Traditional desktops have a myriad of attributes associated with them. Characteristics, such as certificates, OS version, patches, applications, etc., all make tracking and reporting on desktop devices a challenge that IT organizations have been trying to simplify for decades.
Workspace ONE UEM tracks many of these items automatically. Just by enrolling, you’ll be able to see managed applications, device health information, and more. For everything not automatically detected, VMware has created a system called Workspace ONE Sensors. Sensors are a way to detect even more device attributes and report on them for your entire device fleet. You can also utilize the Workspace ONE Intelligence automations in tandem with sensors to take remediation actions if certain attributes shift into an out-of-compliance state.
This blog entry will cover the basics in getting started with Sensors with Workspace ONE UEM.
1. Navigating to the Sensors Dashboard
The first step is navigating to the proper place in the Workspace ONE UEM dashboard. Log in to the Workspace ONE UEM console Ensure you are logged into the correct tenant and organizational group and navigate to Devices > Provisioning > Custom Attributes > Sensors. If you have not created any sensors, you should see an empty dashboard.
You’re now ready to create your first sensor!
2. Creating Your First Sensor
We’ll set up an example sensor just to get started. Click the Add button and choose Windows from the dropdown.
There are two key sections of sensor creation:
- Sensor: Here you’ll create the attributes of the sensor.
- Name: Make sure to give the sensor a unique name so that you can always find it later. This will be utilized in reporting, so it’s important to create a descriptive name.
- Description: Descriptions are tempting to skip, but you’ll wish you had a good one later after you’ve created a ton of these!
- Value Type: This defines what type of value you are probing for. If you’re expecting a string value back from the sensor, answer string If expecting a true/false answer, put boolean. Integer and DateTime values are also supported.
- Triggers: How will the system know to run the sensor code? Will it run on a set interval (Schedule), or will it trigger based on some event such as login, logout, startup, etc. (Event)?
- Define Query: Here you’ll enter (or import) the script code for the sensor query.
- Execution Context: This setting controls whether the script executes on a user or system context.
- Execution Architecture: This setting controls whether the script executes on a device based on the architecture. You can limit the script to execute on 32-bit devices or 64-bit devices only or to automatically run the script based on the device architecture. You can also force the script to execute as 32-bit regardless of the device.
- Script/Command: Place your script here. There are countless examples posted on https://code.vmware.com , but I’ve placed another example below. This example will check the remaining battery level on the device.
3. Assign the Sensor to Devices
After creating a sensor, you’ll need to assign the sensor to a smart group. Click the checkbox next to your sensor and choose Assign.
Type the Smart Group you’d like to assign. The system will automatically search for the group. Choose the correct one and click Assign to finish the assignment.
4. Next Steps
Still need help deciding how to drive value in your organization using Workspace ONE? VMware Professional Services offers services to help you get started. Please contact your VMware sales representative for more information on this service offering. VMware also maintains a list of sample sensors here.
