Unified Application Management: Manage Deployment Policies

Nerdio Manager allows you to manage Unified Application Management deployment policies.

Deployment of applications can be achieved via the deployment of an application policy, or via instant deployment from the host pool options menu. Support for individual host and image deployment will be added in future.

Policies may be created with multiple applications, and targeted to multiple host pools, both personal and pooled. A policy can include both install and uninstall tasks, however it is recommended that these are not mixed in a single policy.

Once a policy is created, it automatically begins the process of deploying the applications in the policy to the in-scope desktops. The status of individual desktops within the scope of the policy can be discovered from the detailed info menu option in the policy edit menu.

Add a New Deployment Policy

Nerdio Manager allows you to add deployment policies.

To add a new deployment policy:

1. Navigate to Applications > Deployment policies.

2. Select Add.

3. Enter the following information:

   • Name: Type the policy's name.

   • Description: Type the policy's description.

     • Select Generate with AI to automatically generate the description for the deployment policy.

       Note: To generate a meaningful description, you should first configure the policy and then select Generate with AI just before you save the policy. See Overview of AI-Powered Description Generation for details about enabling AI.

   • Applications:

     • Install/Uninstall: Select whether the deployment policy should install or uninstall the selected applications.

     • Applications: In the applications list, select Add new application, and then from the drop-down list on the right, select the application to include in this policy.

       Notes:

       • You may add as many applications as desired.

       • Drag and drop an application in the list to change its order on the list.

       • Select the "X" next to an application to remove it from the list.

     • Reboot after installation: Select this option to place the host in drain mode and restart it when no sessions are present.

       Note: This behavior applies to all targeted hosts. Ensure that this behavior does not conflict with your desktop capacity requirements.

     • Show favorites only: Select this option to only display applications marked as favorites. Otherwise, you may search the list of applications.

   • Deploy to:

     • Select AVD or Intune.

     • For AVD:

       • In the deployment list, select Add new target, and then from the drop-down list, select the target type.

       • AVD Workspaces: For AVD workspaces, optionally specify the workspace.

       • Personal AVD desktops: For personal AVD desktops, optionally specify the tenant (if you have multiple Entra ID tenants), user/group, and host pool.

       • Pooled AVD host pools: For pooled AVD host pools, optionally specify the host pool.

     • For Intune:

       • In the deployment list, select Add new target and specify the users/groups or device groups.

       • User or group: Optionally, specify the user(s) or group(s).

       • Device group: Optionally, specify the device group(s).

   • Concurrency balancer: From the drop-down list, select the desired concurrency balancer.

   • Maximum jobs: Type the maximum number of concurrent deployment jobs.

   • Maintenance window: For AVD, optionally, toggle on this option configure a maintenance window.

     Note: The maintenance window controls when application tasks are performed. If configured, no application tasks are performed outside of the specified window. This window allows tasks to be automatically performed only during specified hours, ensuring that the user experience is not disrupted.

     • Use pool maintenance window: Select this option to force the policy to run only during the configured maintenance window for the target pool(s).

       Note: If no maintenance window is configured, the task respects the maintenance window set in this policy screen.

     • From the drop-down lists, configure the days and hours of the maintenance window.

   • Drain mode: For AVD, optionally, toggle on this option to force desktops to enter drain mode before application tasks occur.

     Note: The tasks do not begin until there are sessions are present on the target hosts.

     • Delay: From the drop-down list, select the number of minutes to wait after sending the message to all users and setting the host to drain mode.

     • Message: Type the message to send to all users.

4. Once you have entered all the desired information, select Save.

   The new deployment policy is created.

Manage Deployment Policies

Nerdio Manager allows you to manage deployment policies. This includes editing, activating/deactivating, deleting, and more.

To manage deployment policies:

1. Navigate to Applications > Deployment policies.

2. Locate the deployment policy you wish to work with.

3. Optionally, perform any of the following:

   Note: Detailed logging for the status of an application management task can be seen from the host, host pool, and policy details pages.

   • Select Edit to change the deployment policy.

   • From the action menu, select Deactivate to deactivate the deployment policy.

   • From the action menu, select Run now to request policy re-evaluation for in-scope desktops.

     • Ignore current device status: Optionally, select this option to force failed devices to re-attempt to apply the policy.

       Note: By default, Nerdio Manager waits 24 hours before attempting to redeploy applications to allow administrators time to review the failure.

   • From the action menu, select Details... to view the deployment policy's detailed information. See Track Application Status below for details.

   • From the action menu, select Delete to delete the deployment policy.

   • In the Status column, select the button to toggle the activate (green) and deactivate(gray) status of the deployment policy.

     

Track Application Status

The deployment status of applications can be tracked by performing the following steps:

To track an application status:

1. Navigate to Applications > Deployment Policies.

2. Locate the application you wish to work with.

3. From the action menu, select Details... to review the status of the individual devices in the scope of the policy.

   

4. Optionally, select Details to see additional information.

   

If a device fails in the deployment of one or more application tasks in a policy, this device is skipped for re-assessment for a period of 24 hours, allowing the administrator to investigate the issue. Re-assessment and deployment tasks can be forcibly started against devices.

In the Nerdio Manager 5.0 release, application policies perform assessment and compliance tasks until the device is confirmed to be compliant. Devices are not currently inventoried after a successful completion.