Endpoint Central (formerly known as Desktop Central) offers configurations that help administrators manage applications, system settings, desktop settings, and security policies. These are extremely helpful in baselining systems and targets can be selected at user or system level. A group of configurations can also be applied together using the collection feature. The selected settings comes into action either during user logon or computer startup (depending on the type of configuration applied) to minimize the loss of productivity. Status of the applied configurations can also be tracked anytime.
Standardize configurations across your network by applying:
Refer the below-mentioned documents for further insights on configurations:
Configurations can be defined for computers or users. You can define a configuration from scratch or use predefined configuration templates. You can also create a group of configurations and deploy them as a collection.
Defining configurations is a four-step process. It comprises of the following steps:
After you define a configuration, you must apply it to specific targets (computers/users) in your network.
When you deploy a configuration using Endpoint Central, the configuration settings along with the required files will be stored in the Endpoint Central server. Endpoint Central agents, which are installed in the client computers in your network, will contact the Endpoint Central server to collect this information and apply the configurations to specific client computers. The agents will contact the server during the following intervals to collect the required information:
Re-applying Failed Configurations
When you deploy a configuration to client computers, the deployment could fail in a few computers due to various reasons. In such cases, you can re-deploy the configuration. Endpoint Central enables you to automate the redeployment process through the Execution Settings option. This option enables you to do the following:
Based on the specified input, configurations will be re-deployed on the computers on which the deployment failed till either of the following takes place:
To remove restrictions or configurations applied to macOS devices based on MDM Profile Support, you can simply move the configurations to the trash by following these steps:
Other configurations such as Software Deployment, Patch Installation, Custom Scripts, and similar settings are more permanent. To revert these, you can create the configuration again with your preferred settings and redeploy them. For example: If you have previously installed software that you now want to remove, you can select the Install/Uninstall Software configuration and change the operation type to Uninstall to revert the configuration.
The Secure USB settings configuration is the only one that can be reverted by moving it to the trash. For all other configurations, modifications and redeployment are required. Here’s how you can modify configurations in some common scenarios:
Reverting Software Deployment
If you have deployed a configuration to install a software application, you can revert it by modifying the configuration to enable uninstallation. To do this, change the following:
Reverting Security Policies
For configurations related to security policies, modify the settings as needed before redeploying. For instance, if you initially disabled the ability to change the desktop wallpaper, you can adjust the configuration to re-enable this option before redeploying the updated policy.
