KACE Work from Home Resources (4288492)

Right now, across the world, IT departments are working diligently to adjust to their organizations Work from Home (WFH) requirements.  We at Quest understand this can be a challenge, so our Professional Services Organization (PSO) has compiled some resources that may be useful to you at this time and we wanted to pass them along. You can also find this article on ITNinja https://www.itninja.com/blog/view/work-from-home-resources-kace

Some of these resources are related to helping you harden and secure your Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA), so that you can continue to manage and secure your endpoints while they are outside of your network.

We have also sharing some example resources to assist you in downloading and installing collaboration/remote tools onto your endpoints.  These command lines and MSIs can be utilized with a Managed Installation or Script from your Quest KACE SMA. – these below examples will need modifications depending on your environment.

Please note that some of the below articles and commands shared are considered customizations or are based on recommendations done by the publisher of the tool, testing and modifications might be required, so they are outside of our scope of support.

Offboard K1000 Backups (strongly recommended)

Note: offboarding backups outside of the appliance is strongly recommended as they can be used in case of an emergency if the appliance needs to be restored

• https://support.quest.com/kace-systems-management-appliance/kb/260737/how-to-setup-offboard-backup-transfer
• https://support.quest.com/kace-systems-management-appliance/kb/264055/offboard-backup-transfer-settings-and-errors-troubleshooting

iDRAC for physical servers (strongly recommended)

Note: iDRAC will allow remote access to the server console, which is needed for several things, but most importantly if the appliance presents an outage, access to it will be required.

• Configuration might vary depending on the server version and features https://www.itninja.com/blog/view/idrac-for-k-appliances
• https://support.quest.com/kace-systems-management-appliance/kb/212937/accessing-the-k1000-console-using-idrac

Useful KB Articles for Securing and Hardening your Quest KACE Systems Management Appliance

Note: If users are connected via VPN, there is no need to set up the appliance to be externally available, but do take in consideration any schedules from a bandwidth perspective.

• https://support.quest.com/kb/118540/how-to-make-your-system-management-appliance-sma-publicly-facing-sma-integrity-test
• https://support.quest.com/kace-systems-management-appliance/kb/267753/best-practices-for-securing-your-sma
• https://support.quest.com/kb/111781/how-to-configure-the-kace-systems-management-appliance-for-remote-access
• https://support.quest.com/kace-systems-management-appliance/kb/111348/ssl-configuration-guide-for-kace-sma

Gather Agent Logs remotely using KAT

• https://support.quest.com/kace-systems-management-appliance/kb/295053/script-for-the-kace-agent-toolkit-kat-
• https://support.quest.com/kace-systems-management-appliance/kb/263376/using-the-kace-agent-toolkit-kat-

Create a Managed Installation

• https://support.quest.com/kace-systems-management-appliance/kb/156198/how-to-create-a-managed-installation

Software Deployment Cheat sheet

• https://quest.box.com/s/y8e5fdhem9ch85sa0ncogz1n036iz4zq

Command Lines and Download Locations for Common Collaboration Tools

Zoom

• Command: msiexec /i ZoomInstallerFull.msi /quiet /qn /norestart /log C:\ProgramData\Quest\Kace\zoom_install.log
• Download: https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/201362163-Mass-Installation-and-Configuration-for-Windows

Teams

Note: Teams requires a user to logout and then log back in for the install to complete

• Command: msiexec /i Teams_windows_x64 /qn /norestart OPTIONS="noAutoStart=true" /log C:\ProgramData\Quest\Kace\teams64_install.log
• Download: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/msi-deployment

Slack

Note: Slack requires a user to logout and then log back in for the install to complete

• Command: msiexec /i SlackSetup.msi /qn /norestart /log C:\ProgramData\Quest\Kace\slack64_install.log
• Download: https://slack.com/help/articles/212475728-Deploy-Slack-via-Microsoft-Installer#msi-for-per-user-deployment

WebEx

• Command: msiexec /i webexapp.msi /qn /norestart /log C:\ProgramData\Quest\Kace\webexapp_install.log
• Download: https://www.webex.com/downloads.html/downloads/
• Additional Parameters: https://www.cisco.com/c/dam/en/us/td/docs/collaboration/webex_centers/esp/webex_b_it-administrator-guide-mass-deployment-desktop-app.pdf

WebEx Teams

• Command: msiexec /i WebexTeams.msi /qn /norestart /log C:\ProgramData\Quest\Kace\webexteams_install.log
• Download: https://www.webex.com/downloads.html/downloads/
• Additional Parameters: https://help.webex.com/en-us/nw5p67g/Cisco-Webex-Teams-Installation-and-Automatic-Upgrade

Citrix Workspace VPN

• Command: CitrixWorkspaceApp.exe /silent /noreboot /AutoUpdateCheck=disabled
• Download: https://www.citrix.com/downloads/workspace-app/windows/workspace-app-for-windows-latest.html
• Additional Parameters: https://docs.citrix.com/en-us/citrix-workspace-app-for-windows/install.html

Cisco AnyConnect

Note:  download might require login information to be provided

• Command: msiexec /package anyconnect-win-version-core-vpn-predeploy-k9.msi /norestart /passive /lvx* C:\ProgramData\Quest\Kace\anyconnect-win-version-core-vpn-predeploy-k9-install-datetimestamp.log
• Download: https://software.cisco.com/download/home/286281283/type/282364313/release/4.8.02045
• Additional Parameters: https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/security/vpn_client/anyconnect/anyconnect48/administration/guide/b_AnyConnect_Administrator_Guide_4-8/deploy-anyconnect.html

User Portal Tips and Tricks

• Create user roles: this way end user will only have access to what they are allowed to (ex. If the service desk is not in use, this tab can be hidden)
• Create helpful links: for common requests like your VPN and Webmail links, these can be configured from the admin console going to Service Desk|Announcements
• User downloads: can be helpful in many ways
  • Downloads: users will need rights (ex. Admin rights) to install the software, however they will be getting the package from the K1000.  Also, useful to send files (PDFs, etc).
  • Installs: the K1000 will deploy and install the software using the system account, this method does not require for ends users to have admin right.
  • Scripts: Like Installs, but utilizing Scripts that have been created on the K1000
• LDAP Authentication: will allow end users to log in to the appliance using their domain credentials. https://support.quest.com/kace-systems-management-appliance/kb/111795/how-to-setup-ldap-authentication

For some general Work from Home tips? Click here.