2.6.7 User State Management Altiris management suite would meet the needs with its user state management. Altiris uses an agent that has the ability to track and monitor user state as well as machine status, the admin could easily setup permissions and policies according with user’s rights via web browser, so it gives the flexibility to manage and monitor the whole environment from virtually anywhere. 2.6.8 Usability Altiris IT management suite definitely will meet the needs of any company or business, usability and ease to use is really a plus. Most already have server 2003 in their network so no interpretability issues will arise. For those who do not have server 2003 implemented, adding computers to the suite will not be a problem since the agent will take care of it only with a couple of clicks. Symantec has a lot of support on the Internet for its product line. Like mentioned above, you do not need to be a Symantec guru to handle your way around the server. Reliability Current system is very reliable and stable, system crashes are very rare, and downtime is only caused by outages in the area, reliable error reporting and extensive data replication capabilities make this solution a good reason to have a goodnight sleep. Performance With good processors and a good amount of memory, Alters solutions should perform very well. I would recommend having around 4 GB of memory installed for the best performance. Since the suite is not resource hungry, the servers won’t get overloaded, so crashes and system interruption won’t be a problem. Supportability Most to all companies and businesses today are mainly using Windows based equipment. Unfortunately Altiris management suite is only limited to windows server product line and can not at all support neither Linux nor Mac.
Comparison and Discussion 2.8.1 Evaluating and Discussing LANdesk Remote Control Rating: N/A N/A Audit & Asset Mgt Rating: N/A N/A Monitoring Rating: N/A N/A Patch Mgt Rating: N/A N/A Backup & Disaster Recovery Rating: N/A N/A Endpoint Security Rating: N/A N/A User State Mgt Rating: N/A N/A Help Desk Rating: N/A N/A Usability Rating: N/A N/A Reliability Rating: N/A N/A Performance Rating: N/A N/A Supportability Rating: N/A N/A
2.8.2 Evaluating and Discussing Windows Server 2003: Server 2003 would be a great solution for North Miami Beach Sr. because its already implemented, it’s already paid for and it is compatible for the machines it has. Even if the school did not have a server and was not implemented, this solution is very inexpensive and implementation would not take long. It does not require a large learning curve and though limited in some areas that third party solution would thrive, it can handle a small network such as a high school compared to a larger company or business. Being that Server 2003 is user friendly, can be reliable, performs very well if the hardware allows and supports the machines currently at the school it is a great overall solution. Remote Control Rating: 4 Remote Desktop works really well and just as good as other remote control solutions. The only advantage VNC has over Remote Desktop is that you do not log off the remote user. Audit & Asset Mgt Rating: 2 It does not really provide the best audit and asset management. With scripting you could only do so much. I would consider another solution for auditing and asset management. Monitoring Rating: 2 It does not really provide the best monitoring. With scripting you could only do so much. I would consider another solution for auditing and asset management. Patch Mgt Rating: 4 WSUS works really well and just as good as other patch management solutions. The GUI is very user friendly and overall easy to use. Backup & Disaster Recovery Rating: 2 It does not really provide the best backup and disaster recovery. I would consider other solutions for backup and disaster recovery. Endpoint Security Rating: 5 Group Policy can provide endpoint security very well and almost flawless. You can limit anything and everything on the users profile. User State Mgt Rating: 2 It does not really provide the best user state management. I would consider other solutions for user state management. Help Desk Rating: 3 Though it is not a true ticketing system, with IIS and Exchange you could get a decent work order system. Thus giving you the ability to facilitate your network. Usability Rating: 3 Windows Server 2003 is very user friendly. Reliability Rating: 3 Windows Server 2003 is very reliable. Performance Rating: 3 Windows Server 2003 performs very well. Supportability Rating: 3 Windows Server 2003 has great support.
2.8.6 Evaluating and Discussing Altiris: Overall Altiris management suite is capable of doing most of the demanding task seen today, a bit of resource hungry and a lack of user state features are a minus, but overall the solutions offers lost of other features that are worth the investment. Remote Control Rating: 4 Reliable and secure for remote connectivity, it support mobile workers as well, it has robust security features such as 128, 192, 256 bit encryption, plus it works in heterogeneous environments Audit & Asset Mgt Rating: 4 Tracks software usage as well as hardware, its also designed to provide self help, with an extensive knowledge base to avoid trivial issues and improve efficiency Monitoring Rating: 3 It offers self-remediation task, and organize servers into vital groups, provides quick monitoring, and status of the equipment’s health. Lack functionalities and flexibility Patch Mgt Rating: 4 Supports heterogeneous environments, provides easy to use migration tools, console is easy to use Backup & Disaster Recovery Rating: 4 Because offers Recovery to completely dissimilar hardware, including differences in RAID types, disk types, processor types, NIC cards, entirely different system manufacturers, which makes more reliable than the competition. Endpoint Security Rating: 4 Detects threats in real time, virus database is updated everyday, also is easy to use and to manage, and it integrates fully with other suites from Altiris. User State Mgt Rating: 2 Lacks features, as well as flexibility, there are better suites that provide a better functionality for a lot less Helpdesk Rating: 4 Roust web-reporting capabilities, easy to install implement and deploy, and offer a complete incident and management resolution processing. Usability Rating: 4 Really easy to use, learning curve really narrow compared with the competition, more cost effective when it comes to training Reliability Rating: 5 System is pretty robust, very few crashes have been reported and the ones reported have been because hardware failure! Performance Rating: 3 Very resource hungry, lots of services running in the background, even for simple configuration, needs a minimum of 1gb and to run a processor of 2 GHz minimum and 10gb of hard-drive storage, so it needs a robust server with lost of memory and processing power. Supportability Rating: 3 Even though it supports Linux Mac, and the 2003 server family, it doesn’t support 2008 server and that’s a big negative since most of the companies are migrating to 2008 server, it would be a waste of capital
LANdesk Server 2003 Numara Track It! Nagios Level Platforms Altiris N-able Auditing & Asset Management N/A 2 5 1 2 4 4 Explanation N/A It does not really provide the best audit and asset management. With scripting you could only do so much. Automated auditing and reporting enhanced by automatic network discovery. Nagios does not offer any auditing. Kaseya does. Does not provide auditing. N/A N-central provides a well rounded Automated Auditing and Asset
Comparison and Discussion: Windows Server 2003, Nagios, Altiris and N-able provide WSUS based patch management. Kaseya, however, provides a system that allows for easy grouping and approval. This gives again gives Kaseya the nod. LANdesk Server 2003 Numara Track It! Nagios Level Platforms Altiris N-able Patch Management N/A 4 2 1 3 4 3 Explanation N/A WSUS works really well and just as good as other patch management solutions. Patch not integrated, scripting not provided. Nagios has no built in patch management like Kaseya Has built in patch management software N/A Good Patch provided by N-central through WSUS.
LANdesk Server 2003 Numara Track It! Nagios Level Platforms Altiris N-able User State Management N/A 2 1 1 4 2 3 Explanation N/A It does not really provide the best user state management. I would consider other solutions. No integrated solution. Like Kaseya, Nagios offers users customizable views of the interface. Has customized policy settings to the users needs N/A Capable of using policies to different users; also can create schedules for Power and Settings. All this could be accomplish thanks to “Remote Manager” tool.
LANdesk Server 2003 Numara Track It! Nagios Level Platforms Altiris N-able Usability N/A 3 3 1 3 4 4 Explanation N/A Windows Server 2003 is very user friendly. Though the solution is quite good at what it does, it lacks a web based interface. Nagios and Kaseya are both easy to use, but Kaseya doesn’t require scripting to provide all services. Technicians will be able to utilize Managed Workplace, but there is a learning curve N/A User-friendly GUI and Making the easy for the new user or Administrator
LANdesk Server 2003 Numara Track It! Nagios Level Platforms Altiris N-able Performance N/A 3 5 1 4 3 4 Explanation N/A Windows Server 2003 performs very well. Acclaimed for speed, supports a large system with mySQL or Oracle DBs Very reliable and stable, but can’t be used in the school.. Has many features to keep performance at a high. N/A Lightweight clients and probes. Overall a package with different tools that will keep any system in peak performance.
Server 2003 Numara Track It! Nagios Level Platforms Altiris N-able Supportability N/A 3 5 1 3 4 4 Explanation N/A 2003 has great One of the most used systems. As a result of support. Provides basic support services, but of no use to our school. Has great services like VNC to help support the user. N/A Great Technical Support provided by N-able. From 24/7 Online Teaching, to Phone Support. N-able, also supports most OS such as: Linux, Windows, Mac OS X; and supports most of hardware components nowadays used by small and companies.
5.6 Altiris References: ] ] ] ] ] ] ] ] [8] 5.7 N-able References: Website Source: “N-Able.” Network and Systems Management Software for Professionals. 2008. 7 April 2009. <> [1] Website Source: “N-Able.” Network and Systems Management Software for Professionals. 2008. 7 April 2009. <> [2] Website Source: “N-Able.” Network and Systems Management Software for Professionals. 2008. 7 April 2009. <> [3] Website Source: “N-Able.” Network and Systems Management Software for Professionals. 2008. 7 April 2009. <> [4] Website Source: “N-Able.” Network and Systems Management Software for Professionals. 2008. 7 April 2009. <> [5] Website Source: [6] Website Source: “N-Able.” Network and Systems Management Software for Professionals. 2008. 7 April 2009. <> [7] Website Source: “N-Able.” Network and Systems Management Software for Professionals. 2008. 7 April 2009. <> [8] Website Source: “N-Able.” Network and Systems Management Software for Professionals. 2008. 7 April 2009. <> [9] Website Source: [10] Website Source: [11]