What is a Check-In vs. Device Scan?

What is a Check-In?

When the Automox agent "checks in," it reports device status back to the Automox platform. During a check-in, the agent sends the following information:

• Device uptime
• Agent version
• Timezone offset

The Automox platform uses this information to confirm the device is online and reachable, and may respond with configuration updates or commands for the agent to execute.

When do Check-Ins occur?

• Immediately when the Automox agent starts
• Once per hour (with a small randomized variance in timing)
• Additionally, the agent monitors for timezone changes and will trigger an out-of-cycle check-in if a change is detected

If a check-in fails, the agent will automatically retry using exponential backoff — starting at 1 minute between attempts and increasing up to a maximum of 30 minutes — until a successful check-in is completed.

Here's what it looks like in the amagent.log:

time=<timestamp> level=INFO msg=attempting process=checkin
time=<timestamp> level=INFO msg="performing checkin with device UUID" device_uuid=<device_uuid> process=checkin
time=<timestamp> level=INFO msg="performing request" request_type=POST url="https://api.automox.com/checkin?uptime=<uptime_seconds>&ver=<agent_version>&tz=<tz_offset>" process=checkin
time=<timestamp> level=INFO msg="response received" response="{\"id\":0,\"command\":\"nop\",\"params\":[],\"config\":{...}}" process=checkin
time=<timestamp> level=INFO msg="received command" command=nop process=checkin
time=<timestamp> level=INFO msg=complete next_in=<next_checkin_interval> process=checkin

What is a Device Scan?

When the Automox agent performs a device scan, it runs a sequence of commands to collect information about the device and report it back to the Automox platform. These commands gather:

• Operating system version and build
• Device hostname
• AWS instance metadata (if applicable)
• Hardware details, compliance status, and last logged-on user
• Installed software, patches, and pending updates
• Whether the device requires a reboot

Additionally, if the device has Worklets or policies assigned, the agent evaluates those during the scan to check compliance.

When do Device Scans occur?

• After every device reboot
• On a recurring interval between 6–24 hours, depending on the scan interval configured in the device's assigned Group

Here's what one command (from a scan, update or reboot) looks like in the amagent.log:

time=<timestamp> level=INFO msg="accepted command" command_id=<command_id> command_type=execCmd command_processor=legacy command_name=GetOS command=execCmd
time=<timestamp> level=INFO msg="executing command" start_time=<timestamp> command_id=<command_id> command_type=execCmd command_processor=legacy command_name=GetOS command=execCmd
time=<timestamp> level=INFO msg="command end" elapsed=<duration> command_id=<command_id> command_type=execCmd command_processor=legacy command_name=GetOS command=execCmd