Best Practices in Lifecycle Management: Comparing Suites from Dell, LANDesk, Microsoft, and Symantec

Transcription

1 Comparing Suites from Dell, LANDesk, Microsoft, and Symantec An ENTERPRISE MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATES (EMA ) White Paper Prepared for Dell September 2013 IT & DATA MANAGEMENT RESEARCH, INDUSTRY ANALYSIS & CONSULTING

2 Table of Contents Executive Summary... 1 Best Practices in Lifecycle Management... 1 Functional Comparison... 2 Methodology... 2 A Note on Enterprise Mobile Management... 3 Evaluation Key:... 3 Discovery, Inventory, and Asset Management... 3 Bare Metal Provisioning... 4 Software Distribution... 4 Security & Patch Management... 5 Configuration Compliance, and Remediation... 6 Process Automation and Service Desk... 7 Interfaces and Reporting... 7 Financial Comparison... 8 Pricing Models... 8 Infrastructure Cost Comparison... 8 Total Implementation Costs... 9 Small Support Stack Medium Support Stack Large Support Stack Operational and Training Costs EMA Perspective About Dell... 11

3 Executive Summary IT system lifecycle management includes a broad array of essential and complex processes for ensuring optimal reliability and performance of technology investments. Critical to enabling these management disciplines are automated solutions that simplify and standardize administrative and reporting tasks. However, choosing a lifecycle management suite that cost-effectively meets enterprise requirements can often be a confusing process. To assist in the evaluation of automated lifecycle management platforms, ENTERPRISE MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATES (EMA ) analysts have conducted a side-by-side functional and financial comparison of solution suites from four of the leading vendors in this market space: Dell, LANDesk, Microsoft, and Symantec. Key best practices in lifecycle management are explained and used as a framework for highlighting critical points of comparison, and a detailed financial evaluation goes beyond license costs to help determine total cost of ownership of each platform. This EMA analysis includes a comparison of over 45 features across seven key areas Discovery, Inventory, and Asset Management; Bare Metal Provisioning; Software Distribution; Security and Patch Management; Configuration Compliance and Remediation; Process Automation and Service Desk; and Interfaces and Reporting. The results of the review show that Dell KACE Appliances equal or exceed the functionality of their competitors across most disciplines. Yet, when factoring in total infrastructure expenses, the Dell KACE Appliances cost significantly less than their primary competitors. With such a strong value proposition, EMA recommends businesses of any size considering solutions for lifecycle management should include the Dell KACE Appliances in their product evaluations. Best Practices in Lifecycle Management Lifecycle management of IT resources (including desktops, laptops, and servers) involves a number of key disciplines, aimed at achieving efficiency, productivity, and cost reduction within IT and across the business. Key disciplines that EMA recommends when considering a solution for lifecycle management include: Asset Management Automatic discovery of hardware and software assets allows organizations to accurately identify the types and locations of devices and software connected to the network. This helps in cost accounting and feeds accurate planning for provisioning, security, compliance, and more. Inventory Management Keeping up-to-date inventory allows businesses to reuse existing systems instead of buying new ones, reduce their hardware inventory software upgrades and license costs, and avoid fines and other penalties by ensuring license compliance. Bare Metal Installation Provisioning new software into a system that has no previously installed operating system or boot agents reduces on-site visits and gets new users and systems up and running faster. EMA research shows that lack of bare metal installation can double or triple the time it takes to get users productive. Software Distribution and Provisioning Installing software from a central location allows new employees to contribute faster, and ensures existing users can do their job by having the software they need, when they need it. EMA research has found that centralized software management halves the time it takes to provision new applications. Security and Patch Management Detecting and protecting against security risks at the edge of the network is critical to reducing enterprise IT risk. Centralized security management can 1 Page 1

4 prevent potential vulnerabilities such as unauthorized software or configurations, as well as detect and quarantine insecure systems out of the network. Ensuring endpoints are using the latest patch editions is also important for maintaining optimal system and application performance. Configuration Compliance and Remediation Centralized maintenance of software versions, settings, and other configuration elements helps organizations achieve compliance by detecting, preventing, and removing unauthorized software, malware, pirate software, exposures, and other malicious changes. EMA research shows that it also halves the amount of time it takes to deploy patches, and reduces virus and spyware management (both detection and remediation) by an average of 80%. Process Automation Automating and connecting IT management processes saves time and money. EMA research has shown, for example, that process automation can reduce software deployment time on average by two-thirds, and halve the time taken for patch management. Service Desk An integrated mechanism to report problems and service requests enables prompt response to end users and reduces administrative roadblocks. An easy-to-use portal interface to such a system reduces telephone calls, manual intervention, service desk staff costs, and errors, allowing automation to add more value to the process. Reporting Reporting on status and activity allows businesses to identify and avoid potential problems, provides the audit and control proof of compliance required for regulations such as SOX, PCI, and HIPAA, as well as to enable best practices like ITIL and COBIT. Alerting and Messaging It is important for administrators to detect and respond quickly to problems in order to reduce exposure, cost, and downtime. EMA research shows that it takes an hour, on average, before an administrator discovers a critical problem. Automated alerting significantly reduces this delay and allows administrators to correct problems before end users and customers are even aware an incident has occurred. Functional Comparison EMA conducted a comparison of features in the most critical lifecycle management disciplines. While it is not a complete comparison, the following section identifies the availability of several essential characteristics in four of the most popular solutions on the market today: The Dell KACE Systems Management and Deployment Appliances LANDesk Management Suite 9.5 Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) 2012 SP1 Symantec Altiris Client Management Suite 7.5 Methodology EMA identified the feature sets included in each solution suite based on publically available sources and then invited all four vendors to review and comment on the evaluation of their respective solutions. Any input provided was incorporated into the analysis as long as it met the following criteria: All features needed to be included in the current release of the solution suite. Beta releases and notes of future capabilities did not qualify for inclusion. All features needed to be documented in publically available documentation, allowing for confirmation of the capabilities and to ensure they are officially supported. 2 Page 2

5 The features needed to be self-contained within the current release of the solution suite. Features available in a different product set from the same vendor or from a third-party vendor were not considered applicable as including these would significantly and unfairly impact the cost analysis. Due to space limitations, EMA did not attempt to evaluate how well each product performs in providing these features, and organizations are advised to perform their own comparison analysis on any functionality deemed critical. A Note on Enterprise Mobile Management All four vendors in this evaluation have invested heavily into the development of capabilities for the management of mobile devices (i.e. smartphones and tablets). Microsoft has incorporated some of these capabilities into SCCM 2012 SP1, while Dell, LANDesk, and Symantec offer separate but fully integrated mobile management platforms. Because the number of management processes necessary to support enterprise mobility would be too extensive to cover in this document, EMA did not attempt to compare mobile management capabilities offered by the vendor solutions. Instead, lifecycle management features and solution costs were limited to support for laptops, desktops, and servers. Nonetheless, EMA recognizes that mobile device support has become a critical part of enterprise IT management requirements and recommends organizations perform a similar evaluation to the one presented below when evaluating mobile management solutions. Evaluation Key: =Yes =Partial =No Discovery, Inventory, and Asset Management Bare Metal Discovery Windows OS Discovery Linux OS Discovery Application Discovery Asset Management Inventory Management License Management License Enforcement License Reclamation Software Metering This is a core competency for all solutions, so it s not surprising that they all score very well in providing these capabilities. All evaluated solutions are able to automatically discover devices even if they do not have an operating system installed (by serial number, MAC address, etc.), and all the solutions are broadly able to detect operating systems and applications (although Microsoft SCCM does not natively detect Linux platforms today). All four solutions also manage software licenses and can meter 3 Page 3

6 and report on software usage. LANDesk and Altiris are able to enforce the use of licenses, and all but Microsoft SCCM can reclaim unused licenses so they can be reprovisioned where they will be more optimally used, reducing enterprise costs. Bare Metal Provisioning Windows Provisioning Linux Provisioning Mac OS/X Provisioning Virtual Machine Provisioning Integrated User State Management Integrated Driver Management Multicasting All solutions can remotely provision Windows platforms onto bare metal and without an agent. LANDesk and Symantec can also deploy Red Hat and SuSE Linux platforms, and LANDesk also extends Linux support to CentOS implementations. Dell KACE offers a downloadable Linux Deployment Kit for version 3.5 sp1 of the K2000 Deployment Appliance that extends the platform s provisioning support to Linux platforms. Mac OS X provisioning can be performed by Dell KACE, LANDesk, and Symantec Altiris. Virtual machines can natively be deployed by the Dell KACE Deployment Appliance and Symantec Altiris. Microsoft SCCM can also provision virtual machines when used in conjunction with Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager. All but Symantec offer user state management capabilities for setting and migrating user settings and configurations. All four solutions include provisioning support for system drivers, and they all have the ability to simultaneously provision systems with use of multicasting (Dell KACE added this capability to the 3.6 release of its Deployment Application which is generally available in Q4 of 2013). Software Distribution Windows Clients (Desktop and Server) Linux Clients (Desktop and Server) Apple Mac OS/X Clients UNIX (HP/UX, Solaris, AIX) Clients All four solutions provide core software distribution and application patch management capabilities on Windows, Mac, and Linux clients. Linux platforms supported by all solutions include RHEL and SuSe. The Dell KACE Appliance also supports Ubuntu, and LANDesk supports CentOS Linux clients. Microsoft SCCM also extends software provisioning capabilities to CentOS, Debian, and Ubuntu. In addition, both Symantec and Microsoft support UNIX platforms, including AIX, HP-UX, and Solaris. 4 Page 4

7 Security & Patch Management Windows Clients (Desktop and Server) Patch Management Linux Clients (Desktop and Server) Patch Management Apple Mac OS/X Clients Patch Management UNIX (HP/UX, Solaris, AIX) Clients Patch Management Integrated 3 rd Party Patch Support Vulnerability Scanning with Automated Remediation FDCC SCAP Validated System patching is essential for ensuring security hardened operating environment, so it is no surprise that all four solutions include automated processes for deploying patches on Windows and Mac platforms. LANDesk, Microsoft, and Symantec extend patch support to Linux platforms, and both LANDesk and Microsoft also patch UNIX clients. Although SCCM does not natively support patching of third-party packages, Microsoft can import third-party updates into System Center Updates Publisher (sold separately) to perform this functionality. The chart below lists a selection of common third-party applications that can be patched by the Dell, LANDesk, and Symantec management suites. It is intended to provide an indication of the level of support provided by each platform, but is by no means a complete list: Windows Dell LANDesk Symantec Dell LANDesk Symantec Adobe Acrobat Y Y Y Y N N Adobe Flash Y Y Y Y Y N Adobe Photoshop Y Y Y Y N N Adobe Reader Y Y Y Y Y N Adobe Shockwave Y Y Y Y N N Apple itunes Y Y Y Y Y Y Apple QuickTime Y N Y Y N Y Apple Safari Y Y Y Y Y Y Google Chrome N Y Y N N N Mozilla Firefox Y Y Y Y Y N Oracle Java Y Y Y Y Y N Skype Y Y Y N Y N WebEx N Y N N N N WinZip Y Y Y N N N Mac 5 Page 5

8 Both Dell KACE and LANDesk provide vulnerability scans that can automatically remediate identified problems. Although Microsoft does not natively include vulnerability scans, that capability is available through integration with its System Center Endpoint Protection Manager platform. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has validated the Dell KACE, LANDesk and Microsoft solutions as conforming to the Federal Desktop Core Configuration (FDCC) Initiatives prerequisite for meeting requirements outlined in the Security Content Automation Protocol (SCAP). 1 Configuration Compliance, and Remediation Policy-based Software Configuration Checking, and Enforcement Administrator-initiated Remediation Automatic or Scheduled Remediation Password Enforcement (hard disk, power-on, screen-saver, policy) Scanning and Quarantine of Noncompliant Systems Active Directory Integration LDAP Integration Remote Control Intel vpro Integration Automated Power Management (Windows) Automated Power Management (Linux) Automated Power Management (Mac) All reviewed solution sets are able to monitor and report on endpoint configurations that do not conform to established policies, and all solutions will automatically remediate any clients that fail to meet configuration standards. Dell KACE, LANDesk and Symantec all include password policy enforcement capabilities, and Microsoft SCCM can manage passwords exclusively on Windows clients. All solutions but Symantec Altiris can natively protect the network by automatically quarantining systems that are out of compliance. Group and individual policies and permissions can be imported through direct integration with Active Directory by all four solutions, and all but Microsoft can also acquire this information through integration with LDAP. Tools for remotely accessing endpoints are also commonly offered by all the management platforms, as is direct integration with Intel vpro to enable out of band management. Automated power management can significantly reduce energy costs by powering down systems when they are not actively being used. All the evaluated solutions extend this support to Windows clients, and both Dell KACE and Symantec also support it in Mac clients. However, none of the solutions currently support automated power management on Linux systems. 1 Details and confirmation of validation are available on the NIST website. 6 Page 6

9 Process Automation and Service Desk Includes Process Automation or Orchestration Capabilities Wizard-based Scripting Integrated Service Ticket Creation, and Tracking Workflow Connects Directly with Integrated Service Desk Integrated Software Catalog Self-Service User Portal Integrated with Community Services All the reviewed solutions except Microsoft SCCM natively provide some process automation to make routine tasks faster, easier, and more accurate. However, Microsoft extends this functionality through integrations with the separately offered solution set, Microsoft System Center Orchestrator. Microsoft SCCM is also the only platform that does not include wizards for assisting in the creation of custom scripts. Dell KACE, LANDesk, and Symantec all include built-in, end-to-end service desk automation for ticket generation and problem tracking. Although not native to SCCM, Microsoft does offer this functionality in the separate System Center Service Manager solution. Logically organized sets of tasks called workflows are natively creatable and integrated with the vendor s service desk with all the solution sets but Microsoft SCCM. Again, Microsoft offers this functionality separately with the adoption of third party integration with System Center Service Manager. All four solutions provide an integrated software catalog and a portal that allows end users to initiate software installations, maintenance activities and/or repair requests for their workstations. Only Dell KACE includes a portal that directly integrates with a community service (ITNinja.com) to deliver easy access to industry IT management recommendations, best practices and expertise. Symantec, however, hosts a community service portal on its website it s just not directly accessible from the Altiris CMS console. Interfaces and Reporting Web-based Administration GUI Role-based Administration, with Pre-defined Roles Pre-defined and Customizable Webbased Reports Data Export for OEM Reporting Dell KACE and LANDesk allow all of their solution s functionality to be accessed via a Web console. Symantec offers a Web interface that can perform the majority of essential reporting and management functionality, but advanced features need to be accessed through a Windows-based console. The Microsoft SCCM console is not fully Web accessible and an interface needs to be manually installed 7 Page 7

10 on clients in order to access reports and management features; however, a Web-based dashboard is provided to report on software deployments, system health, and compliance status. Although Webbased dashboards are accessible from any device (including mobile devices), Dell KACE also offers a mobile application that is specifically designed to remotely perform console tasks on smartphones and tablets. All solutions provide role-based access to customize user views based on their job function and allow data to be exported for OEM Reporting. Financial Comparison Pricing Models The chart below identifies license and maintenance costs models for the four evaluated solutions. Pricing information is based on publically available information and Manufacturer Suggested Retail Prices (MSRP), though it should be noted that vendors and their channel partners all offer discounts on bulk orders that can substantially reduce the final cost of the solution suites. Check with the individual vendors for an accurate price quote when evaluating solutions. Dell KACE LANDesk Microsoft SCCM Symantec Altiris CMS List Price Management Appliance two versions are available to accommodate organizations of different sizes: K1100: $8,900 includes licenses for 100 endpoints and can support up to 1,000 devices. K1200: $38,900 includes licenses for 1,000 endpoints and can support over 10,000 devices. Additional endpoints for both appliances are $31 each. Deployment Appliance: two versions are available to accommodate organizations of different sizes: K2100: $4,500 includes licenses for 100 endpoints and can support up to 1,000 devices. K2200: $17,900 includes licenses for 1,000 endpoints and can support over 10,000 devices. Additional endpoints for both appliances are $13 each. Bundle Pricing: a 20% discount is applied when both a Management Appliance and a Deployment Appliance are purchased together. $56 per managed endpoint (MSRP); discounts available $62 per managed endpoint. (MSRP) for Configuration Manager Client MLs which include licenses for both SCCM and System Center Virtual Machine Manager; discounts available $95 per managed endpoint (MSRP); discounts available Maintenance 17.5% purchase price annually (for a 3 year contract) 22% purchase price annually 25% purchase price annually 25% purchase price annually Infrastructure Cost Comparison License purchases constitute only a portion of the total cost of ownership of a lifecycle management solution. In particular, infrastructure costs should also be considered when evaluating solution suites. The chart below indicates how the most significantly impacting infrastructure cost elements compare across the product sets. As an appliance-based solution, the Dell KACE platform has the advantage 8 Page 8

11 of self-containing the majority of infrastructure software and hardware components. Microsoft, by contrast, requires separate servers installed at each logically segmented site, although they can collectively all be controlled from a Central Administrator Site that this evaluation assumes functions on a single physical server. With the release of SCCM 2012, Microsoft included a Runtime Edition of its SQL database at no additional cost. However, the Runtime Edition has a 4GB size limit that makes it impractical when performing database replication (necessary for transferring site configurations and settings), so Microsoft recommends the Standard Edition be employed for this purpose on central servers, but secondary servers will operate well with just the Runtime Edition. In the charts below, it is assumed that SCCM environments that are managed by multiple servers will require a Standard SQL license on the central server. Perhaps the most significant infrastructure cost factor for SCCM is with the need for Microsoft Client Access Licenses (CALs), which can add up very quickly to extensive costs in large support stacks. Standard CAL costs have been assumed in this evaluation, but organizations could potentially reduce overall costs if they adopt Enterprise or Core CALs that include licenses for a number of Microsoft products, including SCCM. Server(s)/Console(s): Cost estimated at $2,000 per server to meet common requirements Server/Console OS: Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard ($1000 each) Client Access Licenses: Pack of 20 ($800 each) Server/Console SQL License: Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Standard ($2,750 each) Server/Console Maintenance Microsoft Software Assurance (25% p.a) for OS & SQL N/A $2,000 $2,000 $2,000 N/A $1,000 $1,000 per server $1,000 N/A N/A N/A $2,750 N/A $ per year $800 for every 20 endpoints $2,750 for primary servers performing replication $ per server per year N/A $2,750 $ per year Total Implementation Costs Bringing together all the disparate cost elements provides a more complete depiction of the total cost of implementing a client management solution. However, it should immediately be evident that the size of a support infrastructure will affect the expected costs since each product scales differently. Below are cost calculations for three different support stack sizes. Maintenance costs have been annualized over a period of three years to show their expense over time. Since each environment will have unique requirements, EMA recommends each business perform its own cost analysis when evaluating products. 9 Page 9

12 Small Support Stack Including costs for all infrastructure resources necessary to implement the client management solutions suites to support 500 endpoints at one location over three years: Client Management Solution $24,800 $28,000 $31,000 $47,500 Client Management Solution Maintenance Contract for 3 Years $16,275 $18,480 $23,250 $35,625 Infrastructure Costs $0 $8,563 $23,750 $8,563 Total Cost $41,075 $55,043 $78,000 $91,688 Medium Support Stack Including costs for all infrastructure resources necessary to implement the client management solutions suites to support 1,000 endpoints at ten different locations over three years: Client Management Solution $45,440 $56,000 $62,000 $95,000 Client Management Solution Maintenance Contract for 3 Years $29,820 $36,960 $46,500 $71,250 Infrastructure Costs $0 $8,563 $82,313 $8,563 Total Cost $75,260 $101,523 $190,813 $174,813 Large Support Stack Including costs for all infrastructure resources necessary to implement the client management solutions suites to support 10,000 endpoints at fifty different locations over three years: Client Management Solution $362,240 $560,000 $620,000 $950,000 Client Management Solution Maintenance Contract for 3 Years $237,720 $369,600 $465,000 $712,500 Infrastructure Costs $0 $8,563 $592,313 $8,563 Total Cost $599,960 $938,163 $1,677,313 $1,671,063 Operational and Training Costs There are a number of additional factors that should also be considered when performing a cost analysis related to on-going operational expenses. For instance, the complexity of a solution will directly affect the number of support personnel that will be needed to administer the solution as well as the amount of experience and training they will need to meet business requirements. EMA research shows that administrator wages and other compensation average around $250 per full time employee (FTE) per day, and training expenses during deployment will cost around $2500 per day or more. Including on-costs (e.g. cost of benefits, vacation time, payroll tax, etc.) of around 25%, one week of training, and a two-week deployment (a very conservative timeframe for most software-based solutions) by two administrators will therefore total over $20,000 during the solution implementation (and likely even more if vendor professional services are also used). As an appliance-based solution, however, the Dell KACE Appliance incurs no additional hardware or software costs, no procurement delays, and while training is still required, Dell KACE provides ten 10 Page 10

13 hours of Web training for $4800, which is more than sufficient for bringing multiple administrators up to speed. In addition, ongoing patching and software updates are much easier to perform with Dell s appliance solution. The Dell KACE Appliance automatically downloads updates, and administrators simply press a button to apply patches to all components including the operating system, database, Web server, and applications. This is in contrast to software-based solutions where each component must be patched and maintained separately. EMA Perspective Since the inaugural edition of this document, Dell KACE has made significant strides in improving functionality to achieve a comprehensive solution on par with Altiris, LANDesk and Microsoft SCCM in critical disciplines, while at the same time managing to actually reduce the cost of its management solution. As an appliance-based solution, Dell KACE avoids the high hardware and software costs (and related maintenance efforts) required by software-based solutions. Factoring in these expenses, a Dell KACE Appliance can cost 60% less than its rivals. With its ease of use and fast time to value, KACE Appliances present a very attractive alternative to LANDesk, Microsoft SCCM, and Symantec Altiris CMS, particularly where financial limitations are a major consideration. Midsized organizations in particular will appreciate the superior return on investment KACE provides as they are more often challenged with budget constraints and expansive IT business requirements. Since the inaugural edition of this document, Dell KACE has made significant strides in improving functionality to achieve a comprehensive solution on par with Altiris, LANDesk and Microsoft SCCM in critical disciplines, while at the same time managing to actually reduce the cost of its management solution. Of course, it is important to note that this evaluation does not present a complete feature listing from any of these four vendors. Indeed, all four solutions offer some unique features that are not available in comparable products. Additionally, this review did not evaluate how well the solutions perform each feature, only if they include the functionality. As such, this paper should be used as a starting point for IT organizations to evaluate products based on their own specific needs, rather than as a definitive and universal recommendation. Nevertheless, the results of this product review indicate the Dell KACE Appliances as strong contenders for achieving comprehensive lifecycle management automation. EMA recommends any organization looking to achieve enterprise-wide systems management goals investigate the Dell KACE Appliances for their excellent balance of broad functionality and cost effectiveness. About Dell Dell is a global provider of innovative technology and services designed to help customers do and achieve more. The award-winning Dell KACE family of appliances delivers easy-to-use, comprehensive systems management capabilities. Dell KACE customers typically install in one day and enjoy a low total cost compared to software alternatives. Dell is headquartered in Round Rock, Texas. To learn more about the Dell KACE application solution, please visit or call MGMT-DONE. 11 Page 11

14 About Enterprise Management Associates, Inc. Founded in 1996, Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) is a leading industry analyst firm that provides deep insight across the full spectrum of IT and data management technologies. EMA analysts leverage a unique combination of practical experience, insight into industry best practices, and in-depth knowledge of current and planned vendor solutions to help its clients achieve their goals. Learn more about EMA research, analysis, and consulting services for enterprise line of business users, IT professionals and IT vendors at or blogs.enterprisemanagement.com. You can also follow EMA on Twitter or Facebook. This report in whole or in part may not be duplicated, reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or retransmitted without prior written permission of Enterprise Management Associates, Inc. All opinions and estimates herein constitute our judgement as of this date and are subject to change without notice. Product names mentioned herein may be trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their respective companies. EMA and Enterprise Management Associates are trademarks of Enterprise Management Associates, Inc. in the United States and other countries Enterprise Management Associates, Inc. All Rights Reserved. EMA, ENTERPRISE MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATES, and the mobius symbol are registered trademarks or common-law trademarks of Enterprise Management Associates, Inc. Corporate Headquarters: 1995 North 57th Court, Suite 120 Boulder, CO Phone: Fax: