Configuring Agent Settings Using Templates

Machine ID Templates

A machine ID template is a machine ID record without an agent. Since an agent never checks into a machine ID template account, it is not counted against your total license count. You can create as many machine ID templates as you want without additional cost. When an agent install package is created, the package's settings are typically copied from a selected machine ID template. Machine ID templates are usually created and configured for certain types of machine. Machine type examples include desktops, Autocad, QuickBooks, small business servers, Exchange servers, SQL Servers, etc. A corresponding install package can be created based on each machine ID template you define.

Create machine ID templates using Agent > Create.
Import a machine ID template using Agent > Import/Export.
Base an agent install package on a machine ID template using Agent > Manage Packages.
Copy selected settings from machine ID templates to existing machine ID accounts using Agent > Copy Settings.
Identify the total number of machine ID template accounts in your VSA using System > Statistics.
Configure settings for the machine ID template using the standard VSA functions, just as you would a machine ID account with an agent.
Separate machine ID templates are recommended for Windows, Apple and Linux machines. Alternatively you can create a package that selects the appropriate OS automatically and copy settings from a template that includes an agent procedure that uses OS specific steps.

To apply a machine ID template to a package:

Use the Create Agent Package wizard in Manage Packages to use the template as the source machine ID to copy settings from when creating the package to install.
Add additional attributes to the package using this same wizard. These additional attributes usually differ from one customer to the next and therefore cannot be usefully stored in the template.

Copying Agent Settings

Machine ID templates are initially used to create an agent install package using the template as the source to copy settings from. But even after agents are installed on managed machines, you'll need to update settings on existing machine ID accounts as your customer requirements change and your knowledge of the VSA grows. In this case use Agent > Copy Settings to copy these changes to any number of machines IDs you are authorized to access. Be sure to select Do Not Copy for any settings you do not want to overwrite. Use Add to copy settings without removing existing settings. Kaseya recommends making changes to a selected template first, then using that template as the source machine ID to copy changes from. This ensures that your machine ID templates remain the "master repositories" of all your agent settings and are ready to serve as the source of agent install packages and existing machine ID accounts.

Templates and Filtered Views

There is a corresponding relationship between machine ID templates and filtering your view of selected machines using the Only show selected machine IDs view definition option. For example, if you define a machine ID template called "laptops", then it's easier to apply settings to all the "laptops" you're responsible for if you have a filtered view called "laptops". Simply select the view for "laptops" and only laptops are displayed on any function page, regardless of the machine group they belong to. The same idea applies to "desktops", "workstations", Exchange servers", etc.

Filtered views of selected machines are particularly useful when you're getting ready to copy settings from a machine ID template to existing agents using the Copy Settings function described above.

Base Templates and Audits

Since you can never be sure what settings should be applied to a machine until you perform an audit on the machine, consider installing an agent package created from a "base" template that has most of the agent settings turned off. Once you have the audit, then you can decide which settings should go on which machine. Use the Copy Settings function to copy settings from the appropriate template to the new agent.