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Server Installation
Considerable effort has gone into making this system easy to install and manage. However, getting any such system installed and then becoming familiar with it can be a real speed bump- one which KACE addresses by offering an easy installation and by providing a 1+ hour installation and training session to its customers.

Click for full size viewYou can either connect to the KBOX by configuring a workstation to communicate with it at its default network address or by using the provided crossover network cable. Once able to communicate, you may log into its admin web console and specify a desired network address on your network.

The KBOX runs on FreeBSD and comes in two flavors – the only difference being the availability of a hard drive array. The system contains a 160gig drive (the RAID version includes a second mirror drive and a separate backup drive.) Backups are handled during the night to the backup drive on the RAID version, or to compressed files on the version without a RAID. In the event of a failure, these files may be restored to a replacement system which contains configuration and operational data to facilitate a full recovery.

Client Installation
KBOX supports Windows NT and later systems (support for Windows 98 is not provided out of the box, but is available upon request). A simple logon script is provided by the people at KACE that may be used to deploy the client software. It requires the Microsoft .NET Framework, so the provided script checks for and installs this prior to the KBOX client installation. If there were anything lacking in KBOX, it would be an option for server managed delivery of the client software. Although KBOX does not target large enterprise networks where it is more often the case, I do not believe it common today for users to have the administrative rights necessary to allow such installations via a logon script. The workaround provided is to make use of a third-party command line utility that accepts a username and password to perform the installation with alternate credentials. While this means you would need to place a plain text username and password in your logon script- it could well be a temporary account and logon script, removed following deployment of the client.

That said, most environments will have some method of deploying the client available or are accustomed to handling manual installations anyway (the old way) - the good news being, this is the last item you would need to install the old way! (More good news here, coming soon- click here for details of enhancements on this and other areas of KBOX planned for the next version!)
 

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