Symantec Management Platform (Notification Server)

A few Windows 8 machines are creeping into our network so upper management is asking me when I'll be able to manage them with Altiris.  I'm only at SMP 7.1 SP2 MP1.1 where I'm curious whether it's time to jump into the fire (hehe) yet or not with SMP 7.5?  If so, is it as simple as upgrading via SIM and any "gotchas" I should be aware of?  Thanks in advance!

It all depends on what typoe of management you wish to do.

Deployment Server 6.9 SP6 supports Windows 8.x, and so does 7.5 HF3 I beleiev (HF4 is already out).

There are plenty of 7.5 documents that you should read concerning migrating.

Searching Connect as well as the KB for issues should also be a priority, especially as some users are already warning people to wait for the first service pack, which is what most large customers do anyway.

As you mentioned, I'd prefer waiting for the next/first service pack for SMP 7.5 if at all possible.  Upper management mainly wants patch management functional on Win 8.x machines so does the fact that http://www.symantec.com/docs/DOC6193 makes no mention of patch management indicate this is supported without any mods to the Win8 clients or my server?

I couldnt say as I dont have any Win8 machines. As that article is from Nov 2012, pleasw check the 7.1.2 mp1.1 v8ru release notes to see if any Win8 improvements have been included or not. Apart from that, the only other thing to do would be to take this scenario to the lab in order go find out.

7.1.2 MP1.1 v8RU has the folloiwng Win8 known issues according to its release notes:

 

The Windows 2000/XP/Vista/7/8Workstations filter description does not contain Windows 8 OS.

 

File Baseline Compare task fails on Windows 8 64-bit client computer.  Workaround = On the File Baseline Task page, on the Task options tab, click Advanced, and then change End Task property to 60 minutes.

I'm still running 7.1 SP2 MP1.1 Rollup 4 and am successfully patching Windows 8 and 2012 computers.  No issues with Patch that I'm aware of.

For what it's worth, I think the upgrade to 7.5 (from 7.1) was the smoothest we've ever had. Make sure you create good backups. You'll especially want to back up your deployment share as you'll need files from that later, and there are lot of DS changes.

The biggest issue we've had is related to a Software Management Solution defect, which is described in TECH213420. It is supposed to be fixed in HF5 which is currently due by the end of the month.

Just curious how you rolled out the Symantec Management Agent to these Win 8.x machines and what prep work was necessary to ensure a successful install on these unsupported OSes?  Trying to convince upper management that it'd be best that we wait for SMP 7.5 SP1 (considering all the chatter I see on issues with the initial 7.5 release) but need to prepare for the possibility that I'll be forced to move before then.

I haven't gotten into using DS yet so probably can afford to lose whatever's currently in there?  Also, my old Altiris 6 server with the HIIS add-on never quite worked to my expectations (sometimes didn't work at all) so that's why OS deployment is on the backburner for me.

So was upgrading from 7.1 to 7.5 just a matter of firing up SIM and letting it do its thing?

There is no built-in filter for Windows 8 computers so I had to make one and then changed my agent install policy to target that new filter.  I didn't do anything beyond that. 

Back up your images before upgrading!