Client Management Suite

Hello people,

I´m evaluating CMS 7, but I have some questions.

1. How to setup alerts by e-mail in case of any Computer with Hardware Changes?
2. What´s the purpose of have a PXE Server? How to setup it?
3. How to install all specific drivers like video, sound etc automatically while deploying a stantard image to any hardware?
4. Is it possible to use the feature WOL (wake on lan) to turn the computer on and execute some tasks? How to do it?

Regards,

You said you're evaluating, so I'll give some basic answers.  But if you actually need to do it, and these aren't enough, feel free to post back.  But any tool you select for endpoint management will take some effort to truly learn.

Setting up alerts by e-mail for hardware changes
This would involve setting up a report which queries your central database and looks at the hardware inventory a computer used to have, and what it has now, thus finding the difference.  You would then set up the report to run on a schedule and e-mail the results to certain addresses.  The report would be custom, but the data it uses already exists.

PXE Server
Lets you network boot your computers.  They boot into a pre-boot environment (Linux or a special version of Windows called WinPE) outside of the OS.  This lets you perform tasks without an OS, like deliver the OS itself to bare hardware straight from the factory.  Or, another example is that you could boot to PXE and download WinPE from the PXE server, then run a secure DoD wipe of the computer from the WinPE partition.  This lets you wipe a PC without CDs.

Installing specific drivers automatically while deploying a standard image to any hardware
Your question seems to ask two things: specific drivers (I'm assuming specific to a particular hardware type) but then you say 'any hardware.'  So I'll answer both: to deploy a standard image to any hardware, Altiris uses something called DeployAnywhere which provides the drivers essential to imaging (NIC and Mass Storage HDD drivers) to the computer during the imaging process.  Then you have several methods to install specific drivers, like including them as part of Windows sysprep, or installing them afterward by creating Software Resources in Altiris and sending them to the computer.  If you want to do it automatically, that leans toward Windows sysprep, but you could also automate this through Altiris.

WOL to turn on a computer and execute tasks
Yes, you can configure WOL.  With WOL enabled, you create a Job that has several sequential tasks, e.g. Wake Computer, Install Service Pack, Restart Computer, Install Software Resource A, Install Software Resource B, Shut Down Computer.

Hope this helps answer your questions about Altiris CMS 7!

Hi mclemson,

Thanks for the explanation.
Actually I have a test environment with 1 server and 40 clients and I´m responsible in test this software. I need to try the solutions before the company which I´m working for, decides to buy it.
I´ve been following the Admin/User´s Guides, but this is not enough.

Could you send some information in how to do it?

Thanks

User Guides
http://www.altiris.com/support/documentation.aspx

User Guides are really where I'd send you.  If I were your manager, I wouldn't ask you to spend weeks learning a solution we may not buy.   But since your manager apparently has, you'll want to read the User Guides.  Specifically, read Client Management Suite 7.0 SP2, Deployment Solution 7.1, and Symantec Management Platform 7.0 SP4.  Also read the Planning and Implementation Guide to get a good overview of how to design the architecture for your particular environment.

The articles area of Symantec Connect is also a fine resource.  But to be honest, you've picked four of the more complex things you can do with an endpoint automation suite.  And if you accomplished them, you would already be done setting up the suite by the time you finished your evaluation!