Introduction

This document explains how the system considers devices to be online or offline, and how this information is displayed in the console.

Units online

Units online is a concept that attempts to keep track of and show to administrators, which devices in the organization are available to interact with the system. This is not done in real-time, but rather by applying a set of rules, which determines that a device is considered online if the system has been in contact with it within a certain time frame. This time frame will vary depending on the device type.

In the Configuration Management plugin, you will be able to see which units are online and offline through a set of colorized icons. Based on the rule set described above, green indicates online while red indicates an offline state. The grey icon will be used for those units that the system has not yet heard from.

Online Offline Not set

Content view

The content view in Configuration Management displays a list of units and their online state.

The units can be sorted by this state by clicking the column header above the icons. If a unit comes online or goes offline, the view will automatically update the icon.

Detail view

Selecting a unit will cause the detail view which is placed in the lower right corner of the console, to load information on that unit. On the Details tab, it will among other information display its online status.

Computers

Windows Computers with a Base Agent installed communicates directly with the Front End services. The Base Agents will establish connections with a Front-End to receive tasks to execute. If there are no tasks at the time, the connection will timeout after about one minute, and a new one will be established. Given the short interval between establishing connections, a computer will be considered offline when it has not been heard from for more than 3 minutes.

Possible reasons for a computer to be offline:

Powered off
In sleep mode
Without LAN access
Without internet access (If a public URL is configured for the FE)

Devices

Devices only communicate with the MDM server, which then connects to a Front-End on behalf of each device. As contact is initiated with each device every 20 mins, a device should not be out of reach for more than one hour before the device is considered to be offline.

Possible reasons for a mobile device to be offline:

Turned off
Outside network coverage (off the grid)
Has a missing/broken/misconfigured SIM-card
Is broken.

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