5.6 Startup Location

When a device boot operation is performed, the network interface takes a considerable time to start. This delays the location identification for the device, and so ZENworks uses the default Unknown location. At the time of the device boot and the user login, other ZENworks functions like user source authentication and user refreshes are performed by using the closest servers that are defined at the Unknown location. This might cause a delay in the user login because of the use of an incorrect location, or because of incorrect or unreachable closest servers.

You can use the Startup Location feature to solve this problem. The Startup Location panel allows you to define a startup location for a managed device until the actual location is determined. Startup location can be defined at the Management Zone, device folder, or device level. Managed devices having a startup location with valid or reachable closest servers can contact the appropriate servers during device boot, thus enhancing the user login experience.

  1. In ZENworks Control Center, click Configuration on the left pane, then click the Locations tab.

  2. In the Startup Location panel, you can use the following options to select the startup location:

    • Use last known Location: The last detected location of the managed device.

    • Use the following Startup Location: Select the required startup location and the associated startup network environment for a device. However, selecting the startup network environment is not mandatory.

    If you select Unknown as the startup location, then the Startup Network Environment option shows all the network environments that are not referenced by a location.

  3. In the Duration to honor startup location field, select the duration for which you want the agent to stay in the startup location after the device reboot, before it detects the actual location.

    The network or the wireless adapters may take some time to initialize and cause a delay in the detection of the actual location. By selecting a non-zero value in the Duration to honor the startup location field, you can prevent the agent from immediately switching to an unknown location from the startup location.The default duration is 2 minutes and you can select values from 0 to 10.

NOTE:

  • At the Management Zone level, you cannot delete any location that is identified as a startup location, and at the device or folder level, you cannot remove a location from the Location Assignment list which is a part of a startup location.

  • To delete a location that is being referenced as a startup location, modify the corresponding startup location setting. You can also click the Reference Count for a location to see at which level (Zone, folder, or device) the location is referenced as the startup location.

  • The Startup Location feature is applicable only to Windows managed devices.