Deploy Firebox Templates

Applies To: Cloud-managed Fireboxes

After you make changes to template settings, you must deploy the template to deploy the settings to subscribed devices.

When you deploy a template, two things happen:

  1. The saved template settings are deployed to the cloud.
  2. Template settings are deployed to all subscribed devices.

A template deployed to each subscribed device includes the most recent previously deployed device configuration for that device plus the settings from the template.

If a template does not have any subscribed devices, it is still important to deploy template changes so that devices that subscribe to the template in the future get the latest updates to the template.

Deploy a Template From the Notification Banner

After you update settings in a Firebox template, the Configuration Details tab in the template shows a message banner that indicates that you have undeployed saved changes.

To deploy a Firebox template, from WatchGuard Cloud: 

  1. Configure the template settings and save the changes. For more information about template settings, go to Manage Firebox Templates.
    After you save a configuration change, a message banner shows that the template has undeployed saved changes.
  2. To deploy the template, in the message banner, click Schedule Deployment.
    The Schedule Deployment dialog box opens.

Screen shot of the Schedule Deployment dialog box for a template deployment

  1. In the Description text box, type a description of the settings you configured.
  2. Click Deploy.
    A confirmation dialog box appears with the time and date of the deployment. When there are many subscribed devices, a progress bar shows the progress.
  3. Click Close.

View the Template Deployment History

For each template, the Deployment History tab shows the deployment of the initial configuration, when the template was added, and each subsequent deployment to the cloud.

Screen shot of the Deployment History tab for a template

When you add a new template, Version 1 is deployed automatically, and includes only the template Name and Description.

Manage Template Deployment from the Deployment History

If a template has saved configuration changes that are not deployed to the cloud, the Deployment History page shows that you have undeployed changes. From this section you can deploy or revert the undeployed saved template changes.

Screen shot of the Deployment History when you ahve undeployed saved changes and a deployment is not scheduled

To revert undeployed saved template changes, from WatchGuard Cloud:

  1. In the Deployment History, click Revert Changes.
    This option is available only if there are undeployed saved changes.
  2. In the confirmation dialog box, click Revert.
    The template configuration settings in WatchGuard Cloud revert to the settings from the last deployed configuration.

To deploy the saved template changes, from the Deployment History tab:

  1. In the Deployment History, click Schedule Deployment.
    The Schedule Deployment dialog box opens.

Screen shot of the Schedule Deployment dialog box for a template deployment

  1. In the Description text box, type a description of the settings you configured.
  2. Click Deploy.
    A confirmation dialog box appears with the time and date of the deployment.
  3. In the confirmation dialog box, click Close.

After you deploy or revert undeployed saved changes, the Pending Changes section is no longer shown on the Deployment History page for the template.

View Template Deployment Status

In the Deployment History tab for a template, the Creation Status column indicates the status of the template deployment to the cloud. Succeeded indicates that the saved template configuration changes are deployed to the cloud for deployment to subscribed devices. When a template deploys to the cloud, it creates a Deployment Status for each template configuration version.

To view the deployment status of a template configuration version, from WatchGuard Cloud:

  1. Select Configure > Firebox Templates.
  2. Select a template.
  3. Select the Deployment History tab.
    The Deployment History page opens.

Screenshot of the Deployment History page

  1. From the Deployment Status column, in the relevant template Version row, click Status Page.
    The Deployment Status page opens for the selected template configuration version.

For accounts with many templates, it might take several seconds for the status to update for each template. You can continue your actions on this page while the status continues to load.

  1. (Optional) The Deployment Status column indicates the status of each device in the template deployment. Click a tile to filter the list of devices by deployment status. Each tile shows the number of devices for a deployment status type.

Click to download a CSV file that reports the template deployment status of devices.

Filter by Deployment Status Type

You can clickto filter the list of devices by deployment status. You can filter the list by these deployment statuses:

Succeeded

The device successfully downloaded and applied the configuration update.

Failed

The device could not download or apply the deployed configuration. For example, a DNS name resolution error, duplicate template names, or failure to apply the configuration might be the cause of a Failed status.

Skipped

The deployed configuration was superseded by a later deployment.

Staged

The configuration update was created and is ready for deployment to a device. WatchGuard Cloud holds the configuration update until deployment. Deployment results in either a Succeeded, Failed, or Skipped status.

Waiting for Device

The configuration update was created and is ready for the device to download and apply.

To filter devices by template deployment status:

  1. Click to filter the list by deployment status.
  2. From the list of device statuses, select a status or statuses.
  3. Click Apply Filters.

View Template Deployment Details for a Device

You can view the template deployment details for a specific cloud-managed Firebox.

To view template deployment details for a device, from WatchGuard Cloud:

  1. Select Configure > Firebox Templates.
  2. Select a template.
  3. Click the Deployment History tab.
    The Deployment History page opens.
  4. From theDeployment Status column, in the relevant template version row, click Status Page.
    The Deployment Status page opens for the configuration version.
  5. From the Deployment Status column, in the relevant device row, click the status.

The Deployment Detail dialog box opens with information about the template deployment status for the device.

View the Template Configuration Report

To view the configuration deployed for each template version, you can use the template Configuration Report.

For information on how to compare consecutive configuration versions, go to Compare Configuration Versions.

To view the Configuration Report for a template:

  1. In the Deployment History, click the version number. Or, click and select View configuration report.
    The Configuration Report opens. The upper part of the report shows the configuration version number.

Screen shot of the Configuration Report for a Firebox template

  1. To go to a section of the report, click Go To Section, and click a section name.
    The Configuration Report for a template only includes sections for the settings you can configure in the template.
  2. To print the report, click .
  3. To return to the Deployment History tab, at the end of the report, click Back.

View the Template Deployment Status for a Subscribed Device

When you deploy a template, the changes are automatically deployed to all devices that subscribe to the template. The Firebox must connect to WatchGuard Cloud to download and apply the update.

A template deployment to subscribed devices does not deploy other saved undeployed changes for those devices.

To review template deployment status for a subscribed device, from WatchGuard Cloud:

  1. Select Configure > Devices.
  2. Select the cloud-managed Firebox.
  3. Click Deployment History.
    In the Deployment History, a template deployment has the TEMPLATE label in the Version column.

To view the name of the updated template that was deployed for a device:

  1. In the Firebox Deployment History, click the version number. Or, click and select View configuration report.
  2. At the upper part of the configuration report, hover over the Template label.

If you change the template subscription from the Firebox device configuration, the Deployment History for the device shows an entry with the description "Template subscription update".

Screenshot of the Deployment History with a template subscription update

You cannot revert a device to a Firebox template configuration deployment, but you can revert to a configuration for deployments previous to the template deployment.

For more information about the deployment history, go to Manage Device Configuration Deployment. For information about how to compare configuration files, go to Compare Configuration Versions.

Related Topics

About Firebox Templates

Video tutorial: Cloud-Managed Firebox Templates