Create a campaign

1. Sign in to the Knox Admin Portal. In the navigation pane, click Knox E-FOTA.

   1. Go to Campaign and then click Create Campaign.

      

      Note

      • On the Devices tab, you can customize the table columns to include each device’s Consumer Software Customization (CSC). When you export the device list to a CSV file, the CSC info is also included.

      • When viewing a device’s Device details, you can obtain that device’s CSC.

      • When assigning target devices to a campaign, fill in the Assign Devices and Firmware table on the campaign creation page. Each row of that table represents a device group, that is, a model and sales code pair. The CSC of each device group is pre-populated next to the sales code. For device groups that have multiple possible CSCs, a list is available instead, from which you can select the CSC for that group.

      • When you move on to select the target firmware for a device group, only the firmware versions that are compatible with that device group are available, given the group’s model, sales code, and CSC.

      • When creating, editing, and viewing a campaign, you can obtain the CSCs of devices in that campaign.

2. Fill in the campaign details.

   Basic Info

   Set a unique name for the campaign and a description of what’s new in it.

   

   Schedule

   • Campaign period — Set the timeframe when devices in the campaign can start to download and install the update. If you want the campaign period to run indefinitely, select Set a start date only.

     

   • Firmware installation period — Set the timeframe within the campaign period when the devices in the campaign can start installing the update. This timeframe is based on the device’s timezone.

     If you want to test a campaign immediately, set the firmware installation period to the following values:

     • From: 00:00
     • To: 24:00

     Click Anytime during the weekend to allow firmware installation anytime during weekends. Unclicked by default.

     Note

     Devices will start installation during this period, but there is no guarantee that installation will end within this period.

     

   • Firmware download period — Set the timeframe within the campaign period when the devices in the campaign can start downloading the update. You can allow downloads to occur at one of the following periods:

     • Anytime: Allow firmware download at any time

     • Use the same timeframes as firmware installation period: Set the firmware download period to be the same as the firmware installation period.

     • Custom period: Set the firmware download period to be different from the firmware installation period. Click Anytime during the weekend to allow firmware download anytime during the weekend.

       

   • Installation reminder message — Set how long the installation reminder is displayed, in minutes (between 1 and 999)

     Note

     A duration of up to 5 minutes seamlessly triggers firmware updates and reduces the total time lost between successive updates, whereas higher durations ensure the end user is notified — through the installation reminder message — before the firmware installs.

     Alternatively, select Do not display if you don’t want the device user to see an installation reminder.

     

   • Postpone installation — Configure these settings if you want to allow the device user to postpone the installation. Set the maximum number of times they’re allowed to postpone the installation and the duration between reminders.

     After the installation reminder period expires, any pending firmware installations begin immediately. Furthermore, selecting Do not display triggers these installations without notifying the device user.

   Network and Speed

   Download network — Select Basic or Advanced as the download network that devices in the campaign would use for firmware downloads.

   Basic

   

   • Select Wi-Fi or Ethernet, or Any (Wi-Fi, Mobile, or Ethernet) as the network type.

   • Any(Wi-Fi, Mobile, or Ethernet) provides additional download settings:

     • Select Download allowed while roaming to allow firmware downloads while roaming.

     • Select Switch to Wi-Fi or ethernet when firmware size is over Enter size MB to switch the network type to Wi-Fi or Ethernet when the firmware download size exceeds the specified size.

   Advanced

   

   • Select one or more network types among Wi-Fi, Mobile, or Ethernet

   • Set the priority order of the network types by clicking

   • If you select Mobile as the network type, you can also configure download settings related to data consumption:

     • Select Download allowed while roaming to allow firmware downloads while roaming.

     • Select Switch to Wi-Fi or ethernet when firmware size is over Enter size MB to switch the network type to Wi-Fi or Ethernet when the firmware download size exceeds the specified size.

   You can set the download speed of an SSID up to Enter download speed MB. If you add an SSID list, this download speed only applies to devices that connect to SSIDs excluded from the SSID list you added.

   

   SSID throttling

   Click SSID throttling to limit the download speed of up to five SSIDs, as follows:

   • Click Add Wi-Fi SSID > Enter SSID > Set the download speed up to Enter download speed MB > Add

   If the SSID list already contains SSIDs, simply click Add another row to add a new SSID and click Edit to make changes to any SSID. Furthermore, unclicking SSID throttling after adding SSIDs will save the added SSIDs and display them only when you click SSID throttling again.

   Important

   SSID throttling is automatically disabled if a campaign is created without adding any SSIDs.

   

   SSID restrictions

   Click SSID restrictions to block or approve downloading firmware over specific SSIDs. More importantly, you can configure blocklists and allowlists having up to 50 SSIDs each, as follows:

   • Select Allowlist to approve firmware downloads only over the allowlisted SSIDs. Similarly, you can select Blocklist to block firmware downloads over the blocklisted SSIDs. Blocklist is selected by default

   • Click Add Wi-Fi SSID > Enter description > Add.

   If the SSID list already contains SSIDs, simply click Add another row to add a new SSID and click Edit to make changes to any SSID. Furthermore, unclicking SSID restrictions after adding SSIDs will save the added SSIDs and display them only when you click SSID restrictions again.

   Important

   All SSID restrictions are automatically disabled if a campaign is created without adding any SSIDs.

   Device condition

   Specify how much battery life a device must have before it can begin installing the update. You can also prevent installation on devices that aren’t connected to a charging dock.

   

   Factory Reset

   Specify whether you want to block end users from performing a factory reset on the device.

   

   Block the factory reset option disables factory reset for all devices in that campaign, including those managed by an EMM. If you previously configured factory reset for your device in an EMM, ensure you unconfigure the policy first. As soon as a device is assigned to a campaign with Block the factory reset option enabled, factory reset is disabled even if the campaign is scheduled to start at a later date. If the campaign expires, factory reset remains disabled on the device until you unassign it.

   Support Contact Details

   Enter a phone number and email address end users can contact for support. You can also set these values as the default contact information for future campaigns.

3. Assign devices to the campaign:

   1. Click Assign Devices.

   2. On the Assign devices page, select one or more devices to assign to the campaign.

      Note

      By default, the device list is pre-filtered to show only the following:

      • Devices that aren’t assigned to any campaign.
      • Devices assigned to expired or canceled campaigns.

      If you want to select a device currently assigned to an active campaign, click Clear Filters.

      Devices that are not enrolled are excluded from the device list. Only enrolled devices can be assigned to a campaign.

      When you download the device list as a CSV file, the file will contain the version of the Knox E-FOTA client app installed on each device.

   3. Click Assign. The table at the bottom of the form is populated based on the devices you selected.

4. For each row in the table, click on EDIT and do one of the following:

   • Click Latest firmware if you want the campaign to automatically push the latest firmware version to the assigned devices. Additionally, select one of the following:

     • Any — The latest firmware, regardless of its OS version, is pushed to devices.

     • Up to — The latest firmware, within a particular OS version, is pushed to devices.

       Important

       If you select this option, you may not receive security patches included in the latest firmware of the latest OS version.

       If no firmware meeting your criteria is available for devices of a particular model-carrier pair, an error is displayed.

   • Click Lock current firmware if you want to prevent any firmware from being installed on the corresponding devices.

   • Click Select from firmware list if you want to select a firmware version to push to the corresponding devices. Then, select the target firmware in the next page.

   

   Note

   • For device models that are newly added to the Knox E-FOTA service, it may take a few hours to for the list of applicable firmware versions to become available. If you do not see the firmware list for a device model you’ve just added, try again in a few hours.
   • If Knox E-FOTA is in the process of syncing the firmware list for your assigned devices, you’ll have to wait until the firmware sync is complete. You’ll receive an email notification when the firmware is ready to be used.
   • If you purchased the Software Customization Services license, you can request custom firmware from a Samsung admin. Once you’ve received custom firmware from a Samsung admin, you’ll find it in the Custom Firmware tab when selecting your target firmware.
   • If you have purchased support for Enterprise Security Patches (ESP), you can select them as target firmware in the firmware list.

5. Click Create and Activate. A notification is displayed confirming that the campaign was created. The campaign is added to the Campaigns list.

6. (Optional) Set a gradual campaign rollout

   A gradual rollout means that, once the campaign begins, small batches of devices update their firmware every day, rather than the whole pool of devices on the first day. The campaign then continues to roll out updates progressively until all devices are updated by the campaign’s end date. Such a gradual rollout can provide you the opportunity to troubleshoot issues with firmware rollout as they arise, so that erroneous or vulnerable patches aren’t immediately propagated to all devices at once.

   The rollout rate defines the size each device batch, meaning the number of devices that update each day. The rate is calculated as a percentage of the total device pool.

   In determining the rollout schedule, each device is given a random start date. For example, a rollout rate of 20% triggers firmware updates on 20% of the devices on the first day, the next 20% the day after, until, by the fifth day, 100% of the devices are updated.

   Gradual campaign rollout exhibits the following behavior:

   1. Changes to either the rollout rate, target firmware version, or campaign status will reset the rollout start date of all assigned devices.

   2. Rolling out a campaign to newly assigned devices doesn’t reset the rollout start date of devices that were already assigned the campaign, preventing any delay in pushing firmware updates.

   

Assign devices to an existing campaign

You can assign devices to an existing campaign:

1. Go to Devices.
2. Select the devices you want to assign.
3. Click ACTIONS > Assign campaign.
4. Select which campaign to assign the devices to.
5. Click ASSIGN.