Articles, Intel | Altiris

In setting up a number of training and lab environments, along with advising others on production deployments, a collection of thoughts and tools have come to mind relating to the optimal client environment for provisioning Intel® vPro™ using Altiris Client Management Suite.

In the previous 4 sections we covered troubleshooting for the Provisioning process for Intel vPro capable systems. The next few articles will cover troubleshooting the management side once systems have been provisioned. The management of AMT systems can be accomplished through Task Server (via the APIs included with Real-Time Console Infrastructure, or RTCI) or through the Real-Time tab available with Real-Time System Manager (RTSM). Part 5 covers the configuration of Real-Time Console Infrastructure, which both RTSM and Task Server uses when invoking AMT functions.

One complaint I occasionally hear about Real-Time System Manager is the time it can take to load the initial RTSM console. This is usually caused by the full connection attempts on all supported protocols. This includes WMI, AMT, ASF, and SNMP. Often the user for the Real-Time tab is only interested in one or two of the supported technologies and doesn't need the others to load. The article discusses why this process can take time, and how to disable unused or technologies. We'll also discuss other ways to improve the general performance of the RTSM console.

The ability to provide access to the Real-Time tab of Resource Manager will enable administrators to provide this valuable tool to IT specialists or Helpdesk workers. Furthermore the ability to configure access to certain functions within the console will allow administrators to grant or restrict what users can do with Real-Time System Manager. This includes WMI functionality as well as powerful AMT functionality.

Remote Configuration is the zero-touch configuration mechanism that allows Intel vPro AMT systems to be setup for AMT management without any manual intervention.

This article covers the Best Practices for setting up Remote Configuration and using the Out of Band Delayed Provisioning Task to remotely and automatically provision systems for use within the Altiris infrastructure.

In recent months, interest in the Intel® vPro™ technology Remote Configuration option has raised a number of common questions. This article provides quick answers to some of the most common questions, and hopefully will provide an quick and easy tool for future reference.

A recent update to this article is the Acrobat PDF attachment below, containing the short presentation shared during ManageFusion 2008 in Las Vegas.