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KACE KBOX 2000 Series by Bob Kelly |
Page 5 of 5 |
Curious about scalability? It is reported that one KBOX 2000 can handle anywhere from 100 to several thousand clients. With so much drive space and power provided, the real limitation becomes the concurrent number of machines you wish to handle at the same time (there is capacity for up to 60 depending upon the model chosen). Relying on PXE boot, the common architecture would be to have an appliance at each site and manage clients locally. With its web interface it is very easy to manage remote systems, you just would not want them coming over the WAN for any of these network intensive tasks.
| I was a little
disappointed to see no integrated support for Sysprep. If you are going to apply
the image created to any other than that machine on which it was created, you should use
Sysprep to prepare the image for use on other systems. Like most of what I saw
as potential detriments, the hooks are provided for you to implement
your own solution to the problem (if it is even something you see as a
problem in your own organization). In this case, I created a Sysprep.zip file that contained Sysprep.exe and my Sysprep.inf file. I then added this as an application to be installed with my XP unattended installation with the command line “sysprep.exe -reseal –forceshutdown”. This made it possible to automate the installation of my build and then Sysprep the image. After working with this solution, I think the best move is to insert this call after the entire installation is complete and the system restarts (most easily as a batch file placed in the Startup program group). No matter if you run it manually or try to automate it, you may wish to make use of the –forceshutdown option of Sysprep to ensure the system does not restart before you are ready to upload the image. This requires a bit of good timing: You must set the machine to upload its image after the machine has completed the unattended installation, but before it reboots following the Sysprep operation. |
So what about pricing? For what you get here, I think you’ll find it quite reasonable: the base package is $12,900 supporting 100 nodes. Naturally there are quantity discounts as well: to give you an idea 1000 nodes would be in the neighborhood of $30,000. Support and maintenance is available on a standard annual basis and includes any updates, drivers or recovery console updates that may be released.
In closing, I feel that the KBOX 2000 Series provides a cost-effective way for smaller organizations to enjoy some automation features traditionally targeted at much larger enterprise environments. The recovery console is an innovative feature that may provide an invaluable tool for when things go wrong with a workstation. Both unattended installation and imaging support provides you with the choice to go with the best technology for your organization (while still having the benefit of the other when you want it). The resulting unattended file structure and command lines generated by the KBOX from a simple web page interface is not a trivial task to generate manually, even for the seasoned IT professional. This combination of features in a powerful appliance solution at such a competitive price makes it a product worth a serious look for any small or mid-sized organization.
Check out the KACE website for more details, screen shots or even a live demo.
Bob Kelly
12/3/2006
