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KACE KBOX IT Management Suite 2.0
by Bob Kelly

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KBOX 2.0 Updates
There are a number of new features provided in this release. To summarize:

  • Patch Management - security patches from Microsoft may be reviewed and easily downloaded to the KBOX for deployment (see image here for snapshot).

  • Remote Control Integration - easily use Remote Desktop (or another specified remote control solution such as VNC) to manage the clients by clicking an icon image that appears by each computer entry in the KBOX Management Center.

  • BITS download support - BITS allows intelligent background downloading of files to clients so you can push large packages with minimal impact (with automatic download restart) on systems with both fast and slow network connectivity.

  • Updated Reporting System - improved layout and several more canned reports.

  • Security Policies: Using the new Security Policy feature you can enforce desired settings using any of the many built in wizards:

    • Enforce Internet Explorer Settings - This policy allows you to control users' Internet Explorer preferences (now supports configuring the PopUp Blocker)

    • Enforce XP SP2 Firewall Settings - Allows you to configure several options including remote desktop, SMI traffic, file and print sharing, Universal PnP, inbound port exceptions and more.

    • Enforce Disallowed Programs Settings - This policy lets you list disallowed programs by file name.

    • Enforce McAfee AntiVirus Settings - This policy allows you to configure what McAfee VirusScan features are installed. This policy works with McAfee VirusScan version 8.0i.

    • McAfee SuperDAT Updater - Another policy option for McAfee users, this one allows you to manage the installation of SDAT or XDAT files.

    • Enforce Symantec AntiVirus Settings - Don't use McAfee? Your still covered This policy allows you to configure what Symantec AntiVirus features are installed.

    • Quarantine Policy - Have a system behaving badly? This policy can disable all network traffic from the target machine. It will permit access to the KBOX Server Name to allow the KBOX send a Run Now event to the machine to un-quarantine it (which is provided as another options here: Lift Quarantine Action).

Conclusion
I started by stating the KBOX IT Management Suite is aimed at small to mid-sized organizations, but they reportedly have customers with as many as six to seven thousand clients! KBOX is a powerful and easy to use system that addresses key desktop management areas. A client deployment method integrated with the management console is the biggest missing feature that stands out here- and the workaround provided to initiate remote client installations with PSExec is a suitable substitute. A drawback of many competing solutions is in their installation and configuration which is virtually eliminated by the KBOX appliance solution. Next, having to maintain a database, server operating system, etc. is also not an issue here. All this does not come at the expense of a powerful feature set.

There really is not sufficient room here to go into all the features offered and how customizable some of these features are. If this sounds like something you are interested in, I encourage you to schedule a demo of your own where you can see it first hand and ask questions that relate to your desired implementation.

Bob Kelly
7/28/05,
12/7/05 (updated for version 2.0)

 

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