KACE as a Service 7.1 - Administrator Guide

Client Drop File Size Filter

A file-size filter for the organization's Client Drop location.

The Client Drop location is a storage area (Samba share) for the organization on the K1000 appliance. This storage area is used to upload large files, such as application installers and appliance backup files, to the appliance. Uploading files to the Client Drop location is an alternative to uploading files through the Administrator Console using the default HTTP mechanism, which can result in browser timeouts for large files.

The Client Drop Size filter determines whether files uploaded to the organization's Client Drop location are displayed on the Upload and Associate Client Drop File list on the Software Detail page. For example, if the Client Drop Size filter is set to 1 GB, the Upload and Associate Client Drop File list shows files that are 1 GB in size or larger. Files that are less than 1 GB in size are not displayed on the list.

Application files are moved from the organization's Client Drop location to the appropriate area when the file is selected on the Software Detail page and saved.

Appliance backup files that are placed in the Client Drop location are automatically identified as appliance backup files, and they become available for selection on the Backup Settings page within five minutes. See Copy files to the K1000 Client Drop location.

In the User Console section, specify customizations for the User Console text:

Option	Description
Title	The heading that appears on the User Console login page. 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://<K1000_hostname>/user where <K1000_hostname> is the hostname of your appliance.
Welcome Message	A welcome note or description of the User Console. This text appears below the title on the User Console login page.

In the Acceptable Use Policy section, select policy settings:

Option	Description
Enabled	Enable the appliance to display your policy, and require users to accept the terms of your policy, when they access the Administrator Console, User Console, or Command Line Console, or log in using SSH or FTP.
Title	The heading of the policy to be displayed on the login page of the User Console.
Message	Details of the policy, which are displayed below the Title on the login page. Users must agree to the terms of the policy before they can log in to the User Console.

In the Log Retention section, select the number of days to retain log information. Log entries that are older than the selected number of days are automatically deleted from the log. See Access appliance logs to view Microsoft Exchange Server errors.

In the Share With Quest section, specify data sharing options.

NOTE: To validate the K1000 product license, Quest collects minimal license-related information, such as the MAC Address of the K1000 appliance, the version of the K1000 software, the license key, and the number of managed devices, regardless of the data sharing options selected in this section.

Share summary usage data...

Share detailed usage data...

ITNinja.com is a community website where IT professionals can share information and research on a wide variety of systems management and deployment topics. The ITNinja feed is a feature that dynamically displays software deployment tips and other contextual information on relevant pages in the K1000 Administrator Console. To enable the ITNinja feed, you need to select Share detailed Usage data.... This setting shares information anonymously with ITNinja. The ITNinja feed is available only if Share Summary Usage Data... is selected, and it is available only on pages related to software deployment, such as the software, Managed Installation, and File Synchronization detail pages. The feed is not available on the Software Catalog detail page.

Clear this option to prevent the appliance from sharing inventory data with the ITNinja community. However, clearing this option does not remove any information that has already been shared. For more information, contact Quest Support.

In the Locale Settings section, specify locale preferences. These preferences determine the formats used for date and time information displayed in the Administrator Console.

Option	Description
Organization Locale	The locale to use for the organization’s Administrator Console and User Console.
Command Line Console Locale	The locale to use in the Command Line Console, which uses the konfig user account.

In the Ignore Client IP Address Settings section, enter the IP address or addresses to ignore. Separate each address with a comma. Ignoring IP addresses is useful when multiple devices could report themselves with the same IP address, such as a proxy address.

10.

In the License Usage Warning Configurations section, select the percentage to use for the warning threshold and critical threshold for software license usage. If you have configured software License assets, threshold information is displayed on the license-related widgets on the Dashboard.

11.

In the Update Reporting User Password section, provide the password of the account required to run reports on the organization. You cannot change the Database Name or the Report Username.

12.

In the Data Retention section, select the options for retaining data on the appliance. You can retain this data for a specified number of months, Forever, or never save it (Disabled).

Retain Device Uptime Data

The amount of uptime data to save for devices. Device uptime data refers to the number of hours of each day that your managed devices are running. You can retain this data for a specified number of months, Forever, or never save it (Disabled).

Retain Metering Data

The number of months that metering data is retained in the K1000 appliance database.

Metering data is information about how applications are installed and used on the Windows and Mac devices that you manage. Metering data that is older than the selected number of months is deleted on the first day of every month. See About metering information.

Retain Uncataloged data in the Software Catalog

Whether or not to retain information about Uncataloged applications in the K1000 appliance database.

Uncataloged applications are executables that are in the K1000 inventory but that do not appear in the Software Catalog, and the K1000 retains information about those applications by default. For organizations with a large number of managed devices, however, retaining this data might greatly increase the size of the database. This could increase the time it takes to load pages in the Administrator Console and the time it takes to perform database backups.

Select this check box to retain data for Uncataloged software in the K1000 database. Clear the check box to disable data retention.

If data retention for Uncataloged software is disabled:

•

Agents on managed devices continue to upload full inventory information, and raw data related to applications is fingerprinted. If data sharing is enabled, data is also uploaded to the Quest KACE Software Catalog. See Configure data sharing preferences.

•

The appliance continues to store information related to Cataloged applications and Locally Cataloged applications in the organization database.

•

Reports for Cataloged applications continue to work as expected. However, reports related to Uncataloged applications show only those applications that are part of Cataloged software titles.

13.

In the Device Actions section, click Add New Action, then select the scripted actions to enable.

Device Actions are scripted actions that can be performed on managed devices. There are several pre-programmed actions available. To add your own action, select Custom Action in the Action menu, then enter the command in the Command Line text box.

The following variables are available for device actions:

KACE_HOST_IP

KACE_HOST_NAME

KACE_CUSTOM_INVENTORY_*

When device actions run, the appliance replaces variables with their appropriate values.

For KACE_CUSTOM_INVENTORY_ * replace the asterisk (*) with the name of a software application associated with a custom inventory rule. When the device action runs, the name is replaced with the custom inventory rule value for the device. Enter the software application name in uppercase characters. The allowed characters are: [A-Z0-9.-]."

If you are using Internet Explorer, you can define any valid statement to perform a task on a remote device, then assign a name to it to use the next time you want to perform that task. For example, you can enter the statement, ping.exe –t KACEHOSTIP and name it Ping. A valid statement is a maximum of 150 characters, and the name that you assign to it must be any printable character of up to 20 characters. For information about running Device Actions, see Run actions on devices.

NOTE: Most actions in the Action drop-down list require you to install additional applications for them to function. For example, using DameWare requires you to install TightVNC on your device as well as on the device you want to access.

NOTE: To run Device Actions, you must have the Administrator Console open in Internet Explorer, because ActiveX is required to launch these programs on the local device. Other browsers do not support ActiveX. See https://support.quest.com/kb/148787.

14.

To use a custom logo in the User Console, select images in the Logo Overrides section.

NOTE: You can change the logo in the User Console only; you cannot change the logo in the Administrator Console.

224 pixels wide by 50 pixels high is the default size.

User Console

The logo or other graphic displayed at the top of the User Console. Follow these guidelines for graphics:

•

•

104 pixels wide by 50 pixels high stays inside the blue highlight around the Log Out link.

•

300 pixels wide by 75 pixels high is the maximum size that does not impact the layout.

To see the default login page and a customized version, see Configure appliance General Settings with the Organization component enabled.

Report

This setting controls the logo used when generating reports for the selected organization.

Upload a logo or other graphic to be displayed at the top of reports. The graphic must be 201 pixels wide by 63 pixels high as specified in the auto-generated XML layout. To use a different size, adjust the output of the XML report.

To see the default report logo and a customized version, see Configure appliance General Settings with the Organization component enabled.

If the Organization component is enabled on your appliance, you can specify different logos for the reports produced for each organization and for the System.

For information about using custom logos at the System level, see Configure appliance General Settings with the Organization component enabled.

Agent Alert

Upload a logo or graphic to be used in pop-up messages on Agent-managed devices. These pop-ups include snooze dialogs, installation progress messages, alert messages, and message windows created by scripts. After you upload a graphic, it becomes available to managed devices the next time they check in to the appliance.

Graphics for pop-up messages must be in BMP format with a maximum color depth of 256 and a size of 100 pixels wide by 38 pixels high.

To see the default alert logo and a customized version, see Configure appliance General Settings with the Organization component enabled.

You can customize Alert message text and options as well. See Adding and editing scripts.

15.

Click Save and Restart Services.

The appliance restarts.

Configure appliance date and time settings

Configure appliance date and time settings in the Settings section of the Administrator Console. If the Organization component is enabled on your appliance, date and time settings are available at the System level.

It is important to keep the appliance date and time settings accurate, because many calculations are based on these settings.

Go to the appliance Control Panel:

◦

If the Organization component is not enabled on the appliance, log in to the K1000 Administrator Console, http://K1000_hostname/admin, then click Settings.

◦

If the Organization component is enabled on the appliance, log in to the K1000 System Administration Console, http://K1000_hostname/system, or select System in the drop-down list in the top-right corner of the page, then click Settings.

Click Date and Time Settings.

The Date and Time Settings page appears.

Specify the following settings:

Select a timezone in the drop-down list.

Timezone

Time Setting

Select an option:

•

Configure Network Time Protocol. Use an Internet time server. If you select this option, provide the server web address in the Server field.

•

Manually configure date and time. Set the appliance clock manually. Specify the time and date in the drop-down lists. The Hour drop-down list uses a 24-hour clock format.

Server

Use an Internet time server to set the appliance time. Enter the web address of the time server in the text box. For example: time.example.com.

Click Save and Reboot.

The web server restarts and the settings are applied.

NOTE: During the restart, active connections might be dropped. When changes are saved, the page automatically refreshes after 15 seconds. After the appliance web server restarts, the updated date and time appear in the bottom right of the Administrator Console.

Verifying port settings, NTP service, and website access

Verify port settings

Verifying the status of the NTP service

Make necessary websites accessible to the K1000 appliance

Port settings, NTP service, and website access must be configured correctly to enable features such as Agent communications, Software Catalog updates, and patch downloads.

Verify port settings

Appliance ports must be configured correctly to enable device management and database or file access.

•

Ensure that the appropriate appliance ports are not blocked by firewall settings:

(Optional and not recommended) Used to access backup files on the appliance through FTP from outside the firewall.

(Optional) Used by the appliance SMTP server for email (non-SSL). This is required only if you configure SMTP email. See Configuring SMTP email servers.

(Required unless SSL is enabled) Used for standard HTTP (web) access to the Administrator Console and User Console.

(Optional) Used for POP3 email (non-SSL)

110

(Optional) Used for SNMP monitoring. See Discovering devices on your network.

161

(Required) Used for SSL access. Devices use this port when they check in to the appliance using HTTPS.

443

(Optional) Used by the appliance SMTP server for secure email (SSL enabled). This is required only if you configure secure SMTP email. See Configuring SMTP email servers.

587

(Optional) Used for POP3 email (SSL enabled).

995

(Optional) Used to access the appliance database with external tools. For example, this port is used to run reports on the K1000 database using Microsoft Access® or Excel®.

3306

(Required) Used for AMP (Agent Messaging Protocol) communications. The appliance listens on this port for communications from devices on which the K1000 Agent is installed.

52230

TIP: On a number keypad, this port number spells out KACE+0.