This feature is available for:
✓ Templates ✓ Blueprints
The Devices & Groups section enables you to manage devices and groups in one place. You can assign devices to groups or move devices from one group to another. Once devices are assigned to a group, you can use a single command to perform an action on all the devices in the group. You can, for example, ping every device in that group to see if it is online.
In this article:
Introduction to the Directory
A list view of your devices in a customizable directory, Devices & Groups allows you to oversee and perform actions on devices from a single location.
A list view of your devices in a customizable directory, Devices & Groups allows you to oversee and perform actions on devices from a single location.
Devices & Groups consists of the following sections:
- Directory: A list of devices or groups. You can customize filters or perform actions on devices.
- Event Feed: See the latest actions performed on your devices.
- Provision: Add Esper software to your device using a variety of methods.
You can also use the Devices & Groups section to get detailed information about a device or group. From the Directory page, click on a device ID or group.
Use Devices & Groups for micro and macro views of your fleet.
Introduction to Group Management
In Devices & Groups, you can oversee and perform actions on your devices from a single location. In this section, we’ll cover:
You can assign devices to groups or move devices from one group to another. Once devices are assigned to a group, you can use a single command to perform an action on all the devices in the group.
To manage a single device, see Device Details.
Managing multiple devices
To manage multiple devices, click the checkmark next to their device ID. When you click on the checkmark, an Action button appears.
Learn more about the types of actions you can perform in Device commands for multiple devices or groups.
Managing devices in groups
Linking a blueprint to a group
After you create a group, you can optionally assign it a blueprint. Every device moved into or provisioned with that group will change to that blueprint after being manually converged.
However, if you change the group’s blueprint while devices are already in that group, the new blueprint won’t be applied to those devices.
Users with large-scale operations may find linking a blueprint to a group provides fewer touchpoints.
Performing commands in a group
When devices are in a group, you can perform commands on all of them at once.
The following group commands are available:
- Ping
- Screen Lock
- Reboot
- Send Message
- Converge
- Remove Device(s)
Check the command’s progress in the group’s event feed.
Managing apps within groups
Group app management is one way to deploy app updates, configuration changes, or hide apps.
Other ways to update apps include single-device updates, blueprints, and pipelines.
Groups are an optional feature for organizing and managing your fleet.
In this article:
The Devices & Groups Section
Once your devices are enrolled, the Devices & Groups section will list all the devices and Groups. You can see all your Groups and Subgroups by enabling Show nested devices on the left pane of the screen. For a selected group, you can see all the associated devices on the right pane.
Nested Groups
Nested Groups are a way to organize devices based on location, function, or other criteria. For example, you may have a restaurant chain that operates in several locations. Nested Groups enable you to apply commands to a single Group instead of thousands of individual devices. There are two types of Groups:
-
Parent Group: A group at a higher level of the hierarchy. Users can create multiple parent groups at the same level.
-
Subgroup: A group at a lower level of hierarchy associated with a Parent group. Any action intended for a Parent Group will be cascaded to all subgroups.
You can create nested groups at any level. You can create a maximum of five sub-levels for any parent device group and create as many parents as you want.
By default, there is always one super parent group named “All Devices.” Devices are automatically added to this group unless otherwise specified during provisioning via a template. You cannot delete the “All Devices” group.
Groups Pane
As groups may be deeply nested, the Groups pane has a dynamic horizontal scroll bar to pull groups and their options into view. You can resize the pane by hovering over the vertical bar separating the Groups and Devices panes. You can use the left pointer to collapse the Groups pane to give you the maximum view for the Devices Pane.
Device Pane
All the devices in a selected group will be displayed on the right Devices pane.
Click on the name of the device to access the device's details.