How do I manage policy rule files and exclude files? (Policy Management)

Introduction

To access the Policy Management page

To create new policy rules

Creating new policy rules on a single server vs a multi-server configuration

To view policy rules

To copy policy rules

To edit policy rules

To delete/remove policy rules

To create exclude files

To view exclude files

To copy exclude files

To edit exclude files

To delete/remove exclude files

To view a history of policy violations

Introduction:

You can view and manage both policy rule files and exclude files from the Policy Management page. From this page, you can see if the policies are in use, create new policy rules, edit existing policies, or delete policies. You can also view a history of policy violations over the previous year on devices on your current server (or selected server from the server dropdown box).

For information on checking and retrieving configuration files for a managed device, see this article.

To access this page, you must have the Configuration Monitor Administration tool permission. See this article for information on user group permissions in Entuity.

To access the Policy Management page:

From the Main Menu, click Administration, and then click Policies.


 
The Policy Management page is displayed, by default on the Policy Rules tab. 
The Policy Rules tab of the Policy Management page displays a list of the policy rules files, while the Exclude Files tab displays a list of the policy exclude files.

To create new policy rules:

Entuity recommends that you copy the contents of a policy file into the Create Policy Rules form, either from a specialized third party editor or (from Entuity v23 upwards) the UI. 

1. Navigate to the Policy Rules tab of the Policy Management page.
2. Click Create Policy Rules at the top of the tab or from the Overflow Menu.
   The Create Policy Rules form is displayed.
   
   
    
3. Click the popout icon .
   The Policy Rules popout window is displayed. 
   
   
    
4. Enter the policy rules, and then click Save at the bottom of the popout window. Otherwise, click X in the top-right corner of the Policy Rules popout window.
5. Click Done on the Create Policy Rules form to save your changes. Otherwise, click Cancel.

Creating new policy rules on a single server vs a multi-server configuration:

Policy files are server-specific. These are stored locally in the entuity_home/etc directory. In a multi-server configuration (for example, with servers 1 and 2), you can create a policy file on server 1, and then physically copy that file into the same directory location on server 2. That copied file will then be displayed on the Policy Management page list for server 2.

To view policy rules:

From the Policy Rules tab of the Policy Management page, select the policy rules that you want to view and click View Policy Rules at the top of the tab (or from the Overflow Menu or right-click Context Menu).

The View Policy Rules form is displayed, allowing you to view the details of the policy rules. You can expand the window using the popout icon .

Note, you can't edit the policy rules from this option. For this, you must use the Edit Policy Rules functionality (See the 'To edit policy rules' section in this article.).

To copy policy rules:

From Entuity v23 upwards, you can copy policy rules on the Policy Management page:

1. Navigate to the Policy Rules tab of the Policy Management page.
2. From the table, select the policy rules file that you want to copy.
3. Click Copy Policy Rules at the top of the tab (or from the Overflow Menu or right-click Context Menu).
   The copied policy rules file is now displayed in the table below the original policy rules file.

To edit policy rules:

1. Navigate to the Policy Rules tab of the Policy Management page.
2. From the table, select the policy rules file that you want to edit and click Edit Policy Rules at the top of the tab (or from the Overflow Menu or right-click Context Menu).
   The Edit Policy Rules form is displayed.
3. You can optionally expand the window by clicking the popout icon .
4. Make your changes.
5. If you did not click the popout icon, skip to the next step. Otherwise, click Save at the bottom of the popout window to save your changes or click X to close out of the popout window without saving.
   
   

To delete/remove policy rules:

1. Navigate to the Policy Rules tab of the Policy Management page.
2. From the table, select the policy rules file that you want to remove and click Remove Policy Rules at the top of the tab (or from the Overflow Menu or right-click Context Menu).
3. At deletion confirmation dialog window that is displayed, click Yes to confirm the deletion.

Deleting a policy rule file simply removes it from the devices that are using it. If it's in use, the deletion confirmation dialog warns you of this. 

To create exclude files:

1. Navigate to the Exclude Files tab of the Policy Management page.
   Note, if you are using a multi-server configuration, and you want to create exclude files on a remote server from the consolidation server, ensure that you select the desired remote server from the server dropdown field at the top-left of the page. For more information on multi-server configuration in Entuity, see this section.
2. Click Create Exclude File at the top of the tab or from the Overflow Menu.
   The Create Exclude File form is displayed.
   
   
    
3. You can click the popout icon . 
   Click Exclude File popout window is displayed.
   
   
4. Enter the exclude file details in the popout window, and then click Save at the bottom of the popout window. Otherwise, click X in the top-right corner of the popout window to exit out of the window without saving.
5. Click Done on the Create Exclude File form to save the new new exclude file. Otherwise, click Cancel.

To view exclude files:

From the Exclude Files tab of the Policy Management page, select the exclude file that you want to view, and click View Exclude File at the top of the tab (or from the Overflow Menu or right-click Context Menu).

The View Exclude File form is displayed, allowing you to view the details of the policy rules. You can optionally expand the window using the popout icon .

Note, you can't edit the exclude file from this option. For this, you must use the Edit Exclude File functionality (see 'To edit exclude files' in this article).

To copy exclude files:

From Entuity v23 upwards, you can copy exclude files on the Policy Management page:

1. Navigate to the Exclude Files tab of the Policy Management page.
2. From the table, select an exclude file that you want to copy.
3. Click Copy Exclude Files at the top of the tab (or from the Overflow Menu or right-click Context Menu).
   The copied exclude file is now displayed in the table below the original exclude file.

To edit exclude files:

1. Navigate to the Exclude Files tab of the Policy Management page.
2. From the table, select the exclude file that you want to edit and click Edit Exclude File at the top of the page, or via the Overflow Menu or right-click Context Menu.
3. The Edit Exclude File form is opened, allowing you to view and edit the details of the exclude file. 
   You can optionally expand the window using the popout icon .
4. Make your changes.
5. If you did not click the popout icon, skip to the next step. Otherwise, click Save at the bottom of the popout window to save your changes or click X to close out of the popout window without saving.
6. Click Done on the Edit Exclude File form to save the updated exclude file. Otherwise, click Cancel.

To delete/remove exclude files:

1. Navigate to the Exclude Files tab of the Policy Management page.
2. From the table, select the exclude file that you want to remove, and click Remove Exclude File at the top of the tab (or from the Overflow Menu or right-click Context Menu).
3. At the deletion confirmation window that is displayed, click Yes to confirm the deletion.

To view a history of policy violations:

From the History tab of the Policy Management page, you can view a history of policy violations over time for every device on your server (or the selected server in the server dropdown field in the top-left of the tab). The list of policy violations includes the violations for any archived configurations that have been saved to Entuity within the last 12 months (by contrast, policy violation events are, by default, displayed for 14 days).

This tab is informational, and presents a table displaying the following information: