Desktop management suite RFP - Intel

Requirement Summary:

Product features should include:

Hardware and Software Inventory, Electronic Software Distribution, Remote Control, Common Database, WBEM, CIM, License Metering, Printer Management, Virus Checking, Support for 10,500 users, and Management Across Slow WAN Links.

Network Operating System Support Requirement:

NetWare*, Windows NT*, Active Directory or Novell Directory Services*.

Operating System Support Requirement:

Windows* 95, Windows NT, Macintosh*.

Recommendation: Intel LANDesk Management Suite 6.3

Intel� LANDesk� Management Suite provides full support for NetWare servers, NDS*, Windows NT servers and Windows NT domains, and it provides a common interface for managing the clients of both network operating systems. On the client side, Management Suite supports varieties of Windows, Linux*, DOS, Macintosh, and OS/2* clients.

Intel LANDesk Management Suite includes three pieces that work together to provide powerful management capabilities; Desktop Manager, Server Manager and Client Manager:

Intel LANDesk Desktop Manager - lets you take hands-on control of any client or server in your network. Desktop Manager works as well on a network with 200 managed nodes as it does on a network with 10,000 managed nodes.

Intel LANDesk Desktop Manager provides:

Inventory - Gathers software and hardware information for clients and servers that can be viewed individually or collectively through database queries. Inventory can help you plan for system and Operating System upgrades.

Remote Tools - Diagnose and troubleshoot problems on remote workstations from your computer. You can remote control, reboot the workstation and transfer files between computers.

Software Distribution - Automates the process of installing software applications or distributing files to clients and servers.

Software Metering - Tracking of software licenses to ensure you don't violate license limits and ensure your users can access the software they need when they need it.

Norton AntiVirus* - Scan for viruses on client workstations. The configurability of this virus detection software lets you choose from an array of scanning and disposal options.

Web Tools - The Management Suite Web Components are a series of predefined Web pages containing links to featured HTML-based Management Suite tools. The Web Components extend key management tools on the LANDesk Management console to the Web. With the Web component files installed on a Web server, you can turn any computer on the network into a management console with very little overhead. Management tools that were once only available from specific, dedicated computers can be accessed by any computer with a Web browser such as Netscape Communicator * or Internet Explorer (IE). While the Web Components do not replace the more fully-featured management consoles, you can use them to perform these management tasks:

Remote control a computer
Run predefined and custom inventory queries on the DataMart
Create predefined reports from inventory information in the DataMart
Execute Wake on LAN* technology
View Client Manager 4.0 for clients in the DataMart (IE only)

Intel LANDesk Server Manager - keeps critical servers up and running with comprehensive crisis-alerting server management. Offering an extensive set of control and monitoring capabilities, Intel LANDesk Server Manager remote control lets you view your NetWare and Windows NT server screens to quickly diagnose and fix problems before they become serious.

Intel LANDesk Server Manager provides:

Remote control, which enables fast restoration of business-critical systems
Supports for both Windows NT and NetWare operating platforms for maximum flexibility and operating efficiency
Alerting of both critical and non-critical events, with notification by pager, e-mail, or pop-up messages on the management console
Valuable data when troubleshooting a downed server through continuous memory loop records of most recent server activity.
Monitoring of server hardware and network operating system performance, including disk space consumption, processor utilization, and cache memory availability
SNMP trap alerting for integration with your enterprise management console

An additional upgrade to the Server Manager Pro Software/Hardware solution provides the following additional functionality:

Intel LANDesk Server Manager Pro - keeps critical servers up and running with comprehensive crisis-averting server management. Offering an extended set of control and monitoring capabilities, Intel LANDesk Server Manager Pro provides computer-within-computer technology that monitors your servers around-the-clock at any location.

Intel LANDesk Server Manager Pro provides:

Out-of-band remote control enabling fast restoration of business-critical servers (seamless software and hardware redirection)
Power cycling of your servers through the Intelligent power module (110v or 220v)
Temperature and voltage metering to continuously monitor your server for adverse environmental conditions

Intel LANDesk Client Manager - provides Web-Based Enterprise Management (WBEM) and Common Interface Model (CIM) support, which will allow managing multi-vendor systems across the enterprise. IBM, Dell, Gateway, and almost 50 other PC manufacturers supply Client Manager. LANDesk Client Manager 6 provides troubleshooting and problem resolution tools, and an event log to track system activity. Most importantly, it lets IT manage client systems remotely via the Web day or night, from any location.

LANDesk Client Manager, functions across dial-up, ISDN, or faster connections. Internet Explorer showcases the information reported with Client Manager, including health monitoring of the hard drives, processor, power supply, fans, memory, BIOS, and chassis intrusion. Client Manager reports software inventory, peripherals, system resources, and Alert on LAN* functionality. It also shares the Common Base Agent and Alert Management System in LANDesk Management Suite, enabling powerful integration with the software distribution, remote control, alert forwarding and other capabilities in LANDesk Management Suite.

LANDesk Management Suite Functionality by Client

This table identifies the supported workstation, operating systems, protocols, and key functions of Intel LANDesk Management Suite.

Key Function	DOS	Win- dows/ Win- dows for Work- goups	Win- dows 95/ Win- dows 98	Win- dows NT Work- sta- tion	Win- dows NT Server	Net- Ware Servers	OS/2	Mac- in- tosh	Linux
Ver -sions Sup- ported	MS-DOS v6.22+; PC-DOS 7.0	v3.1+	Plain or OSR2	v3.51, v4.0	v3.51, v4.0	3.1x, 4.1x, 5	v4.0+	Sys- tem 7+, Pow- erPC	Red Hat* Linux 5.2 & 6.0, Cal- dera Open- Linux* 1.3 & 2.2, SuSE* 6.1
Prot- ocols	IPX*, Net- BIOS	IPX*, TCP/IP, Net- BIOS	IPX*, TCP/IP, Net- BIOS	IPX*, TCP/IP, Net- BIOS	IPX*, TCP/IP, Net- BIOS	IPX*, TCP/IP, Net- BIOS	IPX*, TCP/IP	Mac- in- tosh, IPX*, TCP/IP	TCP/IP
Intel LAN- Desk Mana- gment Suite Console sup- port	No	No	Yes	Yes (Win- dows NT v4.0)	Yes (Win- dows NT v4.0)	No	No	No	No
Re- mote Con- trol	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Real- time Diag- nostics	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No
Inven- tory (hard- ware & soft- ware)	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Soft- ware Meter- ing
Local app- lica- tions	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No
Server app- lica- tions	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes (Can meter apps run from server)	Yes (Can meter apps run from server)	No	No	No
Soft- ware Dis- trib- ution
Push	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No (client can receive a push)	No	No	No
Pull	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No (client can receive a pull)	No	No	No
Virus pro- tec- tion	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No
Server Man- ager	No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes, 3.x, 4.x, 5 & Unix- Ware	No	No	No
Client Man- ager	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No

How does Management Suite fit into your Network?

Management Suite uses the infrastructure of your existing network to establish connections with the devices it manages. With Management Suite, the job of managing your existing network is greatly simplified, whether you manage a network of 200 nodes, 10,000 nodes or 50,000 nodes.

The most important concept that you need to understand before you begin installing and deploying is the LANDesk Management Suite domain. Here's a basic Management Suite domain:

Management Suite Terminology

Core Server - the center of a management domain. All the key files and services for Management Suite are on the core server. A management domain has only one core server.

Management Console - where you conduct management activities such as taking remote control of a managed node.

Databases - Management Suite requires one database for metering information and another for management information.

Service Centers - Servers that host one or more management services. These are the types of services that can be installed on a server to reduce the load on the core server and provide services to remote sites: Metering Relay, Software Distribution, Client Deployment, and Certificate Authority. By default, the core server contains all services.

Managed Nodes - any devices in your network that have LANDesk agents installed. This includes client workstations and servers.

Patchwork LANDesk Domain Design Recommendation

LANDesk Management Suite Architecture

Not unlike many LAN management tools, LANDesk Management Suite will require that the organization's infrastructure be in place in order for LANDesk to take full advantage of that infrastructure. The following section outlines key components of an organization's infrastructure that will act as a catalyst for providing optimum management of the enterprise. LANDesk Management Suite can be leveraged as both a workgroup and an enterprise wide product.

The recommended architecture of LANDesk Management Suite in an enterprise model is a two-tier hierarchy of physical sites or locations. This tiered architecture allows for asset collection and distribution of asset management information and makes it possible to audit large networks over the WAN.

Cleveland Site

The Cleveland site or headquarters will warehouse all the asset information from all NetWare and Windows NT Servers and clients including DOS, Windows 3.x, Windows 95, OS/2, Macintosh, Linux and Windows NT Workstations. The Cleveland site will maintain the enterprise database for users within the entire domain. Cleveland can maintain management of both local and remote sites as well as be a central repository of information. The enterprise implementation of LANDesk Management Suite will include an enterprise database as well as an enterprise DataMart.

Under the current Patchwork enterprise model, Cleveland would represent the core LANDesk Management Server with all the users and computers maintained from this central location.

The Cleveland site will act as the central site for collection of inventory information from the various sites within the enterprise. Each site will have its own LANDesk Management Suite Service Center. The Patchwork enterprise LANDesk Management Suite design does not require additional databases or dedicated servers at remote sites.

Windows NT Service Centers

Within the pre-designed domain structure, an organization can utilize a member server for a LANDesk Service Center. With a member server selected, there are several mediums for configuring clients for manageability. If the member server is also a logon server, that server can perform logon authentication for any client in the enterprise. As a logon server, it can call a logon script. LANDesk Management Suite provides three batch files to configure clients for manageability through TCP/IP, IPX and NetBEUI during client logon.

NetWare Service Centers

LANDesk Management Suite provides the unique ability to manage clients via both NetWare and Windows NT servers. Within organizations that have both NetWare and Windows NT, LANDesk can easily configure clients through these servers or simply use these servers as service centers for features such as Software Distribution or Software Metering.

With clients of NetWare, LANDesk can configure a pre-existing NetWare server to provide manageability to those clients via system or container login scripts and groups. The NetWare configuration will create three groups to quickly manage clients of a NetWare server.

Client Configuration

Unique to LANDesk Management Suite is the ability to configure clients of both Windows NT and NetWare. In other words, a client is configured for manageability during the initial login/logon to either a Windows NT or NetWare server. Client configuration depends on whether the user's OS is Windows NT, Windows 3.x, Windows 9.x or DOS.

Because of the flexible interface to LANDesk Management Suite, users can be configured over IP, IPX or NetBEUI. The client setup within LANDesk is equally flexible. Desktop operators can create any number of customized configurations for a set of users or groups. By default, users are configured with all the LANDesk Management Suite agents required to allow management of that workstation. The agent is enabled to provide immediate management of that workstation.

Remote/Nomadic (Dial-Up)

Patchwork has a number of nomadic users that use dial-up in order to access their logon servers. LANDesk Management Suite can gather inventory information from dial-up users in a myriad of different ways. If the remote users authenticate to one of the logon servers, the client will run a client configuration setup utility that will place agents on the workstation required for Remote Control, Software Distribution, Metering, Virus Protection and Inventory.

Patchwork's LANDesk Management Suite System Requirements

Multi-Server Configuration

For optimum performance, we recommend that you install the Management Suite Core server and database servers on three separate computers for management domains with 2,500-10,000 nodes.

Based on Patchwork's requirements, 3 servers are needed to create the LANDesk Management domain. To anticipate future growth, we recommend that the 3 servers be equipped as follows.

Core Server

Dual Intel Pentium® III processors
Hard disk type: SCSI/ultra-wide SCSI disks. Capacity: 1 GB.
256 MB RAM
Windows NT 4.0 Server SP5, MDAC 2.1GA

2 Database Servers (Production Database Server and DataMart Database Server)

Dual Intel Pentium III® processors
Hard disk type: ultra-wide SCSI/ MC, ultra-wide SCSI disks, or disk array. Capacity: 2 GB.
1 GB RAM
One of the following database versions:

- Microsoft SQL* Server 6.5 or 7
- Oracle* Work Group Server 8.0.5
- IBM DB2* Universal Database for Windows NT 5.2

Summary

Doing more with less means achieving management economy. Studies conducted by Forrester Research indicate that the cost of PC ownership (TCO) is approximately $8,000 per PC, per year. Nearly half of this cost (47 percent) is associated with support and management. Day-to-day technical support, user downtime, enlisting a colleague's assistance, and disaster recovery are the largest contributors.

So how do you work smarter and accomplish more with less? Through extensive market research, the Gartner Group developed the following list of "Best Practices." These "Best Practices" set the stage for exactly what Management Suite can do for you.

Electronic software distribution: Automate installing software and distributing updated files.
Automated inventory tools: Track software and hardware inventory; back-up configuration files.
Software metering tools: Track license usage; automate enforcement of licensing policies.
Remote control of PCs/servers: Eliminate the footwork.
Monitoring network events: Receive alerts about critical server and traffic events.

Intel LANDesk Management Suite offers the comprehensive solution needed by Patchwork, to manage and reduce the cost of ownership of their desktop systems. Through the use of LANDesk Management Suite, Patchwork can quickly increase its IT staff's productivity and reduce the response time to resolve user issues. LANDesk Management Suite provides the ability to remotely solve problems, track software and hardware inventory, generate reports, quickly distribute software, meter applications, manage critical servers and protect clients against viruses in a heterogeneous environment. Coupled with several deployment options, Patchwork will achieve a quick return on investment with LANDesk Management Suite.

Product Cost

At the 10,500 node volume level, Intel LANDesk Management Suite 6.3 retails for $50 per managed node.

When you buy Intel LANDesk management solutions, you can take advantage of various complementary services from our Intel LANDesk Deployment VAR (DVAR) channel. The DVAR team consists of a qualified sales and technical force that can provide fast, professional assistance with the sale and deployment of the Intel LANDesk software. This means that your management system will be installed quickly and perform to your expectations, while allowing you to take advantage of the specialized programs and savings offered only to DVAR customers.

For more information about Intel LANDesk Management Suite, visit this following Web site:
www.intel.com/network/ products/landesk/index.htm or call 800-982-2130.
*Other brands and names are the property of their respective owners.

Read the Patchwork RFP

Vendor responses:

Aprisma Management Technologies