Thanks to all who attended our webcast, "Best Kept Secrets of IT Management Suite" (EMEA edition) on Thursday, February 25!
And, extra special thanks to our esteemed customer panel!
- Ian Atkin (Oxford University)
- Stefan Scheuber (ICA Gruppen)
To download or play the Webcast recording, click here.
Be sure to join us on March 23rd for our Launch Webcast for IT Managment Suite 8.0!
Bonus Materials:
- How to set detection rules for compliance when rolling out applications
- How to create a pilot computers filter: dynamic, automatic & maintenance free
Here is the Q & A transcript with answers to all the questions asked during the webcast.
Question:
Question to Stefan, do you have some Self Service portal where the user easily can download and install the software (if uninstalled by workflow process) or do they have to submit a ticket to Servicedesk to get the software.
Answer:
Stefan answered, "As of now, we do not have a self-service portal. The user has to call the Service Desk to get the software back. But, we're currently working on to integrate this in our order process for certain software to include this."
Question:
Hi, I have a question regarding a feature that I have been looking for in Patch Management. In the Patch Management view looking at for example 'Compliance by Update' it would have been much helpful to be able to view this by adding another Parameter selecting ONLY one or several Patch Policies to scope down the result based on the actual Policies you just applied.
Answer:
The patch compliance reports are from a stored procedure in the database, with this in mind we did recently write a report for a customer that altered the patch compliance report, and allowed the customer to filter the view by "severity". Your request is similar as you wish to filter by "Policy" or "Bulletin". I can supply the report we created and maybe you can look to see how it is created and replicate it. Again if you struggle please engage our consultancy services for this customisation project.
Question:
Stefan, Do you use SWV -packages or msi/setup.exe -based software?
Answer:
Stefan answered, "We mainly use traditional msi software packages. We did a couple of tests with the virtualized packages but we are not really using it. We had it for Internet Explorer but we don't really use it."
Question:
Hi, Do anyone have a way to get a notification when a Patch Policy have been successfully applied. Like letting the system sending an email to an Administrator notifying that all patches is now applied on a specific machine or for all selected targets?
Answer:
This is a great idea and I beleive possible but would probably involve either workflow solution or a Notification Policy. I would encourage you to speak with one of our consultancy partners as they may have the experience in creating this customisation
Question (Comment):
The workflow is great for patch management. We have expanded it to be 4-level, all happens automatically! Great tool! And PM is working perfectly within 7.6.
Answer:
Excellent! Thanks for the feedback!
Question:
Ian, why is Oxford is using 7.5+DS 6.9 combination? Are you planning to move into DS 7.6 within CMS 7.6?
Answer:
Ian answered, "The reason why we currently stuck with Deployment Solution 6.9 for deployment because it was our legacy deployment mechanism but also because it's something we've highly tuned. Our customer wants to be able to take a machine and have it deployed from start to finish and know that its deployed and know that its patched in about 45 minutes. That's our target. That we found difficult to achieve with DS 7.5 framework because its all policy based. So for organizations who wants to set-up a machine in the corner and don't really mind when it's completed, 7.5 is great for that. But, as we have a stringent requirement with the live feedback, then we currently kept with Deployment Solution 6.9. And we will migrate to Ghost Solution Suite 3.0 when those licenses get transferred."
Question:
When is ITMS 8.0 available for customers ? We are in process of standing up ITMS 7.6 in next 1-3 months.Is it advisable to install ITMS 8.0 instead of 7.6 ? Please advise.
Answer:
IT Management Suite will be generally available on Monday, March 7th.
It is difficult to make a recommendation on whether to go with 7.6 or 8.0 without having more details on your specific situation. Please contact your sales rep or a member of our Solutions PM team to discuss further. We also invite you to attend our Launch Webcast on March 23rd to learn more about 8.0 and hear from customers who have implemented it. You can sign-up for that webcast here: https://www.brighttalk.com/webcast/13361/193871?cid=70138000000jN7uAAE&mc=197526&ot=wc&tt=em
Question:
Does it require buying a new license for ITMS 8.0 inorder to upgrade from 7.6 to 8.0?
Answer:
IT Management Suite customers current on maintenance have a free entitlement for version 8.0. In addition, IT Management Suite 8.0 is an in-place upgrade from versions 7.5 and 7.6.
Question:
About Patch Management, Stefan says that they are patching all software from available vendors than Microsoft. How do they handle software build-in auto-update function?
Answer:
Stefan answered, "This is always a tricky one. We always try to actually disable to the auto update function for the products which we package because it normally interferes with the automated process of patch management. So my tip here is to disable the auto update functionality. Especially with certain applications this is important. For example if you are using Java, it can be improtant to have a certain version of Java running on the system. It has been a problem in the past if the auto update was hitting and was updating the Jave version and certain applications no longer work. It can be very important to not use the auto-update feature."