Monthly Archives: August 2012

Are you concerned that your network is not as secure as it needs to be?  You are not alone.  At a recent webinar, we asked the participants how confident they were that they had their security needs covered and only 16% stated they are confident they have adequately addressed their security needs.

We would like to raise your confidence level—quickly—and invite you to join us as KACE and SonicWALL’s  top security experts along with one of our customers share their experiences and bring you up to speed on some of the latest security threats. 

Join us at a live one hour webinar: End Point to Perimeter: Network protection that’s inside out and outside in.

When: Thursday, September 6, 2012 at 10:00 a.m. PT, 11:00 a.m. MT, 12:00 p.m. CT, 1:00 p.m. ET

Register HERE

 You will learn about:

• The malware menace – latest stats and facts
• Third party industry firewall comparison tests:  which firewall is best for you?
• Best and easiest practices for securing end points
• How a customer implemented a solution—step-by-step
• And much more…

When you register and attend, you will have complimentary access to webcasts, free downloads and research, live chat and networking opportunities, and more.

Be sure to register even if you can’t attend on September 6, as you will gain access to pertinent content and the on-demand version of our virtual event.

Either way, we promise you will learn how to provide stronger security for your network.

User Roles are a critical item nestled in the Service Desk module on the K1000. Roles are what we use to limit access to certain areas of the K1000. By default, you have 4 roles on the K1000; Admin, Read only Admin, User, and Login not allowed. These default-roles allow an admin user to have full access to the box at the admin or user level, the user role will show all available user portal tabs by default; the read-only admin role allows someone to login to the admin portal but they only have access to read the information not make changes, login not allowed simply makes it so that the user cannot even login to the K1000.

These initial roles are meant to get you started with assigning access to users on the K1000 but many customers prefer to create custom roles in order to give access to the appropriate areas for specific Users. For instance, if you have helpdesk personnel you may want to create a custom helpdesk role.

To create this role we must go to

1. Service Desk – > Roles – > Choose Action – > Add New Item.

2. This will take you to the editing page to create a new role. At the very top you can enter a Role Name, we’ll call ours Helpdesk Staff.

3. After entering the name enter a brief description, something to indicate this is for our helpdesk administrators.

4. After entering that information next click the “expand all”, this will show each available tab on the box as well as all of the sub tabs beneath it. You can select the custom value to give read, write or hide specific sub tabs, or all hide if you wish to hide an entire module from view.

5. Next go through each tab; home, inventory, asset, etc… and determine what you want your helpdesk personnel to have access to. Read means they can see the information for that area but can’t modify, write means they can modify information there and hide means it is hidden from sight. **It’s worthy of remembering that if you leave someone with write access to the users or roles tabs, you’re effectively saying they can grant themselves broader access. Another important point is that there is a different section for the Admin portal and the User portal, the User tabs are at the bottom.

6. Once finished editing simply click save at the bottom of the page.

Now that the role is created we simply need to assign it to users. Users may belong to only one role- so you may need a few roles to support the various worker types in your environment. There are two ways to assign this role one is through the LDAP import under the User Authentication- this assigns the role when the account is initially created; the other method is to manually apply this role to users that already exist in the Users tab, also located in the Service Desk module. To do this simply click the check box to the left of their name(s), next click the Choose Action – > Apply Role. This will change their existing role to the new one you’ve created.

Now it’s time to determine if there are more that you need in your environment. Roles can be used for Users or Administrators, to limit or hide tabs you feel could be confusing, or simply are not needed for their daily work duties. We recommend using roles whether you use Service Desk or not; granting people more access than they want or need can not only be scary for you, but them as well. You’ll find that many people prefer not to have access to tools they aren’t supposed to use. Here’s some examples: Common Users might not need access to the User portal’s software library and the Download log tabs if you aren’t publishing applications there. An Asset Manager role might be useful for someone in Finance that only has read access to inventory, reporting, and write access to Assets, but not metering. Managers might benefit from read access to reporting, helpdesk, and inventory, in the Admin portal, and write access to helpdesk in the user portal but nothing else.

We understand that not all of you are able to make the trek out to our annual User Konference, so this year we are bringing the popular Boot Kamp training day to you! Dive into your KACE Appliance features and capabilities, and learn directly from KACE training experts–right in your own backyard.

Backyard Boot Kamp allows you the opportunity to:

• Extract maximum benefit from your KACE Appliance by either refreshing or enhancing your skills
• Interact with KACE experts and ask questions pertaining to your issues
• Connect with your fellow users in the local KACE community, to learn best practices and establish on-going relationships
• Save on travel expense and minimize time away from the office

This is a full day of KACE product training, and we will provide only practical, solutions-oriented information that can benefit you and your organization. NOTE: Boot Kamps are designed specifically for new users or those desiring a skills refresh. They are not intended for advanced KACE users, nor should they be considered as a replacement for normal JumpStart new customer training.

Locations

• Orlando, FL | Thursday, September 13, 2012, 8 a.m.–5 p.m. Register Here
• Boston, MA | Thursday, September 27, 2012, 8 a.m.–5 p.m. Register Here
• Palo Alto, CA | Tuesday, October 16, 2012, 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. Register Here *NEW*

Seats are extremely limited for these backyard training events, so register now!

And remember, Boot Kamps are also offered as part of our annual KACE Konference 2012 agenda, scheduled for December 10-13, 2012 in Austin, TX. With the option to attend either or both K1000 and K2000 Boot Kamps, as well as two extra days of information-packed sessions and networking opportunities, Konference may be the best educational option for your organization. You can find Konference details and preliminary agendas here.