Asset Management Suite

Are you ready to upgrade to Altiris 7.0?
 
An important question to ask when considering upgrading, we don’t need to just rush into installation.  Too often, want to upgrade to the next best thing before all pieces have been put together, but should we even upgrade then?  Things to consider:

• Is my environment ready?
• SQL 2005 is required, do you have the licensing to upgrade or will that be an additional purchase?
• Do I have current maintenance on my Altiris products where I will be able to upgrade?
• Technical Knowledge?
• Do I have the technical knowledge to troubleshoot if something breaks or will I constantly have to call support?
• Maybe a professional technician who has experience with this install would be better
• Do you have custom reports or code which could be broke which is business critical?
• SQL Experience is a plus when migrating the database to make sure everything is correctly placed.

All things to consider when upgrading.  And do you have the know how to make sure it works properly.  When upgrading at the company I work for we are constantly running into something breaking when upgrading Altiris, even with minor upgrades.  Authorities get changed, reports do not work correctly, imports do not work, etc.  Due to a custom environment we have issues, currently we are working on implementing to Altiris 7, which many technicians are not happy about due to the integration of the deployment console and custom job will have to be moved and recreated.  However, this is a move we are making regardless and you should consider it too.   Altiris 7 has more flexibility and with additional components constantly being added to get the full benefit of Altiris you need to move to the current version but not without proper testing and configuration to make sure it works properly in your environment. 
 
One key lesson which should always be practiced is test test test before implementing anything no matter how big or small it may be.  Always ask the necessary questions and make sure the answers are clear before the installation package is even clicked on