Miguel Guhlin Another Think Coming Challenge Claims, Uncover Reality

by mguhlin

MyNotes: Dell KACE #tceasysadmin

EdTech

What a fantastic session on Dell KACE. Absolutely phenomenal detail and presentation. This session was presented at the TCEA SystemAdmin Conference held October 29 & 30, 2015.

[googleapps domain=“docs” dir=“presentation/d/1qTuJrYTntlDULgkCNMb7EpnytvsQcrH6G_TXdzKxGM0/embed” query=“start=false&loop=false&delayms=3000” width=“480” height=“299” /]

MyNotes

  1. Kevin Wilbourn (Twitter: @kevinwilbourn), Systems Engineer, Temple ISD

  2. Session Goals

  3. What is a System Mgmt Platform?

  4. What is Dell KACE?

  5. Identify System Mgmt Pain Points

  6. Mgmt with KACE

  7. Deployments with KACE

  8. What is a System Mgmt Platform? Six areas that define it:

  9. Inventory & IT Asset mgmt

  10. Software distribution

  11. Service Desk

  12. Patch management & security

  13. Systems Deployment

  14. Mobile mgmt

  15. Key players

  16. MS System Center (SMMS) - Robust but difficult to use.

  17. Altiris - On and off again relationship with Symantec

  18. LANDesk

  19. Dell KACE

  20. What operating systems?

  21. Windows 7

  22. OS X

  23. Windows Server

  24. GNU/Linux

  25. Android

  26. iOS

  27. Chromebook

  28. What is KACE?

  29. Flexible Management Platform

  30. Purchased by Dell in 2010

  31. K1000

  32. Inventory

  33. Software distrib

  34. Reporting

  35. Support desk

  36. K2000

  37. O/S Deployment

  38. K3000

  39. Mobile device mgmt

  40. How is it implemented?

  41. Physical Servers (Dell PowerEdge R6) 1 user per KACE Service

  42. VIrtual Appliance (vmware, Microsoft Hyper-V, Cloud SaaS)

  43. KACE 1000

  44. Discovery and Inventory: View, sort, and search hardware devices, software, etc.

  45. Fixing Pain points - user details. KACE enables you to go to your inventory by device, search for the user by name, or view details or remote in.

  46. The Actions Menu

  47. From the inventory display you can take pre-defined action

  48. You can manage and change these actions to work with Remote Desktop, VNC, etc.

  49. Deep dive view of an individual system:

  50. Show all hardware with change tracking

  51. View installed printers

  52. Show installed programs with change tracking

  53. Patch status

  54. Running processes, startup programs and services (all searchable)

  55. Discovery Data in the Lifecycle

  56. Discovery and inventory is automatic

  57. Asset Management

  58. Do you have an accurate inventory? Why not? WHat if it was automatic, accurate, and customizable?

  59. Goals: 

  60. Fast, accurate inventory (tracks location)

  61. Must cover all district provided hardware

  62. Track location for fixed assets

  63. Adding Your assets

  64. Automatic entry with KACE Agent Devices and SNMP Trapping

  65. Manual entry with import of CSV files, web-based entry form.

  66. K1000 Management Appliance

  67. Software distribution: up to date software, automatic, targeted deployment, easy to manage.

  68. Managing software distribution

  69. Assignment - Select comps individually, use computer labels

  70. Scheduling - set days & times, Use Wake on LAN, etc.

  71. Security and Patching

  72. Got WSUS? KACE can replace WSUS with an integrated patching solution.

  73. Choose the products to patch, KACE downloads, scans, and deploys.

  74. What about my remote campuses?

  75. Replication shares - local stores for all data and program files for the K1000

  76. Software items

  77. Dependencies

  78. Patches and Packages

  79. Alternate download location - use a CIFS/SMB share to host an individual install package

  80. Managed installations

  81. File synchronizations

  82. WIndows 7 has a hard limit of 20 concurrent file sharing connections. Use Windows Server…

  83. KACE2000

  84. System Images

  85. Pros: Identical System setup, faster deployment time, multicasting, great with complex environments

  86. Cons: Hardware dependent, OEM LIcensing Compatibility, Difficult to change, Manual intervention at end point

  87. Scripted Installs

  88. Pros: Supports any hardware, compatible with OEM licenses, Upgrade and add components without rebuilding image, no sysprep, no golden image to maintain, ISO slipstream for CUs, or SPs

  89. Cons: Slightly slower deployment time, no multicasting

  90. Pre and Post Install Tasks

  91. What are they? User defined tasks that work with system images and script installs. Can be easily added or removed on drag and drop interface.

  92. What can they do? Join domain, Give the computer a new or existing name. 

  93. Install Office, Install KACE, etc.

  94. What about remote campuses?

  95. Once agan, a single applicance will handle thousands of clients. For K2000, you can reduce bandwidth by:

  96. Remote site appliances - storage for images and install media for the K2000.

  97. Multicasting - image multiple computers with the same bandwidth footprint as one machine

  98. Scheduler - set deployments to occur outside of peak hours

  99. Questions

  100. Do you have any problems with Dell KACE not recognizing new Dell laptops? KACE doesn’t have the driver in the cache for some newer laptops.

Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin’s blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure