Managing Policies › Policy Configuration › Apply Policy to Machines

Apply Policy to Machines

After you create configuration policy, apply it to machines across the enterprise. When you apply configuration policy, CA Server Automation pushes a compiled configuration file containing all policy settings to all specified agent machines, and the new policy is implemented after an automatic agent warm start.

You can also reapply the policy to machines if one of the following occurs:

• You updated the policy
• You received a notification that the configuration on an agent machine has changed

Follow these steps:

1. Click the Resources tab, open the Configure pane, expand Policies, then select SystemEDGE or Service Response.

   The Available Policies page appears.

2. Select the policy in the Available Policies table.

   The Summary page for the policy appears.

3. Select the policy you want to apply.

   Policy details appear in the right pane.

4. Click Action and select Apply.

   Tabs appear for selecting machines on which to apply the policy. The 'Update machines running this policy' tab lets you apply the policy to machines that are already running the policy. The 'Apply to Machines not running this Policy' tab lets you apply policy to machines without any policy or using a different policy.

5. (Optional) Do one of the following from the 'Update machines running this policy' tab:
   • Select 'Update all machines using this policy' to deploy the policy on all machines currently running it. This option is useful if you have made configuration policy changes that you want to apply globally.
   • Select 'Update selected groups of machines' to update only machines that meet any of the following criteria:
     • Running an out of date version of the policy
     • Policy exceptions have occurred
     • Running a current version of the policy

     Select any of these options. Policy exceptions occur when a user applies a point configuration change to an agent that is not represented in the applied policy.

   • Select Advanced and manually the machines in the Select Machines pane to which the policy is to be reapplied.
6. (Optional) Select machines from the 'Apply to Machines not running this Policy' tab to which to apply the policy.
7. Click Apply Policy.

   The policy application is initiated.