The KACE evaluation

We have been working on doing the KACE evaluation as a replacement for LANDesk. This article will list the things that we do and do not like in the box, and how it would compare with LANDesk.  This article only relates to the KBOX (patch, asset, inventory), but not imaging, as Steve Bibler is working on this part.

Before diving into the details, I have to disclaim that the test I've made are with a system completely brand new to me, and some of the statements may be false or not completely accurate due to my lack of deep knowledge of the product

WHAT WE LIKE: 


   AGENT AND REMOTE CONTROL:

• Agent foot print is tiny (about 12Mb installed on the machine)
• The CPU usage has not surpassed 3 to 7% CPU during a full computer inventory.
• Agent installation takes around 1 minute (+/-) to fully install on a workstation, and the only requirement is that port 139,445 are open. (and UAC turned off for Windows 7) 
• Pushing the remote control agent (test with UltraVNC) is a breeze, and also installs in less than a minute
• Once installed, controlling a workstation, from connection time to desktop showing up is about 1 second, and only requires a password before connection. (settings adjustable in this case)
• A very easy uninstaller can be created for both the KBox agent itself, as well as the remote control module. al
• The agent for the Mac pushes flawlessly, and remote control for the mac is flawless, with some points to note on this one:
• To push an agent to the Mac, "Remote Login" needs to be turned on
• To allow remote control of a Mac, no software needs to be installed, however, Remote Management needs to be turned on, and the password for VNC needs to be set.  (hopefully those two options can be turned on with ARD as a general push

   PACKAGES:

• Creating packages is very flexible, especially when a package is an MSI with arguments. It's very granular that very small items, like registry changes can be made on the fly during a package installation, and inserting logic that would change the behavior of the installation based on previous action results.  This also results in a negative poing, seen below, in the "WHAT WE DON'T LIKE" section.
• An email notification alert system is available for computers that meet a certain criteria. (i.e get notified if a computer's aka server, disk space is running out). The criteria can target any number of parameters.
• A lot of information is already available on Appdeploy.com for creating packages. 
• In association with the VMWare ThinApp product, it will be very rare that we would find any package that we cannot push with the KBOX. 
• Logging of packages and agents are mostly logs generated from within Windows, and are fairly easy to track back and resolve. (this was a big problem with LANDesk). Of 25 test workstations (which is the limit of the KBOX trial), 100% have succeeded in pushing an agent, and remote control. 
• Creating a distribution package made with the LANDesk Packager (same ones used with LANDesk, no recreation necessary). was EXTREMELY simply. 
• Pushing a LANDesk packaged application (1.1 Gb in size) across the WAN to Glenmeade, took less than 2 minutes to successfully complete, from the first try. This is a huge win.  
• All methods of scripting (Online, Offline and Online shell scripts) successfully tested. This one is a big advantage once we start really leveraging this functionality.  Online shell scripts can take any data we generate within a script on the workstation, and send it back to the KBOX and embed it within that machine's inventory information. Could be very useful. 

   INTERFACE AND USER FEATURES:

• An Alert Box system, which would allow a KBOX admin to broadcast a message to any or all users connected with an agent. (good for sending messages to Aeries users, or during a virus outbreak, etc...) . Tested successfully on PCs and on Macs. 
• A Service Desk feature, which would allow for entering work order items related to specific assets. Even though not integrated with TrackIT, this could be useful for people to use in the User Portal to submit work orders that would be categorized, and linked to the user's assets. This would make it much easier for the helpdesk to sort through use requests and process them. 
• A knowledge-base, accessible to both admins, and public users that can be references in the format of KB000#, with commonly asked questions, etc .... 
• Navigation of the KBOX is very circular (in a positive way). One can start from a workstation, look at active tasks, edit the active tasks, see the targeted workstations from the active tasks, and go back to the workstation from the active task. It's very easy and intuitive. 
• Labels are the equivalent of queries and device groups in LANDesk. 3 types of Labels can be created: Static, Smart Labels, and LDAP based labels. These all exist in LANDesk, but are much more simply implemented in the KBOX. Creating LDAP Queries would help us target devices based on their security group memberships in Active Directory: an item we're working on implementing in the future. 
• Still to be discovered: iPhone configurations can be pushed, and a native iPhone profile interface is available for the user portal. 
• Basic mobile device interface access for viewing inventory and tasks. Triggering actions would not be possible from mobile devices, as it would require ActiveX. 
• All users are fully Active Directory integrated for authentication, LDAP Queries, and user portal. 

   REPORTING:

• KBOX has quite a few canned reports. Unlike LANDesk, the canned reports are actually customizable. They contain both SQL based queries, as well Wizard driven report creation tools. 

   PATCHING and POWER MANAGEMENT:

• Patching has been successfully tested, and is fairly easy to manage and track. Something we can't easily state about LANDesk. 
• Power management is quite simple, and takes on the same model of package and script distribution. It uses the Windows powercfg command through an easy to configure wizard. Haven't fully tested it, but we do know that script pushes work, and that local powercfg commands work on both Windows XP and Windows 7. At this point, it would be combining the two actions, to create a successful power management model.  
• Wake On LAN is as simple as any other product. Allows for grouping with labels. However, does not have a native way to run across subnets. (This would be a change we would have to make in our network in order to support it. 

WHAT WE DON'T LIKE:

   

   STORAGE:

• Storage seems to be limited to either 250 or 500Gb for the KBOX, (as well as the iKBOX). Supposedly, the VMware version can be as big a drive as it is given on the data store. However, it's still unknown whether the data store can reside on different physical arrays for storing images and packages. 

   PACKAGES:

• Creating packages can be a little bit daunting at first, as in some instances, it does require the admin to know how the package is installed via command line, and in some cases, manual registry changes, and other. 

   INTERFACE AND USER FEATURES:

• The interface is very limited in what it can function on. Everything is based on ActiveX, which means that Firefox or any other browser, aside from IE, will have severe limitation on the functionality of KBOX. 
• This is not too much of a bad thing, as much it is an inconvenience: a lot of ActiveX security exceptions need to be made in the IE Trusted Sites section for all the functions to work in the KBOX interface. 
• Though web-based, and very fast at that, much customization is needed before the interface functions correctly. 

 SUPPORT:

• This may have been a one off, but the experience I had with support was mediocre, and dealt with a support person who didn't know what AMP is (which is the main communication component in the KBOX). On the other hand, Steve Bibler says that he had a good experience, so that has yet to be fully verified. 
• The Knowledge base is mediocre at best. The articles are very much out of date, and there is much documentation available that I could find. 

Overall,  from a management standpoint, the KACE 1000 is, hands down, at least 10 times easier to manage than LANDesk is. It is simpler to understand, and has a much shallower learning curve. 

The scripting and distribution are strong points, though they require a lot of work to get them initially setup, but they are almost infinitely expandable, to a level of complexity that is only limited by what we can write. 

Remote control, works flawlessly, at least within the 25 node trial we had, on both Macs and PCs, and the agent foot print is tiny, and installs, and uninstalls in less than 3 minutes.  

Please note that this review only covers the Inventory/Patch/Remote Control  and general desktop management, but it does not cover the KBOX 2000 which has to do with imaging. Steve Bibler has been working on that part, and can be a better resource in evaluating it if anyone is curious.