KACE Family of Virtual Systems Management Appliances

Overview:

The Dell KACE Family of Virtual Systems Management Appliances fulfills the systems management needs of an organization from initial system deployment to ongoing management and retirement. Designed to provide all of the benefits of physical appliances—fast deployment, low cost and easy maintenance— Dell KACE Virtual Appliances also have the added scalability, affordability and ease of support that comes with virtualization.

The Challenge: Systems management professionals in organizations of all sizes are charged with doing more with less. Hardware and software inventory, patching, software distribution, and OS deployment are just a few of the tasks that need to be managed day in and day out. These professionals need innovative solutions that allow them to easily manage this wide variety of systems management tasks.

The Options: Traditional software-based solutions exist, but are designed for the largest enterprises, and the investment necessary in pre-requisite software, hardware, services, maintenance and training can be too costly and too complex. Point solutions also exist, but are not integrated and lack key functionality. Now there’s an alternative.

The Solution: The KACE Family of Virtual Systems Management Appliances combines the best of appliance-based solutions and virtualization to provide organizations of all sizes with a comprehensive, easy-to-use and affordable systems management solution that deploys rapidly and requires minimal training and maintenance.

Virtual Appliance Benefits

KACE Virtual Appliances provide all of the benefits of physical appliances but with the added scalability, affordability and ease of support and maintenance that comes with virtualization.

Deploy in as little as one day Train in hours Upgrade in minutes

Low total cost of ownership No professional service fees Virtually no administration

The Virtual Appliance Advantage

KACE Virtual Appliances can be deployed on VMware Infrastructure and do not require dedicated hardware. Because of their virtual nature, they are intrinsically:

• Affordable: VK Appliances allow organizations to leverage their investment in VMware Infrastructure and easily control the amount of hardware dedicated to each appliance, as well as enabling organizations to run a multi-VK Appliance configuration without additional cost.
• Easy to Support: VK Appliances are hardened and self healing, and upgrades include all appliance components including the operating system and applications.
• Scalable: VK Appliances can be rapidly provisioned, reconfigured and moved, allowing organizations to easily scale their virtual appliance deployment to meet their dynamic requirements.

The Dell KACE Difference

KACE is the leading provider of systems management appliances. Our goal is to transform systems management generalists into systems management gurus, saving you time and saving your company money.

Easy To Use
KACE Virtual Appliance (VK Appliance) users typically deploy in one day, and train via the Web in only hours. VK Appliances support Open Virtualization Format (OVF) for easy import on to virtual infrastructure. All VK Appliance functions are driven by an intuitive, Web-based user inter face that allows for advanced administrative tasks to be handled by junior administrators.

Comprehensive
VK Appliances pre-integrate and deliver the functionality needed to solve your systems management challenges, from initial system deployment to ongoing management and retirement. It’s all in the appliance!

Affordable
VK Appliances leverage VMware Infrastructure to provide full appliance functionality without requiring dedicated hardware. They have a low total cost of ownership, and are easy to deploy, extremely simple to maintain, and can dynamically scale to meet changing user needs. And there are no professional service fees and no hidden costs.

Features:

KACE Virtual Appliances deliver a powerful set of systems management capabilities that help businesses manage laptops, desktops and servers, improve security, meet compliance requirements and decrease user downtime; yet they perform behind a simple-to-use interface designed for systems administrators of all skill levels.

KACE VK1000 Management Appliance
KACE VK1000 Management Appliances fulfill the systems management needs of an organization.
Device Discovery & Inventory Network-wide discovery of all hardware and software capturing accurate, detailed, up to date inventory Patch Management Automated vulnerability analysis and the delivery of patches across platforms, operating systems and applications Asset Management Unified computer, software and non-computer asset tracking and compliance reporting, from deployment to retirement Configuration & Policy Management Configuration management and enforcement via pre-packaged or custom policies Power Management Create and deploy energy saving power management configuration policies Reporting & Dashboards Both pre-packaged and custom, wizard generated reports Remote Site Replication Remote site resource distribution for geographically diverse organizations using existing file servers Broadcast Alerts For user notification of important events such as the interruption of e-mail service Organizational Management Multiple domain support for decentralized IT environments	Software Distribution Remote distribution and installation of applications and digital assets including LDAP/AD integration and Dell OpenManage Update Services Virtual Kontainers & Secure Browsers Virtual Kontainers for simplified distribution and management of key applications with powerful remote management and execution control capabilities Service Desk & User Portal Integrated incident and problem management including trouble ticket management, software library, knowledge base, and User Portal Security Audit & Enforcement Vulnerability assessment and remediation utilities to identify and lock down end point security vulnerabilities and quarantine problem nodes Administrative Alerts E-mail alerts on a variety of computer and network attributes for easy exception-based management Remote Control Enabling centralized problem resolution with no site visit required AppDeploy Live Enjoy deployment tips and command line suggestions via an exclusive feed from our AppDeploy.com community
KACE VK2000 Deployment Appliance
KACE VK2000 Deployment Appliances fulfill the systems deployment needs of an organization.
Disk Imaging Intelligent, file-based K-imaging reduces image management, capture and storage costs Windows Driver Harvesting Upload all the drivers of any known valid system on your network to the VK2000 Centralized Deployment Library Centrally store all deployment assets in one easy-to-manage and secure location Remote Systems Repair & Recovery Remotely recover corrupt systems that will not boot utilizing a GUI-based preinstallation environment	Windows Network OS Install Hardware independent provisioning of any system Windows User State Migration Centrally captures, stores and deploys user-specific settings and files along with operating systems and applications Pre & Post Deployment Configuration Automate all deployment tasks including RAID and BIOS configuration, as well as application installation and script execution Remote Site Management Remote site support without dedicated hardware or staff Computer Inventory Scanning & Assessment Collect detailed hardware inventory on target systems

 

KACE Virtual Appliance Administration: Simple and Secure

The VK Appliance Management Center’s Web-based console provides access to administrative functions from any network-allowable location, including:

• Intuitive search engine capabilities across the entire VK Appliance database ensure the delivery of relevant results
• Authentication, permissions and administrative rights management all managed through single interface
• Save time through real-time LDAP and AD integration
• Wake on LAN capabilities for after hours maintenance
• “One click” VK Appliance software upgrades
• Labeling eases administration by grouping computers by LDAP OU, department, location, IP address or any characteristic, significantly speeding software distributing, alerting, and more
• Audit tracking ensures key administration activities are tracked by time and activity owner, improving governance
• Integrated user interface allows for a single sign on and fast switching between the VK1000 Management Appliance and VK2000 Deployment Appliance consoles

Screenshot Tour:

 

Systems Deployment
Gold Master Creation	Imaging	Centralized Deployment Library	Recovery
Systems Management
Inventory	Software Distribution	Patch Management	Asset Management
Help Desk	Security Audit and Enforcement	Reporting and Alerts

 

Specifications:

 

		VK1000
Features	Device Discovery & Inventory
	Software Distribution & Installation
	Patch Management
	Virtual Kontainers
	Asset Management
	Help Desk & Self-Service User Portal
	Configuration & Policy Management
	Security Audit & Enforcement
	Reporting & Dashboards
	Administrative Alerts
	Remote Site Replication
	Remote Control
	Broadcast Alerts
	AppDeploy Live
	Organizational Management
	iPhone Management
Virtual Machine Requirements	VCPUS	4 VCPUs (6000 Mhz or More Reserved/Shares = High)
	Memory	4 GB (1024 MB or More Reserved/Shares = High)
	Network	1 Ethernet Port
	Available Disk	250 GB

System Requirements

Managed System Requirements

For minimum specifications refer to OS vendor minimum requirements– the VK1000 imposes no additional requirements and supports 32-bit & 64-bit architectures where applicable. Note the current release of Virtual Kontainers supports 32-bit Windows applications only.

• Windows
  
  • Windows 7
    (Professional, Enterprise, Ultimate)
  • Windows Vista
    (Business, Enterprise, Ultimate)
  • Windows XP SP2 – latest
    (Professional)
  • Windows 2000
    (Advanced Server, Server, Professional)
  • Windows Server 2008 R2
    (Enterprise, Standard, Web)
  • Windows Server 2008
    (Enterprise, Standard, Web)
  • Windows 2003
    (Enterprise, Standard, Web)
    
    For reference, Windows 2000 Professional requires 133 MHZ or faster processor with 128MB RAM and 2GB hard disk with a minimum of 650MB of free space
• Mac
  • Mac OS X 10.4
    10.6 PowerPC and x86 architectures
• Linux
  • Red Hat Linux AS and ES
    Versions 3, 4 and 5, 32-bit and 64-bit architectures
• iPhone or iPod Touch
  • 2.0 or later

Web Administration Interface Requirements
Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0+
Mozilla Firefox 2+, Safari 3+

VK1000 Appliance Requirements

VMware ESX and ESXi Server 3.5 or 4.0
Open Virtualization Format (OVF)

The VK1000 Management Appliance is the easy-to-use, comprehensive and affordable appliance that fulfills all of the systems management needs of an organization including initial discovery and computer inventory, software distribution, configuration management, patch management, security vulnerability remediation, asset management, help desk, remote control and reporting.

		VK2000
Features	Disk Imaging
	Windows Network OS Installation
	Windows Driver Harvesting
	Windows User State Migration
	Centralized Deployment Library
	Pre & Post Deployment Configuration
	Remote Site Management
	Remote Systems Repair & Recovery
	Computer Inventory Scanning & Assessment
	Integrated Reporting
Hardware	VCPUs	2 VCPUs (4000 Mhz or More Reserved/Shares = High)
	Memory	2 GB (512 MB or More Reserved/Shares = High)
	Network	1 Ethernet Port
	Available Disk	250 GB
	Media	DVD
	Server and Operating System	64-Bit

NOTE: The Microsoft® Windows® Preinstallation Environment software included with this device or software may be used for boot, diagnostic, setup, restoration, installation, configuration, test or disaster recovery purposes only. NOTE: THIS SOFTWARE CONTAINS A SECURITY FEATURE THAT WILL CAUSE END USER’S SYSTEM TO REBOOT WITHOUT PRIOR NOTIFICATION TO THE END USER AFTER 24 HOURS OF CONTINUOUS USE.

Target System Requirements

• Windows
  
  • Windows 7
    (Professional, Enterprise, Ultimate, x86 and x64 architectures)
  • Windows Vista
    (Business, Enterprise and Ultimate Edition support)
  • Windows XP
    (Professional, Tablet PC Edition, Media Center Edition)
  • Windows Server 2008
    (Web Edition, Standard Edition, Enterprise Edition, Datacenter Edition, HPC Edition)
  • Windows Server 2003
    (Web Edition, Standard Edition, Enterprise Edition, Datacenter Edition)
  • Windows 2000
    (Professional, Server, Advanced Server, Datacenter Edition)
  • PXE-enabled network interface
  • X86 system architecture
  • Windows 64 Bit Support
• Mac
  • Mac OS X 10.4
    PowerPC and x86 architectures

Web Administration Interface Requirements
Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0+
Mozilla Firefox 2+, Safari 3+

VK2000 Appliance Requirements

VMware ESX and ESXi Server 3.5 or 4.0
Open Virtualization Format (OVF)

The VK2000 Deployment Appliance is the easy-to-use, comprehensive and affordable appliance that fulfills all of the systems deployment needs of an organization including computer inventory assessment, OS and application provisioning, migration and recovery.

Documentation:

KACE Virtual Appliance Data Sheet (.PDF)