Alan,
My 2c worthlike the way Brian thinks
Should you wish to develop your own RIS/Unattended CD/DVD image the MSFN
forums are a good place to start
<. A RIS/Unattended CD/DVD is not
such a bad idea especially across a lot of different hardware where
imaging has its limits i.e. across disparate hardware, use driver packs.
GHST and is still the best imaging software but Acronis
http://www.acronis.com/ <http://www.acronis.com/are doing some very
good things in that line too and are more cost effective. Have a look at
EZAudit for an audit/inventory package. WSUS is in mind great as a patch
management strategy especially the reporting an ability to apply
specific patches to specific workstations and serversyou can't go
past the AD Group Policy roll out as wellits also free except for
some possible headaches but that is what paracetamol is for
James Blair
From: ActiveDir-owner (AT) mail (DOT) activedir.org
[mailto:ActiveDir-owner (AT) mail (DOT) activedir.org] Behalf Alan J. Gendron
Sent: Tuesday, 12 September 2006 10:06 PM
To: ActiveDir (AT) mail (DOT) activedir.org
Subject: RE: [ActiveDir] T: Management Solutions
Thanks for the suggestions. I'll go look around further. We're only
around a 100+ user shop and while a full-featured solution would be
nice, I'm very concerned it would be over-kill and not money well-spent.
I want to be a "good steward" of the church's money.
Alan
Alan J. Gendron
Senior Network Specialist
Lutheran Church Extension Fund
Sunset Corporate Center
10733 Sunset Drive
St. Louis, M 63127-1219
314.885.6596
From: ActiveDir-owner (AT) mail (DOT) activedir.org
[mailto:ActiveDir-owner (AT) mail (DOT) activedir.org] Behalf Brian Desmond
Sent: Monday, September 11, 2006 10:21 PM
To: ActiveDir (AT) mail (DOT) activedir.org
Subject: RE: [ActiveDir] T: Management Solutions
Never used/heard of Kace. Looks like a kind of limited use appliance?
Thanks,
Brian Desmond
brian (AT) briandesmond (DOT) com
c - 312.731.3132
From: ActiveDir-owner (AT) mail (DOT) activedir.org
[mailto:ActiveDir-owner (AT) mail (DOT) activedir.org] Behalf Patrick Paul
Sent: Monday, September 11, 2006 10:47 PM
To: ActiveDir (AT) mail (DOT) activedir.org
Subject: RE: [ActiveDir] T: Management Solutions
Have you tried HelpStar - works great. Inventory - use Kace box running
FreeBSD.
From: ActiveDir-owner (AT) mail (DOT) activedir.org
[mailto:ActiveDir-owner (AT) mail (DOT) activedir.org] Behalf Brian Desmond
Sent: Monday, September 11, 2006 9:34 PM
To: ActiveDir (AT) mail (DOT) activedir.org
Subject: RE: [ActiveDir] T: Management Solutions
I use WSUS for patching in some decent size places. My strategy has been
to combine a variety of free products into a single system - I've gotten
good at it and I've also written glue when I need to. My overall feeling
is that I get more flexibility just gluing things together than with a
single baked product.
Thanks,
Brian Desmond
brian (AT) briandesmond (DOT) com
c - 312.731.3132
From: ActiveDir-owner (AT) mail (DOT) activedir.org
[mailto:ActiveDir-owner (AT) mail (DOT) activedir.org] Behalf Robert
Rutherford
Sent: Monday, September 11, 2006 6:31 PM
To: ActiveDir (AT) mail (DOT) activedir.org
Subject: RE: [ActiveDir] T: Management Solutions
I agree with Brian that Ghost does tend to be the front runner for
imaging (IMH) I've tested and used many but Ghost is a mature project
which does what it says on the tin. You'll be surprised how forgiving it
is and how much you can do with varying software and hardware with a
little work.
In terms of helpdesk well it's a minefield and a road of I have
travelled many times. I have actually found that most of the time it's
actually easier to get a dev guy to come in and build a system which
actually meets your requirements. I have found this to be cheaper (most
of the time) in the larger organisations as every organisation has
different SLA's, contracts, processes, methods, etc.
I just recommend going onto sourceforge.net and typing 'helpdesk'
initially. This should get you going and you may find something that
suits your needs or something you can amend to fit. Yes, you can go for
the bigger boys, i.e. Hornbill but you'll pay for it have a sniff
around and see what fits your requirements.
In terms of patch deployment I do like Patchlink. It will give you
patch deployment across most applications with good reporting. You also
get software and hardware inventory included in the price.
Cheers,
Rob
Robert Rutherford
QuoStar Solutions Limited
T: +44 (0) 8456 440 331
F: +44 (0) 8456 440 332
M: +44 (0) 7974 249 494
E: robert.rutherford (AT) quostar (DOT) com
W: www.quostar.com
From: ActiveDir-owner (AT) mail (DOT) activedir.org
[mailto:ActiveDir-owner (AT) mail (DOT) activedir.org] Behalf Brian Desmond
Sent: 11 September 2006 20:26
To: ActiveDir (AT) mail (DOT) activedir.org
Subject: RE: [ActiveDir] T: Management Solutions
I have a lot of experience using Ghost for all of that but helpdesk.
Helpdesk I have worked with Peregrine (will empty your check book & very
complex), TrackIt (kind of basic but folks seem to like it), and
customized free open source package called Liberum (so far my favorite).
Thanks,
Brian Desmond
brian (AT) briandesmond (DOT) com
c - 312.731.3132
From: ActiveDir-owner (AT) mail (DOT) activedir.org
[mailto:ActiveDir-owner (AT) mail (DOT) activedir.org] Behalf Alan J. Gendron
Sent: Monday, September 11, 2006 3:16 PM
To: ActiveDir (AT) mail (DOT) activedir.org
Subject: [ActiveDir] T: Management Solutions
I would love some feedback from those that actually use some of these
products. We initially started looking at a Helpdesk solution. It has
now evolved into an asset management, S deployment, patch management
and license compliance package. I can't tell you whether it's evolved
to this because the package we are looking at has it or because it was
decided we could use the additional functionality. The current
front-runner is Altiris. Could anyone provide some helpful insight into
this package or a comparable solution we could look at? If we're going
to spend the money, I'd like to see us spend it wisely. Thank you in
advance.
Alan
Alan J. Gendron
Senior Network Specialist
Lutheran Church Extension Fund
Sunset Corporate Center
10733 Sunset Drive
St. Louis, M 63127-1219
314.885.6596