A device is a machine that you use to connect to Control Room in order to create or run automations.

Prerequisites

A Control Room user with View and manage ALL device(s) permission can view, register, and manage the devices in order to run automations. For more information on the required permissions, see Devices permissions.

Use the Devices page to perform the following actions:
  • View all the available devices along with their respective properties such as Status (connected, disconnected, update required, update available, and so on), Platform (Windows or macOS), Default users, Device type (single or multi-user), and so on for the current instance of the Control Room.
  • Create and view a list of device pools available from the current instance of the Control Room.
  • Run automations immediately on selected Bot Runners.

    If the device is already registered by another user other than the Bot Creator and the Bot Creator does not have the Register device permission or the associated device assigned to it, when you run automation from the editor window, the deployment fails with an insufficient permission error message.

  • Schedule automation to run on selected Bot Runners.
  • Run automations on selected device pools.
Log into Control Room and click Manage > Devices to view the devices page.
Click the drop-down menu at the top to filter the available devices based on the various parameters listed in the following table:
Filter type Description
Status Enables you to filter the list of available devices based on status. Click Choose to select the status.

For example, if you select Update available, devices that require Bot Agent version update are displayed.
Device name Enter the name of the device in the Search field.
Platform Click Choose to filter the available devices based on the platform such as macOS or Windows.
Device nickname If you have set a nickname for a device, enter that in the Search field.
Device type Click Choose to filter the available devices based on the type such as Single user or Multiple user.
Note: Multiple user device is currently not available for macOS.
Lifespan Click Choose to filter the devices based on the following options:
  • Persistent

    The devices are created to support persistent virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) and are not deleted after the device is disconnected from the Control Room.

  • Temporary

    Devices are created to support non-persistent virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) and are automatically deleted after a specified time when the device is disconnected from the Control Room.
Installation type Click Choose to filter the devices based on the following options:
  • System-wide

    For devices in a device pool.

  • User-specific

    For devices specific to your Control Room login.

Device configurations

Review the following options available for configuring a device:
Connect local device
Install Bot Agent on your macOS device and connect it to Control Room.
Edit checked items
Select any one or multiple devices that you have registered on the Control Room to edit the various device details such as device nickname, lifespan, deployment type and so on.

For more information, see Edit multiple devices simultaneously.

Update checked items
Select a device from the list of available devices where you want to update the Bot Agent version.
Create device pool with checked items
Select the devices that you want to add into a device pool.
For more information, see Create device pools.
Note: As macOS devices cannot be included while creating a device pool, only the available Windows devices are displayed. Therefore, you can only run the automations created using Windows platform on a device pool.
Export checked items to CSV
Exports the data to a CSV file based on:
  • Filters
  • Selection
Refresh table
Refreshes the table contents to view the updated status.
Customize columns
Show or hide specific columns.
The following table lists all the events when the last updated information of a specific device is modified:
Event Last Modified Modified By
Device Registration Time when the device was registered User who registered the device
Device Auto Registration Time when the device was registered System
Update Device Advanced Configuration Settings Time when the setting was modified User who updated the setting
Update Device Log Configuration Time when the setting was modified User who updated the setting
Update Device Type Time when the setting was modified User who updated the setting
Update Device Lifespan Time when the setting was modified User who updated the setting
Update Device Resolution Settings Time when the setting was modified User who updated the setting
Update Device Auto Login Settings Time when the setting was modified User who updated the setting
Update Device Resource Threshold Settings Time when the setting was modified User who updated the setting

Node Manager

Node Manager enables communication between Control Room and the registered Bot Runner device. Node Manager collects the automation execution status and forwards this information to Control Room.

When you deploy an automation from Control Room, Node Manager downloads the automation and the related artifacts in the following global cache location:

/Library/Caches/AAI/NM/GlobalCache

The automation resources are then extracted under the deploy directory of the user:

/Users/<UserName>/resources/<DeploymentID>

The Node Manager then validates the user session before launching the Bot Launcher. When the automaton execution completes, the details such as the success or failure of the automation is sent to Control Room.

FAQs
Where can I find the Node_Manager startup script and the associated plist file in macOS?
On a macOS device, the Node Manager startup script is available in the following location:

/Library/LaunchDaemons

And the plist file is available at:

com.automationanywhere.nodemanager.plist
Note: A plist, or property list, is a file in macOS that stores user settings or applications configurations.
How do I start or stop the Node Manager?
On your macOS device, you can start or stop the Node Manager by navigating to the following location:

sudo /bin/launchctl bootstrap system /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.automationanywhere.nodemanager.plist

Where can I find the Node Manager log files on macOS device?
The Node Manager log files are available at the following location:

/Library/Caches/AAI/NM/Logs

Bot Launcher

Bot Launcher captures information about the execution of an automation such as the operations performed, events triggered, and any errors encountered.

macOS Bot Launcher is packaged along with the Bot Agent bundle, which holds the necessary entitlements for the Bot Launcher.

Bot Agent bundle uses JavaMacLauncher to launch Bot Launcher in order to ensure that entitlements are registered against Bot Agent bundle instead of java exe.

If any of the available packages require entitlements that Bot Launcher does not have, macOS prompts for a user consent only on the first execution of automation containing such package. When user consent is provided, entitlements are registered and subsequent executions of any other automation with that package does not trigger a user consent. For example, Microsoft 365 Excel package or Recorder package.

Considerations for automation developers

  • Professional Developer and Citizen Developer users can run automations on a compatible device from a private workspace. For example, if you have used a macOS platform to create an automation, you can only deploy this automation on another macOS device and not on a Windows device.
  • Only attended Bot Runner users can run automatons from public workspace based on the compatible (default) device selected.
  • Resiliency settings that enable you to block unwanted pop ups or record automatons are currently not available for automations created using macOS platform.