Device shutdown/restart/log off automation

Overview

Problem

Rebooting a device is a key activity to maintain its overall health and performance. In fact, in many cases, slow or sluggish PCs can be remediated with a simple restart allowing the device to finally update, close unnecessary apps, or refresh its memory, for example. Unfortunately, most employees do not follow this best practice.

Solution

This library pack offers key remote actions, where IT teams can define a "days since last reboot" threshold. Devices that pass that threshold will receive an automated campaign prompting them to restart. Note that this solution offers employees the option to refuse or postpone the action.

With this automated self-heal feature, IT can proactively prevent employees from experiencing common issues that can be solved with a quick restart, without disrupting their daily workflow.

Alternatively, the remote actions can be triggered without campaigns to immediately trigger a restart, shutdown, or log off on selected devices. Note that although the library pack has separate remote actions for macOS and Windows, the Engage campaigns are the same.

Key features:

• Notify and ask employees for permission before triggering a restart, shutdown, or log off.

• Optional Engage campaigns to ask for immediate or delayed restart/shutdown/log off.

• Specific remote actions for Windows and macOS devices.

• Ability to trigger remote actions without campaigns.

Changelog

V1.0.0.0 - Initial Release

Configurations

This library pack contains a variety of remote actions that can be customized to meet your specific needs. Each remote action can be executed with or without user permission, providing flexibility in how they are used. To ensure that the remote actions are set up correctly, it is recommended to review the description of each parameter after installing the remote action.

Pack Structure

Remote actions

The pack includes the following remote actions:

• Invoke log off for Windows

• Invoke log off for macOS

• Invoke shut down for Windows

• Invoke shut down for macOS

• Restart Windows device

• Restart macOS device

The remote actions for Windows and macOS devices should be scheduled on a daily basis. This feature enables the tracking of the number of days since the last shutdown, restart, and logoff event. Depending on the specific requirements, all of these actions can be scheduled, or any subset of them can be selected. Each remote action has input parameters that can either trigger a campaign asking for user permission or execute one of the operations without requesting permission.

For more information about remote actions, please visit the https://docs.nexthink.com/platform/latest/getting-started-with-remote-actions page.

In the image below, there is an example of the “Restart Windows device” remote action, where the campaign must always be triggered and user permission must be granted. The campaign id is maintained as “restart_device_invoke”. This provides flexibility and control over the remote actions, ensuring that they are executed in a manner that meets the needs of the user.

Engage campaigns

The pack includes the following engage campaigns:

• User log off after delay - Invoke

• Restart device - Invoke

• Restart device after delay - Invoke

• Shut down device - Invoke

• Shut down device after delay - Invoke

The campaigns in this library pack are designed to work in conjunction with the remote actions. These campaigns are compatible with both Windows and macOS devices, and provide users with the ability to choose between two different versions when configuring the remote action input parameters. The first version of the restart and shut down campaigns asks for user permission, giving them the option to delay the action by either 1 minute or 10 minutes. The second version does not provide this choice, and instead, the user can either agree to have the action performed immediately or postpone it until the next time the remote action check is performed. This flexibility allows users to have greater control over when and how these actions are executed.

All of these campaigns can be adapted to meet the specific needs of your organization. By customizing your campaigns, you can tailor the content and messaging to better resonate with your target audience. This can help to increase engagement and drive the desired outcomes.

For more information about how to customize campaigns, please visit the ​ https://docs.nexthink.com/platform/latest/getting-started-with-campaigns page.

Below screenshots show the examples of “Restart device” campaign in 2 versions.