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Device relocation - triggered by date & time, including offline devices

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7
74HCT04
Jersey Post

Hi

Is there any way to configure  MobiControl to effectively automatically drag and drop devices between folders, triggered by date and time?  (Relocating them regardless of whether or not they are powered on)

I need to move some devices from one particular folder to another in the early hours of the morning (when I'd much rather be sleeping!) One way to achieve this is to use a timed Alert rule, triggered by something that's always true, such as Operating System Version >6 in our case. However this is not ideal as some users switch their devices off overnight meaning that even if I set the schedule to every 2 minutes, users may be able to power on and start using the device before it is moved (which will result in an update to the app they've just started using and unsaved work). I also don't want to burden the deployment server with the load of checking hundreds of devices every 2 minutes...

3 years ago
Android
ANSWERS
RS
Rafael Schäfer
3 years ago

An idea could be to run a javascript via Task Profile at certain time which writes into an ini file and doing a check-in.

Have custom data rule looking into this ini file.

Have a relocation rule in place if a specific custom data value exists -> relocate the device

After relocation again a short javascript again deleting the value and making a checkin.

But this wouldn't work for offline devices.

Solution
7
74HCT04
3 years ago

Thank you for both clarifying my question to SOTI and for this suggestion.

Honestly, what you've suggested had already crossed my mind as I do use Custom Data from an ini file already. I also have some javascript to create and write to an ini file. I still don't like having to wait for MC to collect the data from the device and act on it, but I think it's the best workaround.

It seems like an obvious feature omission - essentially replicating dragging and dropping devices between folders but triggered on a certain time and date. The only easy alternative is for me to work late at night doing the drag and drop myself! 

RS
Rafael Schäfer
3 years ago

You don't need to wait for Mobicontrol to collet the data.

Just put following at the end of your scirpt writing to the inifile:

mobicontrol.agent.checkIn();
 
Then the device does a checkin which also mean getting the new data.
RS
Rafael Schäfer
3 years ago

The other possibility, if you have something known by soti which you can use as an indicator, is to use an api programm running at a defined time on your pc or a server and just doing what you want via api calls.

TG
Thomas G.
3 years ago

Hi,
i don't think that's possible using the relocation rules, but you can do this by the API. I use the APIs for device search (/devices/search) and device group members (/devicegroups/{path}/members) for the this purpose. This works regardless of whether or not the devices are powered on.

7
74HCT04
3 years ago

Thank you very much.

I am likely to be a bit out of my depth with the API and was hoping that perhaps I may be able to send a script to achieve this. Nonetheless, I'm happy to hear that it's possible.

DM
D Malipatil
10 months ago

Hello Thomas,

I would like to hear more of this, as we have an request where the customer want their devices which are not connected to agent for more than 90 days should move to offline group, it would be great if you can help me with api, also I am doubt this option is available in the SOTI from console.

RC
Raymond Chan Diamond Contributor
3 years ago

It is possible to schedule relocating devices to desired device group at scheduled time.  However, for offline devices, the modified configuration policies (be  profiles, rules or advanced configurations) associated with the new target device group won't be deployed not until the devices get back on-line.

7
74HCT04
3 years ago

Thank you Raymond.

Please could you provide a little more detail as to how to do this?

RS
Rafael Schäfer
3 years ago

What i just think when i read your question was: Why do you need to do this?

I mean maybe your "problem" is made by something else which should be fixed instead of moving devices around. Can you explain why you need to do this maybe we can help better then?

7
74HCT04
3 years ago

The simple answer (and I am sorry that it took me so long to reply) is that it's easier to flip/flop back and forth from one set of profiles to another by moving devices between folders than it is by adding timed actions to those profiles.

To me it, it seems like a major omission that Device Relocation can only be triggered by IP address or Custom data changing.

In my situation IP addresses aren't changing.

T
THMOD@SOTI
3 years ago

Hi 74HCT04,

Thank you for posting on SOTI Central and thanks Thomas, Raymond & Rafael for responding to the post.

As Raymond said, it is possible to relocate device triggered by date & time.

In this case, Device Relocation rule is needed to be created.

Steps:
1. Go to MobiControl Web Console
2. Click on Hamburger menu button
3. Click Servers. It will redirect you to the classic web console
4. Click on Android tab
5. You will find Device Relocation in the left pane
6. Right click on Device Relocation, click Create Device Relocation Rule
7. Enter your name of choice > Next
8. Select the device group that you want to relocate from > Next
9. Click Add or Import CSV File to determine the parameter. The parameter can be IP Address Range or Custom Data Identifier > Next
10. Click on Advanced
11. You can choose Activate Date and Deactivate Date in this page
12. Click on Finish
13. Check if this rule is working or not

Reference:
https://www.soti.net/mc/help/v15.5/en/console/reference/dialogs/rules/devicerelocation/androidplus/devicerelocation_mapping_addedit_androidplus.html

https://www.soti.net/mc/help/v15.5/en/console/devices/monitoring/customdata/customdata.html

For your information, the result can be seen on MobiControl Server.
For devices that are offline or not connecting to the MobiControl Server, the updated settings, profiles, policies, etc from the new group may not be applied.

Hope the above helps.
 
Kind regards,
Technical Support | SOTI Inc. |1.905.624.9828 | support@soti.net | www.soti.net |

RS
Rafael Schäfer
3 years ago

Sorry to say but did you really understand what he wants?

He wants to relocate device when (for example) it's 6 o'clock.

This isn't possible with device relocation rules.

T
THMOD@SOTI
3 years ago

Hi Rafael,

According to what he mentioned, he is looking for a method to move the device from one folder (group) to another.
By setting the activate time (even it's at 6am), this device relocation rule will move the device from one folder to another when the activate time is reached.

Note: The device must be connected to MobiControl server to have the updates deployed

However, there is a constraint that this rule is not alike Task Scheduler for allowing repetitive action.

I think it is what you need, 74HCT04?

If no, please feel free to let us know more details.

Thanks.

Kind regards,
Technical Support | SOTI Inc. |1.905.624.9828 | support@soti.net | www.soti.net |

RS
Rafael Schäfer
3 years ago

I don't think so, because he mentioned "triggered by date and time".

And activate time is only once, he want to do it regularly.

T
THMOD@SOTI
3 years ago

Yes, Rafael.

As I replied in the previous post, it cannot be repeated. It can only be triggered for 1 time.

Currently, I could not find another way to trigger the device relocation rule regularly.

Please feel free to share if you have a workaround or solution for this post.

Kind regards,
Technical Support | SOTI Inc. |1.905.624.9828 | support@soti.net | www.soti.net |

RC
Raymond Chan Diamond Contributor
3 years ago

Guys,

Please note that forcing a device check-in itself does NOT ALWAYS force all custom data collected in the device buffer to be IMMEDIATELY flushed back to the MobiControl server so that a possible device-group relocation with any rule(s) can be triggered.  Thus, there can be uncertain time delay that possibly violates some real-time requirement(s) of some use cases.  

If offline devices also need to be relocated automatically, then the only reliable approach available now is to use REST api calls.  Upon relocation completion, offline devices will only have the new pending policies deployed from the server when they get back on-line.

7
74HCT04
3 years ago

Please note that forcing a device check-in itself does NOT ALWAYS force all custom data collected in the device buffer to be IMMEDIATELY flushed back to the MobiControl server so that a possible device-group relocation with any rule(s) can be triggered.  Thus, there can be uncertain time delay that possibly violates some real-time requirement(s) of some use cases.  

Thanks Raymond, that's a very useful point to note and something I had been wondering about.

This raises the question: Has this been improved by the resolution of MCMR-30911 in Version 15.5.2 ?

https://docs.soti.net/soti-mobicontrol/release-notes/v155/1552/


RC
Raymond Chan Diamond Contributor
3 years ago

BTW, if your primary intention of performing the relocation at scheduled times is to dynamic change some deployed MobiControl policies of both online and offline devices at predefined timeslots, then I can just say that my company has such solution built on top of MobiControl.  However, as the solution depends heavily on

- the type of MobiControl policies to be dynamically changed (whether the device is online or offline);

- the brand/model and firmware of the device models to be managed;

- the enrollment mode of the devices;

- the MobiControl server and agent versions;

etc.    we need to do extensive tests and customizations professional services.   Thus the solution is currently restricted to our local corporate/governmental customers. 

7
74HCT04
3 years ago

Thank you Raymond. That's very interesting, not least of all because there are others who find such a solution to be beneficial.

For now I can work around what we currently have but I'm finding this topic of discussion fascinating.

Thanks again all.

T
THMOD@SOTI
3 years ago

Thank you everyone for sharing your advanced knowledge.

This is a very rewarding discussion and it is highly appreciated.

Wish you all a good one.

Kind regards,

Technical Support | SOTI Inc. |1.905.624.9828 | support@soti.net | www.soti.net |

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