Selecting Devices to Update

You can select devices that are eligible for Advanced Software Management in two ways:

• Automatically, by creating rules that include devices that match specific criteria. See To create rules that automatically apply devices to Advanced Software Management policies. If you select devices and groups using automatic application rules, the devices are not under Advanced Software Management until the Advanced Software Management policy is added to an active Service Plan or a Service in an active Service Plan. See Adding an Advanced Software Management Policy to a Service.
• Manually, by selecting individual devices and groups. See Adding Devices or Groups to a Patch Policy Manually. If you select devices and groups manually, the selected devices and groups are under Advanced Software Management from the time you select them.

Working with Rules to Automatically Include Devices in Advanced Software Management Policies

Automatic application rules are one method to determine which devices are eligible to have the Advanced Software Management policy applied. For example, if you are creating a policy for workstations only, you can set up an automatic application rule to exclude devices with the word “server” in the OS name.

When adding devices using auto-application rules, you can create multiple rules that add devices when those devices meet those criteria. If you use the And operator, devices are added when they meet all the criteria you set up. If you use the Or operator, devices are added when they meet any of the criteria.

If you want to exclude devices from the Advanced Software Management policy even though they meet the criteria, you can identify them using the To exclude devices from an Advanced Software Management policy procedure.

Automatic application rules do not come into effect until the patch policy has been added to an active Service Plan or by adding it to a Service in an active Service Plan.

The process for setting up automatic application rules is the same for Advanced Software Management policies as it is for all other policy types (For example, patch, monitoring, automation, and Avast Antivirus).

You can test the automatic application rules you have created to see which devices will be included when the policy is added to an active Service Plan or a Service in an active Service Plan by following the To preview automatic application rules for Advanced Software Management policies procedure.

To create rules that automatically apply devices to Advanced Software Management policies

Automatic application rules do not come into effect until the Advanced Software Management policy has been added to an active Service Plan or by adding it to a Service in an active Service Plan.

For information about creating rules to include patching for applications on macOS devices, see Advanced Software Management for macOS Devices.

1. In Service Center, click Service Delivery > Policies > Advanced Software Management.
2. Click the name of the patch policy in which you want to create an automation inclusion rule.
3. Click the Automatic Application tab.
4. Click Add.
5. Do any of the following:
   • Select an option in the Type box.
   • Select the criteria to search in the Rule box.
   • Select an operator in the Operator box.
   • Select an option in the Value box.
6. Click Add.
7. Repeat steps 4-6 until the rule is complete.
8. Click Save.

To preview automatic application rules for Advanced Software Management policies

After creating the automatic inclusion rules and defining a scope, you can preview the devices that the rules will include. Previewing lets you verify that the automatic application rules you created will add all the devices you want included.

The Auto-Application Preview page displays a list of devices, including information such as the site, IP Address, a description, and a green check mark to indicate whether it is SNMP- or WMI-enabled.

1. In Service Center, click Service Delivery > Policies > Advanced Software Management.
2. Click the policy name.
3. Click the Automatic Application tab.
4. Click Preview.
5. When you are finished previewing, click Close.

To exclude devices from an Advanced Software Management policy

You can exclude specific devices from a patch policy. When you add a device to the exclusion list, it will not have this Advanced Software Management policy applied, even if the device meets the criteria outlined in the automatic application rules, and the patch policy is applied to the site or group to which the device belongs.

1. In Service Center, click Service Delivery > Policies > Advanced Software Management.
2. Click the name of the patch policy from which you want to exclude devices.
3. Click the Excluded Devices tab.
4. Click Add.
5. Use the filters at the top to narrow your selection, and click Filter.
6. Select the check box beside each device you want to exclude from the policy.
7. Click OK.
8. Click Save.

Adding Devices or Groups to a Patch Policy Manually

1. In Service Center, click Service Delivery > Policies > Advanced Software Management.
2. Click the name of the patch policy to which you want to add devices or groups.
3. Click the Manual Application tab.
4. Do one of the following to apply the patch policy to a group or device:
   • In the Applied Groups area, click Add. Filter on the Group Type, if desired. Click the group and click OK.
   • In the Applied Devices area, click Add. Filter the list of devices. Select the check box beside the device and click OK.

Removing Devices or Groups from an Advanced Software Management policy

1. In Service Center, click Service Delivery > Policies > Advanced Software Management.
2. Click the name of the patch policy you want to add to devices or groups.
3. Click the Manual Application tab.
4. Do one of the following:
   • To select one device or group at a time, select the check box that corresponds with each device you want to remove.
   • To select all the devices or groups at once, select the check box at the top of the column.
5. Click Remove.