NetSupport DNA

Overview

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Reduce your Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) 

Central management and accounting of IT assets in a secure, coordinated, and efficient manner is the key to effective and secure IT Asset Management. The optimal Solution is to combine hardware and software inventory monitoring with Software distribution, application and Internet metering, alerting and reporting capabilities, web-based help desk, and remote control functionality can ensure that IT assets are where they should be set up optimally, and being used to their best advantage.

NetSupport DNA capabilities are extended to reduce your Energy consumption costs meeting internal energy saving targets and reduce operational costs; the new Energy Monitor component tracks all powered-on systems across the enterprise, highlighting their energy consumption and associated costs. Working day hours can be defined making it easy to identify out of hours wastage.

The NetSupport DNA™ Suite offers this combination of features and function, providing a centralized solution to your current IT asset management needs while preparing you to meet increased regulatory compliance requirements as your business grows. It ensures compliance with corporate configuration standards whilst simultaneously reducing the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO).

Read "16 reasons why you should consider NetSupport DNA". 

DNA includes:

• Hardware inventory.
• Software inventory.
• Application metering.
• Internet metering.
• Energy Monitor
• Software distribution.
• Enterprise reporting.
• Alerting.
  • System alerts
  • PC alerts
• Communication gateway
• Active Directory Integration
• Remote control.
• Asset management software.
• License management.
• Web based helpdesk

Hardware Inventories

• Peripheral Hardware items such as PDAs or Mobile phones can now be assigned to multiple machines simultaneously extending NetSupport DNA's use as a central reporting point for technology assets.
• A wealth of information for specific PCs is provided ranging from CPU types and BIOS to memory and memory slots used including those available for future expansion.
• Effective Security Management for identification of missing computer assets such as CD-ROMs, memory, hard drives and even entire computer systems while reducing the need for costly physical inventories by removing the need to visit each desktop.
• Information is presented summarized by category, such as PCs by Operating System, CPU type or Memory.
• Inventory reports are displayed either for a single PC, a selected Department, condition based "Dynamic Group" or for the Company overall.
• Configure Hardware inventories frequency to run at different time intervals.
• Customize specific settings for the overall Company or for separate departments.
• The DNA Operator is able to run a quick Inventory outside of the pre-selected settings whereby all current hardware information from an individual Client, Department or the Company can be updated on demand.
• Ensuring the most accurate information is always available, DNA provides the option to add details of "non-scanned" items manually, or provide a standalone Inventory scan of a PC for subsequent import into the central system. (i.e. manually add details of peripheral equipment, such as routers, will not be identified or even in the case of remote PCs where they are unconnected to the network)
• NetSupport DNA offers multi-platform support. With the latest version, together with full support for all Windows systems from 98 and above, Red Hat 9, Red Hat Enterprise, SuSE 9 and Fedora Core 6 Linux distributions are also supported.
• Effective reporting charts for Hardware inventory. (i.e. 512 RAM on which PCs)

Track and Monitor

•  Reduce the Total Cost of Ownership. (i.e. detect usage of unutilized  software license)
•  ‘’Change PC Owner’’: When DNA connects to a Client PC for the first time it will automatically ‘bind’ the logged on user as the PC Owner. A new ‘Bind Users’ dialog allows you to manually change the PC Owner details if this is not the permanent ‘owner’.
• ‘’Communication Gateway’’ :The introduction of NetSupport’s Gateway technology provides a stable and secure method for locating and connecting to Clients on Remote Networks securely via the Internet. Multiple remote locations can communicate data back to a central location with the use of the included Client and Server gateway components.
• ‘’AD Integration’’: Full Active Directory Integration is provided in v3. The NetSupport DNA tree view can now mirror your Active Directory structure. Support has been provided to enable membership of AD groups to control logon/access rights to the DNA Console.
• ‘’Console Roles’’: Access rights for Console Operators are now controlled by defined profiles or ‘Roles’. Once created the Role can be assigned to multiple operators. Roles can be linked to a Windows Group and are relevant when Active Directory is being used.
• Aimed at helping organizations reduce their carbon footprint, meet internal energy saving targets and reduce operational costs, the new Energy Monitor component tracks all powered-on systems across the enterprise, highlighting their energy consumption and associated costs. Working day hours can be defined making it easy to identify out of hours wastage.
• Plan and budget for migrations, ensuring that any desktop changes needed to support an upgrade are affected. DNA allows you to procure the components in advance, plan the work and ensure the installation team is fully prepared at the point of upgrade.
•  Track and Manage Software Licenses using Software inventory. (i.e. customize your assets to fit your needs; avoid buying expensive software several licenses for different employees in different working shifts)
• Display company summary details (The connection statistics; Hardware and Software Changes; PC and System Alerts; Top 5 URLs and Applications; Find User, Chat, Message and a powerful Data Query Tool )
• Provides the mechanism to create Dynamic groups either by department, or grouping by specific feature containing PCs from any number of departments. (i.e. All PCs with Windows XP and more than 256Mb of Ram.)
• Display the user details (user identification data, supporting assets and maintenance date).
• Get full list of all visited Websites during specific time and quick URL link provided for reviewing specific URL's.
•  Know the Active time of each visited Website in addition to the ‘’Start and Finish time ‘’of each URL visited.
•  Get list of all running Applications during specific time.
• Know the Active time users have spent on each Application in addition to the ‘’Start and Finish time’’ of each application used.
• Central database includes History of Hardware, Software, Users and Alerts.
• Facility to enable / disable Logon / Logoff "popup" messages as required.
• Assisting with Disaster Recovery by transferring the IT information collected by DNA to your contingency plans, identifying where critical users and revenue related PCs are located.
• Virus prevention and remedial activities are essential for any enterprise. As DNA works independently of your e-mail server, periodic updates can be distributed to your users even during a virus crisis.
• Monitoring Systems with Interactive Thumbnails. ( NSM integration )

Software Inventories

• The newly introduced ‘Installed Programs’ option mirrors the add/remove programs structure of your Client machines, detailing the license levels for the displayed applications. NetSupport DNA now features three level software inventory: Software Programs (eg MS Office), Software Applications (eg MS Word) and Software Resources (eg Letter.doc)
  License management is further enhanced with the ability to assign licenses to specific departments.
• Improve the accuracy of budget forecasting by removing over-spend on software assets and ensure the IT function is supporting the overall organizational objectives; Identify illegal and unused software, providing the necessary knowledge to purchase the optimum number of licenses for your enterprise while reducing the need for costly physical inventories by removing the need to visit each desktop.
• Get detailed PC  software inventory includes over 50 items of information of:
  • Installed applications.
  • Running applications
  • Processes
  • Hot fixes
  • Services (you can start and stop any service)
• Gather details of all hot fixes installed on the client PC.
• Information is presented summarized by category, such as PCs by Operating System, CPU type or Memory.
• Inventory reports are displayed either for a single PC, a selected Department, condition based "Dynamic Group" or for the Company overall.
• Configure Software inventories frequency to run at different time intervals.
• Customize specific settings for the overall Company or for separate departments.
• The DNA Operator is able to run a quick Inventory outside of the pre-selected settings whereby all current software information from an individual Client, Department or the Company can be updated on demand.
• NetSupport DNA also provides a File Scan option whereby files of certain types can be identified i.e. "How many MP3 files are located on user computers".
• DNA provides the ability to create customized Application Groups, where all such versions are grouped together for more effective reporting.
• Application Groups offer the ability to monitor license levels within an organization by inputting the number of licenses for each application, software usage levels can be identified whenever a software inventory is executed.
• With its software inventory and application metering functions, NetSupport DNA identifies illegal and unused or underused software. You then have the knowledge to purchase the correct number of licenses for your enterprise – an advantage in negotiating with software vendors.
• Effective Software reporting tools. (number of concurrent license usage)
• NetSupport DNA offers multi-platform support with full support for Windows 98 and above, Red Hat 9, Red Hat Enterprise, SuSE 9 and Fedora Core 6 Linux support.

Metering

Application Metering

• Restrict any Application over the whole company or department or PC. (i.e. restrict employees from using msn messenger)
• Support for Sub-Url’s added allowing you to restrict both complete and specific pages within a website.
• Ensure that application usage complies with corporate policy when integrated with software inventories.
• Lists of Approved and Restricted applications together with "apply" time frames for when restrictions apply can be created and enforced by the Operator for complete enterprise or on a per user basis. (i.e. restrict launching MSN messenger from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm)
• Application Restrictions by department can be automatically assigned to any new members of a department.
• Analysis and reporting by PC or Logged on User.
• Prevent copying over CD and DVD (NS school).
• Prevent copying over USB flash (NS school).

Alerting

• Effective Security Management for identification of missing computer assets such as CD-ROMs, memory, hard drives and even entire computer systems.
• Help the IT manager to get alerted with  all actions on the machine using Alerting system that have two types:
  • DNA system alerts includes:
    • Changes in key Hardware Inventory (i.e. Memory / CPU changed on a PC, New Monitor installed).
    • Get alerted when a foreign PC is added.
    • Application installation or removal.
    • Changes to user details.
    • Get alerted when a certain blocked website is visited.
    • Get alerted certain restricted application is launched.
    • Software Distribution delivery alerts (delivery fail, or advertised package used).
  • PC alerts includes:
    • CPU or Network utilization alerts (i.e. CPU utilization exceeds 90% for X mins).
    • Help the IT manager to get alerted when disk space is below X GB.
    • Monitor database engine agents on the company services (i.e.  if stopped IT is alerted)
    • Print spooler alerts (number of outstanding jobs).
    • Security alerts - USB device activation alerts (i.e. a memory stick is installed).
    • Get alerted when a new hard disk is added to the machine.
    • Security alerts - CD / DVD disk insertion alert.
  • Central database includes History of Hardware, Software, Users and Alerts.

Energy Monitor

NetSupport DNA … Green - IT
Reducing energy bills is an appealing target; NetSupport DNA capabilities are extended to reduce your Energy consumption costs meeting internal energy saving targets and reduce operational costs; the new Energy Monitor component tracks all powered-on systems across the enterprise, highlighting their energy consumption and associated costs. Working day hours can be defined making it easy to identify out of hours wastage.
Beside detecting hardware and software changes, as well as recording application and internet usage, It also checks to verify the powered-on state of all computers and its local monitoring component keeps an accurate record of each time a computer is powered on, off or hibernates. Once it knows the times of day each computer was operational, an average (and customisable) “power consumption per device” calculation is used, facilitating a baseline energy usage calculation for all computers. The indicative energy usage calculation is then combined with each customer’s specific energy rates (per Kw) allowing NetSupport DNA to reflect the overall cost for all identified systems. This allows department heads or management to see a high level view of energy usage by computers across the organization, see where "out of hours" usage is highest and identify whether this is a result of diligent staff working late or simply systems that have been left switched on overnight.
NetSupport DNA provides a simple and easy to use step in the direction of efficient and cost effective energy usage.

 

Full History

The History option enables you to track changes to a Clients Hardware and Software. Each time DNA gathers Inventory data it compares the current details against information already held on the server and if there are any differences they are recorded in the History.
The History component provides a full chronological summary of all activities recorded by NetSupport DNA for the entire primary inventory based components.
Data views are now generated by the DNA server (previously by the Console) and the resulting data can be cached on the server. The result of this is that views can be generated in background while viewing other console areas and data response times are typically improved.

These include:-

• Hardware History - full summary by PC and Hardware item detailing previous and current inventory data and all changes detected for a given period. (i.e. a ram has been removed from computer client 3 in group XYZ on 20/12/2005) - If a PC's performance has deteriorated, using the Hardware history an Operator can identify in seconds any changes to the specific PC that have occurred previously.
• Software History - a full summary for all PCs of applications installed, removed and updated for a given period. Quickly identify which new applications have been installed on a user’s PC, and review those that have been uninstalled over a given period. (i.e. MSN messenger is installed on computer client 3 in group XYZ on 20/12/2005)
• User History - DNA also keeps a history of changes to the data entered in User Data. Changes to Custom User Details are recorded including the following fields: Employee Number, Location, Asset Tag and Owner.
• Alert History - a full summary of all Alerts triggered for a given period with support notes on the resulting resolution and assigned DNA Operator details. All Historical information stored within NetSupport DNA can be archived and exported for storage and future use on a component by component basis.

Enterprise Reporting

• Customize your report using Query tool (i.e. choose details you need to appear in your report) with an easy interface for defining limitless reports covering all of the available data within the DNA database including the total functions for values such as time and costs; Once created, these reports (Queries) can be assigned to specific components within the DNA console, such as the Hardware Inventory or User Details components and are then available to all operators in a single click from within the main console view. (i.e. Hardware History items can be enabled / disabled as needed for reporting.
• Crystal engine is included.
• Make Custom Queries available to or hidden from specific Operators.
• Make Dynamic Groups available to or hidden from specific Operators.
• New ‘Query Scheduler’ enables Queries to be run on a specific date or regularity based on a defined interval, for example Daily, Weekly etc. The completed report is automatically saved in a user defined location.
• New ‘Miscellaneous Settings’ dialog added to the DNA Database Wizard enabling you to enter the SQL Server address, set a timeout for Database Queries, force Active Directory Authentication and add DNA Gateway settings.
• Analysis and Reporting by PC or Logged on User for Internet and Application usage.
• Two Styles of reporting:
  • On Screen reports which are provided with supporting Bar and Pie charts and drill down capabilities on all key summary data.
  • Print Optimized reports which are powered by a Crystal Report engine that provides the Administrator with additional pre-defined management reports.

• All reports include the option to print or export to PDF, DOC and XLS.
• Make use of detailed Exported data reports with illustrative charts and diagrams
• The ability to save the extracted Reports in different formats. (I.e. Excel, Word, PDF and etc...)

Distribution

The process for assigning license information to a PC’s asset data has been refined. New ‘Leasing Administration’ and ‘Maintenance Administration’ dialogs have been added enabling operators to quickly assign licenses to any number of PCs.

Software Distribution now provides a range of Retry options allowing control of frequency, delay between attempts and support for PCs powered off at time of distribution. On power on they will be notified of a pending distribution and deployed to automatically.
You can use DNA distribution in terms of:

• Push
  • Distribute any software without client disturbance.
  • Record the installation steps of any software and push it to selected PC’s using the DNA packager.
  • Scheduling the process of Software distribution.

• Publish
  • Define a software package to be deployed, either a collection of Files and Folders specified with appropriate action parameters and publish it centrally on the DNA Server.
  • A user then can check to see which applications are available on the server for their PC, based on their departmental membership and install these on demand.

• Distribution Warehouse
  • In order to avoid network traffic congestion while dealing with large scale deployments, NetSupport DNA allows a Client PC, ideally local to the target machines, to be nominated as a "Distribution Warehouse" on which the package is first deployed and then it takes the lead in distributing it to target PCs on its local LAN segment.
  • Broadcast. When deploying to computers on a local subnet from the server or distribution warehouse, UDP can now be utilized for significant performance benefits. Example:To Distribute a 50Mb package to 90 computers over a regular 100mb network, you have two deployment options:
    • Traditional Deploy: 8 minutes 48 seconds.
    • UDP Deploy: 1 minute 39 seconds.
    
    Both distribution methods are supported in DNA 2.7.

Remote Control

NetSupport DNA provides two levels of remote control:

• NetSupport Manager
  • Full Remote Control of a PC
  • Monitoring Systems with Interactive Thumbnails
  • Dynamic Hardware and Software Inventory reports
  • Systems Management tools
  • Full Audio support and even the ability to show an Operator's screen in real-time to any number of connected systems as an integrated training tool
  • File Transfer and Distribution to all connected clients; selected clients; a pre - defined group of clients by single click
  • Explorer Desktop Integration
  • Remote Deployment
  • Power Management
  • Chat and audio support enhanced with interactive whiteboard
  • Messaging and Help Requests
  • Scripting and scheduling
  • Executing application remotely
  • Printer Redirection
  • Internet Gateway component
  • NetSupport Manager includes full support for 32bit and 64bit Vista systems.
  • For details click here
• NetSupport DNA Remote Control
  • Watch / Share and Control functionality
  • Full message / text chat
  • Comprehensive security
  • Multi-platform support
  • Desktop integration.

Web-based HelpDesk

Effortlessly track, organize, manage and answer the toughest desktop support challenges with DNA Helpdesk- a powerful and entirely web-based help desk and ticket management solution, now with mobile support, aiming at minimizing the amount of system downtime whilst providing effective support via desktop, laptop, or even your mobile device for all users of IT assets. It is ideal for small and medium enterprises, and yet fully applicable for larger organizations.

For more information Click Here

Packs

16 Reasons Why You Should Look at NS DNA

1) Reduce the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)

2) Ensure Compliance with Corporate Configuration Standards

3) Control Enterprise Changes

4) Track and Manage Software Licenses

5) Discovery Toolset

6) Resource Tracking

7) Plan and Budget for Migrations

8) Take Control of Complex Systems Management Suites

9) Help Desk Administration

10) Ensure the Installation of Purchased Devices

11) Eliminate the Need for Costly and Ineffective Physical Inventories

12) Security Management

13) Virus Remediation

14) Upgrade Administration

15) Disaster Recovery

16) License Administration

Learn more