Network and Workstation Management
From MissionTechWiki
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Description of Network and Workstation Management
For any reasonable sized office there are issues of managing workstations and networks. It is usually preferable to ensure that most, if not all, workstations have identical software installations to mnimise support costs.
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How is Network and Workstation Management used in Missions?
Just like in any organisation larger offices requirement management of workstations and networks. Also missions often have a large number of distributed computers which occassionally connect to the office network.
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Issues with Network and Workstation Management
- Making sure that all software that is installed is properly licensed.
- Monitoring inappropriate use.
- Checking how much PCs are actually used so that hotdesking can be implemented.
- Tracking Workstation Configurations
- Fixing Slow XP Machines
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Windows Updates
One issue with managing a reasonable number of MS Windows workstations is the need to cache Windows Updates. MS have a product called WSUS that enables this to be done, and an IPCop plugin exists to provide caching on a linux based firewall.
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Windows Vista
Visit the Windows Vista Page
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Different implementations and solutions using Network and Workstation Management
- Zenworks from Novell is used by at least one mission school. It has a lot of features to help manage and monitor PCs and laptops.
- True Image from Acronis is a product which will allow you to take an image of a hard disk at a certain point. If there are problems with the computer then you can easily restore the hard disk to how it was. All data will be lost of course, but it is best, if possible, to store data on a server and back it up from there.
- Norton Ghost is a similar product to Acronis. See here for more discussion.
- Using Knoppix-based tools can be very helpful managing machines and networks.
- FOG is a free set of tools that is easily deployed for network-wide workstation management.
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Network Monitoring Tools
- Nagios is an open source host, service and network monitoring program. Nagios is popular with mission organisations for monitoring their networks. Detail your experience with Nagios here