the Device Tags for the planned deployment, they can assign the tags to every Windows 10 device in their environment in the All Managed Windows 10 Devices Management Group. Before they do this, they want to check what tags, if any, are already present in their environment.
Switch to the Explorer Application. Navigate to Home .
Click on All Instructions and searches for device tag, which brings back device tag related instructions which are in the 1E Explorer TachyonCore instruction set.
They select What are the device tags, the leave the parameters as they are.
Then they click Ask This Question.
The administrator views the results in Aggregated table view , at the moment there are no tags in the environment. In the results, you can see the || delimiter which will be used for the list of tags on each device.
Next, our administrator wants to run the question on the All Win10 Lab Workstations Management Group and set the tags for the rollout.
They ask the question again, but this time change the coverage to All Win10 Lab Workstations Management Group, then they click on Ask This Question.
Next, they click on Actions from the Question we just asked and click All Actions.
They select the Set device tag <tagname> to <tagvalue> action
They select PhasedRollout and PilotGroup and click Perform this Action.
Because this is an action, it requires approval, so prompts the administrator to confirm their password and then use an emailed confirmation code.
Note
In our environment, this requires approval from a user with the All Instructions Approver role. Once they have approved this action, the instruction is carried out.
Now, our administrator can see that they have two devices set as the PhasedRollout - PilotGroup.
Note
To find out more about using loading and managing Instruction sets, refer to the Instructions Menu.
Ask a question using a Device Tag
Our administrator now has Device Tags applied to the Windows 10 devices that will be in the deployment pilot group. Using these Device Tags as coverage they can ask questions using Explorer, for example to confirm how many devices have Windows 10 as an OS with the How many of each operating system versions are installed? Instruction from the 1E Explorer TachyonCore product pack.
Note
The How many of each operating system versions are installed? Instruction returns a count of all distinct Operating Systems, version and virtual platform for each Tachyon-connected device. It is included in the Classic Product Pack used to create the 1E Explorer TachyonCore instruction set that includes instructions for Tagging and Quarantine.
You can find a complete reference for the Product Packs included in the Tachyon Platform in the Tachyon Product Packs reference.
The administrator can also now cross-reference devices in the planned pilot group with any Management Groups they have created in Tachyon.
For example, our administrator wants to confirm if one of the Windows 10 devices is in the Executive Management Group, they can do this by running the How many of each operating system versions are installed? Instruction again.
This time they include the Executive Management Group as a coverage parameter in addition to the Device tags, PhasedRollout - PilotGroup.
Management Groups based on Device Tags
In the exampleApply Device Tags our administrator checked for the presence of Device Tags in their environment and then applied those Device Tags to their Windows 10 devices. Following this, they were able to use those Device Tags as coverage parameters, so they can ask related questions using Explorer. In addition, once our administrator has created and applied their Device Tags, they could create Management Groups based on those Device Tags.
For example, now our administrator knows their Windows 10 devices have the Phased Rollout and PilotGroup Device Tag applied to them, they can create a Management Group called Phased Rollout based on these criteria. Using Explorer they can apply instructions focused to Windows 10 devices using the Phased Rollout Management Group as a coverage parameter.
Our administrator could then apply additional rules to their Management Group. For example, they could apply additional rules to narrow their focus to specific devices based on their hardware configuration . For example, they could add a Rule like Device Matched Model Equal to Device XPS , and then run Evaluate.
They could also use Software Tags, if they have created some, to focus group membership on devices with specific software titles if they are significant to the particular project.
Note
Refer to the Software Tags page for details about using Software Tags which allow you to create custom labels and associate them with the software titles you have deployed in your estate.
Refer to the Management Groups page for details about using rules and a full list of the rules used to create Management Groups, and which connectors that provide data to support the rules.