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We Connect You Customers First | Proven Performance | Lasting Relationships

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YOU MUST SPEND TIME TO MAKE TIME

Section 1 of 6

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Titus Maccius Plautus

254 – 184 BC, Roman playwright (primarily comedies)

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You must spend time to make time > Putting in more resources up-front will pay dividends in the long-term

– Return on Investment (ROI)

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You must spend time to make time > Kaseya is an investment!

> Software in general is an investment!

– If you’re going to spend the money, then make it work for you!

How often do you see slides like this?

• Probably entirely too often

• Are you putting your best foot forward?

• Is this getting the most out of your investment?

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You must spend time to make time

> Kaseya is so much more than Remote Control

> Out-of-the-box experience can seem daunting at first

> A good place to start:

– Kaseya Learning Center

https://lms.kaseya.com/kedu/

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You must spend time to make time > More good places to start:

– Standard Solutions Package (more on this later)

– Kaseya Certification Exam

– The Help file

• I know, right?!

– Props to Kaseya’s Technical

writing staff!

– Kaseya Community

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THINK OF KASEYA AS A FRAMEWORK, NOT A SOLUTION

Section 2 of 6

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Think of Kaseya As a Framework, Not a Solution

> Before the Marketing folks chase me down…

– What is a framework?

– What is a solution?

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What’s a Framework?

To use an analogy…

A framework is a

workshop:

• Hand tools

• Power tools

• Raw materials

• Welders

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Think of Kaseya As a Framework, Not a Solution > Depending on your skill level and experience, you can create whatever you’d

like

– The results will almost always reflect your time investment

“Geoff” electric car | Top Gear UK | Series 14, Episode 2

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Think of Kaseya As a Framework, Not a Solution > Spending the time

is worth it in the end

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Think of Kaseya As a Framework, Not a Solution > If you don’t know what you’re doing…

…you can get into trouble

> It’s in your best interests to know your tools:

– What can it do?

– What can’t it do?

– What shouldn’t I do?

> With great power there must also come great responsibility!

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Think of Kaseya As a Framework, Not a Solution > So what’s a solution then?

俳句 (haiku)

Quite inflexible

Difficult troubleshooting

Solutions just… aren’t

Would you buy a car if the hood was welded shut?

Are your Customers one-size-fits-all?

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Think of Kaseya As a Framework, Not a Solution If any vendor says they have a “solution” to all of your woes…

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LET’S MAKE A PLAN!

Section 3 of 6

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Let’s make a plan! > STEP 1: Stand up a test server

– Doesn’t need to be beefy—only needs to support two (2) Agents

– http://download.kaseya.com/kinstall.exe

– Run this with VMWare Player on your laptop/desktop

• Use the built-in MSDE option

• Take a snapshot before attempting anything silly

– Use your same license key that you use in Production

• They draw from the same license pool

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Let’s make a plan! > STEP 2: Install the Standard Solution Package

– Remember this popup on first login?

Did you “Snooze” it? No problem!

System > User Settings > Preferences

Click on “Clear Snooze”:

Click the green Install button:

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Let’s make a plan! > STEP 3: Read about the Standard Solution Package

– Grab a coffee (or beer?) and read through the documentation:

http://help.kaseya.com/WebHelp/EN/SSP/1000000/

– What does the Standard Solution Pack get you?

• Policies

• Agent Procedures

• Monitor Sets

• Views

• Patch Management Policies

• Event Sets

• Systems Management tab (really ties the room together)

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Let’s make a plan! > STEP 4: Visit the Systems Management tab

– System > Orgs/Groups/Depts/Staff > Manage:

– Create a new organization

– Click on the Systems Management tab for that organization and click the

Configure button:

– Run through the wizard

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Let’s make a plan! > STEP 5: Understand what just happened

– Added Automated Systems Monitoring

• Applied Monitor Sets, Event Log Alerts to machines based on what each machine is

doing (look at View > Label):

– Defined Alert Destinations

– Configured Workstation Maintenance

– Deployed Patch Policies

– Set Patch Schedules

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Let’s make a plan! > STEP 6: Assimilate knowledge

– Study how Views, Policies, Monitor Sets, Event Log Alerts and Agent Procedures

all work together to form cohesive monitoring

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Let’s make a plan! > STEP 7: Copy, paste, extend & improve, rinse, repeat

– Use what you’ve learned as “best practices”

– Copy what you like to your Production server

– Make improvements

where necessary

• Further filter Event

Log Alerts

• Integrate your current

methodology &

improve upon it

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MACHINE CUSTOM FIELDS ARE YOUR FRIENDS

Section 4 of 6

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Machine Custom Fields are your friends > What is metadata?

– Data about Data

• Designed & built by Dr.

Noonien Soong

• Self-aware

• Sentient

• Second Officer & Chief

Operations Officer on

USS Enterprise-D & E

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Machine Custom Fields are your friends > What does this mean in Kaseya?

– Audit collects data about endpoints:

…but there’s

nothing in

here that

“knows” how a

machine

should be

monitored,

patched &

maintained.

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Machine Custom Fields are your friends > You know what each endpoint needs to do!

When should this

endpoint be patched,

and what Patch Policy

should it be part of?

Should this endpoint be monitored like a

server or a workstation? How should different

severity alerts be

handled for this

individual Customer?

Is there something

that the Customer

does not want

monitored?

Did I leave the oven on?

How should this

endpoint be

rebooted after

patching?

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Machine Custom Fields are your friends > You also know what each Customer wants!

I want all of my servers

patched on Sundays,

and an e-mail sent

when they reboot.

I want all of my workstations patched on

Wednesdays. The Hyper-V server

needs patched

manually… don’t patch

it through Kaseya.

You can remotely

control any machine

without user

permission… except

for my machine.

Don’t defragment

SSD laptops.

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Machine Custom Fields are your friends > Create your custom fields here:

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Machine Custom Fields are your friends > Tips & Tricks:

– Don’t use spaces in the name of your Machine Custom Fields

– Reference through Agent Procedure variables in this format:

#vSystemInfoManual.Your_Field_Name# (this is why you can’t have spaces in the Machine Custom Field name)

– Always assume the variable doesn’t exist or is blank before trying to use its value

– Machine Custom Fields (“MCFs”) can be up to 100 characters

– Field names are global… so name them carefully! (User_Is_A_Pain_In_The_Butt probably not advised)

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Machine Custom Fields are your friends > Remember this setting?

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Machine Custom Fields are your friends > Incorporate the Customer’s requirements :

– “You can remotely control any machine without user permission… except for my

machine.” – The Boss

• Create a Machine Custom Field called:

Remote_Control_Policy

• Define acceptable values for this MCF:

– Allow – Allow “silent” remote control of this machine at any time

– Notify – If a user is logged in, notify the user that RC is starting

– Prompt – If a user is logged in, prompt the user to allow it

– Strict – Even if a user isn’t logged in, you’re still not getting in

• Define a “default value” for the Customer:

– In this case, it could be “Allow” (or “Notify” if you’re nice)…

except for the Boss’ machine (more on this exception in a moment)

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Machine Custom Fields are your friends > Build the accompanying Views:

– Name the Views to match the MCF name

– Use some way to denote that this View is used in a Policy

• [P] Remote_Control_Policy – Allow

• Remote_Control_Policy – Allow*

– In the View, use Advanced Agent Data Filter:

– Match your “acceptable value” for each view:

– Create Views for each “acceptable value” in the MCF

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Machine Custom Fields are your friends > Build the accompanying Policies:

– Name the Policies to match the MCF name

– Match the required settings for each Policy, and Apply the Policies to their

companion Views:

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Machine Custom Fields are your friends > Here’s where it gets nifty:

– Define things once for a Customer by using an Agent Procedure

– Use the updateSystemInfo step to populate the MCFs

• Remote_Control_Policy = Allow

• For workstations:

– Patching_Schedule = Wednesday

– Reboot_Schedule = Immediate

• For servers:

– Patching_Schedule = Sunday

– Reboot_Schedule = Notify

– Reboot_Notification_E-Mail = the.boss@theCustomer.xxx

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Machine Custom Fields are your friends > Here’s where it gets nifty (continued):

– Create a Policy that will be applied to the Customer’s Machine Group that runs

the script you just created

• Run once

• Past-scheduled

• Do not skip if offline!

– Now what happens?

• Machine checks in, picks up policy to run Client-specific script that has their

monitoring, patching & alerting parameters in MCFs

• Policies are automatically applied based on MCFs’ values

• Each new machine that checks into that group will have a set of “default settings”

applied—what the Customer had specified!

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First check-in script populates MCFs

Machine falls into Policy-associated Views

Policy Management applies Agent settings

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Machine Custom Fields are your friends > Account for the unique snowflakes:

– Remember, we can’t remotely control The Boss’ machine without his/her

knowledge!

• Update the MCF on that machine only to have a Remote_Control_Policy of “Strict”

– Also remember we can’t patch the Hyper-V server:

• Update the Patching_Schedule MCF to “Disabled”

– And finally, remember not to defragment SSD laptops:

• Update the Scheduled_Defrag MCF on SSD-based computers to “Disabled”

– Make everything flexible! Automatic, but override-able & customizable where

needed

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STOP USING COPY SETTINGS (EXCEPT FOR THIS

ONE THING)

Section 5 of 6

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Stop Using Copy Settings (except for this one thing)

> There is one use-case for copy settings

– Okay, possibly more… tell me later

– Use Copy Settings for past-scheduled Agent Procedures which must run

immediately upon Agent installation

– Branding scripts (rename the Agent service, remove Start Menu entries (and

Add/Remove entry if you’re super-evil))

– Pre-populate the Machine Custom Fields per earlier

> Note: Ensure your template is blank settings-wise!

> Past-scheduled Agent Procedures done through Policy Management will wait

24 hours (as far as I know)

– This may change, and is a Feature Request

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Stop Using Copy Settings (except for this one thing)

> Quantify your results!

– Do you have to tell each and every machine what to do the first time it checks in?

No!

– Do you have to each and every server what it should monitor about itself based

on its roles?

No!

– Do you now have the ability to account for “unique snowflakes?”

Yes!

– How much time were you spending before using “Copy Settings?”

Too Much!

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Stop Using Copy Settings (except for this one thing)

> Quantify your results (continued)!

– How many times have you “dropped the ball” because you weren’t monitoring a

role/service that the Customer added to the server recently?

Zero Times!

> What else can you do now that this framework is in place?

– Your Service Desk can change monitoring, patching & other policies on-the-fly

without having to involve you!

– You can report to clients detailing how each & every machine is being monitored

& patched… in one place! (Report on MCF values)

– Update a MCF when an Agent Procedure runs for an at-a-glance

look at whether your script succeeded!

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WRAP-UP, Q&A

Section 6 of 6

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Wrap-Up, Q&A > Want more in-depth looks at other tips & tricks for VSA admins?

– Title: Advanced Administration: Kaseya Virtual Administrator

– Presenter: Ben Lavalley - Senior Manager, OEM and Strategic Initiatives

– Co-Host: Me!

– Time: 1:15 PM until 2 PM

– Location: Palm B

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Next up in this room (Palm A) Kaseya Technology Alliance Partner Landscape

Presented By: Ben Lavalley

Begins @ 4:45 PM