How to Manage Products

Managing a product means that the product is published to Microsoft Intune.

If an installer file is not available as an automatic download from a vendor, it requires sideloading. Sideloading is when an installer file needs to be manually sourced from the vendor. This may happen if a vendor makes only the latest installer available and you want an older version, or if the installer download link is behind a paywall requiring a login to the vendor website. In these instances, manual selection or intervention is required. For information about sideloading in Ivanti Neurons Patch for Intune, see Manage Sideloads.

Configure Management

You can configure the management of a product from the Products tab as described below, or by clicking Configure Management on the product-specific page.

To manage a product:

  1. Select the product(s) to manage.
  2. Select Manage.
    This button is disabled if you select a product that is already managed. The Configure Management panel appears.
  3. If the product requires sideloading, Sideloads Required appears at the bottom of the panel listing the required sideloads. You need to address the sideloading before you can proceed.
    For information about sideloading, see Manage Sideloads.
  4. In the Configure Management panel, under New Version Publication Approval specify how to handle new product versions:
    • Automatically publish new versions: When a new version of the product becomes available, it is published to Intune automatically without prompting you for approval.
    • Manually review and publish new versions: When a new version of the product becomes available, you are prompted for approval. The prompt appears in the New Versions tile in the dashboard at the top of the page and in the Alert column.
      For more information, see How to Approve New Releases.
  5. Under New Version Installation Supersedence, specify how to handle the installation of new product versions:
    • Uninstall old product versions before new install: If you select this option, the superseded product versions are uninstalled and then new version is installed. Only the latest version of the product will be available for use on endpoints.

      • While this provides the cleanest implementation, if the latest version fails to install, it leaves the endpoint without any version of the product.

      If you do not enable this option, the new product version is added without deleting old versions. Your Intune administrator must manually delete any old versions from the endpoints.

  6. Under Perform First Time Installations, specify how to perform a first time product install. This prevents multiple product versions from being installed on a single endpoint, and provides more control when deploying new software to select groups of devices:
    • New installations and patches: Perform a first time install with future updates, if the product is missing.
    • Only patches: Deploy only patches to existing installed software.

      • Not all products support the Only patches option. When deployed, the product is offered for install regardless if a previous was detected or not.

  7. Under Group Assignments, specify how to handle group assignment for products:
    • Do not assign app: The product is not assigned to a group in Intune.
    • Assign apps as Available: Click the Select groups box to see the list of Intune groups. Select the groups for which the product is available in Intune.
    • Assign apps as Required: Click the Select groups box to see the list of Intune groups. Select the groups for which the product is required in Intune, or select Assign to all devices to assign the product to all Intune enrolled devices.
    • Assign apps to Rollout Campaign: Click the Select Rollout Campaign box to select the required rollout campaign. For more information, see Patch for Intune — Rollout Campaigns.

      Assign to all devices is available only when Assign apps as Required is selected.

      • By assigning the products to a group, the products can automatically be made available to your endpoints without performing additional actions on the Intune portal.

  8. If you want to associate Intune categories with the application, click Publication Options to display the Publication Options panel. Then, under Category Assignments, search for and select the Intune categories you want to associate with the application. Click Back icon to return to the Configure Management panel.
    For information about managing Intune categories, see Publication Options.
  9. If you set Group Assignments to an option other than Do not assign app, you can configure further Group Options as described in Group Options.

Publication Options

If you have the required Intune privileges, the Publication Options enable you to manage Intune categories from within Ivanti Neurons Patch for Intune.

To manage Intune categories:

  1. In the Configure Management panel, click Publication Options.
    The Publication Options panel appears.
  2. Click Manage custom categories.
    The Manage custom categories dialog appears, showing a sortable list of existing categories with a search box.

To add a new category to Intune:

  1. Click Add a row icon.
    A new row appears at the top of the list of categories.
  2. Type the name of the new category, then click Save icon.
    The new category is saved to Intune. Alternatively, click Cancel icon to cancel.

To rename Intune categories:

  1. In the Category Names list, click Edit icon next to the category you want to rename.
  2. Edit the name of the category, then click Save icon. Alternatively, click Cancel icon to cancel.
    The category is updated in Intune, including on all applications where it has already been used.

To delete Intune categories:

  1. In the Category Names list, click Delete icon next to the category you want to delete.
    After confirming, the category is deleted from Intune and removed from all applications where it was used.

Group Options

The Group Options enable you to configure further settings if you have set Group Assignments to an option other than Do not assign app,

To configure the Group Options:

  1. On the Configure Management panel, click Group Options.
    The Group Options panel appears.
  2. Under End-User Notifications, specify how end-user notifications are handled:
    • Show all toast notifications: The end-user receives notifications for all application operations. This is the default option.
    • Show toast notifications for computer restarts: The end-user receives notifications only when a computer restart is required.
    • Hide all toast notifications: The end-user does not receive any notifications.
  3. Under Availability, specify when the product is available to endpoints:
    • As soon as possible: The product is available without delay. This is the default option.
    • A specific delay: The product is available after the number of days configured in Delay.
    • Time of day: The product is available after the number of days configured in Delay, at the specified Time of day. Use clock icon to set a time in increments of 30 minutes, and under Time zone choose between Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) or the time zone of the device where the product is deployed.
  4. If you selected Assign apps as Required under Group Assignments, then under Installation Deadline, configure the deadline for when the product must be installed on endpoints:
    • As soon as possible: The product must be installed without delay.
    • A specific delay: The product must be installed within the number of days configured in Delay.
    • Time of day: The product must be installed within the number of days configured in Delay, by the specified Time of day. Use clock icon to set a time in increments of 30 minutes, and under Time zone choose between Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) or the time zone of the device where the product is deployed.
  5. Under Restart Grace Period, configure a grace period when a product installation requires a computer restart to complete:
    • Disabled: There is no grace period and the computer restarts immediately after the product installation is complete.
    • Enabled: The grace restart period is enabled. Use Device restart grace period to configure the duration, in minutes, of the grace period up to a maximum of two weeks (20,160 minutes) and Restart countdown dialog to configure how many minutes before a restart end-users are alerted to the event.
  6. If you enabled Restart Grace Period, under Allow User to Snooze the Restart Notification, specify whether or not end-users can snooze the computer restart. If you choose Yes, then in Select snooze duration set a value in minutes that is less than the duration of the restart grace period.
  7. Go back to Configure Management and select OK.

The products are now scheduled to be published to Intune. The publication typically occurs within a matter of minutes. Use the Status column in the Managed Products list to monitor the status of the import.

When starting to manage one or more new products, the count on the Managed Products tile is incremented and the count on the Unmanaged Products tile is decremented. However, if the management process fails, the count on the Failed Publications tile is incremented. Select the Failed Publications tile to view which products have failed.

Switch to Intune to verify that the products were successfully added to your Intune environment. At this point you can perform your normal Intune functionality on the published products. For example, view the product properties and perform edits using the existing Intune infrastructure.

Manage Sideloads

If the product you want to manage requires sideloading, Sideloads Required appears at the bottom of the Configure Management panel. You need to address the sideloading before you can proceed.

To add a sideload file:

  1. On the Products tab, select the product that requires a sideload then click Manage.
    The Configure Management panel appears. At the bottom of the panel, the required sideloads are shown.
  2. Under Sideloads Required, select the link for the product you want to sideload.
    A panel appears that enables you to download the necessary files.

    3. You can add a sideload for a specific version of a product by selecting the version on the product page, then clicking Manage sideload.

  3. In the Acquire at column, click the link for the file you require.
    The appropriate download page appears in a new browser window.
  4. When you have downloaded the required file, click Choose file alongside the file you downloaded, then browse to the downloaded file and click Open.
    The file is uploaded to your tenant and the Status changes to show the progress. The file is virus checked and validated to ensure the correct file has been uploaded and has uploaded correctly. When the upload has completed, the Choose file button changes to Clear and you can close the panel and proceed with managing the product.
    To remove an uploaded file, click Clear.

If a product requires multiple installers, the verification and packaging will not start until all of the files have been provided.

If a publish fails owing to a problem with a sideload, a message appears in the Alert column on the Products tab. Click the alert to access the relevant sideload panel to resolve the problem.