Learn about the status of the device, how the status changes during the Device Life Cycle, and in particular blacklisted and deleted devices.
A device in VHQ can have the following status values.
The Inactive devices can be assigned to Sub Status. This feature allows more precise categorizing of the devices beyond Inactive. The Sub Status is an extension to the Inactive devices to identify the reason behind the devices entered in an Inactive status.
There are two specific cases where the system automatically marks device inactive and assigns a sub status:
You can assign sub status from Device Search and Device Profile screen.
There are two different types of Sub Status:
Only after creating the sub status you can assign to the Inactive devices. You can assign the sub status from Device Search, Device Profile, Importing .xml file or Timed Import.
You can select multiple devices in the Device Search and assign sub status
The following table lists a summary of the actions supported for each device state.
|
Status |
Heartbeats |
Events/Alerts |
Downloads |
Data Collection |
|
Active |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Inactive |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
|
Delete |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
|
Pending Registration |
No |
No |
No |
No |
|
Pending Hierarchy Assignment |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Blacklist |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
|
Swapped-out |
No |
No |
No |
No |
NOTE: Heartbeat for Deleted and Blacklisted devices are not processed.
The status of a device will change during its life cycle as shown below:
1. Assign an IP address range, or location ID to hierarchy.
2. Load the VHQ agent on device (and on POS if applicable).
3. The device calls VHQ Server.
4. VHQ matches device the IP address or location ID to hierarchy information.
5. The device auto assigned to hierarchy as "ACTIVE".
1. The IP address of the store identified by the hierarchy is within the IP address range.
2. Location ID provided by the application on the device to VHQ. A store number is an example of a location ID.
3. If no IP address match found, the device is assigned to "Pending Hierarchy Assignment" state and placed in the root hierarchy.
4. The VHQ user can manually change the device state to "Active" or assign hierarchy to automatically change the device state to "Active".
1. The VHQ device is uploaded, device is assigned to "Pending Registration" state.
2. The VHQ Server places the device in "Active" state in pre-assigned hierarchy when device registers with VHQ Server.
NOTE: The user can turn off Auto Boarding and use only pre-boarding.
1. Device in "Active / Pending Hierarchy Assignment / Inactive" state.
2. Device removed from store-repair / swap / spare.
3. Mark device as "Inactive".
4. Device deployed back in the store.
5. The device goes back to "Active" or "Pending Hierarchy Assignment" state.
1. Device in "Active / Pending Hierarchy / Inactive / Pending Registration" state.
2. VHQ user to manually "Delete" a device using the UI.
3. Optional: "Blacklist" device when deleting using UI.
CAUTION: If you accidentally delete/blacklist devices from VHQ GUI, and if it is not feasible to easily reload the VHQ Agent configuration package to these devices to recover from this accidental deletion/blacklist, then please contact VHQ support representative at Verifone to recover from this accidental deletion/blacklist of devices.
The user would delete a device if they do not want the device in their estate. When a device is deleted, its communication history, audit details, device profile, etc., are retained and can be viewed on the Device Profile screen, when the device is pulled up from the Deleted Devices screen. Once a device is deleted (but not blacklisted), then the following steps should be followed if this device has to be allowed back into the VHQ estate:
1. Go to the “Deleted/Blacklisted Devices” screen in VHQ GUI under the “Device Management” .
2. Select the device that is in the “Deleted” state. A popup will appear on the right side of the screen, and then click the “Undelete” button to undelete the device. These undeleted devices will automatically go to the “Pending Registration” state in the VHQ server, and the VHQ device keys associated with these devices will be automatically deleted from VHQ server.
4. To get this device into an “Active” state, you need to force a key-exchange from this device. This can be done by reloading VHQ Agent configuration package with the “KeysExchanged” parameter set to a value of “False” in VHQconfig.ini file or by setting this parameter from VHQ Agent UI. In either case, the device must be rebooted, so that the VHQ Agent can read the new configuration setting and then try to register with the VHQ server. Once this step is completed, the device will be in the “Active” state in the VHQ.
NOTE: If the procedure to perform the above steps is not feasible to get the deleted devices to an “Active” state, please contact your VHQ support representative at Verifone, and do NOT try to undelete these devices from the “Deleted Devices” screen in VHQ GUI.
If the above steps are not completed and if the deleted devices try to send heartbeat messages to the VHQ server, then VHQ server will NOT accept these messages and it will generate “Deleted device contacting” alert message as part of the Device management module. VHQ will not purge the data for deleted devices. It will follow the purge guidelines for logs, and other history, but the device profile would remain and can be viewed from the Deleted Devices screen.
A deleted device can additionally be marked as blacklisted if you don't prefer this device to be in device estate. An example of this could be, when a device is stolen, and such devices should not be brought back to the device estate. Once the device is blacklisted, VHQ will generate a “Blacklisted device contacting” alert as part of the Device Management module. If a blacklisted device tries to connect to the VHQ, The device is not allowed to register with VHQ, and a “Blacklisted device contacting” alert is displayed in VHQ GUI. The VHQ will not purge the logs or data for blacklisted devices. It will follow the purge guidelines for logs and history, but the device profile would still be retained, and can be viewed from the Deleted Devices screen in VHQ GUI.
You can permanently remove the device from the estate. A record of this device is retained for audit purposes. A deleted device can additionally be marked as blacklisted if the device should never be allowed to return to the device estate. The device profile of such device is viewable from the Deleted Devices feature in VHQ GUI. Any heartbeat from devices in the Blacklisted state is ignored, and the Server generates the Blacklisted Device Contacting alert. The device is not expected, neither be online nor to connect with the VHQ Server in the future.
If a device is accidentally blacklisted, it is NOT possible to undo this operation from VHQ GUI, and contact VeriFone VHQ support team to undo this operation.
Once blacklisted, VHQ generates a Blacklisted device contacting alert as part of the Device Management module. If a blacklisted device tries to connect to VHQ, the device is not allowed to register with VHQ, and Blacklisted device contacting alert is displayed in VHQ GUI. VHQ fails to purge the logs or data for a blacklisted device and follows the purge guidelines for logs and history. The device profile remains and can be viewed from the Deleted Devices screen in VHQ GUI.
You can also blacklist device from Device Profile screen. Click on the Device Serial Number in Device Search screen. On the Device Profile screen, click Blacklist.
You can view the list of deleted and blacklisted devices.
If you have accidentally deleted the devices from VHQ GUI, those deleted devices can be reloaded back into VHQ estate by performing Undelete operation. However, there is no such option for Blacklisted devices. The Blacklisted devices remain in the same status and can be viewed on Deleted/Blacklisted Devices screen.
Once the Undelete operation is performed for the deleted devices, the device status will be updated to its previous state (such as, if Active device is deleted, then Undeleted status of the device will be Active) and device keys will be retained on VHQ server.
There is no need to perform Key Exchange again for such devices.
NOTE: These devices will be included in the VHQ estate. The status of these devices in VHQ (such as Active, Inactive, etc.) will be the same status as it was during the time of deletion.
If VHQ sever receives any message from devices that are in the Deleted state in VHQ, then VHQ server will NOT accept these messages and it will generate Deleted device contacting alert message as part of the Device Management module. VHQ will not purge the data for deleted devices. It will follow the purge guidelines for logs, and other history, but the Device Profile would remain and can be viewed from the Deleted Devices screen.
The devices with the device ID has an option to enable for swap. This feature is useful when the device has to be sent for maintenance, and as a back-up another device is provided to the user with the same device ID. The devices can be swapped even if they are deleted provided if they are enabled for swap.
The Device ID is associated with a device. If VHQ server receives a message from another device that is trying to use the same Device ID to communicate with VHQ server, the VHQ server detects it as a Swap request, as a new device is trying to take over the Device ID that is currently being used by a different device in the VHQ server.
If the Enabled for Swap option in the VHQ GUI Device Profile, is NOT enabled for the device in VHQ server that is currently using the given Device ID, the VHQ server does not accept the message from the new device that is trying to use the same Device ID. The VHQ server generates the Unauthorized Device Swap Request alert.
When a VHQ customer wants to swap out an existing device in VHQ with a new device, the Enabled for Swap option in the VHQ GUI Device Profile must be checked (enabled) for the existing device. If this is done, the VHQ server accepts the registration request from another device using the same Device ID, and the original device using the Device ID will be in Swapped Out state, and can be viewed in the Swapped-Out Devices section of the Device Management tab of VHQ GUI.
Before you enable the device for swap, you must set the Swap Approval Required configuration in Administration > System Configuration for True.
EXAMPLE: Vx570 device can be swapped with another Vx570 device only.
