Policies control various aspects of how a VM (virtual machine) performs.  Policies are defined in the NxTop Center, and then assigned to VMs.  A VM can only be assigned one of each type of policy at a time. If you modify a policy, the updates take affect immediately. VMs assigned that policy receive the update at the next contact with NxTop Center.

Note that some behaviors only act at VM start up or shut down.

There are six types of policy:

• Expiration: Describes how long after initial use a VM expires
• USB Filter: Describes what types of USB devices can be used on the VM
• Back-up: Describes whether and how often automatic back-up is performed and how long back-ups will be retained
• Lockout: Describes how long the computer can be out of contact with NxTop Center before locking users out of the VM
• OS Profile: Describes a set of rules for the operating system for describing special handling for applications, services, or other settings
• Engine: Defines aspects of the behavior of the NxTop Engine (rather than a VM)

If your organization wants to change the policies effecting its VMs, they can either:

• Assign a different policy - original policy remains the same; new policy affects all VMs to which it is assigned.
• Modify the policy definition - changes policy definition, affecting all VMs currently assigned to that policy.

This document describes modifying the policy definition.

Modifying Existing Policies for a Virtual Machine

Step One

Click on Policies in the Navigation panel, and select the policy to be changed.

Step Two

Click the Modify action.

The policy wizard for that policy type is displayed in the main panel.

Step Three

Change the policy details as needed.

Click on a policy type to see details for modifying that type.

• Expiration
• USB Filter
• Backup
• Lockout
• OS Profile
• Engine

Step Four

Click Save.

The modified policy definition is sent to the affected computers when they next contact the server.

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Basic/print version

Detail for Expiration Policies

Change the policy detail as needed:

• Name
• Description
• Accessible Days - fill the checkbox to limit VM use to a number of days from first use; enter the number of days in the text field.
• Beginning Date or Expiration Date - Fill one or both checkboxes to restrict by date star or end date.  For each checkbox filled, select a date for the start or end date. For each checkbox filled, select a date for the start or end date. The VM is disabled before the beginning date and after the expiration date.
• Warning Days and Warning Message - Enter how many days before expiration to warn the user, and the warning message sent to the user.

Click Save at the right corner of the main panel.

Detail for USB Filter Policies

Change Name or Description if needed. Click for device types that are allowable on that VM. Hover over any of the device classes for a brief description.

• Mass Storage (removable memory)
• Human Interface (mice, keyboards)
• Physical interface (Force feedback, joysticks, steering wheels)
• Printer
• Audio (microphone, speakers, iPod or MP3 player,  or other audio I/O device)
• Video (cameras or webcams)
• Image (digital camera)
• Wireless controller
• Communications
• Smart card
• Vendor (vendor-specific driver)
• Other (not listed above)

Click Save at the right corner of the main panel.

Detail for Lockout Policies

1. Change Name or Description if needed.
2. Specify the length of time a computer can go without contacting the server. Select the units (hours or days) and the number of those units.
3. Click Save at the right corner of the main panel.

If the computer does not contact the server within that period of time, the VM locks the user out until it can contact the server.

Detail for Backup Policies

1. Change Name or Description if needed.
2. Fill the check box to enable automatic backup or empty the checkbox to disable automatic backups.
3. Select the number and units for the following intervals:
   

   Field	Description
   Backup Every:	Interval between backups
   Keep on Server Up To:	Period to keep backups on the server
   Alert After:	Period to wait before sending a message to the user and Administrator after a backup is overdue.

4. Click Save at the right corner of the main panel.

If backups are disabled, the NxTop Engine does not perform backup automatically for that VM.

The first time that the VM is shut down after the selected backup interval, the NxTop Engine takes a backup of that VM. The next time that NxTop Engine contacts the NxTop Center, it uploads the backup to the server.

When the backup interval is reached, the VM creates a backup a backup of that VM. The next time that NxTop Engine contacts the NxTop Center, it uploads the backup to the server.

Backups are retained on the NxTop Center for the selected interval. There is a daily backup deletion task on the NxTop Center. If enabled, at its scheduled time, it merges backups older than the keep interval into the base backup for that user, and deletes the backup as a separate file.

If a backup is overdue by more than the Alert after interval, the user's NxTop Engine and the NxTop Center administrator receive a warning message.

Detail for OS Profiles Policies

An OS Policy is a set of OS Profile definitions. An OS Profile definition may be used in any number of different policies.

1. Decide whether to change the Disable Snapback checkbox. Snapback is the ability of the operating system to return to the condition of the last NxTop publish and discarding any changes. If disabled, changes the user makes while operating the NxTop are preserved.

• Fill the Disable Snapback checkbox to not allow operating system snapback for NxTops assigned this policy.
• Clear the Disable Snapback checkbox to allow snapback for NxTops assigned this policy.

Note: If Snapback is disabled, the Repair Domain Trust action does not work.

2. Add or delete the OS Profile definitions to the policy:

• Fill the checkbox of each OS Profile definition to be included in the policy.
• Empty the checkbox of each OS profile to be removed from the policy

3. Click Save at the right corner of the main panel.

The OS Profile definitions available on a NxTop Center vary as they are defined by the Administrator.  See Creating and Importing OS Profile Definitions for more details.

Detail for Engine Policies

Engine Policies affect the behavior of NxTop Engines, rather than VMs. The Default policy sets the behavior for all NxTop Engines associated with a NxTop Center. Other Engine policies can override the default values for a group or user.

Only the behaviors selected in the policy are overridden. For example, if an Engine policy only includes a different update interval, the behavior on the assigned user's engine uses the default Quick Launch and Management Server aliases, and the assigned policy update interval.

1. Change Name or Description if needed.
2. Fill the checkbox of each behavior to be included in the policy, and to expand each area to display the text field for that behavior.
    
   Clear the checkbox for behaviors that will use the default policy.
    
   Note: If you modify the Default policy, you cannot clear any checkboxes. There must be an existing default value for each behavior.
3. Enter the details for the behaviors you want to change:
   • Quick Launch: fill the checkbox to automatically start the NxTop on the computer if it is the only one installed; the user does not have to separately select it. Has no effect if a computer has two or more NxTops.
     
   • Configure the Update Interval: Set the time interval between contact from the NxTop Engine to NxTop Center by selecting the unit (minutes, hours, days) from the dropdown list and then entering the number of units.
     
   • Configure Management Server Aliases: Add known DNS names (and the port number) of the server hosting NxTop Center - for example, if the server has one DNS name used on an intranet at the company and another DNS name for use from outside the corporate firewall. The NxTop Engine will attempt to contact NxTop Center using this list until it succeeds or has tried them all.
     
     • Add an alias by entering the name in the format servername:port and clicking the Add button.
     • Remove an alias by selecting it in the list and then clicking the Delete button.
   • Configure Engine Bandwidth: Set the download and upload rates in kilobytes per second (kps). The values entered become the maximum file transfer rates used by NxTop Engine. Upload and Download can have separate values. Select speeds that your network can support without becoming overloaded. The maximum listed speed is based on the computer's hardware.
     
4. Click Save to save the changes to the policy.