Just a note, SCCM supports Branch Distribution Points. They can also be any PC (workstation) or server with an agent. Regards,
Michael B. Smith Consultant and Exchange MVP http://TheEssentialExchange.com From: Tom Miller [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Friday, February 04, 2011 1:58 PM To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: Re: Patch management, revisited SCCM works very well if you have the time and staff to dedicate to it. I have about 1,000 PCs/laptops here and tried SCCM, but never had the time to dedicate to it. And it was a real a pain to manage when you have limited time. But, it can be a great product and has flexibility. I wasn't willing to hire a staff member just for SCCM for our size agency, so I decided to try the KBox (Kace, now owned by Dell). I can tell you the KBox is *so* easy to use. I spent maybe a week setting everything up the way I wanted, and now it pretty much runs on automatic. If you can do it in SCCM, you can probably do it with KBox, too. I use it for patching, inventorying, application distribution, file replication, and other odds and end. Unlike SCCM (maybe this has changed though) you don't need a server at each site for a replication point. That can be any PC or server with an agent on it. We have many sites with 1-5 PCs, so I just use one of them. KBox doesn't care about Pcs in AD or not. The KBox patches MS software, Java, Adobe products, and some A/V like Symantec and McAfee. There are videos on YouTube if you want to take a look at KBox. Look for KBoxbyKace. Just my comments, ignore if you wish. >>> Jonathan <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> 2/4/2011 1:43 PM >>> Ok, guys & gals, I've sifted through the threads for the past year searching on patch management and SCCM, and not found exactly what I'm looking for... In my new gig, the team gets to choose what we will use to handle patches and updates, as there is nothing set in stone right now. Two options have been mentioned by the team: SCCM and Big Fix. I don't know anything about Big Fix, except hat they were just recently gobbled up by IBM and are now part of Tivoli. What I've heard about SCCM is that it is a bear to learn and manage. Right now we've got between 700 and 1,000 nodes (including servers, both virtual and physical), and potentially slated for continued growth. Some of the engineers have laptops that are NOT members of AD, and they run as local Admins. That is probably NOT going to change. Also, we may or may not be looking at needing to handle 3rd party updates as well. I've run WSUS, but only for a few hundred nodes, and really only for windows OS updates and nothing else. Finally, we need decent reporting tools that can provide us with compliance reports on where we stand with patch management. I've seen Shavlik, Kace/K-Box, WSUS, SCCM, & GFI LANGuard all mentioned here... 1. Am I missing anything any products that I should be looking into? 2. Are any of these apps not well suited for the numbers of nodes I'm talking about (either over or under-powered for 700-2000 nodes)? 3. What's going to be the easiest learning curve/least administrative overhead? Thanks, -- Jonathan, A+, MCSA, MCSE ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~ --- To manage subscriptions click here: http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/ or send an email to [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> with the body: unsubscribe ntsysadmin Confidentiality Notice: This e-mail message, including attachments, is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure, or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply e-mail and destroy all copies of the original message. ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~ --- To manage subscriptions click here: http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/ or send an email to [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> with the body: unsubscribe ntsysadmin ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~ --- To manage subscriptions click here: http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/ or send an email to [email protected] with the body: unsubscribe ntsysadmin
