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KACE Systems Management Appliance 13.2 Common Documents - Administrator Guide

About the KACE Systems Management Appliance Getting started
Configuring the appliance
Requirements and specifications Power-on the appliance and log in to the Administrator Console Access the Command Line Console Tracking configuration changes Configuring System-level and Admin-level General Settings Configure appliance date and time settings Managing user notifications Enable Two-Factor Authentication for all users Verifying port settings, NTP service, and website access Configuring network and security settings Configuring Agent settings Configuring session timeout and auto-refresh settings Configuring locale settings Configuring the default theme Configure data sharing preferences About DIACAP compliance requirements Configuring Mobile Device Access Enable fast switching for organizations and linked appliances Linking Quest KACE appliances Configuring history settings
Setting up and using labels to manage groups of items Configuring user accounts, LDAP authentication, and SSO Deploying the KACE Agent to managed devices Using Replication Shares Managing credentials Configuring assets
About the Asset Management component Using the Asset Management Dashboard About managing assets Adding and customizing Asset Types and maintaining asset information Managing Software assets Managing physical and logical assets Maintaining and using manual asset information Managing locations Managing contracts Managing licenses Managing purchase records
Setting up License Compliance Managing License Compliance Setting up Service Desk Configure the Cache Lifetime for Service Desk widgets Creating and managing organizations Importing and exporting appliance resources
Managing inventory
Using the Inventory Dashboard Using Device Discovery Managing device inventory
About managing devices Features available for each device management method About inventory information Tracking changes to inventory settings Managing inventory information Finding and managing devices Registering KACE Agent with the appliance Provisioning the KACE Agent Manually deploying the KACE Agent Using Agentless management Adding devices manually in the Administrator Console or by using the API Forcing inventory updates Managing MIA devices Obtaining Dell warranty information
Managing applications on the Software page Managing Software Catalog inventory
About the Software Catalog Viewing Software Catalog information Adding applications to the Software Catalog Managing License assets for Software Catalog applications Associate Managed Installations with Cataloged Software Using software metering Using Application Control Update or reinstall the Software Catalog
Managing process, startup program, and service inventory Writing custom inventory rules
Deploying packages to managed devices
Distributing software and using Wake-on-LAN Broadcasting alerts to managed devices Running scripts on managed devices Managing Mac profiles Using Task Chains
Patching devices and maintaining security
Using the Security Dashboard About patch management Subscribing to and downloading patches Creating and managing patch schedules Managing patch inventory Managing Windows Feature Updates Managing Dell devices and updates Managing Linux package upgrades Maintaining device and appliance security Manage quarantined file attachments
Using reports and scheduling notifications Monitoring servers
Getting started with server monitoring Working with monitoring profiles Managing monitoring for devices Working with alerts
Using the Service Desk
Configuring Service Desk Using the Service Desk Dashboard Managing Service Desk tickets, processes, and reports
Overview of Service Desk ticket lifecycle Creating tickets from the Administrator Console and User Console Creating and managing tickets by email Viewing tickets and managing comments, work, and attachments Merging tickets Using the ticket escalation process Using Service Desk processes Using Ticket Rules Run Service Desk reports Archiving, restoring, and deleting tickets Managing ticket deletion
Managing Service Desk ticket queues About User Downloads and Knowledge Base articles Customizing Service Desk ticket settings Configuring SMTP email servers
Maintenance and troubleshooting
Maintaining the appliance Troubleshooting the appliance
Appendixes Glossary About us Legal notices

Working with alerts

Working with alerts

Add notification schedules from the Monitoring Alerts list page
Create a Service Desk ticket from an alert
Search for alerts using Advanced Search criteria
Filtering alerts using the Include Text and Exclude Text capability
Dismiss an alert
Retrieve and review alerts that have been dismissed from the alerts list
Delete alerts

When server monitoring produces an alert, you have various responses available to you.

You can use the alert as a basis for a Service Desk ticket or an automated email notification. After dealing with the alert according to your procedures, you can dismiss it, or delete it entirely.

If you have added the monitoring widgets to your Dashboard, you can see at a glance the current top alerts, with links to the Monitoring Alerts list page and the Monitored Devices list page.

The following icons indicate alert level:

•
: Stopped
•
: Error
•
: Warning
•
: Information
•
: Done

Add notification schedules from the Monitoring Alerts list page

Add notification schedules from the Monitoring Alerts list page

You can add monitoring alert notification schedules for devices, alert levels, messages, and other alert information. These schedules enable the appliance to notify administrators through email or push notification to a KACE GO mobile device when specified criteria are met.

You have configured your email notification settings.

1.
Go to the Monitoring Alerts list page in one of the following ways:
◦
If you have the Monitoring Alerts widget installed on your open Dashboard, click Monitoring Alerts.
◦
In the left navigation bar, select Monitoring > Alerts.
2.
Select the check box for the row that contains the alert message, then click Notification, to the right above the alerts list, to display the Notification panel.
3.
Select notification criteria. For example, to send a notification when information alerts are generated, specify the following:
Level | is | Information
4.
Provide the following information below the notification criteria:

Field

Description

Title

The information that you want to appear in the Subject line of the email.

Email Recipient

The email address or addresses of intended recipients. Email addresses must be fully qualified email addresses. To send email to multiple addresses, use commas to separate each address, or use email distribution lists.

Frequency

The interval at which the appliance runs the query to compare the selected criteria with items in inventory. If criteria are met, the notification is sent.

5.
Optional: Select the check box for Send to KACE GO if you want the alert to be pushed to a mobile device that has the KACE GO app.
Mobile device access must be enabled for this option to be available. See Configuring Mobile Device Access.
6.
Optional: To verify the criteria, click Test.
The list is refreshed to show items that match the specified criteria. Notifications are not sent during the test.
7.
Click Save.

The notification is created and it appears on the Notification Schedule page. For information about scheduling the frequency of the notification, see Edit notification schedules.

Create a Service Desk ticket from an alert

Create a Service Desk ticket from an alert

You can create a Service Desk ticket from a server monitoring alert, with information from the alert automatically populating fields in the ticket form.

1.
Go to the Monitoring Alerts list in one of the following ways:
◦
If you have the Monitoring Alerts widget installed on your open Dashboard, click Monitoring Alerts.
◦
In the left navigation bar, select Monitoring > Alerts.
2.
Select the check box for the row that contains the alert message, then select Choose Action > New Ticket.
◦
If you want to create a ticket based on a queue, if there are multiple ticket queues in the organization, select a queue from the Ticket drop-down list.
◦
If you want to create a ticket based on a process template, select the process from the Process drop-down list.
The Title, Summary, Submitter, and Device fields contain information from the alert.
3.
Optional: Change the Title and Summary to conform to your corporate procedures.
4.
Provide the rest of the information needed to complete the form, then click Save to save the ticket and leave the Ticket Detail page, or Apply Changes to save the ticket and continue editing it.

Option

Description

Title

(Required) A brief description of the issue. You can replace the monitoring-provided title with one of your choosing.

Summary

A more detailed description of the issue.

This field includes a full range of text editing options for formatting your content, such as buttons for bold text, hyperlinks, lists, or text color.

For example:

•
To apply bold text to a text string, select it in the editor, and click .
•
To add images, click , and provide the URL to the image file, a local file path, or simply drop the image into the indicated area.
◦
You can also copy and paste screen shots directly into the text field.
◦
Any images you include this way are added as file attachments to the ticket. They are also included in email communication, as applicable.
◦
Deleting an image from the text field does not remove the associated file attachment. You can manage file attachments in the Attachments section of the ticket page. For more information, see Add or delete screen shots and attachments from Service Desk tickets.
•
To add external links, click .
•
To embed externally hosted videos, click .

Submitter

The login name of the user submitting the ticket. The submitter can be changed by selecting a different login name in the drop-down list. Click to view the submitter contact information.

Asset

The asset that the information in the ticket is about. Select an asset in the drop-down list. Click to view the asset details.

Filter on submitter assigned assets

Filter the asset list based on the assets that are assigned to the submitter.

Device

The device that the information in the ticket is about. Monitoring provides this information. Click to view the device details.

Filter on submitter assigned devices

Filter the asset list based on the devices that are assigned to the submitter.

Impact

The number of people that are inconvenienced or cannot work.

Category

A classification of the issue.

Status

The current state of the ticket. This field does not appear if you are creating or editing a ticket from a process template.

Priority

The importance of priority of the ticket.

Owner

The user responsible for managing the ticket through its lifecycle.

Due

Date and time the ticket is scheduled to be completed.

If Service Level Agreements are not enabled, the due date is set to None, by default.

If Service Level Agreements are enabled, the due date is automatically calculated according to the SLA settings. The due date is calculated based on the priority set when the ticket is submitted. If the priority is changed after the ticket is initially submitted, the due date will be recalculated according to the new priority, but based on the original submitted date and time. If the SLA resolution time configuration is changed, it is only applicable on new tickets. Old tickets are not affected. See Configuring Service Level Agreements.

Select Manual Date to manually set the due date and time. In this case, if Service Level Agreements are enabled, the due date and time is calculated and displayed as an option, but not selected.

CC List

A list of users who receive a notification email when a ticket event occurs. The CC List is emailed based on the ticket event and Ticket CC being configured for the queue Email on Events configuration.

Resolution

The resolution of the issue associated with the ticket.

This field includes a full range of text editing options for formatting your content, such as buttons for bold text, hyperlinks, lists, or text color.

For example:

•
To apply bold text to a text string, select it in the editor, and click .
•
To add images, click , and provide the URL to the image file, a local file path, or simply drop the image into the indicated area.
◦
You can also copy and paste screen shots directly into the text field.
◦
Any images you include this way are added as file attachments to the ticket. They are also included in email communication, as applicable.
◦
Deleting an image from the text field does not remove the associated file attachment. You can manage file attachments in the Attachments section of the ticket page. For more information, see Add or delete screen shots and attachments from Service Desk tickets.
•
To add external links, click .
•
To embed externally hosted videos, click .

Related Ticket Information

This section does not appear if you are creating a ticket from a process template.

Add Ticket

Click to add an additional ticket to this ticket's related information.

Referrers

The Referrer is a read-only field that holds a ticket reference to any ticket that references this ticket by way of the See also section.

Merged Tickets

This section allows you to edit the list of tickets merged with this ticket, as applicable. Any tickets that you want to merge must belong to the same queue. When you merge tickets using the Ticket Detail page, the open ticket becomes the primary ticket. All other merged tickets are archived when you merge them. For more details, see Merging tickets.

To add a merged ticket, click Add Tickets to Merge/Edit Merged Tickets, and select a ticket from the list that appears.

Process Information

This section only appears if you are creating a ticket from a process template. All of the settings appearing in this section are read-only. For complete information about creating and configuring process templates, see Add, edit, and enable process templates

Process

The name of the process template associated with this ticket.

Process Type

The type of the process.

Process Status

The status of the workflow associated with this process template. For example, Pending Approval.

Parent

The name of the parent ticket, as defined in the process template associated with this ticket.

Process Approvals

A list of users that are assigned as approvers for this ticket, if applicable. The approvers are listed in stages, as defined in the process template. Each stage can have one or more approvers, as needed. The settings related to each approver and stage are also listed in this section, such as approval timeouts and notifications. When you create a process ticket, the timeout period starts for the first approver. When that user approves the ticket, the timeout starts for the next one, and so on.

Process Activities

A list of process activities, each representing a child ticket, and listed in stages, as defined in the process template. Multiple tickets can be assigned to the same stage, if needed. For example, if the first stage is to obtain equipment and supplies for a new-hire, you can have several separate child tickets for ordering devices, office equipment, and supplies, all assigned to stage 1. When you create a process ticket, all child tickets assigned to stage 1 are created automatically. Stage 2 tickets are created when all stage 1 tickets are closed, stage 3 tickets are created when all stage 2 tickets are closed, and so on.

Add Ticket

Click to add an additional ticket to this ticket's related information.

Referrers

The Referrer is a read-only field that holds a ticket reference to any ticket that references this ticket by way of the See also section.

Comments

Comments that you want to add to the ticket. You can also add file attachments, screenshots, provide automatic responses or Knowledge Base article contents as ticket comments. For more information see:

•
Add comments to tickets
•
Add or delete screen shots and attachments from Service Desk tickets

If you want to add an automatic response as a resolution to this ticket, click Predefined Response and select a response template.

The selected response template appears in the Resolution field. You can add multiple response templates as resolution entries. They appear in the order you selected them.

* 
TIP: To create or edit a response template, save your changes and click Manage. This will take you to the Response Templates page. For more information about response templates, see View and edit response templates.

Knowledge Base Article

Look up a Knowledge Base article and append its contents to the ticket comments. For more information about Knowledge Base articles, see Managing Knowledge Base articles.

Search for alerts using Advanced Search criteria

Search for alerts using Advanced Search criteria

Advanced Page-level Search enables you to search for information on the current page using various combinations of criteria.

This example shows how to use Advanced Search to find critical alerts related to a connection issue.

1.
Go to the Monitoring Alerts list page in one of the following ways:
◦
If you have the Monitoring Alerts widget installed on your open Dashboard, click Monitoring Alerts.
◦
In the left navigation bar, select Monitoring > Alerts.
2.
Click Advanced Search on the right, above the Monitoring Alerts list.
The Advanced Search panel appears.

The Advanced Search panel contains a number of drop-down lists that you can use to specify criteria.

3.
Specify the criteria required to find alert level:
Montoring Alert Information: Level | is | Critical
4.
With AND selected in the operator drop-down list, click Add Line to add a new line, then specify the criteria required to find alerts that contain Unable to connect in the message:
Montoring Alert Information: Message | contains | unable to connect
5.
Click Search.

The list is refreshed to show devices that match the specified criteria.

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