http://www.kace.com

New KBOX Systems Deployment Appliances Take the Legwork Out of Provisioning

KBOX 2000 Series Provides Affordable, Centralized Systems Deployment and Remote System Recovery for Mid-Market Organizations

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. - August 14, 2006 - KACE™, the leader in IT management solutions for mid-market organizations, today announced the new KBOX™ 2000 Series Systems Deployment Appliances, an easy-to-use, comprehensive, affordable family of turnkey appliances that allows remote, unattended provisioning – including operating systems, applications, and files, of servers, desktops and laptops. Targeted specifically to the mid-market, where complexity and cost are enemies to IT productivity, the KBOX™ 2000 Series frees systems administrators from the overly-complex, time-consuming manual process of deploying and re-provisioning machines for use, installing and updating applications, and systems recovery.

According to the December 2005 Gartner Report "Saving Money on PC Deployment" by Michael A. Silver, "(c)ompanies spend too much time and money deploying new PCs. Tools are available to help organizations reduce deployment costs, but lots of process is required to get to the point where deployment can be fully automated." Unfortunately many currently available tools are too costly and complex, especially for the mid-market. The KBOX™ 2000 Series addresses these issues by providing affordable centralized systems deployment in a plug-and-play appliance-based solution for back-office and remote provisioning of desktops, laptops and servers. The new appliance will benefit mid-size companies by reducing time spent on manual systems deployment and repair, and eliminating user downtime, costs of travel and after-hours work.

The KBOX™ 2000 Series is a secure, robust family of appliances that allows systems administrators to centrally provision systems anywhere on their network directly from a easy-to-use web-based administrative console:

Centralized Systems Deployment

Disk Imaging allowing remote capture and deployment

Integrated image library that eliminates the scatter and confusion of storing installation data on CDs and shared network directories

Scripted Installation for remote, unattended installation of operating systems

Slipstream install of files and applications

Single agentless solution for desktops, laptops and servers

Windows and Linux support

Remote Systems Recovery

Remote recovery of corrupted systems regardless of OS condition

Bundled recovery console with integrated remote control eases system repair, provides rapid re-provisioning of unrecoverable systems

Affordable, Robust Appliance Delivery

Intuitive, integrated Web-based user interface boosts ease of use

Plug and play deployment

Optional directly attached storage for scalable image management

The KBOX™ 2000 Series is the only appliance-based solution to combine disk imaging, scripted installation and remote system recovery into a centralized, affordable and easy-to-use solution for automating the end-to-end systems provisioning of desktops, laptops and servers. “The KBOX 2000 eliminates the need to run from machine to machine with stacks of boot disks,” said Marty Kacin, president and CTO of KACE. “It takes the legwork out of systems provisioning with its unattended deployment and remote system recovery capabilities for servers, desktops and laptops." The 2000 Series is available in the following models:

· KBOX 2100 for deployments of 100-1000 systems

· KBOX 2200 for deployments of 1000 or more systems

· KBOX 16 optional direct attached storage for use with KBOX 2200

Pricing for KBOX™ 2000 Systems Deployment Series Appliances starts at $12,900.

About KACE™

KACE, a privately-held technology company, is the leader in IT automation appliances. KACE is headquartered in Mountain View, California, and has offices in Charlotte, North Carolina and Chicago, Illinois. To learn more about KACE and its product offerings, please visit www.kace.com or call 1-888-522-3638.

http://www.kace.com/

KBOX Family of Appliances Helps Education Sector Ensure FERPA Compliance, Manage Mixed Network Environments

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. - November 29, 2006 - KACE, the leader in IT management solutions for mid-market organizations, today announced that its KBOX™ family of systems management and deployment appliances is gaining popularity in the education sector, where mixed-environment, location-independent networks are the norm and managing them is a daily challenge.

KBOX™ 1000 Series Systems Management Appliances and KBOX™ 2000 Systems Deployment Appliances allow budget-minded education organizations affordable enterprise-grade network management functionality, and they help ensure compliance with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), the Federal law that protects the privacy of student education records.

Portland Community College, Portland, Oregon, (PCC), one of the largest community colleges in the country, uses KBOX 1000 Series to manage more than 2,100 endpoints throughout its three main campuses and the many remote locations of its Extended Learning Campus.

“We’ve been using the KBOX 1000 for 6 months, and its robust security functionality has been the cornerstone of our Administrative Electronic Information Policy management,” said Michael Heuer, TSS Customer Support Manager, Portland Community College. “Its appliance-based software delivery architecture made deployment so simple it was almost plug-and-play, it works with our existing tools and apps, and its reporting abilities are helping us make smart equipment purchase and replacement decisions.”

A partial listing of KACE customers in the education sector includes:

•Academy School District 20 (Colorado Springs, Colorado)

•Edmonds Community College (Lynnwood, Washington)

•Holmesdale Technology College (Snodland, Kent, England)

•Rancho Santiago Community College District (Orange County, California)

•Teachers' Curriculum Institute (Palo Alto, California)

“With the KBOX 2000, we’re able to sidestep machine-to-machine provisioning hassles and view the deployment status of every end point in our network from the centralized console,” said Chris Carey, IT Manager, Bellarmine College Preparatory (San Jose, California). “The appliance was ready to use in a matter of days, packs a lot of functionality like remote systems repair and recovery, and still fits our budget.”

The KBOX™ 1000 Series offers comprehensive cross-platform management of networked machines running Windows®, Linux (Red Hat) and Mac OS X. The KBOX 1000 Series is a secure, robust line of appliances that provides affordable, end-to-end systems management, including: hardware and software inventory, software distribution, patch management, scripting and policy configuration, remote control, alerting, reporting and dashboards, security audit and enforcement, help desk and a end-user self service portal.

Pricing for KBOX™ 1000 Series Systems Management Appliances starts at $9500 for 100 managed nodes.

The KBOX™ 2000 Series is the only appliance-based solution to combine disk imaging, scripted installation and remote system recovery into a centralized, affordable and easy-to-use solution for automating the end-to-end systems provisioning of desktops, laptops and servers.

Pricing for KBOX™ 2000 Series Systems Deployment Appliances starts at $12,900 for 100 managed nodes.

About KACE

KACE™, a privately held technology company, is the leader in IT automation appliances. The KBOX™ 1000 family of systems management appliances delivers easy-to-use, comprehensive IT automation, is affordable and really works. The KBOX™ 2000 Series provides centralized systems provisioning and remote system recovery for mid-market organizations. KACE is headquartered in Mountain View, California, and has offices in Charlotte, North Carolina, and Chicago, Illinois. To learn more about KACE and its product offerings, please visit http://www.kace.com or call 1-888-522-3638.

©KACE 2006. Note to editors: KACE and KBOX are trademarks or registered trademarks of KACE Networks, Inc. All other trademarks, brand names, or product names belong to their respective holders.

Editorial Contact:

Bret Clement

Page One PR

(303) 462-3057

bret@pageonepr.com

I’ve been getting a lot of request for this in my trainings, so here it is. 
At the end of this post, you will have all the tools you need to track your Windows product keys and Microsoft office product keys. 
They way this works is we find the keys using nirsoft's keyfinder program. 
Next a VBS writes the keys to the registry. 
Finally we tie it all together with custom inventory rules. 

Requirements:Product Finder (now form Nirsfot) 
Here is the link to the portable version
http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/produkey.zip 

First thing we need to do is copy this VBS code into notepad and save it as keys.vbs 

Option Explicit

Dim objFSO			
Dim objTextFile
Dim winKey 
Dim officeKey
Dim strFile
Dim arrKeys
Dim i

Const ForReading = 1
Const winCDLine = "Windows"
Const officeCDLine = "Microsoft Office"
Const noViso = "Visio"
Const officeKeyReg = "offKey"
Const winKeyReg = "winKey"


Set objFSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
Set objTextFile = objFSO.OpenTextFile _
    ("keys.csv", ForReading)

'Read the file into the array
strFile = objTextFile.ReadAll
arrKeys = Split(strFile, vbCrLf)

For i = LBound(arrKeys) To UBound(arrKeys)
	'try to find the windows product key
	If(instr(arrkeys(i),winCDLine))Then
		winKey = getKey(arrKeys(i))
		writeReg winKey,winKeyReg	
	End If
	'try to find the office product key
	If(InStr(arrKeys(i),noViso)) Then
	
	ElseIf(InStr(arrKeys(i),officeCDLine)) Then
		officeKey = getKey(arrKeys(i))
		writeReg officeKey,officeKeyReg
	End If
Next

Function getKey(strKeyLine)
Dim temper
Const KeyLoc = 2
Const ProdLoc = 0

temper = Split(strkeyLine,",")
getKey = temper(prodloc) & "_" & temper(KeyLoc)

End function


Sub writeReg(strValue,StrValueName)

Dim strComputer
Dim oReg
Dim wshShell

Const HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE = &H80000002
Const strKeyPath = "SOFTWARE\TVG"
Const strKeyPath64 = "SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\TVG"
Const is64Key = "SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node"

strComputer = "."

Set oReg=GetObject("winmgmts:{impersonationLevel=impersonate}!\\" & _ 
    strComputer & "\root\default:StdRegProv")
Set WshShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")

'check for 64 bit
If(OS64()) Then
	oReg.CreateKey HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE,strKeyPath64
	oReg.SetStringValue HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE,strKeyPath64,strValueName,strValue
Else
	oReg.CreateKey HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE,strKeyPath
	oReg.SetStringValue HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE,strKeyPath,strValueName,strValue
End If

End Sub

Function OS64()
Dim objOS
Dim colItems
Dim objItem
Dim strComputer

strComputer = "."
Set objOS = GetObject("winmgmts:\\" & strComputer & "\root\CIMV2")
Set colItems = objOS.ExecQuery("SELECT OSArchitecture FROM Win32_OperatingSystem")

'this should fail on 32 bit XP
On error resume next
For Each objItem In colItems
	If(IsNull(objItem.OSArchitecture)) Then 
		OS64 = False
	ElseIf(InStr(objItem.OSArchitecture,"64") > 0) Then
		OS64 = True
	Else 
		OS64 = False
	End If
Next
On Error Goto 0

If(Err <> 0) Then 
	OS64 = False
End if
End Function

Next thing we need to do is go to the scripting module and a new script. 
For script type select Online Shell Script. 
Choose a label, select windows as the operating system and set the script to run as local system. 
Next upload produkey.cfg, produkey.exe (both found in the nirsoft folder, make sure you unzip) and keys.vbs as dependencies. 
For the script text enter the following 2 lines. 

ProduKey.exe /windowskeys 1 /officekeys 1 /iekeys 0 /sqlkeys 0 /exchangekeys 0 /extractedition 1 /scomma keys.csv
cscript.exe keys.vbs

Last thing we need to do is change the script name from script.sh to script.bat (just below the script text). 

Now that we have the keys in the registry we can start creating the custom inventory rules. 
Go to the software module and add a new item. 
Call the first one “Windows Product Key” 
Select all your windows operating systems for supported OSs. 
Finally here is the syntax for the custom inventory rule: 

RegistryValueReturn(HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\TVG,winKey,TEXT)

Go ahead and save the software. 
Next add another item but this time call it "Microsoft Office Key" 
Highlight all the windows OSs again. 
Here is the syntax for the second piece of software. 

RegistryValueReturn(HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\TVG,offKey,TEXT)

At this point you could also create additional software records, for example one for each office key. 
That way depending on the key you would have a unique software title. This way you could use the KBOXs built in asset management module and do licence compliance. 

Below are two reports that you can use to see what machines have what keys installed. 
Office report: 

SELECT M.NAME,
       SUBSTRING_INDEX(MCI.STR_FIELD_VALUE,'_',1) AS OFFICE_VERSION,
       SUBSTRING_INDEX(MCI.STR_FIELD_VALUE,'_',-1) AS PRODUCT_KEY
FROM   SOFTWARE S,
       MACHINE_CUSTOM_INVENTORY MCI,
       MACHINE M
WHERE  MCI.SOFTWARE_ID = S.ID 
       AND M.ID = MCI.ID
       AND S.DISPLAY_NAME = 'Microsoft Office Key'
ORDER  BY OFFICE_VERSION,
          PRODUCT_KEY

Windows report: 

SELECT M.NAME,
       SUBSTRING_INDEX(MCI.STR_FIELD_VALUE,'_',1) AS WINDOWS_VERSION,
       SUBSTRING_INDEX(MCI.STR_FIELD_VALUE,'_',-1) AS PRODUCT_KEY
FROM   SOFTWARE S,
       MACHINE_CUSTOM_INVENTORY MCI,
       MACHINE M 
WHERE  MCI.SOFTWARE_ID = S.ID 
       AND M.ID = MCI.ID 
       AND S.DISPLAY_NAME = 'Windows Product Key'
ORDER  BY WINDOWS_VERSION,
          PRODUCT_KEY

I hope this is useful. 
Thanks to vacuna for helping me put this together. 

KACE Native Imaging Toolkit

***This article is outdated and should no longer be used.  All users wanting to use Native Imaging should upgrade to k2000 version 3.5 or higher.  Article is left here for legacy purposes only.

Legacy deployment tools have their own proprietary image formats.  Legacy tools usually require the installation of OS vendor servers from Microsoft or Apple to take advantage of the standard images; which have obsoleted legacy proprietary formats.  The Limted Release* of the KACE Native Imaging Toolkit, also referred to as knit, allows unfettered use of WIM and DMG images directly from the K2000 itslef.  This give our customers the ability to pick the right tool for the job while retaining the K2000's easy-to-use centralized capture and decntralized deployment architecture.  Customers who have time-sesitive deployments may wish to try the KACE Native Imaging Toolkit.  Native images can be faster to deploy in some circumstances.

You can download KNIT here (KACE support credentials required).  Full documentation is included.
This is for K2000, v. 3.4 ONLY.

This video series will go in depth of all the processes necessary to implement the KACE Native Imaging Toolkit on your K2000 and is similar to the documentation.

* Limited Release tools are our way of giving customers access to KACE innovation more quickly.  Limited Release tools are free add-ons customers can download from the KACE support website and add to their product.  You can think of them as "concept cars" containing features we may integrate into the product at a future date. If you like to have multiple tools at hand to tackle a problem and use your technical judgement on which tool is appropriate in a particular circumstance, you are likely to get value out of Limited Release tools.

K2000 KBE Manipulator

The K2000 Media Manager allows the quick creation of Windows K2000 Boot Environments (KBE's).  KBE Manipulator (kbem) is a Limited Release* tool which allows more customization of the KBE and the creation of custom boot images.  Some customers are even using it to create Linux boot environments to enable homegrown Linux imaging using their K2000. (Dell | KACE has not tested and does not support Linux imaging functionality.) KBE Manipulator makes the K2000 more flixible than ever.  The KBE Manipulator is appropriate for customers who have some problems wiht the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) on their netowrk, or need to load their own customer boot images.

We hope you add comments as to what does and does not work for you when using KBE Manipulator

Watch Corey Serrins, the developer of KBE Manipulator, demonstrate the use of the tool.  The video demonstrates versions early than 3.7.  Please see this KBE Manipulator off the K2000 Deployment Workbench for complete details on the release and a download link.

* Limited Release tools are our way of giving customers access to KACE innovation more quickly.  Limited Release tools are free add-ons customers can download from the KACE support website and add to their product.  You can think of them as "concept cars" containing features we may integrate into the product at a future date. If you like to have multiple tools at hand to tackle a problem and use your technical judgement on which tool is appropriate in a particular circumstance, you are likely to get value out of Limited Release tools.