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KACE Systems Management Appliance 14.0 Common Documents - KACE Service Desk Administrator Guide

About the KACE Service Desk 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 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 Configuring Content Security Policy
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 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 Manage quarantined file attachments
Using reports and scheduling notifications Monitoring devices
Getting started with 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

About the KACE Service Desk

About the KACE Service Desk

About the appliance components
About the Administrator Console

Quest® KACE® Service Desk is a virtual appliance designed to automate device management, application deployment, patching, asset management, reporting, and Service Desk ticket management.

For more information about KACE SD series appliances, go to the Quest website, https://www.quest.com/products/kace-systems-management-appliance/.

KACE Service Desk is a limited version of the KACE Systems Management Appliance that allows you to manage end-user tickets and assets. It uses the KACE agent to manage a single device node, and up to 250 agentless nodes. Unlike KACE Systems Management Appliance, it does not include patching and scripting features, as well as software asset management capabilities. You can read about these functions in this manual, however, they are disabled in KACE Service Desk. You can easily upgrade KACE Service Desk to KACE Systems Management Appliance, to enable the full set of end-point management capabilities. To find out complete information about this product, its technical specifications and reference materials, visit the documentation landing page at https://support.quest.com/kace-systems-management-appliance/technical-documents.

About the appliance components

About the appliance components

Appliance components include software, hardware, web-based interfaces, and a mobile app interface.

Table 1. Appliance components

Component

Description

Virtual appliance

The appliance runs in a virtual environment that uses a VMware® or Microsoft® Hyper-V® infrastructure. For the latest information about requirements for managed devices, and browser requirements for accessing the Administrator Console, see the Technical Specifications available on the product documentation page: https://support.quest.com/kace-systems-management-appliance/technical-documents.

Command Line Console

The Command Line Console is a terminal window interface to the appliance. The interface is designed primarily to configure the appliance and enforce policies. See Power-on the appliance and log in to the Administrator Console.

Administrator Console

The Administrator Console is the web-based interface used to control the appliance. To access the Administrator Console, go to http://appliance_hostname/admin where appliance_hostname is the hostname of your appliance. If the Organization component is enabled, you can access the System-level settings of the Administrator Console at http://appliance_hostname/system. To view the full path of URLs in the Administrator Console, which can be useful when searching the database or sharing links, add ui to the URL you use to log in. For example: http://appliance_hostname/admin.

User Console

The User Console is the web-based interface that makes applications available to users on a self-service basis. It also enables users to file Service Desk support tickets to request help or report issues. To access the User Console, go to http://appliance_hostname/user where appliance_hostname is the hostname of your appliance.

The User Console provides:

•
A repository of applications that users can download as needed.
•
A way for users to submit and track tickets requesting help.
•
Assistance for routine tasks, such as software installation, and access to the Quest Support Knowledge Base, https://support.quest.com/kace-systems-management-appliance/kb.

To customize the User Console, see:

•
Configure appliance General Settings with the Organization component enabled.
•
Configure appliance General Settings without the Organization component.

KACE Agent

The KACE Agent is an application that can be installed on devices to enable device management through the appliance. Agents that are installed on managed devices communicate with the appliance through the agent messaging protocol. Agents perform scheduled tasks, such as collecting inventory information from, and distributing software to, managed devices. Agentless management is available for devices that cannot have Agent software installed, such as printers and devices with operating systems that are not supported by the Agent.

See Provisioning the KACE Agent.

KACE GO

KACE GO is an app that enables administrators to access Service Desk tickets, inventory information, and application deployment features from their smart phones or tablets. The app also allows non-admin users to submit Service Desk tickets, view the status of submitted tickets, and read Knowledge Base articles from their mobile devices. You can download KACE GO from the Apple® App StoreSM for iOS devices, or from the Google Play™ store for Android™ devices.

See Configuring Mobile Device Access.

About the Administrator Console

About the Administrator Console

Components available in Admin mode without the Organization component
Components available in Admin mode with the Organization component enabled
Components available in System mode with the Organization component enabled
Using the Home component
Searching for information and filtering lists
Log in to the Administrator Console: First login following initial network configuration

The components available in the Administrator Console might differ, depending on the license key, organization settings, appliance settings, and user role.

In addition, if the Organization component is enabled, the Administrator Console has two levels: The Admin level, which shows organization-related features, and the System level, which shows appliance-related features.

If the Organization component is not enabled, Admin- and System-level features are available at the Admin level.

* 
NOTE: Your license key determines whether the Organization component is enabled or disabled. See View product licensing information and About organizations.

There are three login modes:

•
Admin mode without the Organization component enabled: If the Organization component is not enabled on your appliance, go to http://appliance_hostname/admin, where appliance_hostname is the host name of your appliance, to log in to this mode. For components available in this mode, see Components available in Admin mode without the Organization component.
•
Admin mode with the Organization component enabled: If the Organization component is enabled on your appliance, go to http://appliance_hostname/admin to log in to the Default organization. appliance_hostname is the host name of your appliance. Admin mode enables you to manage the components available to the selected organization. For components available in this mode, see Components available in Admin mode with the Organization component enabled.

If the Login Organization option is enabled in the appliance settings, the Organization box appears. You can type the name of an organization in the Organization box to log in to that organization directly.

If you have multiple organizations and the fast switching option is enabled, you can switch between organizations and the System level using the drop-down list in the top-right corner of the page next to the login information. See Enable fast switching for organizations and linked appliances.

•
System mode with the Organization component enabled: If the Organization component is enabled on your appliance, go to http://appliance_hostname/system, to log in to System mode. appliance_hostname is the hostname of your appliance. In this mode you can manage the components available at the System level. For components available in this mode, see Components available in System mode with the Organization component enabled.

In addition, if the fast switching option is enabled, and the passwords for the default admin accounts of the organizations are the same, you can switch between organizations using the drop-down list in the top-right corner of the page. See Enable fast switching for organizations and linked appliances.

Each mode has the following types of pages:

•
Dashboards. These pages show status information for the appliance. If the Organization component is enabled, Dashboards are available at the organization and appliance level.

•
List pages. These pages enable you to view items available on the appliance or, if the Organization component is enabled, in the selected organization.

This example of a list page displays the Devices list page, which shows status, IP addresses, and other device information.

•
Detail pages. These pages enable you to view and edit details of the selected item.

This image is an example of the Device Detail page.

•
Configuration pages. These pages enable you to configure settings.

The Communication Settings page is one example of a configuration page.

•
Panels. These pages provide access to related components and settings.

The Settings Control Panel provides access to various settings pages for communication, network, and so on.

Components available in Admin mode without the Organization component

Components available in Admin mode without the Organization component

When the Organization component is not enabled, Admin mode shows all of the Admin-level components and the System-level (appliance-level) settings.

This image of the Dashboard displays Connections and Provisioning widgets, among others.

Table 2. Components available in Admin mode without the Organization component

Component

UI page

Used to...

Home
•
Dashboard
•
Label Management
•
Search
•
Task Schedule
•
User Sessions

Review appliance statistics, manage labels, view historical information, and search for data. See Using the Home component.

Inventory
•
Dashboard
•
Devices
•
Quarantine
•
Custom Inventory
•
Software
•
Software Catalog
•
Processes
•
Startup Programs
•
Services
•
Discovery Schedules
•
Discovery Results
•
SNMP Inventory Configurations

Manage the devices, software, processes, services, scans, and other items on your network. See:

•
Managing device inventory
•
Managing applications on the Software page
•
Managing Software Catalog inventory
•
Managing process, startup program, and service inventory
•
Using Device Discovery
•
Using SNMP Inventory Configurations to identify specific SNMP objects and non-computer devices to add to inventory

Monitoring
•
Devices
•
Alerts
•
Profiles
•
Maintenance Windows
•
Log Enablement Packages

Manage basic event monitoring for 5 servers with your standard license, gathering event data from core Windows® event logs, syslogs, and application logs.

With the Monitoring Module license, manage event monitoring for up to 200 servers.

See Monitoring devices

Assets
•
Dashboard
•
Assets
•
Asset Types
•
Contracts
•
Purchases
•
Licences
•
License Compliance
•
Locations
•
Import Assets

Track physical assets, such as devices, software, printers, and so on, and view the history of assets and their configuration. See:

•
Managing inventory
•
Managing License Compliance

Distribution
•
Managed Installations
•
File Synchronizations
•
Wake-on-LAN
•
Replication
•
Alerts
•
Task Chains

Distribute and manage software, including updates from Quest, remotely.

See Deploying packages to managed devices.

Scripting
•
Scripts
•
Run Now
•
Run Now Status
•
Search Scripting Logs

Automate tasks performed on managed devices.

See Running scripts on managed devices.

Security
•
Patch Management
•
Dell Updates

Reduce the risks from malware, spyware, and viruses.

See Patching devices and maintaining security.

Service Desk (also known as Help Desk on appliances that have been upgraded from early versions)
•
Dashboard
•
Tickets
•
User Downloads
•
Knowledge Base
•
Announcements
•
Archive (available only if ticket archival is enabled)
•
Configuration

Provide a repository of software and documentation for users to access and download. Includes a full-featured service desk for creating and tracking tickets.

See Using the Service Desk.

Reporting
•
Reports
•
Report Schedules
•
Notifications

Run pre-packaged reports and report-creating tools to monitor your appliance implementation.

See Using reports and scheduling notifications.

Settings
•
Control Panel
•
Users
•
User Notification
•
Credentials
•
Roles
•
Provisioning
•
Resources
•
History
•
Support
•
Agent Tokens

Administer your appliance and Agent provisioning. See:

•
Configuring the appliance
•
Configuring user accounts, LDAP authentication, and SSO
•
Managing credentials
•
Maintaining the appliance
•
Provisioning the KACE Agent
•
Importing and exporting appliance resources
•
Managing settings history
•
Using Troubleshooting Tools
Self Service Tools
Knowledge Base
Notifications & Alerts
Product Support
Software Downloads
Technical Documentation
User Forums
Video Tutorials
RSS Feed
Contact Us
Licensing Assistance
Technical Support
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