Getting started with Application Health
Absolute's Application Health feature collects information about the health of your installed applications, allowing you to quickly identify unhealthy applications. You can then troubleshoot the reported issues to return each device's applications to a healthy state.
Depending on the configuration of your account, an application's health may be assessed in up to three categories:
- Installation health
- Running state health
- Configuration health
After the Secure Endpoint Agent runs the applicable health checks on a device, a health status is reported. If the application is unhealthy, details about the detected issues are reported at both the application level and for each applicable device.
The Application Health feature is available when the Absolute Resilience product1 is associated with your account. For information about upgrading from Absolute Visibility or Absolute Control to Absolute Resilience, contact Absolute Sales. View my licenses
To learn more about monitoring the health of your applications, visit the Learning Hub. To access the Learning Hub, click (Help and Support) on the quick access toolbar and then click Resources > The Learning Hub.

Application health information can be collected on supported Windows and Mac devices.

To view application health information in the Secure Endpoint Console, the following prerequisites must be met:
Platform | Requirements |
---|---|
Windows |
At least one of the following policies is activated in the Windows devices' policy groups:
It is best practice to activate both policies, when possible. |
Mac |
The Installed Applications policy is activated in the Mac devices' policy groups |
Also note:
- Devices must be assigned a Absolute Resilience product2.
- Devices must be regularly connecting to the Absolute Monitoring Center using Secure Endpoint Agent version 9.1.0.1 or higher.

The list of supported applications depends on the policy that is activated:
-
When the Installed Application policy is activated, application health information is collected on applications listed in the Installed Applications report.
- When the Application Resilience policy is activated, application health information is collected on select Windows applications only.

There are two components of the Secure Endpoint Agent that are responsible for collecting application health information from your devices: the SNG component and the RAR component (Windows only).
When the Installed Applications policy is activated, the SNG component is downloaded and activated on each device after its next connection to the Absolute Monitoring Center. Similarly, when the Application Resilience policy is activated, the RAR component is activated on each Windows device. The activated agent components then scan the device for application health information and upload it to the database using a secure connection.
For information about the size of each component download, see Knowledge Base article 1160.
Health check frequencies
Agent component | Scan frequencies |
---|---|
Installed Applications policy | The SNG component performs health checks at 5 minute intervals. If a change is detected, a payload is uploaded within the next 15 minutes. In addition, a full health check is uploaded on a weekly basis. |
Application Resilience policy | The RAR component performs health checks at 15 minute intervals. Payloads are uploaded at 6-hour intervals, at a minimum, and when an application's health status changes. |
Health check stages
To determine the health of an application, the Secure Endpoint Agent performs up to three health checks, which are run sequentially in the following stages:
Stage | Details |
---|---|
Stage 1: check installation |
The agent checks that all signed application files are trusted by the operating system. For resilient applications, additional checks are performed, such as:
|
Stage 2: check running state |
Depending on the type of application, the agent may check that the expected processes, services, or the application itself, are running in the background. Running state is checked for select resilient applications only. |
Stage 3: check application configuration
In the current release, this stage applies to Windows devices only. |
If the application is an anti-malware or full-disk encryption application, the agent does one of the following:
|

The health of an application is reported in the Application Health > Health report column, which is available on the following pages and reports:
- Applications page
- Applications page in a device's Device Details
- Installed Applications report
Possible health statuses are:
- Healthy
- Unhealthy
- Unknown
The system arrives at a health status as follows:
Platform | Preconditions | Health check process |
---|---|---|
Windows | Resilient application A third party application that is actively monitored by the Secure Endpoint Agent. This feature is available only when the Application Resilience policy is activated on a Windows device. Depending on the configuration of this policy, the agent may be able to repair the application if it's non-compliant, or reinstall it if it's missing. |
If a device's Secure Endpoint Agent detects an issue during any health check stage, the application is reported as Unhealthy and all issues detected during that stage are reported in the Secure Endpoint Console. For example, if the issue occurred in Stage 1, an installation error is reported and the agent does not proceed to stage 2. If no issues are detected in any stage, the application is reported as Healthy. |
Windows or Mac | Not a resilient application |
If a device's Secure Endpoint Agent detects an issue during a health check stage, the application is reported as Unhealthy and all detected issues are reported in the Secure Endpoint Console. If no issues are detected in any stage, the application is reported as Healthy. |
Issues detected during the health check process are reported in the Secure Endpoint Console as unhealthy reasons.
About the Unknown health status
When any of the following conditions apply, application health information is unavailable and a status of Unknown is reported:
- There is an issue with the application's installation, such as:
- The Secure Endpoint Agent can't find or access the installation location.
- The installation was not completed successfully.
- The policies responsible for application health data collection were recently activated in the console.
Data will begin to be available after devices check into the Absolute Monitoring Center and the policy is activated on each device.
- The issue that caused a resilient application to be non-compliant is not included in the list of unhealthy reasons.
- The policies responsible for application health data collection have been deactivated in the console.