What's new on SMA version 15.0 (4381454)

KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA) is designed to automate device management, application deployment, patching, asset management, and Service Desk ticket management.
Download and release notes available here.

This release of the KACE Systems Management Appliance includes two major features, one related to agent and the other to mail services.

The minimum version for upgrade is 14.1.95. Please see the upgrade path if on an earlier version.

Minimum Hypervisors supported:

• ESXi version 8.0, more information here.
• Hyper-V needs to run on Windows Server 2019 as a minimum.
• Nutanix AOS 5.20.1.1 (LTS) or later

Note that it's possible to run earlier versions, these are only checked upon initial deployment of the Virtual Machine.

Note that upgrade changes are final, if in doubt, consider creating a Customer Testing Environment. For any feedback on this new release, feel free to contact support.

For Enhancement Requests, please submit them to the Quest Ideas Portal.

NOTE: For customers on the Feature Preview, please upgrade using the automated file downloaded by the SMA on the Appliance Updates page. Downloading the upgrade file from the Support Portal and uploading it to the SMA will fail due to a checksum mismatch.

NOTE: Due to unforeseen issues with translation, the new features of this release are only available on English at the time of release. Localization for other languages will be added on an upcoming Cumulative Patch.

Release highlights

• Favorites Feature for UI Navigation: The Favorites feature improves navigation efficiency by allowing users to bookmark frequently accessed pages. This feature is useful for administrators managing large environments where quick access to repetitive workflow is essential. The Favorites feature offers the following capabilities:
  • It is available in both Admin and System UI.
  • It supports up to 50 favorites per UI.
  • It includes drag-and-drop reordering, search, and delete options.
  • It supports only static pages, and it does not support dynamic or context-driven pages.

• Dashboard Revamp: The Dashboard has undergone a major redesign to a more modern, customizable, and data-rich experience.
  • Modern Layout and Themes: Users can design dashboards with flexible layouts, color themes, and widget arrangements. The drag-and-drop interface allows easy customization to fit different monitoring needs.
  • Multiple Dashboards per User: Instead of being limited to a single view, users can now create, manage, and switch between the multiple dashboards. Each dashboard can be named, tailored, and set as a personal default for quick access.
  • Widget-Level Enhancements: Widgets have been upgraded with richer functionality
    • Create widgets from scratch or based on existing reports using step-by-step wizard or SQL queries for advanced customization.
    • Configure charts in multiple formats including bar, line, doughnut, gauge, score, progress, geo charts, and so on.
    • Add multiple versions of the same widget type (for example, different filtered views of Active Tickets).
    • Use built-in widget controls to refresh data, export results, modify charts, reposition legends, or override colors at the widget level.
    • Resize and rearrange widgets simply by drag-and-drop.
    • Limit the widget visibility based on user roles or labels.
  • Share and distribute insights:
    • Email dashboards as HTML snapshots, either immediately or on a schedule (daily, weekly, monthly).
    • Choose the number of widgets to display per row in the email.
  • Performance and data refresh:
    • Benefit from caching optimizations for large environments.
    • Refresh data on-demand at the dashboard level or the individual widget level

• Patch Catalog Enhancements: The patch catalog has been significantly enriched with advanced intelligence to help IT teams assess and prioritize patching with greater accuracy.
  • Additional data points now include CVSS Scores, EPSS Scores, Known Exploit Vulnerabilities, and Ransomware Campaign Usage, sourced from trusted threat intelligence feeds such as NIST, MITRE, and FIRST.org.
  • Enhanced filtering capabilities allow admins to search patches based on these metrics and build more targeted dashboards and reports.
  • New widgets, such as Exposure by CVSS Score, Patch Status Breakdown by CVSS, Patch by CVSS Score, and Device Patch Status Breakdown by CVSS, deliver actionable insights at a glance.
  • Users can directly access CVE links within patch details and request missing CVE data from the catalog team.
• Linux Patch Scheduling Update: Users can now decide whether to apply only security patches or all available patches during Linux package upgrades. This provides greater flexibility and ensures better alignment with enterprise compliance needs. NOTE: Some Linux distributions do not differentiate between patch types and will always upgrade all packages.
• Enhanced Security and Logging Revamp: The legacy FreeBSD syslog has been fully replaced with modern, secure logging mechanisms.
  • Support for logging system over secure TCP with TLS ensures logs are transmitted safely. NOTE: We support integration with any logging system that can be configured to use TLS. While our documentation provides examples for integrating with syslog-ng and rsyslog, our support is not limited to these tools.
  •  Logging now captures SSH login/logout, remote console activity, and invalid login attempts for better auditability.
  • The SMA generates certificates and keys for secure authentication, while remote servers must configure corresponding credentials. NOTE: The existing syslog configurations will no longer work after upgrading. Admins must reconfigure syslog settings with the new secure options.
• Splashtop Integration Enhancements: Splashtop functionality has been enhanced to provide smoother remote management.
  • Improved RMM code assignment during installation.
  • Displayed streamer version in device details.
  • Enabled uploading of streamer logs to SMA for troubleshooting.
  • Added remote control button in ticket details.
  • Supported one-time custom session settings during remote access.
  • Configured blank screen logo (PNG only) during sessions.
  • Now supports two simultaneous remote sessions 
• Quick Links for Admin Navigation: Quick links have been introduced to reduce navigation friction for users. These include direct access to Label Management, Smart Labels, LDAP Labels, Security Settings, and Service Desk Pages.
• FreeBSD updated to 14.3-RELEASE-p2 bringing security enhancements.
• Added an option to completely disable API access to the SMA.
• Increased the limit of conditional fields from 5 to 10 for ticket templates.
• The administrators or queue owner users are now able to see all archived tickets for a queue, after it is deleted. This can also be restricted by label on the Queue General Settings.

Resolved issues

• K1-36113: Script Log Retention Redesign: The script log retention model has been redesigned for performance and scalability.
  • Logs are now retained based on the number of script runs (default: 7) instead of a time-based model. This ensures predictable storage management and faster system performance in large environments. NOTE: Due to schema changes, all existing agent logs will be wiped during upgrade. You must export critical log data before upgrading if needed. 
• K1-36576: Update patch signature download check to be less restrictive, resulting in less patch schedule failures.
• K1-35962: Virtual Hostname and Virtual IP on Organizations is not working.
• Task Chain Defects:
  • K1-33958: Task Chains with online Shell script remain on status 'Running'.
  • K1-35092: Task chains result inconsistent across ORGs for failed online scripts
  • K1-36087: Task chain tasks after a patch task fail to be executed.
  • K1-36388: Task chain results are inconsistent when multiple patch tasks are executed.
• K1-35822: SAM Inventory Processing fails when processing software with foreign language characters in filename.
• K1-36239: Devices on non-SMA Splashtop licensed appliance shown in device issues if Splashtop is installed.
• K1-36456: Fixed sorting for patch schedule list columns.
• K1-36306: HAProxy process consumes high CPU usage after certificate update
• K1-36441: HAProxy fails to stop when services are restarted.
• K1-36120: Validate License fails to check maintenance renewal status.
• K1-34088: Wizard report shows tickets from all queues although report topic is set to a specific ticket queue.