Dell and Altiris, now part of Symantec, have partnered to deliver Dell Client Manager Standard, a unified, expandable management framework for managing all aspects of Dell PCs. It provides administrators the ability to view detailed hardware inventory and BIOS settings, upgrade and configure the BIOS remotely, and remotely monitor hardware health and system status.

In addition to these features, Dell Client Manager Standard also includes a variety of features which enable Administrators to take advantage of exciting new management technologies such as the Intel vPro Technology.

The Intel® vPro™ technology provides built-in, professional grade management and security capabilities - at the hardware level, including improved remote management, provisioning, problem resolution, off-hours maintenance, and proactive security.

The purpose of this paper is to overview the Intel vPro technology and show how Dell Client Manager Standard takes advantage of this technology to provide the best management solution for your Dell environment. In addition, this paper will also highlight some advanced features of vPro.

• What is vPro technology?
  • Components
  • Requirements
  • Advantages
• What is Dell Client Manager?
  • Components
  • Requirements
  • vPro Features of Dell Client Manager Standard
• Advanced vPro Features in Altiris Client Management Suite
• Conclusion

What is vPro Technology?

Intel® vPro™ technology provide down-the-wire proactive security and manageability capabilities-even for PCs whose power is off or whose operating system is down. These PCs also include virtualization capabilities that allow IT managers to enhance third-party virtualization technologies.

Components

The following hardware components make up the Intel vPro Platform:

• Intel Q965 Express Chipset
• Intel Core2 Duo Processor
• Intel 82566DM Gigabit Network Adapter

In addition to these hardware components, these key technologies make up Intel vPro:

• Intel Active Management Technology (AMT) - Enables management software to remotely discover, heal, and protect computing assets in any operational state, including when machines are powered down or the operating system has failed.
• Intel Virtualization Technology (VT) - Includes a set of processor enhancements that improve traditional software-based virtualization solutions.
• Intel® Trusted Execution Technology (TXT) - Provides hardware-based mechanisms that help protect against software-based attacks and protects the confidentiality and integrity of data stored or created on the client PC.

Requirements

To gain the many advantages of Intel® vPro™, the following requirements need to be:

• Intel® vPro™ Capable System, such as the Dell OptiPlex 755 or Latitude 630c
• Intel® vPro™ Capable Management Software
• System must have A/C power (plugged in)
• System must have a network cable connected

Advantages

Desktop PCs with Intel® vPro™ technology are specifically designed to address the top IT challenges in manageability and security. These PCs provide simple remote management and tamper-resistant security capabilities, so IT has more control where they need it-at the IT console. Some of the capabilities enabled by PCs with Intel vPro technology are:

• Asset inventory - Intel vPro allows you to securely discover systems regardless of power state.
• Hardware and software inventory - Regardless of a systems power state, IT can track and inventory hardware and software assets on a PC, including BIOS settings, make model, and warranty information, etc.
• Remote problem resolution - IT can diagnose and resolve more problems remotely, regardless of PC power state or the state of the OS, reducing the cost of deskside visits, increasing user uptime, and saving IT resources for new services.
• Robust, hardware-based safety - IT can protect systems with two new layers of security, including virtualization, so third-party security software is always available when needed, and viruses, worms, and other threats can be identified faster and stopped more effectively.
• Higher performance - These PCs, powered by the state-of-the-art, 64-bit dual-core Intel® Core™2 Duo processor based on Intel® Core™ microarchitecture, are designed to deliver increased performance and responsiveness in a multitasking environment. IT can now run virus scans, email synchronization, backups, and other tasks in the background without bogging down applications.
• Energy efficiency - The Intel Core 2 Duo processor delivers power-optimized performance through an efficient design foundation based on Intel® Intelligent Power Capability. Intel Intelligent Power Capability uses ultrafine-grained power control to turn processor functions "on" only when needed, thus reducing processor power use.

What is Dell Client Manager?

Dell Client Manager Standard is a powerful hardware management solution for Dell Precision™ workstations, OptiPlex™ desktops, and Latitude™ notebooks. Dell Client Manager Standard provides a web-based management console allowing you to remotely discover systems, inventory BIOS and hardware properties, configure or update the BIOS on multiple computers simultaneously, and monitor the hardware health of key systems.

Components

Dell Client Manager Standard plugs into the Altiris Notification Server Platform. This platform provides a web-based management console, management agent, reporting engine and Configuration Management Database (CMDB). The Notification Server Platform is free.

• Notification Server
• Dell Client Manager Standard Solution - This solution contains the following components:
  • Network Discovery
  • Out-Of-Band Management
  • Real-Time Console Infrastructure (RTCI)
  • Event Integration Component
  • Task Management
  • Active Directory Component
  • Prebuilt Reports
  • Documentation

Requirements

Dell Client Manager Standard requires that you install and configure the Altiris Notification Server™. Notification Server is included in the Dell Client Manager Standard installation for new customers.

• Notification Server Minimum Requirements
  • PROCESSOR - 800 MHz or faster
  • MEMORY - 1 GB RAM
  • HARD DRIVE - 20 GB available
  • OPERATING SYSTEM -Windows® 2003 Server SP1 or Windows® 2000 Server SP4
  • DATABASE - Microsoft® SQL Server 2000 SP3 or 2005
  • BROWSER - Microsoft® Internet Explorer 6 or later

• Management Agent Minimum Requirements
  • OPERATING SYSTEM - Microsoft® Windows® 2000 SP3, or later
  • AVAILABLE DISK SPACE - 5 MB disk space for Altiris Agent,
  • MEMORY - 64 MB RAM

vPro Features of Dell Client Manager Standard

• Remote Configuration - Using Dell Client Manager Standard with Intel® vPro™ based systems can provide a Remote Configuration (formerly "Zero Touch") experience.
• Remote Discovery - With the Network Discovery component (apart of DCM Standard) it's easy to find and track Intel® vPro™ Processor Technology based systems. Discovery can be performed by IP Range or by specifying a "seed" device, such as a router or switch.
• Remote Hardware Inventory - Even for powered off systems Dell Client manager can inventory Intel vPro based systems pulling the inventory from the non volatile storage and putting it into the configuration management database.
• Remote Power Control - On a one-to-one or one-to-many basis, Dell Client manager allows you to power on, off, or cycle Intel vPro based systems. These power operations are routable and reliable. In addition, authentication occurs for each power operation ensuring secure operations.
• Restore Power State - Dell Client Manager Standard and first query for an Intel vPro system's power state, perform tasks on that system, then restore it's previous power state. This results in fewer systems being left on for management purposes and saves energy costs.
• Proactive Alerting - Dell Client Manager can receive alerts/events from Intel vPro based systems regardless of power or OS state (i.e. Blue Screen).
• Task Sequencing - The Altiris Task Server helps drive consistency by creating processes around structured, repeatable execution of sequenced tasks. Tasks may include a variety of operations including vPro provisioning operations, vPro power operations, script execution, and policy enforcement.

Advanced vPro Features in Altiris Client Management Suite

• System Defense (Network Filtering) - Hardware filtering of network traffic which blocks all inbound and outbound network traffic from malicious systems preventing threats from spreading.

  Using the Real-time System Manager, administrators can limit any network traffic to and from the operating system of the target computer using hardware-based filters. For example, one can isolate an infected computer from the network and stop threats from spreading by activating the network filter on that device. Once activated, the network filter will block all ports except for those required by the Altiris Agent to communicate with the Altiris Management Server. Once quarantined, administrators can remotely remediate the problem. Administrators can prevent a computer infected by a virus from sending malicious packets by forcing the identity verification of outgoing network traffic. If the computer is suspected of originating malicious attacks, known as "IP spoofing", System Defense will drop the malicious packets.

• Serial Over LAN - Provides the ability to remotely view and take control of a client prior to it's loading of the production operating system.

  Using the Real-time System Manager Solution, administrators can reboot hung systems and watch the boot process. Remote administration of the BIOS is possible as the Serial Over LAN feature will retired input from the Altiris Management Console to the connected client. This allows administrators to start a remote console session and change BIOS settings, view startup messages, run diagnostics, or even reinstall a broken OS.

• IDE Redirect - Provides the ability to change the clients boot device to an .ISO image or CD located on the remote management server or CD/DVD rom.

  Using the Real-time System Manager Solution, administrators can perform a full system recovery or simply copy corrupt or missing files. Administrators may have many client computers that have a certain program installed and are experiencing a blue screen when starting Windows due to a bad .dll file. IDE Redirect will remotely boot to a clean ISO which copies a new version of the corrupted file to remediate the problem.

• Agent Presence - Provides a hardware-based "heartbeat" timer that helps to make sure security and software agents remain present.

  Using the Real-time System Manager Solution, administrators can view all the currently registered agents and their status.

The following table outlines the Intel VPro features and solutions provided by Dell Client Manager and the Altiris Client Management Suite.

Conclusion

Dell, Intel, and Altiris have partnered to deliver a unified, expandable management framework for managing all aspects of Dell PCs as well as other vendor hardware from a single console.

Dell Client Manager offers Dell customers a variety of options for managing the hardware, BIOS and health status of their Dell Systems. With Intel vPro based systems, those management capabilities are extended allowing IT organization to remotely, securely access and manage systems regardless of their power or operating system state.

The Altiris Client Management Suite provides additional value to Dell client Manager by including a combination of solutions for complete IT lifecycle management. This includes inventory, software delivery, application metering, patch management, client backup/recovery, OS deployment and migration. In addition, the Altiris Client Management Suite builds upon the management features of Dell Client Manager by adding advanced vPro management capabilities.

Learn more about Dell Client Manager™ at www.altiris.com/dellclientmanager or www.dell.com/openmanage.

To learn more about Intel vPro, visit www.dell.com/environment.