We’ll soon be releasing a new feature in the SolarWinds RMM Dashboard called Device Filters. This new feature lets you create your own custom device lists, which you can view in the Dashboard north pane, alongside the out-of-the-box views such as Problem Devices or Overdue Servers. Users can create and manage their own custom filters in a new Filter Manager section, which offers a range of filtering options, including filtering by device type and status, by operating system, by feature status, and by which checks and tasks are running on devices.

In this update we’re also introducing a new ‘Mixed’ tab in the Dashboard north pane, making it easier to monitor servers and workstations together, instead of being forced to look at them separately.

Device Filters is designed to let you perform important day to day duties more efficiently – here’s how Device Filters can help:

• More personalised monitoring: Create custom views to tailor the Dashboard more closely to specific work assignments.
• Manage by exception: Look for inconsistencies across clients and sites while excluding irrelevant devices, giving you more targeted views.
• Perform maintenance routines more efficiently: List specific subsets of devices to update and to run scripts on, using multi-select for bulk actions.
• Reduce clutter: Drill down to the devices you really care about, instead of sifting through larger lists.
• Respond to issues more quickly: Find and update devices that share a specific issue more easily.
  

 

Key features:

• A brand new Filter Manager section for adding, editing, cloning and running filters – go to the ‘View’ dropdown menu for access (feature is subject to user permissions)
• Pick from 5 filters, with more planned down the line:
  • filter by device type and status
  • filter by operating system
  • filter by feature presence and state
  • filter by checks and their status
  • filter by tasks and their status
• Filters can be combined to narrow the results
• Run a filter on the fly for perform a one-time action – no need to save if first
• Save filters to a personalised list for ongoing use
• Favourite a filter to add it to the device view dropdown for easy access
• Preview a filter to quickly check if you’re on the right track
• View Servers and Workstations together in a new ‘Mixed’ tab
• Control which users can access and use Device Filters with a new permission option

 

For example, create a consolidated server and workstation view where the Managed Antivirus and Patch Management state is Reboot Required. Or look for Windows 10 devices for which the Vulnerability Scan and Managed Antivirus Checks are in a Failed state, then run this in the Dashboard to perform remedial actions.

Note that Device Filters are individual to a user, so you can add as many as you wish without it cluttering the view for others.

Here’s a quick tour of the feature:

To get started, click the View dropdown menu and select Filter Manager

When you’re in Filter Manager, click New Filter to get started. To exit Filter Manager, run a filter, or select ‘Return to Dashboard’ top right of the screen.

After clicking New Filter, you can give your filter a name and description, then click the tabs in the north panel to select the filters you want to use:

• filter by device type and status
• filter by operating system
• filter by feature presence and state
• filter by selected checks and their status
• filter by selected tasks and their status

 

Device Type and Operating System filter: Use a combination of filters to narrow your results. For example, in this screenshot the filter will look for servers with OS Server 2016 OR Server 2012, AND require a reboot OR are overdue.

The Operating System filter offers a pre-populated list of all the main Windows, Mac and Linux OS. You can also type to add your own more detailed text search to the list, e.g. Service Pack 1, 32-bit, etc.

Pro tip: As a rule, multiple selections within a filter will increase the number of possible results (an ‘OR’ relationship within filters), while combining multiple different filters will narrow the results (an ‘AND’ relationship between filters).

 

Features Filter: Use the Features filter to look for devices that have integrated features in a particular state. For example, to check which devices do not have Managed Antivirus or Patch Management running, select all the columns except for ‘Active’, as shown in the example screenshot.

Pro tip: Click the column and row headers in the table to bulk select all the check boxes at once, so you don’t have to click them one at a time!

 

The Checks Filter and the Tasks Filters: Use the Checks filter to look for devices that have one or more checks in a particular state, including OK (passing), Failed, Cleared or New. Similarly, use the Automated Tasks filter to look for devices that have selected tasks or scripts in a particular state.

Start typing into the search box to bring up a list of matching checks, or tap the spacebar or down arrow to see the full list of available checks.

The list of Checks and Tasks includes all the custom scripts that have been added by users to the Dashboard account.

Preview Results and Run the Filter in the Dashboard: You can check if the results being returned match your expectations, by clicking the Preview button. This will return a sample of up to 50 devices so you can quickly tell if you’re on the right path.

Click Run in Dashboard to jump across to the main Dashboard section and view the results of your filter in the north pane. From here you can perform all the usual device actions, e.g. update individual device settings, or multi-select devices in the grid to perform bulk actions such as running a task or scheduling a reboot.

Mixed Tab: You’ll notice there’s a new Mixed tab in the main Dashboard section that shows Servers and Workstations alongside each other in the same view, making it easier to monitor both device types simultaneously.

Device Filter Permission: There’s a new permission for Device Filters in Roles & Permissions. All user types will have the option enabled by default, except for users based on the ‘Client’ system role. It can be enabled for these users too, it’s been left turned off on purpose so you can decide and control the timing.

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We’re excited to bring you this much requested filtering capability. We’re planning to add additional filtering options in the future, including a new Client and Site filter and a data export option. If you have questions or feedback about this new feature, please don’t hesitate to get in touch – you can reach us on this email address, sw-msp-DeviceFilters-Feedback@solarwinds.com.

 

Summary for Service Release
– Customer support priorities and bug fixes
– Dashboard v6.46.2
– No Agent change

Dashboard v6.46.2
FEATURE: Introducing Device Filters, a new way to create custom device views
FEATURE: A new ‘Mixed’ tab to show servers and workstations alongside each other
FEATURE: A new user permission to allow / deny access to Device Filters
BUGFIX: Update to email template ‘from’ addresses to address a client name parsing issue
BUGFIX: Fix issue with Avast! AV check failing incorrectly in the Antivirus Check