Searching With Properties

Getting Started

1. From the main menu, select Devices and select the SOTI search bar to activate it.

   

2. A drop-down menu lists the available Categories and Searchable Device Properties.
   Important: You must index properties to search for them. See Indexing Properties

   

3. Create search queries by selecting a Category and a Searchable Device Property. When prompted, select or enter the values needed to complete the search query. Select Done to complete the search query.

   

   Tip: When you select a device property or extended property from the drop-down list, the search field automatically provides suggestions to help you complete your search query.
4. Add more search queries by entering AND, OR or Grouped OR in the search bar and selecting another device property or extended property from the drop-down list.

   

   Note: After adding AND, OR or Grouped OR to your search, the categories and searchable device properties drop-down list appears automatically.
5. Select Send to execute the search.

   

Searchable Device Properties

Searchable device properties are device attributes reported to, or tracked by SOTI MobiControl. The device properties may be universal and apply to all device types such as Device Family, Enrollment Time, Manufacturer, or MAC Address. They may also be specific to a device type, such as Supervised (Apple), ELM Status (Samsung Android), or OS Base Edition (Windows 10 and later).

To see which searchable device properties are available and applicable to a device, open the Device Information panel.

Tip: SOTI MobiControl can search for a device using any of the device's properties listed in the Device Details tab of the Device Information panel. The complete list of device properties is available in the advanced search drop-down list.

Troubleshooting: Some property types behave as both string and numeric property types, as is the case with version properties. When using greater than or less than operators to decide version progression, the search compares values between version points individually and in sequence to decide the version order. The search ignores numeric values following the first alphabetical character. Example: 2.10 is greater than 2.9 Build 1000.

Categories

Categories are objects associated with a device that are not properties of the device. SOTI MobiControl can perform searches on the following categories:

• AppleDep: Enrollment program for iOS and macOS devices.
• Apps: Apps installed on the device.
• Certificates: Certificates installed on the device.
• Compliance Policies: Custom policies that determine a device's compliance status.
• Health Attestation: Security check feature for Windows Modern devices.
• Profiles: Profiles assigned to the device.
• Trusted Platform Module: Security standard for processors.
• User groups: Identity management systems such as directory services or identity providers associated with the device.

Not all extended properties are applicable to every device type. To select an extended property, activate the advanced search bar and select from the Extended Properties section of the drop-down menu.

Using Logical Operators to Construct Search Queries

Logical operators connect the property with its desired value. They include variations on is, is not, contains, does not contain, greater than, in, not in and others. The available logical operators change based on the property. For example, string types support the contains operator while numeric types do not. The opposite is true for the greater than operator.

Using Boolean Operators to Construct Search Queries

Boolean operators (AND, OR, Grouped OR) can string together many device properties and extended properties to create complex queries. Use AND for searches where the returned devices must match all stated properties. Use OR for searches where the returned devices must match at least one of the stated properties. Use Grouped OR to place a filter around the linked properties and force SOTI MobiControl to evaluate the properties together.

Search by Exclusion

Create search queries that exclude devices that match the search queries. You can only exclude extended properties in your search and not device properties. When searching by exclusion, you must change the device's extended property qualifiers from Include to Exclude. If you invert the logical operators (for example, using IS NOT instead of IS), but not the qualifiers, your results may contain devices you intended to exclude.

Example: The query INCLUDE: Apps: Name ≠ SOTI MobiControl tries to find all devices that do not have SOTI MobiControl agent installed. This may not return the correct results because devices may have other apps that are also not named SOTI MobiControl and therefore do match the criteria. You must use EXCLUDE: Apps: Name = SOTI MobiControl instead.

Advanced Search Examples

Refer to the Sample Devices data set to understand how SOTI MobiControl performs advanced searches.

Example: Advanced searches

Example: Advanced searches with extended properties

Example: Advanced searches with extended properties, demonstrating the difference between Include and Exclude