Configure device switching settings - Automation 360 - Switch a Bot Agent between Control Room instances without reinstalling, to move automations across developer, test, and production environments.

Automation 360

Switch a Bot Agent between Control Room instances without reinstalling, to move automations across developer, test, and production environments.

Before you begin

When device switching is enabled, Bot Agent registered to one Control Room instance can connect to another without the need to uninstall the Bot Agent. You can restrict switching to pre-approved Control Rooms or allow switching to any instance. Fast switching reduces this to a single click but requires a stable network path between instances.

Ensure that you are logged in to the Control Room as the administrator.

  • You must have the View and Manage ALL device permission to enable the switching option.
  • You must enable the switching option on both Control Room instances.
  • You can switch between Control Room instances only if the instances are on the same build.

    For example, if one Control Room instance is on Build 19688, you can only switch the user device to another Control Room instance with Build 19688.

Procedure

  1. Navigate to Administration > Settings > Devices.
  2. Edit the General settings.
  3. Select Enabled to enable the local device as the default bot running device after a user logs into the Control Room.
  4. Optional: Select the Clear the user’s existing bot running device if the bot agent is not present on the local device check box to remove the existing default device.

    By default, the Clear the user’s existing bot running device if the bot agent is not present on the local device check box is not selected.

    When no Bot Agent is available on the local device and if you select this check box, the existing default device for the logged-in Bot Creator, attended Bot Runner, or Citizen developer users is removed. Otherwise, the default available device is assigned for the bot deployment.

    Note: If the local device is not enabled as the default bot running device and Clear the user’s existing bot running device if the bot agent is not present on the local device check box is selected, then the existing default device is discarded. In this case, you must select the default device manually.
  5. Use the Allow devices (single user) to be switched to another Control Room without reinstalling bot agent field to change the default setting:
    • Disabled: is the default setting.

      You must uninstall Bot Agent first and then reinstall it to switch device registration to a different Control Room instance.

    • Enabled: enables a single-user device to be switched to another Control Room without reinstalling the Bot Agent.
      (Optional) Select the Allow fast switching check box to enable the Bot Agent to switch devices with a single click.
      Note: Fast switching is supported only on single user devices. If you want to switch to a different Control Room on multi-user devices, you must uninstall and reinstall the Bot Agent.
      If you enable the Allow devices (single user) to be switched to another Control Room without reinstalling bot agent option, select one of the following methods for switching the device to another Control Room:
      • Can switch to pre-approved Control Rooms only: Is the default setting.

        Ensure that a pre-approved Control Room URL is available in the autoregistration.properties file, or the switching of Control Room will fail.

        Here is a sample autoregistration.properties file:
        url=http://10.888.888.888
url1=https://controlroom.dev.production.com
url2=http://10.888.777.999
url2=https://controlroom.dev.test.com
token=ZNbCbG4070AlcEt9Zn1iAyeCfPCEYhVo0JITp2Qgap4bXAOxQ9j3eA073nnLB68JQyMVfqcRDgBHKqbljxqkmnOqJnNLqO4uIp9vRomWJjZfacuGRQqms7VI0JHuBlpKZRR8UFFAGoL2-jSIA
token1=oPtUL6W2mtyXhYP2E61BxyujM_73PLipJUNKOt0Jy9pJASICQ9LgW-e0OSLBpJuiGTwLx0q8GeYB_nkPuleWPcxlhzcIE5p84c6nA8CtxzPaRg-KBtwt-C7HAduM2INprlgxiFBRPEAW6A
device_type=SINGLE_USER
concurrent_sessions=1
lifespan=PERSISTENT
delay_registration_until_login=false

        In the above sample, the Control Room URL1 and URL2 are pre-approved URLs.

      • Can switch to any Control Room: Select this option to allow users to switch to any Control Room.
      Note: Fast switching is recommended only if there is no change in the network configuration when connecting to a new Control Room. The first time you switch the Bot Agent to a new Control Room, only the device lifespan information (that is, whether the device is Persistent or Temporary) is copied over to the new Control Room.
      Note: Fast switching will not work if your device cannot reach the new Control Room due to changes in the proxy settings.
  6. Optional: For additional security, you can enable the following setting in the Validate device credentials field to validate the device credentials prior to bot deployment:
    • Device credentials for all users: Validates the device credentials for Bot Creator, attended Bot Runner, Citizen Developer, and unattended Bot Runner users.
    • Device credentials for un-attended bot runner users only: Validates the device credentials for unattended Bot Runner users only.
    Note: This is applicable for all trigger-based bot deployments too.
  7. Save the settings.
  8. Log in as a Bot Creator user to a Control Room configured in a different environment to verify that users can switch between instances.
    The Connect device option is available when you click the device icon in the Control Room panel.