Mac OS X client Lifecycle Management

Building on a strong foundation of integration with Apple technologies - including Global Service Exchange (GSX) and Software Update Server (SUS) - and third-party software for Mac OS X, the Casper Suite allows administrators to manage the eight major tenets of Mac OS X client management: Inventory, Imaging, Patch Management, Software Distribution, Remote Control, Settings Management, License Management, and Usage Management.

Asset Inventory

Gather hundreds of hardware and software data points from devices over the network. Display data with custom views, searches and reports and export that data into various file formats. Integrate asset information into third party applications such as Microsoft SCCM.

Inventory

The information you need, put to work. The hardware and software purchased by your organization represent a significant investment, yet maintaining an accurate inventory of what has been purchased can be problematic and time consuming.

Inventory information can be utilized in a variety of ways, with its primary usage falling into two categories: compliance and planning. With the Casper Suite, inventory information is integrated into the management framework, so inventory criteria are fully searchable and can be used to scope management tasks. IT departments face both internal and external pressures to ensure compliance with the variety of laws that govern the software residing on an end user's computer.

As a discipline, the goal of planning is to ensure that acquisitions and investments yield the greatest possible return. Machine replacement, software purchases and renewals, and component upgrades are a few factors that exemplify how capacity and resource planning can reduce costs and more efficiently target the needs of your business, school, or organization. Knowing what you have at any given moment, allows you to determine what you need.

Computer Imaging

Use a single automated process to install a complete operating system and standard applications on your Mac devices. Deploy a disk image while a computer is in use and automatically migrate user folders, network settings and Directory Access settings with no interruption to users.

Imaging

The all-in-one toolbox to build and deploy images. The modular approach to imaging used by the Casper Suite makes managing multiple images easy by building configurations from a library of custom packages.

Most imaging utilities are based on a monolithic approach in which administrators build one base image that includes every element for every machine. The base image is then copied and adjusted to accommodate each configuration required by the network. This approach results in many large, monolithic images that require both storage and maintenance.

The package-based approach to imaging reduces storage requirements, tracks changes, ensures consistency across the organization, and eliminates post-imaging activities.

Automated Patch Management

Centrally manage and install patches - tracking and reporting on the patch status of all managed systems, as well as automatically adding required updates and patches.

Patch Management

Working with Software Update Server to automate critical updates. Applying security updates to every computer on your network is a time consuming task that needs to be done multiple times per year. The Casper Suite's patch management solutions reduce the time it takes to update your network by automating the distribution process. The Casper Suite allows you to schedule releases during "off" hours in order to minimize the impact this process can have on your end users. In emergencies, administrators can also release or force patches immediately. The flexibility of the Casper Suite allows you to choose a distribution strategy based on the needs of your organization.

The Casper Suite also integrates seamlessly with Apple's Software Update Server (SUS), whether your organization hosts an internal SUS or looks to an external server for updates. This integration is just one example of the many ways the Casper Suite's best-of-breed solution integrates with Apple platform-specific technologies to provide sophisticated tools for Mac administrators.

Software Distribution

Reliable. Flexible. Easy. Software distribution with the Casper Suite.

Software distribution is easy with the Casper Suite, no matter what the situation. With multiple strategies to distribute applications to end users, the Casper Suite allows you to respond appropriately to every situation.

The Casper Suite's Policy engine allows you to deploy software to any of your managed computers using a web browser. Use Casper Remote to provide an immediate response to your end users' requests.

You can also allow your end users to utilize the Casper Suite's Self Service application to install their own software. End users are not required to have administrative access, and only see software that the administrators make available. These can even be scoped to end users using group membership from Active Directory or Open Directory.

The Casper Suite allows you to easily package and customize any piece of software for deployment. The Casper Suite also has the ability to deploy Adobe CS3, CS4 and CS5 using Adobe's native installer mechanisms, removing the need to repackage most Adobe products.

Security, Change & Configuration Management

Monitor and enforce your configuration policies and use the data you collect to remotely monitor and control the devices in your deployment - including restart, shut down or to put remote computers to sleep. Use the Security Content Automation Protocol reports to manage corporate and government regulations, including FDCC compliance.

Settings and Security Management

Full service management using the Casper Suite With the ability to modify end-user environments and Managed Preferences from a central location, your IT department can to respond to a variety of demands as rapidly as they arise. The Casper Suite manages both system and user-level preferences through a simple user interface, scoping preferences to Computer Groups, User Groups from a directory service, Buildings, or Departments. Managed Preferences (also known as MCX) allow you to natively enforce the individual settings on any client computer. Over 250 default preferences are included with the JAMF Software Server (JSS).

Changing passwords for both user and administrator accounts is crucial to the security maintenance of your computing environment. The ability to determine when screensavers are activated and set password requirements to wake up computers can greatly strengthen security. In addition, the ability to sleep or shut down idle machines can be helpful to those organizations trying to combat rising energy costs.

The control of end-user environments is important to maintaining continuity and keeping machines clean, especially in educational environments. By resetting user environment settings upon login or logout, managers of kiosk machines can keep computers fresh and uniform from user to user.

Remote Control

Bringing security and convenience to remote control. Client management solutions are incomplete without the ability to provide support from a remote location. CasperVNC allows administrators to save time through remote support resolution, drastically increasing the number of incidents that can be resolved by a single technician each day.

With CasperVNC, technicians control client machines remotely, so issues can be quickly resolved whether the client computer is in the next room or miles away. Remote control saves your organization time and budget by minimizing end user downtime, staff requirements, IT travel time and expenses, and by allowing each technician to resolve more incidents every day.

The Casper Suite's approach to screen sharing is unique in several ways. Instead of storing login credentials on the client machine, the Casper Suite stores them centrally on the server, or on your existing LDAP servers. To ensure maximum security, VNC sessions are tunneled through an SSH connection. And, since the VNC server is launched and quit each time an administrator begins and ends a session, there is no active server listening for inbound requests. These features reduce liability while providing a more stable, secure environment.

Power Management

Save money and conserve natural resources by implementing a power management policy. Base your policy on user behavior and work schedules so the most energy efficient profile is enforced. Analyze the data generated by your policy to determine your resource savings and plan for greater efficiencies in the future. Reduce overall costs by leveraging government and tax rebates for energy management compliance.

Application & License Management

Track installed applications and licenses on all of the devices in your deployment. Collect data from each machine so you can intelligently manage application licenses to avoid over-install penalties. Stay ahead of regulatory non-compliance by locating, terminating, and removing unlicensed and unauthorized software. Repackage software installations and deploy software in native installer formats.

Usage Management

Optimize purchasing and reclaim lost licenses. Software licenses can claim a substantial part of the IT budget. Licenses that lay dormant after being deployed are a waste of funds and software. By tracking the usage of valuable software assets and removing any unused software from your client machines, these losses can be avoided.

With the Casper Suite, software usage is tracked easily and automatically, allowing you to reclaim licenses and reduce software budgets. The Casper Suite provides a historical log of any software that has been opened and used in the foreground. These logs can be viewed according to machine, Computer Group, Building, or Department. The resulting information is utilized to uninstall software from computers where it is not being used. In IT, knowledge is valuable. With usage monitoring, the Casper Suite gives you one more way to maintain the computers on your network while offering your organization a powerful way to save money.

Restricting the use of illegal or unauthorized applications is made simple with the Casper Suite. To prevent the use of illegal or unauthorized software, IT can set Restricted Software settings that remove applications and notify IT when violations occur. These restrictions are active whether the computer is on or off the network, making enforcement of company usage rules easy.

License Management

No more wild Macs. Manage licenses automatically using the Casper Suite. End users are often unaware that installing unlicensed software and using unlicensed fonts can open potentially crippling liabilities for their company, school, or organization. To prevent this, the Casper Suite provides a straightforward approach to managing serial numbers and purchasing information through any web browser.

Using Licensed Software Records, administrators can actively monitor how many licenses are deployed on their networks and schedule notifications whenever overages occur. Licensed Software Records are created easily using built-in templates that define the applications contained in many common suites of software. Licensed Software Records can be used to track multiple serial numbers and include purchasing documentation.

The Casper Suite makes license management easy and accurate, allowing routine audits to be performed more efficiently. You can track multiple serial numbers for each record and attach purchasing documentation. With the Casper Suite, managing your software is easy and accurate, making audits fast and routine.