The beta everyone has been waiting for is here, the release where Altiris finally joins the 64-bit age, the release everyone has been waiting for. The screenshots in this guide reference the beta and can and will probably change before release. This is not an exhaustive review of the system, but quick impressions.
The big change is the requirements software/operating system wise that are required:
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Windows Server 2008 R2
- This is 64-bit only
- SQL Server 2005 and SQL Server 2008
- Microsoft Silverlight
- Microsoft .NET 3.5 SP1 or higher
The biggest thing to note is finally we are moving to a 64-bit platform and I can stop cringing before I explain that Altiris still runs on Windows 32-bit only. There are some minor gotchas during the install but the Install Readiness Check should take care of all of them for you.
Let’s get on to the cool stuff…
The above screenshot covers the new console shown from the computers point of view. The first thing I noticed was it looks a bit like Outlook, but overall pretty excited about the change.
The computer section is broken down into Saved Searches and All Computer Views. Saved Searches is prepopulated with New Computers and Installed Agent. Other saved searches can be created and saved in this location. The All Computer Views is built from the Organizational View and Groups and utilizes what you have setup there.
By clicking on the computer (in this case Beta7) it provides a basic resource manager view on the device (same view as the Resource Summary page in Resource Manager). All other functionality is similar in this section including right click options.
New to the computer view is the fly-out on the right side of the console that include options such as the Resource Manager, Installed Software Reports, and other right click options (see the following screenshot).
The Jobs and Tasks and Policies sections are similar to navigating to Manage -> Jobs and Tasks or Manage -> Policies. See the following screenshot.
The other that has gone through a lot of change is the “Software” portion of the console (see the next screenshot) and is broken into three sections: Installed Software, Metered Software, and Deliverable Software.
All of the software listed here is either from the software catalog or from software inventory. Since I have Asset Management installed, I have the ability to add or manage my license for the particular piece of software. Metered Software allows me to leverage Usage Tracking and create new Application Metering policies. Deliverable Software is where I work w/ the Software Catalog and have the ability to create software delivery policies.
When I select a piece of software and click on “Manage this software” a new window opens:
From here I can define the inventory information, whether or not I am metering the software, configure the software delivery information, and then if you are using Asset what software licenses.
Adding a new software resource is done through managing the software catalog.
One of the cool things I haven’t figured out is the changes to Workflow in ITSM 7.1. The following screenshot shows some of the changes.
The Workflow Enterprise Management provides health of your different workflow servers. But I don’t know much more about it and looking forward to learning more.
I hope this brief overview of some of the changes to ITSM 7.1
A Conservative Techie 