How it works:

The KACE SMA Virtual Appliance

For those organizations that have deployed a virtual environment, the KACE SMA is available as a virtual appliance running on VMware or Microsoft Hyper-V virtual environments. Simply download the KACE SMA from our data warehouse and install it on the supported virtual environment of your choice — the virtual KACE SMA supports current versions of VMware and Windows Server®.

Reduce infrastructure costs

KACE as a Service provides you with all the features and functionality of the KACE SMA on-premises, virtual appliance, in a hosted, Azure cloud-delivered virtual appliance. KACE as a Service provides each organization with its own dedicated virtual KACE appliance instance (VK appliance). This means your data is not intermingled with those of other organizations, providing you with added security and making it easier to comply with security regulations. And because Quest and Quest partners take care of the hosting, you do not have to worry about allocating data center capacity or any resources to manage the KACE SMA in your own infrastructure. KACE as a Service does not require any upfront capital expense and can be allocated as an operational expense. This allows you to have all the benefits of a comprehensive unified endpoint management (UEM) solution without any of the financial risk.

How it works:

Improve IT efficiency with comprehensive, integrated help desk management software

The KACE SMA’s service desk utilizes the KACE SMA as its underlying configuration management database (CMDB. That means context-sensitive information from key KACE SMA modules — such as device inventory and device and user history — are linked directly into the help desk management functionality. This enables help desk administrators to easily accomplish many tasks, including providing remote support to remedy a problem directly from the KACE SMA service desk. They can also easily move to the KACE SMA’s other capabilities as needed for further problem analysis and resolution; for example, distributing a software update or deploying a patch. All activities are tracked to ensure easy benchmarking of service levels and auditing for compliance.

Customize KACE SMA to fit your organization’s needs

The KACE SMA service desk is fully customizable to fit your organization's unique requirements. Virtually any field or field value — from SLA’s to workflow and escalation rules to email notifications and queues — can be customized, and you can set up your own new fields. You can also create processes for standard, repeatable tasks, such as new-employee onboarding, that include multiple interdependent activities that may have a preset sequence and require approvals at multiple levels. Once the process is created, multiple interdependent help desk management tickets are automatically created and assigned to appropriate personnel each time you run it.

Provide powerful ticket management

The KACE SMA’s service desk can maintain multiple support queues and rules to govern the flow of incoming tickets with its ticketing system software capabilities ̶ whether they are incident- or process-based. You can pre-define ticket queues based on skill sets and location, and then distribute them according to owner workload to ensure you meet appropriate service levels. Ticket assignments can be automated based on hierarchical categories or manually assigned, and escalation notifications can be set to generate email alerts if tickets are not promptly addressed. Tickets can also be set up with parent-child relationships to automate closure of dependent tickets and add structure to related tasks that must be completed prior to closure of an umbrella work order.

Generate robust reporting and SLA controls

The KACE SMA ticketing system software capabilities track ongoing service processes and reports changes in ticket status to appropriate parties. In addition, the KACE SMA provides detailed reports to track help desk performance and responsiveness, including the granular ability to define and track resolution timeframes. Pre-packaged reports and an intuitive custom report wizard make it easy to assess compliance with service level agreements (SLAs) and overall service desk workload. Service desk tickets can also be archived for compliance-audit and other purposes. The end result is improved help desk management for SLAs and reporting, as well as increased user satisfaction.

Reduce desk visits with remote support

The KACE SMA’s service/help desk management capabilities also provides remote control capabilities to help you resolve issues without initiating a desk-side visit. The KACE SMA comes with out-of-the-box remote support via Ultra VNC and supports third-party remote control solutions, such as Bomgar, Dameware, NetOps and Windows Remote Desktop. The KACE SMA also integrates with Intel vPro technology to provide enhanced remote management and recovery capabilities on PCs with vPro technology.

Enable self-sufficiency with KACE SMA’s end-user portal

The KACE SMA provides your end users with an intuitive self-service help desk management portal where they can access a flexible knowledge base for self-help, locate hardware and software inventory information for their systems, install IT-sanctioned software packages, and submit and view the status of their support tickets with the KACE SMA ticketing system software capabilities. They can also follow IT-generated links to other self-service tools such as Password Manager, for completing self-service password management tasks. Secure user authentication can be provided via integration with Active Directory/LDAP, while single sign-on allows users to easily and seamlessly access the KACE SMA user self-service portal with their corporate logon credentials.

Provide mobile access with KACE Go Mobile App integration

The KACE SMA Service Desk is also integrated with the KACE Go Mobile App, which is a free app for Android and iOS devices. With the KACE Go, you can review and respond in real-time to service/help desk management notifications, examine inventory details and deploy software and patches directly from your mobile device. KACE Go also allows end users to submit service desk tickets, access the knowledge base and check on an existing ticket’s status from their mobile devices.

Easily resolve issues with integration to the ITNinja knowledgebase

ITNinja.com is an independent IT administrator forum managed by us. It provides a comprehensive database of systems management information and best practices. The KACE SMA’s service/help desk management is integrated with ITNinja.com to provide context-relevant information to you and your organization’s end users. This integration helps make your help desk more effective by enabling end users to resolve many issues on their own without submitting a ticket in the ticketing system software, and by providing you valuable information to help you resolve tickets faster.

How it works:

Chromebook inventory and management

By connecting the KACE SMA with Google APIs and Google Workspace Admin tools, in just a few minutes you’ll be able to extract all available Chromebook management data, and even perform common administrative functions directly from the KACE SMA. This information is then integrated into all applicable KACE SMA processes and workflows, including asset management, reporting, service desk, and the KACE Go Mobile Application. This integration provides you with a single-pane-of-glass view of your entire endpoint environment, including Chromebooks, Windows, Mac, Linux and UNIX systems, as well as mobile and connected non-compute devices — relieving you of the burden of using multiple solutions and consoles for your day-to-day work.

IT asset management

Chromebook inventory and management is part of the KACE SMA’s comprehensive IT asset management capabilities, which include unified discovery, inventory, asset management and reporting for virtually the entire enterprise infrastructure, regardless of OS platform.

Reporting

IT Asset Management is easier when everything is in one place. Getting the data from the Google Workspace Admin console couldn’t be easier. Once the KACE SMA and your Google Workspace are linked, the data will be updated automatically and regularly into KACE SMA. Once the data is available to KACE, it’s fully reportable including on-demand reporting, event-based alerting, or even custom dashboards. The KACE SMA has pre-made Chromebook management reporting templates, or you can build your own. Drill down to a single device’s details, or get organization-wide reports on hardware, application and operating system inventories.

Other features and functionality

• Service Desk: The KACE Systems Management Appliance includes an integrated service desk that puts information, including Chromebook management data, right at technicians’ fingertips.
• Self-service user portal: An integrated user portal enables users to submit new service tickets and check the status of existing tickets; review notifications about outages and other issues; and access a knowledge base with answers to common questions, workarounds and other information.
• Mobile support: The KACE GO Mobile App enables both service desk technician and users to access functionality from their Android and iOS devices.
• Security: The KACE GO Mobile App enables both service desk technician and users to access functionality from their Android and iOS devices.
• Automation: KACE enables you to automate and simplify a wide range of tasks. In particular, you can use labels to group items so that you can easily distribute software, deploy patches or perform other actions on all of the supported devices with a particular label. You can also use smart labels, which are labels that are applied and removed automatically based on criteria you specify. For example, you could create the smart label “Student Chromebooks” for Chromebook devices within a certain IP address range (like the student Wi-Fi IP range) or Google Workspace admin console organizational unit. Whenever a device is inventoried which meets that criteria, that smart label will be applied to it automatically. Similarly, when the device leaves the specified IP address range or moves to a different organizational unit the label will be removed automatically upon next inventory. This automation improves accuracy while giving your limited IT team more time to innovate.

Features

Gain comprehensive deployment options

The KACE SMA includes software deployment tools to automate software distributions to Windows, Mac and Linux systems, as well as customize installations. Supported packages include: .MSI, .EXE, and .ZIP for Windows; .pkg, .app, .dmg, .zip, .tgz, and tar.gz. for Mac; .rpm, .zip; .bin, .tgz. and tar.gz for Linux. In addition, the KACE SMA is equally adept at uninstalling unapproved applications, helping you maintain a secure and compliant environment.

Minimize end-user disruptions

The KACE SMA provides flexibility for software deployments, including when deployments take place —ideally off-work hours — and which systems are targeted, helping you minimize any disruptions to user productivity. The KACE SMA’s snooze capabilities even allow users the option of deferring a software upgrade to a time that suits their work schedule, and pre- and post-installation messages keep them informed and engaged.

Employ remote replication for multiple worksites

The KACE SMA’s software deployment tools with remote-replication capabilities can significantly reduce the network impact of large software distributions in organizations with multiple locations. You simply designate a system in a remote location as the replication share. The KACE SMA data is sent once over your network to the replication share, and all other systems at that remote office then directly pull applications, patches and scripts from the designated remote replication share through the LAN instead of from the KACE SMA — without the need for dedicated hardware or personnel at the remote facility. The remote replication share is easy to set up and maintain, and dramatically reduces the cost and complexity of software distribution across a multi-site organization.

Integrate easily with ITNinja

ITNinja.com, an IT administrator forum managed by Quest, provides you with real-time application installation information — including command lines and application deployment best practices — significantly reducing the time required to customize a software distribution. Context specific information from ITNinja is integrated directly into the KACE SMA console to keep your software deployments running smoothly.

Get Dell™ client and server updates

The KACE SMA integrates with the Dell™ Updates Catalog so you can easily apply any update packages directly from your KACE SMA. Set different policies for different populations of machines, such as linking automated software upgrades to server maintenance windows. The KACE SMA also provides detailed summary data on the status of any Dell™ software upgrade, enabling you to quickly determine compliance status and remediate any systems where updates have failed.

How it works:

Do more with detailed discovery and inventory

The KACE SMA appliance inventory software, and IT asset and IoT device management platform, scans your entire network to identify all connected devices. KACE SMA provides you with detailed hardware and software inventory for Windows, Mac, Linux and UNIX systems, as well as OS and hardware inventory for Chromebooks, utilizing Google APIs. The KACE SMA’s network discovery and asset inventory functions can be performed with or without installing an agent.* By using SNMP and other network scanning protocols, the KACE SMA enables you to obtain actionable IT asset and IoT device management information even about connected, non-computer devices, such as networking gear, printers and IP telephony.

Conserve resources with comprehensive asset management

The KACE SMA automates asset management and IoT device management from deployment to retirement through a single configuration management database (CMDB), including asset data audits, tracking, compliance and reconciliation. In addition to detailed hardware discovery and software inventory for computers and servers, SNMP object identifiers can be tracked for non-computer devices, such as toner levels for printers. All asset data is integrated across complementary KACE SMA functions, such as patch management, alerts and service desk, and can be easily tracked through the asset’s lifecycle. The KACE SMA’s asset management includes common asset fields and software license types and out-of-the-box support for storing asset associations, ensuring accurate tracking of financial and service impacts of asset changes.

Streamline hardware and software issues with an accurate inventory

Organizations can streamline a number of hardware and software issues with the appliance inventory software, and IT asset and IoT device management capabilities in KACE SMA. An accurate asset inventory makes it easier for IT teams to track the location of assets to ensure their proper use. It also enables the tracking of the age and the operating system compatibility of their hardware to better plan and schedule the upgrades, replacement and disposal of these assets. The inventory of software can also help to identify the timing of upgrades for budgeting purposes as well as prevent the buying of unneeded licenses and any occurrences of improper licensing

Reduce maintenance costs for your Dell™ systems with warranty integration

The KACE SMA appliance inventory software automatically pulls warranty information for all your Dell systems and devices — PCs, laptops, printers, servers, storage, tablets and peripherals — directly into its asset inventory. This enables Dell hardware owners to efficiently manage the lifecycle of their Dell devices, reducing costs by avoiding post-warranty maintenance and retiring old assets in a timely manner.

How it works

Software inventory

The software license management capabilities in KACE SMA provide a detailed software inventory for Windows, Mac, Linux and UNIX systems in your environment, including inventory of applications installed with Microsoft App-V. The inventory is then reconciled with the Application Catalog to help you keep track of software licenses amid the proliferation of versions, inconsistent naming and tracking mechanisms, and increasingly complex license structures.

Application Catalog

The application catalog contains more than 409 million software entries with information on application version and name variations, normalized publisher names, and categorization of the applications. Consequently, the KACE SMA software license management and IT asset management software can discern whether an application has been installed in standalone mode, or as part of a greater software suite, as well as distinguish between retail and OEM-purchased licenses. The KACE SMA’s integration with the application catalog enables you to accurately and reliably discover, track and manage software assets, optimize license usage and achieve compliance.

Software asset management (SAM) and usage metering

The KACE SMA software license management and IT asset management software also has a number of SAM features to help you maintain software license compliance, harvest unused or underutilized applications, and improve negotiation of volume purchases with visibility to general availability, end-of-life dates, and manufacturer’s suggested retail price information. You can define software asset groups and track the associated licenses against the number of installations. You can also track future versions of an application and monitor installed licenses even as new versions become available, at a level including provisions for upgrade/downgrade rights. This is essential for managing software license agreements. Plus, learn how much your organization can save with the KACE SMA when you track usage of software and harvest licenses by uninstalling unused software from systems, and either transferring the software and its license to different users who need them, or removing those licenses from your next vendor purchase agreement.

Software blacklisting and removal of unauthorized software

With the KACE SMA software license management capabilities you can blacklist unwanted applications, such as games or applications with known vulnerabilities, with a single click. The KACE SMA then prevents your end users from running those applications on their systems, eliminating security threats and productivity impacts posed by unauthorized software. You can also run reports to discover unauthorized applications and easily uninstall them.

Software reporting

With the KACE SMA software license management capabilities you can use the reporting wizard to create custom reports or run built-in software licensing compliance reports. Built-in or wizard-based reports can be modified, or you can create your own from scratch using SQL queries. For example, you can create a command that will pick all machines with a specific program installed in a specific office location. You can also tell the KACE SMA to send compliance reports to the necessary stakeholders on a regular basis. Reports can assist your team with software asset allocations as well as proving software licensing compliance. Reports show you how many licenses you're using vs how many you bought, as well as how much money you could save by reallocating your licenses.