Release 4.0.2 of LANDesk Asset Lifecycle Manager includes the
following improvements and enhanced functionality over release 3.5.
Feature descriptions ending with (*) indicate changes that were
added as of the November 2010 v4.02 patch release.
Printing in the Web console
The Web console has been enhanced to allow users to
print reports, pie and bar charts, state transition maps, asset
instance lists, form details, audit and workflow histories, and any
tab pages associated with a form. If the report spans several
pages, users can choose whether to print all pages or only
specified pages.
Scheduling
The Scheduling feature now includes the ability to
schedule a workflow with a defined start date and end date. In
addition, you now have the option to schedule a workflow to
automatically stop running after X occurrences. Also added
is the ability to enable hourly scheduling.
Forms
New settings have been added to Form properties that
enable the ALM Designer to show or hide form tab pages in the Web
console. Tab access rights can be assigned based on users, AD
groups, or ALM roles. See "Tab Access" in Understanding ALM data forms.
The ALM administrator can enable Web console users to
set the display on a form to show only specific tab pages based on
which item is selected in a dropdown list. For example, the Server
tab on the Computer asset form is displayed only when "Server" is
selected in the "Computer type" dropdown list. See "Tab Visibility"
in Understanding ALM data forms.
For forms with multiple associated workflows, you can
check the current status and progress of all of those workflows on
one page by viewing the workflow audit history. From any asset
instance or request instance, click the Workflows tab.
Select Workflow history to see the progress of the
individual workflows. Or click Workflow audit history to see
the history of all associated workflows (including individual
actions) on one page.
Active Directory contacts
A new checkbox has been added in the Contacts dialog
box, to allow exclusion of inactive users from the list of contacts
that appears. In both consoles (Design console and Web consoles),
when selecting Active Directory users in the Contacts dialog box,
only active users will appear in the list of users. Any user
accounts that are marked as inactive in Active Directory will not
show up in the list of contacts unless the new "Show Inactive
Users" checkbox is selected*.
Workflow designer
Two new families of workflow actions are now available in the
Workflow designer: VMWare actions, and AMIE actions. Also, several
existing actions have been enhanced to allow improved functionality
in workflow processes. Among the new workflow actions are:
VMWare actions including Clone VM,
Power control host, Power control VM, VM
snapshot control, and VMotion. See "VMWare actions" in
the Designer's Guide.
Avocent Mergepoint Infrastructure Explorer
(AMIE) actions including Get AMIE UDP properties and
Set AMIE UDP properties. See "Avocent MergePoint
Infrastructure Explorer actions" in the Designer's
guide.
Workflow Action groups with enhanced functionality or new
actions include:
System: You can now pre-populate fields on the
Request information action.
Service Management: The Get form instance
information action now allows non-unique controls to be used to
look up form instances.
Synchronization
Synchronization has been moved to a separate tab in
the Web console. A new right, "Access Synchronization tab in Web
console" can now be assigned using the Roles dialog box in the
Design console (Tools > Settings > Roles > Edit). This
makes it easier to control which users have access to the
synchronization features, and it means that Synchronization is now
available for customers who are only licensed for LANDesk Process
Manager.
While defining a synchronization package, columns
from single record controls are now included in the list of
destination columns on the Matching tab in the
Synchronization wizard. This gives you improved control over the
data you can match on when running a synchronization package.
You can use the new LDMS queries data
source to synchronize data directly from LANDesk Management
Suite*.
You can now synchronize data from VMware virtual
machines and servers.
New functionality has been added that allows users to
synchronize with forms.
Integration servers
Previously the steps for setting up connections between ALM and
other resources (LANDesk Management Suite, Service Desk,
Remedy, etc.) were located on separate tabs in the Tools >
Settings dialog. Now all connections are configured from a single
tab labeled Integration servers.
Asset Content pack
Several significant additions have been made to the Asset
Content pack. These new features provide additional automation
capabilities and add useful new functionality to Asset Lifecycle
Manager. They can also be used as templates for creating other
custom options for use within your environment. For details, see
Other automated requests and Other sample processes.
Other automated requests
Asset reservation request
Allows a user to submit a request to reserve one or more assets for
a defined period of time.
Server rack request
Facilitates gathering the necessary information for successfully
deploying a new server.
Virtual server request
Facilitates gathering necessary information for successfully
deploying a virtual server.
Other sample processes
Automated patch deployment
If you have LANDesk Management Suite installed on your system, you
can make the deployment of security patches and updates much easier
by taking advantage of the automated patch deployment workflows
included in the Asset content pack.
Software synchronization packages
Eight pre-configured synchronization packages that enable importing
and reconciling software license monitoring data from LANDesk
Management Suite into the ALM database.
Software compliance request
Facilitates being able to compare software usage data with license
entitlement and generate reports for compliance and auditing
purposes.