Machine Selection Control

The machine selection controls, located in area below the tab bar header and above all data displays, has been greatly enhanced with this release.

• The Machine ID filter no longer requires a wildcard character (*). There is always an implied wildcard at the end of the string. You can still use the wildcard (*) anywhere in a string.
• The page selector control has moved from the bottom of each data page to its new more convenient location below Machine ID. Now you always change pages from the same spot using a control that is always visible no matter where the data display is scrolled to.
• The Select Machine Group control now supports machine subgroups. To maintain simple alphabetical ordering, machine groups are ordered from left to right with parent groups appearing first. eg. machname.group.subgroup.
• A new Select View control sort machines on a wide variety of parameters, not just machine ID. eg. OS type.

Views

Views allow you to display only the machines you are currently interested in. Define as many unique views as you need then quickly switch from view to view using the Select View control. Click the Edit… button to create and/or modify views. Views in this release support:

• Force a machine ID filter. This overrides a machine ID filter selection with the filter you set in this view.
• Force group ID. Automatically change the group ID selected when this view is selected.
• Show machine that have/have not been on line for a period of time. Quickly find only the machines that are currently online and available or identify machines that have not connected in weeks.
• Connection gateway filter. Only list machines that are connecting to the server though the specified connection gateway IP address. You may use wildcards (*) in this field.
• IP address filter. Only display machines whose IP address matches this filter. You may use wildcards (*) in this field.
• OS Type. Only display machines running the specified operating system.
• OS version filter. Only display machines matching the version string (see Name/OS Info function under the Audit tab). You may use wildcards (*) in this field.
• Script schedule status. You may display machines based on how a specified script has run in last n days, has not run in last n days, passed, failed, is currently scheduled to run or not.

Machine Subgroups

Machine groups can now be divided into subgroups giving you significantly more ability to organize your machines to easily map into any organization structure. Subgroups may be created by either master or standard administrators. (Only master administrators may create top level machine groups.) Define subgroups using Machine Groups Create/Delete function under the System tab.

Admin Group
Function Access

Master administrators can now restrict any admin group to a sub set of the total system functions. For each admin group, you can turn on/off any of the VSA’s functions and tabs. For example, you can prevent a class of administrators from accessing remote control and scripts, but still allow them to see audit and ticketing.

Alert triggered scripts

Task an alert to trigger any script you define with the Alerts function under the Monitor tab. You can run the script on the machine that triggered the alert or on any other machine you specify. The same data reported in the alert, is also passed to the script through temporary variables so your scripts may be highly customized. See online help for Alerts for details.

Patch Management –
Alerts

Alerts are now part of the patch management system. The system sends the selected administrator an email alert when ever Scan Machine discovers one of the three different patch alert cases:

• A new patch is available for the selected Machine ID.
• A patch installation failed on the selected Machine ID.
• The patch location for a new patch available for any machine is missing. See Patch Location for details.

Patch Management –
Reboot Action

Reboot Action options have doubled. You get significantly more control to better fit your user’s work habits. The three new settings are:

• Warn user that machine will reboot in 5 minutes (without asking permission).
• Skip update if user logged in.
• If user logged in ask permission. Reboot if no response in 5 minutes. Reboot if user not logged in.
• If user logged in ask permission. Do nothing if no response in 5 minutes. Reboot if user not logged in.

Patch Management –
Miscellaneous

Bulletin IDs are now linked to Microsoft's TechNet web site. TechNet provides detailed information about the bulletin in addition to the knowledge base Q references.

Patch deployment deletes the patch install package from the client machine after installation. You can now direct the system to leave the package in place by unchecking Delete package after install in the File Source function.

New Agent

Fixed problem in the network protection driver that conflicted with Active Directory. The network protection driver needs to be present prior to system logon. The prior version loaded dynamically when the agent loaded. Now, the driver loads at boot time so it only loads (or unloads) after a reboot. This approach also eliminates having to close and reopen browser windows when network protection activates.

The Agent now caches the last known server connection information. The last known connection data allows an Agent to reconnect even if the primary and secondary KServer addresses are set to invalid addresses on the Check-In Control page.

Execute File tasks will time out automatically after 2 hours to avoid hanging the Agent checkin process, for example waiting for user input to an unattended patch update executable that is running with incorrect command line parameters.

Supports a new KServer request to postpone a checkin if the server is experiencing high utilization. This allows the Agent to check in without adding significant processing to the server load. When the server load drops, the Agent will then be able to check in and perform the postponed tasks.

Missing sub-directories in file paths are now automatically created for files sent to the Agent with the Distribute File function.

Printers –
Full column width

Printers, under the Audit tab, will now display the full path names of all items. Check or uncheck the Full column width box to toggle between normal display and full column width display.

Reset Password

You can now create new local accounts on any managed machine using the Reset Password function under the Remote Cntl tab. If an account name does not already exist, then check the 'Create new account' checkbox and enter the new account name and password.

License Summary Report

This release contains a new Software Report titled License Summary. This report provides an at a glance view summarizing the number of machines running each operating system type, Microsoft Office type, and all other licensed applications discovered during the recurring audit.

Aggregate Table Report

Several new fields have been added with this release.

• First Checkin Time - Timestamp when this agent first connected to the server.
• Agent Version - Version number of the agent.
• User Access Logon - Logon name for a user granted logon access under the User Access function.
• User Access Remote Cntl - Shows whether remote control access has been granted to a user for this machine.
• User Access Ticketing - Shows whether users can enter tickets for this machine.
• User Access Chat - Shows whether chat is allowed for a user of this machine.
• Primary KServer - Primary KServer address and port this agent is set to.
• Secondary KServer - Secondary KServer address and port this agent is set to.
• Quick Checkin Period - Quick checkin period for this agent.

Remote Control

This release supports upgraded versions of WinVNC (v4.0) and Remote Administrator (v2.2).

Run Windows Script

A new sample script titled Run Windows Script as been added to Sample ScriptsConfig Changes folder in the scripts area under the Install tab. This script shows how to deploy and run a Windows Script Host (WSH) script on any machine. Typically run either VBS or JScript scripts. This example JScript file writes a test error message to the Application Event Log.

System Info Scheduler

You can now schedule System Info collection to automatically run on a recurring basis.