What are Custom Properties

Custom properties are user-defined fields that allow you to store additional information not available by default in N-central, including text, dates, URLs, passwords, or predefined values.

These properties can be used to organize customers and devices based on your own criteria, for example location, classification, service tier, maintenance status, ownership, or other business-specific information.

You can apply custom properties at different levels, Service Organization (SO), customer, site, and device.

How custom properties are used

Use custom properties as part of a workflow to assign values, create filters, and apply rules, scheduled tasks, or automation.

Typical workflow

  1. Create a custom property.

  2. Assign values to the property for the relevant organization or devices.

    Values can be assigned manually or updated automatically using automation policies.

  3. Create a filter using the custom property and its values.

  4. Apply the filter to a rule, scheduled task, or automation workflow.

Custom properties do not perform any action on their own. They become useful when combined with filters, rules, scheduled tasks, or automation.

Example: tag a device with a location

The following example shows how a custom property can be used to group devices by location:

  1. Create a text custom property named Location.

  2. Assign a value to each device, i.e. Dundee or Ottawa.

  3. Create a filter using the Location property (for example, Location = Dundee).

  4. Apply the filter to a rule or automation policy to target those devices.

This workflow groups devices and apply actions based on their values. Automation policies can also use custom property values as inputs or update them as outputs.

Customer vs device custom properties

Use customer custom properties when the value applies to a customer, site, or entire device group.

Use device custom properties when the value varies by individual device.

Properties created at higher levels can apply to lower levels, depending on propagation or targeting.

Manage custom properties

To manage custom properties, navigate to Administration > Custom Properties. This section is available to all levels in N-central, allowing you to create, edit, delete, and define where each property applies.

What to do next