HP Client Premium Suite White Paper
Be the first to check out this just-off-the-presses white paper about the HP Client Management Suite. This suite is a management solution with a single, consistent console interface for scheduling and tracking progress of both hardware and software management tasks.
Since business networks and computer systems are always growing in size and complexity, IT departments are repeatedly asked to provide more services, with existing resources. And even as the complexities of these systems grow, there is constant pressure to reduce costs.
Administrators must reduce the complexity of their IT infrastructure. The most pervasive, yet underestimated cost is that of managing change. If an administrator can manage the changing needs and complexities of the systems, they will be successful. But they must understand both the business and technical drivers behind the complexity and make use of the tools available to them. The HP Client Premium Suite (HPCPS), jointly developed by Altiris and HP, provides a comprehensive portfolio of solutions that reduces the complexity of managing client systems throughout their lifecycle.
Introduction
IT Administrators face a variety of problems on two fronts—from the organization's growing business needs and its technical needs. To accommodate these requirements, IT departments often need to deal with growing system complexity with existing personnel resources. Adding a new server or client system may not cost much in hardware, but the effort of managing those systems and dealing with the added complexity can be difficult. Therefore, the baseline operations of the network, such as systems management, must be streamlined as much as possible.
One of the best ways to do this is to ensure that the management of numerous, constantly changing clients—including desktops, notebooks, workstations, thin clients and handhelds—is simplified as much as possible.
The business drivers in any organization are constantly evolving. Regulatory compliance issues, growing concerns over privacy protections and threats to information integrity can place significant demands on information systems. Effective system management depends on a firm understanding of the infrastructure, configurations, and revision levels of the client systems on the network.
Technical drivers are also a factor in managing the growing complexity of IT systems. The management, maintenance, and protection of client systems and their data can be time-consuming. Each client system has an OS that has to be kept secure and in perfect order. The deployment and management of applications and data must be maintained. And finally, the systems have to be secured and protected if disaster-mechanical or man-made-strikes.
All of these tasks can take an IT administrator away from other projects that need their attention. So network managers need to take advantage of the variety of tools to help with the manageability, security, and productivity of the IT systems in their enterprise.
Manageability
The HP Client Premium Suite can significantly reduce the complexity of managing the hardware and software aspects of your client systems. This suite can help you remotely and automatically administer many common client management tasks so your IT staff can work more efficiently.
The HP Client Premium Suite can help you manage a wide range of client platforms, including desktops, notebooks, workstations, thin clients, and handhelds. And it helps you manage the entire lifecycle of the device—from deployment and migration, to software distribution, asset management, backup & recovery, and problem resolution.
HPCPS communicates directly with the client computers allowing you to manage the client PC's health status. Because of the tight integration with HP hardware, you can proactively respond to hardware alerts, change BIOS settings, and even update BIOS and device drivers. These tools also provide comprehensive Web-based reports to help with planning. And you can set up policies to automate manual IT tasks and send notifications of problem conditions.
In addition to the manageability offered by HPCPS, it also integrates with other enterprise management solutions you may have such as HP OpenView and HP Systems Insight Manager.
Inventory and asset management
The HP Client Premium Suite communicates directly with the client computer to request in-depth client inventory, receive health status information, and manage system BIOS settings. You can also get information about installed software including applications, drivers, libraries, etc.
HP Client Manager (HPCM), developed with Altiris, is available for free for all supported HP business, desktop, notebook, and workstation models. It uses the same Altiris infrastructure as the other Altiris client lifecycle management solutions (including HPCPS). That way the IT staff doesn't need to worry about setting up and maintaining a separate configuration management database (CMDB). The information stored in one database offers complete and consistent inventory reports that contain details of configuration items and the relationships between them.
The HPCM is a management solution with a single, consistent console interface for scheduling and tracking progress of both hardware and software management tasks for your client systems. HPCM can be used to:
- Discover HP and non-HP client computers in your network environment.
- Detailed hardware inventory reports of your client computers.
- Hardware health monitoring from a centralized console or via local alerts on the client computer.
- Schedule HP Instant Support System Health Scan analysis and remote diagnostics to reduce client side troubleshooting.
- Remotely install drivers and BIOS updates to client computers.
- Remotely configure BIOS settings on client computers.
- Identify and inventory HP clients computers that include a TPM embedded security chip.
- Install and manage Protect Tools on supported systems.
This advanced cooperation between the system hardware and management software enables central tracking, monitoring, and management of all aspects of HP client systems. But it also provides some management for the non-HP client computers on your network. And with the Altiris Inventory Solution, a component of the HP Client Premium Suite, you get comprehensive hardware and software inventory of all the clients (HP and non-HP) on the network.
A central offering of the HP Client Premium Suite is the QuickStart page. It is the starting point for configuring and managing HP client systems. It provides essential, out-of-the-box functionality that allows for easy access to administrative tasks. The QuickStart page contains links to critical tasks in HPCPS (such as licensing and client install pages).
Software distribution
One of the biggest ongoing client management tasks is keeping the existing software on a desktop or notebook up to date. The HP Client Premium Suite includes a component called Altiris Software Delivery Solution. This tool provides:
- LAN, WAN, and remote/mobile users from a single software distribution infrastructure
- Bandwidth throttling and checkpoint recovery to ensure delivery even over slow links
- Active Directory support
- Policies to automatically alert you to delivery failures
- Web-based reporting
Another tool for software distribution is Altiris Patch Management Solution. The sheer number of patches released makes it difficult to identify which patches need to be applied and which machines need them. Altiris Patch Management Solution performs customized collection, analysis, and delivery of patches so your IT staff doesn't get bogged down when a new threat emerges.
Two more tools in the HP Client Premium Suite help can help you keep your client systems up to date: Altiris Application Metering Solution and the Altiris Application Management Solution. Application Metering Solution automatically determines which software applications and licenses are in use. This information can help you better manage license purchases and allocation of assets. The Application Management Solution helps you ensure that your applications remain in compliance with corporate standards.
All of these tools offer ongoing, policy-based distribution and management for both the connected and mobile/remote user. When a roaming or mobile has a scheduled update, the package is pushed out using dynamic bandwidth throttling and checkpoint recovery to accommodate slow connections or situations where the connection is lost during a download.
Image deployment
Rolling out new client systems or a new operating system can be expensive and time consuming if the users experience downtime or don't have immediate access to the applications and data they need to be productive. With Altiris Deployment Solution, a component of the HP Client Premium Suite, the IT staff can cut the cost and complexity of deploying and managing the desktops, workstations, notebooks, and even handhelds in your environment.
The Altiris Deployment Solution enables the hands-off mass deployment of operating systems and applications to the client computers that need them. This tool provides an easy-to-use, automated approach that offers OS deployment, configuration, PC "personality" migration, and software deployment across hardware platforms and OS types.
Deployment Solution helps cut the costs involved in the deployment and management of new and older client systems throughout all phases of their lifecycle. Deployment Solution supports Windows PE and Linux pre-boot environments.
Remote control
For a network manager, time spent at a user's desk helping them with a problem is time spent away from the bigger issues of proactive management and overall network health. And sometimes getting to a troubled user's desk is impossible because of geographic location. Remote control utilities can keep an IT administrator or help desk technician at their desk. The Altiris Carbon Copy Solution, a component of the HP Client Premium Suite, isn't your typical remote control application. It provides access to managed systems from a Web browser.
Carbon Copy Solution's integrated agent deployment and configuration simplifies distribution, while reports and notification policies track agent installations and remote sessions. This tool will help your IT department respond to network issues instantaneously so both network managers and users are more productive.
Integration with other management platforms
Altiris Connector Solution integrates Altiris solutions with your organization's other management platforms. HP Systems Insight Manager (SIM) provides a single tool for managing all HP server platforms running Windows, Linux, and HP-UX. With the HP SIM connector, co-developed with Altiris, you can now access HP Client Manager and other Altiris management functions from the SIM console. The connector extends HP SIM core functionality with client deployment, HP client hardware management, and access to additional Altiris lifecycle management functionality.
You can use the connector to discover and monitor the health of HP clients and manage systems software updates for HP clients. In addition, you can deploy new client systems through an integrated deployment wizard and remotely troubleshoot HP client problems using in-depth diagnostic reports. Through menu links to the Altiris console, you can access a variety of additional client lifecycle tasks.
HP OpenView is a portfolio of service-driven management solutions for the enterprise. By anticipating hardware and software problems before they occur, HP OpenView proactively optimizes system performance and availability. Using the Altiris Connector Pack for HP OpenView, all alerts from the HP Client Premium Suite can be forwarded to the HP OpenView console to allow tracking and issue resolution with devices and applications.
The OpenView Connector extends and enhances HP OpenView Network Node Manager, Operations, and Service Desk. Detailed client inventory is accessible from within HP OpenView, providing the information needed to properly troubleshoot problems. With the link between HP OpenView and the HP Client Premium Suite, you can reduce the time needed to resolve issues such as identifying inventory changes, image deployment, and software repair and updates.
Security
Unforeseen security problems come in many forms—from missing patches, misconfigured systems, poor security polices, and file sharing programs to outdated antivirus definitions. Even if some critical areas are well-protected but others are not, the effect is the same as if none were well protected—resources are still vulnerable. As a result, organizations are constantly struggling to increase their system security and combat security threats before they spread across the network or undermine their compliance with industry or governmental regulations.
Companies with the HP Client Premium Suite in place already have many tools at their disposal to help fight security threats. With these tools, you can control access to every asset of your management environment and maintain the integrity of the client systems on your network.
Software usage metering
By managing the software usage on the corporate network, IT staff can control the use and availability of applications. You can monitor when an application is started, stopped, or both and how long an application is used. Using Application Metering Solution with Inventory Solution, you can determine which applications are not being used so you can use their licenses elsewhere in your organization. You can even use it to lockdown unapproved applications, such as games, known viruses, spyware, and/or file sharing utilities.
Patch management
Applications and operating systems can be kept up-to-date with the latest security updates and patches. The Altiris Patch Management Solution provides a centralized aggregate view of all available patches and identifies open vulnerabilities ranked by security. Once required patches are identified, distribution wizards provide automated package and policy creation for ease and secure distribution of all required patches and updates.
Hardware and BIOS management
HP Client Manager Solution lets you modify the BIOS settings on client computers without having to individually visit and reboot each system. You can perform "F10" key functions, including the ability to set BIOS and security passwords and computer boot order from the management console. You also have the ability to turn system ports on or off to limit the exposure of client systems.
Vulnerability assessment
Altiris AuditExpress combines the traditional functions of a vulnerability scanner and the core features of an audit tool. AuditExpress audits Windows, UNIX, and Linux desktops, workstations, notebooks and servers and delivers test results in easy-to-understand smart reports. This lets you quickly identify system security vulnerabilities so you can address issues and mitigate risks. It's a software-based solution and does not require deploying any appliance or dedicated hardware. AuditExpress provides auditing such as:
- Operating system security patches
- Antivirus software status
- Personal firewall status
- Unauthorized software
- Unauthorized hardware
- System security settings
- Industry-known top vulnerabilities
Recovering from disaster
If, despite your best efforts, a system should fail—either because of a security breach, human error, or hardware failure—getting the system up and running again shouldn't be hard. Recovery solutions can protect your client systems with scheduled backups, allowing you to recover lost data or roll back to a known good state.
Altiris Local Recovery Pro offers data and file system protection. It helps your users quickly recover and get back to work when information is accidentally deleted or the OS is corrupted. Data and system state is protected through scheduled snapshots stored in a protected area on the local hard disk, secondary internal or external drive. Altiris Local Recovery Pro also supports the backup of open and locked files to preserve information in open applications such as Word or Outlook.
Productivity
One of the most important mandates to IT departments is to keep users productive with the applications and data they need. Usually the next mandate on the list is to keep costs as low as possible. Fortunately, HP Client Premium Suite helps you meet both of those goals. Because the solutions included in the suite are highly automated for ease-of-use, they enable a "hands off" environment that eliminates the need to physically visit each client device.
These solutions also leverage a core set of built-in features, including a Web-based console and help desk, handheld interface support, Web reports, and notification polities. The automated notification feature helps detect errors as they occur and alert IT staff by e-mail or a Web page for immediate resolution. These capabilities help boost the efficiency and productivity of the IT staff and the users they support.
Eliminating downtime
Users can't be productive if they don't have the applications or data they need. Technology downtime costs a company in many ways including lost revenue, reduced worker productivity, and damaged reputations with customers. The HPCPS lets you react quickly to system problems and helps you keep users online so they have access to the business applications and other technology services you provide.
Return on investment
Streamlining and consolidating costs is an ongoing challenge for IT managers. The HP Client Premium Suite offers an effective way to identify problem areas within IT operations, automate existing processes, and help to reduce ownership costs. With these solutions in place, you have the information you need to evaluate your current expenses and provide the best practices for reducing costs and improving IT efficiency.
Application deployment and management
With easy-to-use software distribution and deployment, you can ensure that users have the tools they need to be productive. This can include critical, mandatory updates as well as optional distributions. Users can accept immediate delivery of an update or postpone it to a more accommodating time.
When preparing an update, migration technology developed by Altiris can guide you through the process of capturing desktop, network, and application settings along with user data. Once captured, this "personality" data is easily transferred to the target computer to ensure proper delivery of applications and software.
Remote control
When users have problems with their client systems, the difficulty is usually traced to one of two reasons: either they don't understand how to use the software or it's not working properly. When either of these troubles occur, they typically initiate a call to the help desk. With the Altiris Carbon Copy solution included in the HP Client Premium Suite, the helpdesk technician can quickly provide Web-based remote control to solve the problem and get the user working again.
Backup and recovery
Many external events can interrupt a user's productivity, including hardware failure, data corruption, or a security threat such as a virus. Altiris Local Recovery Pro offers protection against data loss so the user can get back to work. Data and machine state snapshots can be stored locally in a protected hard drive partition, secondary internal drive or on an external drive. If a system failure occurs, a quick restore is all they need for quick access to their applications and data.
Automated patch protection
Organizations are placing increasing emphasis on automated patch management as the number of worms, viruses, and Trojan horses continues to increase and interrupt user productivity. The best way to combat security threats is to minimize problems before they strike.
Altiris Patch Management Solution lets you proactively manage patches and software updates by automating the collection, analysis, and delivery of patches across your enterprise. The solution can significantly help you decrease the costs involved in delivering your patches and integrates with Altiris Recovery Solution for stable-state rollback.
Conclusion
Meeting the business and technical needs of an organization takes a highly skilled, highly organized IT department with the appropriate training, tools, and utilities to manage the inherent complexities. The HP Client Premium Suite can simplify the complex task of managing your PC environment. Through the combination of hardware, software, and services, these solutions can help automate the dynamic link between business and IT. The HP Client Premium Suite helps ensure your end users experience seamless service while allowing your IT department to focus on business-critical needs and initiatives.
About Altiris and HP Alliance
HP and Altiris have a unique alliance that extends beyond sales and marketing to include joint development and technology sharing that spans HP Client, Server, OpenView, and Services groups to provide best of breed solutions for HP partners and customers. These joint solutions give you the power to manage a wide range of client platforms, including desktops, notebooks, workstations, thin clients, and handhelds.
Altiris, Inc. is a leading provider of service-oriented management software that enables IT organizations to easily manage, secure, and service heterogeneous IT assets. Flexible solutions from Altiris help IT align services to drive business objectives, deliver audit-ready security, automate tasks, and reduce the cost and complexity of management. For more information, please visit www.altiris.com or www.hp-altiris.com.
HP is a technology solutions provider to consumers, businesses, and institutions globally. The company's offerings span IT infrastructure, global services, business and home computing, and imaging and printing. More information about HP (NYSE, Nasdaq: HPQ) is available at www.hp.com.