Question
What do I need to know about the 6.2 release of Altiris® Out of Band Management Soluton™?

Answer

Altiris® Out of Band Management Solution™ 6.2

Build number OOB 6.2.1035, OOBSC 6.2.1040

Release Notes

Introduction

Installation and Upgrade

What's New in this Release

Fixes in this Release

Known Issues in this Release

Additional Documentation

Document History

Introduction

Altiris® Out of Band Management Solution™ software helps you manage computers regardless of the state of their power, operating system, or management agents. You can now remotely perform management tasks that would normally require a visit to a client computer. The software offers the ability to setup and configure (provision) computers with Intel® vPro™ technology in enterprise mode.

Installation and Upgrade

Prerequisites

The requirements for installing Out of Band Management Solution are listed below.

Altiris Software Prerequisites

  • Altiris Notification Server 6.0 SP3 or later

For Windows Vista support, you must install the following solution manually (from the Solution Center on an existing Notification Server) prior to installing Out of Band Management Solution:

  • Altiris Notification Server 6.0 SP3 Update KB34317 or later

To install the update, do the following:

  1. In the Altiris Console, select the Configuration tab. (If you are using the Altiris Console 6.5, select View > Configuration.)
  2. In the left pane, select Upgrade/Install Additional Solutions.
  3. In the right pane, click the Available Solutions tab.
  4. Click Segments.
  5. Click Notification Server Upgrades and Updates to expand the category.
  6. Click Altiris NS SP3 Update KB34317 and follow the on-screen instructions. 

The following solution components are required and are installed (when installing from the Solution Center) with Out of Band Management Solution:

  • Altiris Console 6.5
  • Altiris® Task Management Solution 6.0 (provides the Task Infrastructure)
  • Altiris® Real-Time Console Infrastructure 6.3 (provides infrastructure for the remote management over the WMI/ASF/Intel AMT)
  • Altiris® Connector Solution Event Integration Component 6.0 (provides SNMP traps receiver functionality)

The following solution components are optional and are installed (when installing from the Solution Center) with Out of Band Management Solution:

  • Altiris Console Data (provides solution-specific menu items in the Altiris Console 6.5)
  • Various language packs, reports, and documentation

Microsoft Software Prerequisites

The following are the minimum requirements for Out of Band Management Solution installation:

  • Microsoft Windows 2000 Server with Service Pack 4 or later
  • .NET Framework Version 2.0

However, if you plan to use TLS, TLS with Mutual Authentication, Remote Configuration features and 802.1X profiles for secure communication between the Notification Server and the client Intel AMT computer, the following requirements must be met:

  • The Notification Server and Out of Band Management Solution must be installed on Microsoft Windows Server 2003 with Service Pack 1 or later.
  • Microsoft’s Certificate Authority (CA) must be installed and configured.

For detailed instructions on CA prerequisites, infrastructure planning, installation, and configuration, see the Altiris Out of Band Management Solution Help and Altiris Out of Band Management Solution Administrator’s Guide (see Additional Documentation).

Note: You can install and configure Certificate Authority at any time after installing Out of Band Management Solution.

Altiris Notification Server Prerequisites

Requirements for the computer running the Notification Server with Out of Band Management Solution:

 

PC Processor Intel Pentium* 4 processor - 1.5 GHz minimum, 2.4 GHz or faster is recommended
Memory 512 MB minimum, 1 GB or more is recommended
Operating System Windows 2000 Server with Service Pack 4 1, Windows Server 2003 with Service Pack 1
Hard Disk 3 GB (20 GB recommended)
Platform .NET Framework 2.0, Internet Information Services (IIS) 6.0
Networking Minimum Ethernet 10BASE-T

1 If the Notification Server is installed on Windows 2000 Server, TLS, Remote Configuration, and 802.1X profiles will not be available. For details, see Microsoft Software Requirements.

Requirements for the computer running SQL server (when the Notification Server is configured to use the SQL server installed on a remote computer):

 

PC Processor Intel Pentium III processor - 600 MHz minimum 1 GHz or faster is recommended
Memory 192 MB minimum, 512 MB or more is recommended
Operating System Windows 2000 Server with Service Pack 4, Windows Server 2003 with Service Pack 1
Hard Disk 525 MB
Platform .NET Framework 2.0
Networking Minimum Ethernet 10BASE-T
Other Microsoft SQL Server to be configured in mixed (Windows Authentication and SQL Server Authentication) mode. Configure the Notification Server to use Windows authentication mode.

Client Computer Prerequisites

You must install the Altiris Agent and roll out the Out of Band Task Agent on ASF-capable computers and Intel AMT computers that support the Remote Configuration feature. The Out of Band Task Agent requires one of the following operating systems:

  • Windows 2000 Professional SP3 or higher
  • Windows XP (32-bit and 64-bit versions)
  • Windows Vista (32-bit and 64-bit versions). Note: Requires Notification Server 6.0 SP3 Update KB34317. For details, see Altiris Software Prerequisites.

The Out of Band Task Agent also requires the Client Task Agent installed on the client computer. For details on installing the agents, see the Out Of Band Management Solution Help (see Additional Documentation).

SQL Server Requirements

Microsoft SQL Server to be configured in mixed (Windows Authentication and SQL Server Authentication) mode. Configure the Notification Server to use Windows authentication mode.

Where to Download

You can download released versions of Altiris products from http://www.altiris.com/Download.aspx.

You can download beta versions of Altiris products from http://beta.altiris.com.

New Installation

If this is the first Altiris product you are installing, make sure that the Notification Server computer meets Out of Band Management Solution requirements (see Microsoft Software Requirements). Then install Altiris Notification Server and Out of Band Management Solution.

To install on a clean computer
1. Open the Altiris Web site download page (http://www.altiris.com/Download.aspx).
2. Enter your e-mail address.
3. Select the product you want to install: Out of Band Management Solution.
4. Click Submit.
5. Read and accept the license agreement.
6. Click Download Altiris Installation and Configuration Manager.
7. Click Run.

If you already have the Notification Server installed, you can install Out of Band Management Solution from the Solution Center in the Altiris Console.

To install on an existing Notification Server
1. In the Altiris Console 6.0, click the Configuration tab (If you are using the Altiris Console 6.5, click View > Configuration).
2. In the left pane, click Upgrade/Install Additional Solutions.
3. In the right pane, click the Available Solutions tab.
4. Click Solutions.
5. Select the product you want to install: Out of Band Management Solution.
6. Click Start.
7. Follow the steps in the wizard.

Additional installation instructions are provided in the product documentation (see Additional Documentation).

Upgrade Steps

Follow these steps to upgrade the solution:

  1. Make sure the Notification Server computer meets the requirements (see Microsoft software requirements).
  2. Install Out of Band Management Solution from the Solution Center (see To install on an existing Notification Server). The solution will be installed and, if needed, solution components will be upgraded.

Upgrade Issues

 Known Issue  Article ID

Other Solutions to Upgrade

If you have Real-Time System Manager Solution (RTSM) installed on the Notification Server, you must upgrade it to version 6.3. Real-Time Console Infrastructure (RTCI) 6.3 is a component used by both Out of Band Management Solution and RTSM. RTCI 6.3 is not compatible with RTSM 6.2. For details, see the Real-Time System Manager Release Notes.

  

Update Out of Band Task Agent Installation Policy Manually (Intel AMT)

If you want to use the Remote Configuration feature of Intel AMT 3.0 release, manually add the "All Intel® AMT Capable Computers without Out of Band Task Agent Installed" collection to the Out of Band Task Agent Installation policy. This has to be done only if you upgraded the solution.

  

Intel ASF Collection Displays Both Intel and Broadcom Computers (ASF)

After upgrade, the "All Intel® ASF 2.0 Capable Computers without Out of Band Task Agent Installed" collection displays both Intel ASF and Broadcom ASF computers. This problem does not affect Out of Band Task Agent installation and you can ignore it.

If you want, you can clone the collection and modify it to include Intel ASF computers only.

  

New Features in this Release

Improvements for this release include the following new features:

Support for Intel AMT releases 2.5 and 3.0

The solution installs and integrates the Intel Setup and Configuration Server version 3.0, which offers support for wireless configuration, Remote Configuration, TLS with mutual authentication, etc.

Fixes in this Release

 Known Issue  Article ID

 

  

Known Issues in this Release

The following are unresolved issues in this release. For additional information regarding a known issue, click the Article ID link.

 Known Issue  Article ID

Out of Band Task Agent Installation

The Out of Band Task Agent package includes a vendor specific ASF sub-agent. It may be that the computer has the sub-agent installed already. By default, the Out of Band Task Agent installation task will not overwrite the existing ASF sub-agent. If for some reason, the Out of Band Task Agent does not function properly with the existing ASF sub-agent, you can change the default settings to allow the ASF sub-agent to be upgraded at the time of the Out of Band Task Agent installation.

To change the settings to allow an ASF sub-agent upgrade

  1. On your Notification Server, browse to 
    C:\Program Files\Altiris\Notification Server\NSCap\Bin\Win32\X86\OOB\Task Agent.
  2. Open the ASFSetup.ini.
  3. In the [Options] section change Upgrade=0 to Upgrade=1. Save the file.

    After the change, the section should look like this:
    [Options]
    Upgrade=1
    Downgrade=0
  4. In the Altiris Console, navigate to the Out of Band Task Agent Package, and click the Apply and Update Distribution Points buttons.
  5. Re-run the installation task on a schedule.
  

Installing Out of Band Task Agent on Windows Vista (ASF)

The default firewall settings on Microsoft Windows Vista computer prevent Intel ASF Agent (installed with Out of Band Task Agent) from pinging the traps destination address. Because of this, the management console cannot be contacted, and Intel ASF Agent goes into safe mode. It is not possible to manage this computer remotely out-of-band using the ASF technology.

To make Intel ASF Agent work, configure the firewall to accept incoming Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) connections.

  1. On Windows Vista computer, open the Control Panel.
  2. Select Administrative Tools > Windows Firewall with Advanced Security.
  3. Click Inbound Rules. Select Action > New Rule.
  4. In the wizard, select Custom rule and click Next.
  5. Select All programs and click Next.
  6. On the Protocol and Ports page, select ICMPv4 protocol type and click Customize.
  7. On the Customize ICMP Settings page, click Specific ICMP types, select Type 0, select Code 0 and click Add. Click OK.
  8. Click Next and skip to the last page.
  9. On the last page, enter a name for this rule (Example: ICMP ASF Agent) and click Finish. 

Broadcom ASF does not have this problem.

  

Pages Not Shown Correctly

If the Intel SCS installation fails during the Out of Band Management Solution installation (example: failed prerequisites check), or if you have uninstalled Intel SCS, the Out of Band Setup and Configuration (provisioning) component pages in the Altiris Console will not load correctly.

  

Changing Administrator Name and Password with Altiris Real-Time System Manager

Altiris® Real-Time System Manager™ software can change the Intel AMT administrator name and password. If this is done, the Out of Band Setup and Configuration (provisioning) component tasks will fail on that computer because the component will try to connect to the computer using the old credentials.

To resolve this issue, you can either create a new Real-Time Console Infrastructure connection credentials profile with the new password, change the password back, or fully unprovision the computer (from the BIOS or using the "Update Intel® AMT Network Settings" task) and run the provisioning process again.

  

Manually Purging Log

Currently, there is no automated way to purge the contents of the dbo.csti_log table in the SCS database. This log can become very large. The log will have to be cleaned manually by the database administrator.

  

Accessing Help Topics

From some of the Out of Band Management Solution console pages (tasks and rollout policies), clicking the context sensitive help icon will not open the Out of Band Management Solution documentation. For access to the documentation, click the help index icon instead and select the Out of Band Management Solution Help.

  

Chinese or Japanese cannot be Used to Name a Profile

Double-byte characters are not supported and cannot be used to name a profile. Use English characters instead.

  

Client Task Returns an Incorrect Status if the ASF Management Application is not Installed

Normally, if the ASF Management Application is not present on a client computer, the application gets installed when you run the OOB Task Agent Rollout task. If for some reason the ASF Management Application was manually uninstalled from the client computer after the Out of Band Task Agent rollout, the Get ASF Inventory and Update ASF Settings Out of Band tasks will fail, but they are reported as successful.

  

AMT Idle Timeout Value cannot be Changed

When creating a provisioning profile, on the Power Policy tab you can set the Idle timeout value. However, due to a bug in Intel SCS software, the AMT idle timeout value stored on the client computer will not be changed during provisioning of Intel AMT systems version lower than 3.0.

  

Unable to Create "Task server" Job after Installation of OOB Solution

Use Internet Explorer 7.0 or resize the "New Job" window before selecting the Job type.

  

The "Switch to AMT" Option does not Work if Computer is in "ASF" State

The delayed provisioning policy includes a "Switch to AMT" option that allows the automatic switching of an AMT system to the "AMT" state from "None" or "ASF." This works if the state is set to "None" but does not work if the state is set to "ASF."  A HeciWin error appears in the DBwin log when this occurs. Access the MEBx and manually set the Manageability Feature to "AMT" or "none".

  

Initializing Intel AMT Computers with USB Key

To initialize the Intel AMT computers using a USB key, make sure the key is formatted to FAT16 and exported setup.bin is the only file on the key. Do not use USB keys larger than 2GB.

  

Installing OOB Solution when SQL is in Windows Authentication Mode

Intel SCS requires Microsoft SQL Server to be configured in mixed (Windows Authentication and SQL Server Authentication) mode. When Intel SCS detects that Microsoft SQL Server is not in mixed authentication mode, an error is displayed asking you to change the SQL authentication mode and start the AMTConfig service manually.

If the logged-on user performing the installation is the same as the NS identity user, it is sufficient to change the SQL authentication mode and start the AMTConfig service manually.

If the logged-on user performing the installation is not the same as the NS identity user, you must change the mode and reinstall Out of Band Management Solution. If you do not reinstall, the logged-on user will not have access to the OOB Solution pages.

  

Intel SCS Installation Errors

Errors can appear during Intel SCS installation, which may require you to install Intel SCS in interactive mode manually. Follow the instructions displayed in the dialog box to install/upgrade Intel SCS manually.

  

Intel SCS Configuration Pages Inaccessible in HTTP Mode

It can happen that after installation or upgrade, the Intel SCS configuration pages ("Intel AMT Systems", "Profile Assignments", etc.) are not accessible from the Altiris Console. The following error is displayed in the Altiris Console: "The request failed with HTTP status 403: Forbidden."

This issue can occur when the web site hosting the Altiris Console is not configured to use SSL. This is because Intel SCS mistakenly sets the AMTSCS directory of the web site into secure mode. To fix this problem, open the IIS manager, open properties for the AMTSCS virtual directory, on the Directory Security tab click Edit, and clear the Require secure channel (SSL) check box.

  

Using Remote Configuration Certificate (Intel AMT 3.0)

SSL trial certificate cannot be used for Remote Configuration. Buy a commercial certificate.

  

Intel AMT Releases 2.2 and 2.6 are not Supported

Due to hardware unavailability, Out of Band Management Solution 6.2 has not been tested against Intel AMT releases 2.2 and 2.6 and does not support these Intel AMT versions.

  

Additional Documentation

Altiris product documentation is available in Microsoft* HTML Help (.chm) and Adobe Acrobat* (.pdf) formats. To view Altiris product documentation in .PDF format, use Adobe Acrobat Reader (available at: http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html).

Documentation files are installed in the following directory on the Altiris® Notification Server™ computer:

C:\Program Files\Altiris\Notification Server\NSCap\Help.

The following documentation is provided:

Altiris Out of Band Management Solution Help
Altiris Out of Band Management Solution Reference Guide
Altiris Out of Band Management Solution Release Notes

Altiris Information Resources

 

Source What Information it Includes Location
Altiris Documentation Information about new features, update instructions, and known issues for each release. Includes Altiris formal documentation such as release notes, help, reference guides, best practice articles, and technical reference articles. http://www.altiris.com/support/documentation
Altiris Knowledgebase Comprehensive collection of articles, incidents, and issues for Altiris solutions. http://kb.altiris.com/
Altiris Juice:
an online magazine for Altiris users		 Best practices, tips and tricks, and articles for users of Altiris solutions. http://www.altiris.com/juice
Online Forums Forums for Altiris solutions and suites. http://forums.altiris.com/

Document History

 

Date Changes
9/18/2007 Released
9/7/2007 Created Release Notes
7/30/2007 Created BETA Release Notes
Imported Document ID: DOC1478
Legacy ID: 36541

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