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  • 1. IT Activity
  • 2. INDEX 1. Inventory Management/Asset Management/Audit 2. Mail/Exchange Server Monitoring & Management 3. Backup & Restore Backup & DR Services 4. Software Deployment 5. Server Monitoring & Management 6. Standard Operating Environment (SOE) 7. Patch Management 8. Virtualization Management 9. Anti Virus Management 10. Active Directory Management 11. OS Upgrade 12. End Point Security Management 13. Hard Disk Optimization (Hard Disk Health Check)
  • 3. Inventory Management/Asset Management/Audit Definition: Inventory Management is the process of keeping a track of assets. computers desktops and Laptops along with software installed, network devices can be tracked and monitored periodically as a part of inventory management. How is it done in a real world scenario? Each & every IT Asset information is collected manually & tracked using spread sheet like Excel. Implication on business: (Problem & Diagnostics) Manual data collection is always error prone. Moreover, lack of visibility into one's assets can translate into financial loss to an organization. Tracking software inventory, License metering is a tedious process Lack of proper data on assets may lead to wrong purchase decisions. Resource utilization efficiency will be low. How is it done in Automated Managed Services? All the Asset information is available with a single dashboard. Any Changes in the Hardware configuration can be notified immediately. Software information details is automatically tracked All the Network information can be tracked automatically. Benefits Complete visibility on the IT infrastructure including Hardware, software and other devices Tracking of AMC, warranty information can be done automatically. No need to manually watch for this information. Software inventory, effective usage of particular software can be tracked. Any change in hardware can be reported immediately, so that latest information is always available.
  • 4. Mail/Exchange Server Monitoring Management Definition Electronic mail is probably the most mission-critical application on the Internet today. Most businesses use email for communication with suppliers and customers - proposals, support requests, meetings are all scheduled over email, and any downtime, non-delivery, delayed delivery of e-mail can severely impact the business. And Mail Server/Exchange Server is responsible for uninterrupted delivery of e-mails. Exchange Server Management is a process of managing & monitoring the health of Exchange Mail Server and related processes to ensure uninterrupted e-mail operation for end users. How is it done in a real world scenario? Exchange server critical services, SMTP Queue , response time and mailbox size related processes are monitored. CPU consumption, unusual activity etc is also checked. Management of this is done manually either by taking physical control of the Exchange Server or using Remote Control. Since most of the exchange server issues are detected, once the issues begin to crop up & are reported by the end users, management of exchange server heavily revolves around a break-fix activity. Implication on business: (Problem & Diagnostics) Impact on business continuity because of not receiving or sending e-mails on time. Exchange server downtime causes disruption in communication within the organization. This leads to delays in business critical e-mails being sent and received thereby impacting an organization negatively. A few hours of downtime can translate to a huge monetary loss, customer dissatisfaction, as well as put majority of workforce to inconvenience Takes long time to find the root cause of a problem & hence longer downtime. How is it done in Automated Managed Services? Exchange server critical services and processes are monitored using the Advanced Monitoring and automated remediation services. Thus, the IT administrator can monitor for deviations in performance of critical services, pre-set auto repair/auto remediation steps and minimize manual intervention on the part of the system IT administration staff. The Exchange server is proactively monitored, Benefits preventive steps are enforced & corrective actions are performed automatically. For example, the Queue is Ensures Mail/Exchange server is up and monitored and clogs can be cleared by functional up to 99% of the time! automatically deleting the email that has caused the clogs. Increases the efficiency and uptime which translates to valuable savings of time and money spent in fire fighting of email related issu User satisfaction is very high and productivity of IT department personnel is enhanced.
  • 5. Backup & Restore Backup & DR Services Definition A plan for duplicating computer operations so as prepare proactively in an eventuality of data loss that can be triggered after a catastrophe e.g. a fire outbreak or earthquake. It includes routine off-site backup as well as a procedure for activating vital information systems in a new location. How is it done in a real world scenario? The IT Staff ensures that critical server data is backed up onto Disk/ Tape drives. Organization critical data that is stored on severs , shared drives and shared folders too is backed up to the Disk / Tape Drives Backing up of data on user computers is usually the responsibility of the users and IT administrations involvement here if any is limited. Implication on business: (Problem & Diagnostics) Absence of a centralized Administrators console leaves room for errors and there is high possibility of the data backup process not being efficiently carried out. Most common yet overlooked instances of data loss, damage etc that can happen in the end users environment is not taken into consideration. And being unprepared can cause the company as well as the end user loss of precious time, money and effort, in an eventuality the data loss or the asset is damaged. How is it done in Automated Managed Services? First and Foremost this critical activity is integrated into the Virtual Administrators console from where the IT Administration team can have complete visibility over all IT Critical activities. Through a highly intuitive interface, incremental backups as well as complete backups are scheduled and made to run automatically at specific times. Offsite replication too is scheduled and all this happens seamlessly in the background. Backup procedures are configured to ensure that end users data is also protected. Critical system files, registry changes, vital documents and folders all of them are automatically backed up to ensure an unparalleled user experience in terms of security and also peace of mind. Benefits Data backup The lifeline of every organization is tightly integrated, completely automated and secured and is a part of the Administrators console. From Servers to end-users all of the data backup activities, logging, storage, offsite transfer and retrieval is done with minimal stress to the IT Team and minimal risk to the organization. Automation ensures that errors due to human and physical intervention are completely cut down
  • 6. Software Distribution: Definition Installation of software is the act of putting the program onto a computer system. The requisite process varies for each software and each computer. How is it done in a real world scenario? The IT Staff or the user installs the software from CD, the internet, a file share etc IT Staff actively involve themselves in getting this task done either physically or taking control of each and every machine remotely. Both methods are break-fix. During the installation of the software at some point or the other there will be human intervention (in 99% cases) without which it is not possible to successfully install the application Implication on business: (Problem & Diagnostics) Consistency of the entire process cannot be guaranteed. In a big organization that might mean different version of the software is installed thereby making it difficult to maintain a consistent software environment. Software installation poses its own set of challenges and hurdles. Wastage in terms of time of the IT Staff as well as the end user impact the IT organizations productivity. Other critical IT activities can be impacted or the attention of the IT Administration might be diverted from other more critical activities like Server Management, Backup and Disaster Recovery, Network Management etc. Human intervention before, during and after the installation process introduces an element of uncertainty and inconsistency to the entire installation process. For e.g. many a times certain important features of Microsoft office are not checked during installation as a result, the same software Installation across the organization might vary depending on which IT staff installed the application. In large organizations Software and License keys might be compromised with. How is it done in Automated Managed Services? The entire software deployment process across the organization is automated, seamless, highly configurable yet consistent, secure and least intrusive Minimal involvement of IT Staff and their precious time. Deployment is done through a central Virtual System Administrator and can be scheduled, staggered and Benefits managed in a multitude of ways Copies of the Software and the Licenses are securely Huge Savings of time. Up to 90% of the stored software installations are completely automated and involve minimal to zero user intervention IT staff can concentrate on other more important tasks. Software consistency across the organization, check on the number of licenses used as well as prevention of leakage of the same.
  • 7. Server Monitoring & Management Definition: Servers play a very critical role in an organization. As the name implies, servers serve by providing services and there are a variety of critical servers- Web Server, Application Servers, Mail Servers, Proxy Server, Telnet Server to name a few. Server Monitoring & Management includes monitoring of the critical parameters of servers like CPU, Memory Usage, related services and processes, applications, event logs, hardware parameters etc, to ensure good server health & performance How is it done in a real world scenario? Servers are managed using tools specifically developed for the particular type of Server. Depending on the number of different servers in an organization the tools required to manage the servers will also vary When any inconsistency is noticed or a degradation in performance is noticed the IT team decides to take a call. Else management is pretty much the same, swing into the action the minute an issue is detected Implication on business: (Problem & Diagnostics) IT acitivity related to server management is very complex and decentralization of the management activities take a toll on the performance of both the IT Staff as well as the server. There is a direct impact on business continuity in an eventuality of server failure or malfunction and this can cause considerable loss to the organizaton How is it done in Automated Managed Services? Server management services in the AMS provides a centralized solution- a single pane of glass to all server specific requirements that range from monitoring processes, applications and services to auto remediating issues, so as to mimimize the workload on system administrators. The AMS way guarantees that server failures will be minimized and totally eradicated, thanks to the proactive management of services and applications. Benefits Server Management will become one integrated activity as the IT Administrators have a central console where in they will be able to monitor, track and manage all their servers Ensures more than 99% server uptime with complete visibility into the functioning, health and status of each and every server increases the efficiency and uptime. Reduces the chances of data loss & load on IT staff. User satisfaction. High productivity of manpower.
  • 8. Maintaining Standard Operating Environment (SOE) Definition A standard Operating Environment is of vital importance since it facilitates better manageability of the endpoints by ensuring a consistent environment across the organization. How is it done in a real world scenario? Since SOE encompasses a plethora of services its enforcement varies from organization to organization, however given the nature of activity, most of SOE related tasks and enforcement require fairly high involvement of human resources. Given below are a few activities related to enforcing SOE Ensuring that Software version control is in place and only approved softwares are installed in the network Enforcing security measures by manually disabling USB access, CD Drive access etc Configuring and enforcing user restrictions Maintaining and monitoring hardware with uniform configuration settings ( includes driver updates , Bios upgrades etc) Implication on business: (Problem & Diagnostics) Challenging task is tracking of Software versions in use and controlling software updates, to ensure that recommended version is not automatically upgraded User over-riding or malfunction of enforced security measures can negatively impact the organization Highly human resource intensive Tracking changes in hardware/software a challenging task How is it done in Automated Managed Services? Recommended Software is remotely deployed and version control is enforced Proactive monitoring 24 by 7 ensures that every security policy remains enforced and a Breach if any, is immediately notified to the concerned administrator Configuring and Enforcing user restrictions is a one time process, after which it is automatically applied to all endpoints in the network Hardware changes are immediately notified. Driver updates can be automatically applied to all concerned endpoints. Benefits ) Complete visibility and control over one’s environment Minimizes the load on the IT Administration staff. Significant reductions in the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) as well as provides a framework for IT staff to effectively support and implement the company's IT fleet with minimal end user intervention.
  • 9. Patch Management Definition A patch is a piece of software designed to fix application related issues, update a computer program or it's supporting data to enhance its usability and user experience. Patch management involves automating the task of monitoring and deploying patches to ensure that all applications with patches and updates are immediately patched. How is it done in a real world scenario? With Microsoft centric automatic updates the onus of updating lies on the individual user alerted by pop-up advising him to update the system. For other Software's it is a painstaking task to keep checking for new updates and ensuring that patches are updated. It's a well known fact that less than 5 % of the users actually patches (update) their system on regular basis. Predominantly Microsoft Centric patching is carried out using the basic inbuilt Patch Update Service or through a centralized patching application. Other applications are patched more inconsistently Implication on business: (Problem and Diagnostics) Inconsistent patch updates are the doorway to poor system performance, security threats and vulnerabilities. Inconsistency is primarily due to the high level of manual intervention required and user typically avoids it. Business critical applications and services if not patched will affect end user experience thereby affecting productivity. How is it done in Automated Managed Services? AMS ensures each and every end point is always updated with the latest patches automatically and without any human intervention via the inbuilt patch engine. Business critical applications and other essential software can be automatically patched, updated and monitored to ensure consistency across the entire organization. Benefits A fully compliant and patched software environment is consistently maintained ensuring that all the systems on the network are secure and protected. Business critical applications run smoothly and efficiently, minimizing downtime, application crashes and enhancing user productivity. Ensures patch (update) of other business critical non-Microsoft software.
  • 10. Virtualization Management Definition Virtualization Management aims at eliminating the blind spots resulting from virtualization. It enables the system administrator to have visibility into the performance of the physical server as well access to complete information regarding the Virtual environment that includes the number of Virtual Machines hosted, their OS, disk and memory allocated to each of the VMs and their utilization. How is it done in a real world scenario? Most of the Virtualization softwares have their own set of proprietary virtual management tools and it is with these tools that Virtual Management is done. All VM Management activities are carried out using a console that comes with the software which the IT admin needs to be logged in to. Depending on the requirements of the organization Virtualization related investments are done and VMs are setup to address the requirements. Implication on business: (Problem & Diagnostics) Free VM management tools have limited options. And the paid ones have an interface and though powerful doesn't address the IT Admins main concern - A central management console. Therefore Virtualization Management can become a daunting task. Poor visibility into ones Virtual Environment is the major reason as to why many IT Companies either over invest and underutilize their Virtualization Servers or fail to realize that they have inadvertently caused degradation in Virtualization Services due to improper utilization , configuration, allocation of resources and management of their Virtual environment/servers. How is it done in Automated Managed Services? With centralized management console and a dashboard, the IT Staff will have all information regarding the virtual environment at their fingertips. The administrator can through Virtual System Administration Console constantly monitor and track the performance of his Virtualization hardware and software. Based on the powerful dashboard, reports and console - Capacity planning and budgeting can be effectively executed with minimal wastage Benefits Efficient System Administration, enhanced user experience, reduction in VM performance issues, higher availability of Virtual server are some of the benfits of having a centralized Virtualization Monitoring , alerting and reporting capability, by integrating Virtual System Administration console with the Virtualization Management tools that are commonly used. Ability to also go beyond mere virtualization and take decisions pertaining to capacity management and budgeting for maximizing utilization and savings.
  • 11. Antivirus Management Definition Involves the Installation of Antivirus software, updating the virus definition files, monitoring and scanning for virus activity and virus signatures and most importantly being able to handle a virus issue by taking appropriate remediation steps. How is it done in a real world scenario? Antivirus software is installed and then either the user takes the onus of ensuring that it runs well or management is done from a centralized antivirus console Antivirus definition files are updated through the auto update feature of the antivirus software. Antivirus software scanning preferences presets are used or the IT staff personally ensures that the settings have been enforced on all the endpoints. Infected systems are quarantined, taken off the network and what follows is a lengthy data backup, repair and restoration process Implication on business: (Problem & Diagnostics) Since this is just one another activity that the IT staff has to do - enforcing , managing and scheduling antivirus scans is a big challenge. Failing of auto-update and the inability of the IT Staff to track it can again compromise the endusers system . Also disabling of certain preset settings by users for eg- On access scanning of pendrives, media cards etc could once again expose the individual user as well as the network to security threat The damage to the quarantined infected system and the impact of damage done cannot be easily assessed How is it done in Automated Managed Services? An integrated Centralized console makes Antivirus monitoring just one of the other activities that the IT staff has to address. AV-Software installations are automated and all the actions are tracked from a central console. Antivirus definition files are automatically updated and tracked leaving no room for error. All of the Antivirus software services , settings and presets are locked and monitored. Any change is automatically reverted and Benefits reported. Options for the user to manipulate antivirus software settings are ruled out. Automation on this front ensures that Infected systems would be auto-quarantined ! a lot of manual work is cut down. Source of infection and be backtracked and Policing is also not necessary and user Appropriate meaningful alerts would also be experience is very good. sent to the concerned IT staff. Liberates the user and IT staff from taking the responsibility of regularly checking for or approving updates of virus definition files 24x7 Monitoring rules out the possibility of any outbreak within the organization.
  • 12. Active Directory Management Definition Active Directory technology is Microsoft proprietary suite of network services that helps in managing a large Organizations network by creating and defining a structure , a hierarchy, setting roles and access rights of users and having a centralized management console to monitor, track and manage multiple users on the AD network. Active Directory (AD) Management is a process of running an AD and related services smoothly efficiently & without any downtime. How is it done in a real world scenario? AD Management includes activities like creating/deleting or enabling/disabling user accounts for end user logon to PC. This is done either through physical access to the AD Server or through Remote Control. Monitoring of AD server resources and health of AD and related services running on the server. Enforcing of end user security policy and managing the policies for the user. Linux and Mac users would be exempted from joining Active Directory Implication on business: (Problem & Diagnostics) Lack of visibility and control over AD Management. AD downtime directly impacts the productivity of the Organization. When AD is down, affected users will not be able to log in to the system or will face issues while working on their systems. In such situations finding the root cause can be time consuming and could thereby impact the business as well as user experience- thereby affecting the productivity. Mobile users cannot be monitored or managed using Active Directory. Users using heterogeneous OS cannot be integrated into Active Directory. How is it done in Automated Managed Services? Virtual System Administrator Console tightly integrates with AD. Single Sign on is possible for all users and every AD task can be managed from a centralized console. AD and related services, processes are constantly monitored and auto-remediated leaving no room for failure. For mobile users, auto integration into the AD and toggling between local group policy and central AD that have Benefits consistent rules, rights and permissions makes it easier for the IT Admins to secure , manage and enforce Centralized Administration and compliance. Management Console. Users using heterogeneous OS can be made a part of AD and single sign on can be assigned to them. Thereby this automated tool transcends the barriers of AD, Group Policies and even Operating Systems.
  • 13. OS Upgrade Definition: Once in every few years a new OS is released with newer features and functionality. OS Upgrade helps an organization to use the existing hardware and upgrade the OS so that the newer features can be utilized for the benefit of the organization How is it done in a real world scenario? In real world scenario OS Upgrade is a manual process and requires high degree of human intervention. CDs or DVDs of the new OS are used to upgrade the workstation or server from an older version to the newer version. Implication on business: (Problem & Diagnostics) Upgrading OS on a few thousand systems at a time can be quite time consuming. The system administrator needs to manually configure as well as install applications, assess the impact of the upgrade and check if the new OS is performing well. Some or all of these activities can also directly impact the end-users time, performance and experience. How is it done in Automated Managed Services? A central Virtual System Administration Server will be instrumental in configuring as well as automating the up gradation of the OS from a centralized location. Only those systems that are fit for the upgrade would be upgraded and the rest would be left untouched. An OS upgrade report would give the Administrator visibility into the Up-gradation Status Benefits Due to the minimal human intervention a lot of time would be saved and due to the intelligent up-gradation a lot of issues due to Hardware and OS mismatch would be proactively avoided.
  • 14. End Point Security Management Definition: End Point Security Management encompasses the gamut of security steps and procedures that are put into place to ensure that servers as well as workstations in a network computing environment are protected and secure How is it done in a real world scenario? Security Management is done in a decentralized way using Active Directory, Firewall, and Content Filter etc. Implication on business: (Problem & Diagnostics) Inefficient Security Management impacts servers, workstations & critical network devices sometimes causing loss of data, data theft, vulnerability to virus and Trojan infection, intrusion attempts and also causing network & application failures. How is it done in Automated Managed Services? A central console gives the administrator the visibility and power at his fingertips to perform End to end security management using pre defined procedures and tools to monitor, auto-remediate and enforce security policies. Moreover these policies can be monitored, reinforced & reported for better control over devices connected and managed over the network. Benefits The entire network in the organization will be Secure and Protected. This will minimize the workload on IT staff and maximize end user Experience.
  • 15. Hard Disk Optimization (Hard Disk Health Check) Definition: Hard Disk Optimization is an IT Process of improving hard disk performance significantly & keeping Hard Disk free from physical damage. How is it done in a real world scenario? Following are the some of the activities those are manually performed on each & every Hard Disk to keep them healthy- Defragment Check for Disk Errors Clean up Unnecessary Files and Optimize the Recycle Bin Stop Hibernation Convert to NTFS Create More Space For the Master File Table Disable Date and Time Stamp Updating Implication on business: (Problem & Diagnostics) Lack of automation in Hard Disk maintenance activities introduces user intervention & slowness in the complete optimization process which makes it very difficult for the IT Admin to manage & optimize bulk of Hard Disks. Also tracking the status of Optimization Actions taken on the Hard Disks & reporting them is a difficult task. How is it done in Automated Managed Services? In automated managed Services a Central AMS System creates & stores a set of predefined automation instructions. Using this Automation Set it manages many end points simultaneously to perform multiple Hard Disk optimization tasks & track their status. This Automation Set can be scheduled to start to minimize the end point performance issues & user intervention as well. Since the Central AMS System tracks each & every Benefits Performance Activity it can present the status of any activity at any given point of time. No User Intervention, Faster Service, No Performance issues, Reporting & Tracking