Symantec Management Platform (Notification Server)

All,

I've only recently started learning Altiris Notification server as it was sent down with my BESR 2010 upgrades. I'm a little lost on it, it all is looking very foreign to me,and Idon't know if the things I'm trying to do with it are being done right, or what. I've tried pushing down the Altiris Client to around 11 workstations. The server says that it is "Starting Altiris Agent Install Service". It has been there for about a week now, and I can't do anything to the console. Can't remove the computer, can't do anything. Help? And is the Altiris NS something that Symantec is giving me, or is it a trial period, or what? I have to install patch management as well, so this looks like a new way to go, if it will work for me. Is this a reliable solution for MS patching?

> I've tried pushing down the Altiris Client to around 11 workstations. The server says that it is "Starting Altiris Agent Install Service". It has been there for about a week now, and I can't do anything to the console.

The agent installation is done by pushing a small installer agent on the target computers via the Admin share on the workstation. The installer installs as a service and manages the download and installation of the full agent from the NS. It doesn't explain why your console would be locked, but check the next point / answer for this.

> Can't remove the computer, can't do anything. Help?

How do you access the console? The agent push shouldn't lock the console. Could you let us know which version of NS you are running? May be attach a screen shot or two?


> And is the Altiris NS something that Symantec is giving me, or is it a trial period, or what? I have to install patch management as well, so this looks like a new way to go, if it will work for me. Is this a reliable solution for MS patching?

Altiris Notification Server is free, and you won't have any time lapse on you once you have the agent running. The basic configuration doesn't provide too much but enough information on managed computers to see which services are present, what sub-agent are installated etc.

It gives you the basics to do more interesting management like inventory, software delivery and patching.

Thank you for the quick reply. It looks interesting, but it is also kind of intimidating looking at all the features it has. I'm running v7.0. what is the name of the agent, so I can look in the admin share and see if it's even copying the info over to the workstations? I access the console through the web interface, and I need to clarify, it isn't necessarily locking the console, it just won't let me do anything to that group that has the agent being pushed out to it, and when I try to add a new client to push out, it just sits there doing the same thing the rest are doing. I just rebooted the server, maybe something was hosed on it, I don't know.

You may not know that some very good documentation has been created by Altiris to assist you in the installation.  The Notification Server is part of something called the Symantec Management Platform, or SMP.  The Altiris Agent is how clients communicate with the SMP for management tasks.  You will want to browse through the Installation Guide for SMP 7x and the User's Guide for the version of SMP you are using.

The documents explain how everything fits together, but also gets into the nitty gritty of how to install the Altiris Agent.

http://www.altiris.com/Support/Documentation.aspx#SMP

Does this help?