The LANDesk power
management tool allows you to monitor power usage on your managed
computers from a central location. You can easily create and deploy
power management policies and generate reports to evaluate
financial and power savings. You control the conditions under which
computers and monitors stand by, hibernate, or power down.
Power Manager includes a feature that lets users avoid specific
power management actions (such as a hard shut down) using a
client-side user interface. The avoided action will take place the
next time the policy runs or is updated on that computer.
The power management tool is divided into two panes. The left
pane displays power management policies in a tree view. The right
pane displays the content and parameters of the power management
policy that is selected in the left pane.
Power management tool buttons
The power management tool includes a set of tool buttons that
allow you to complete various power management tasks.
New:
Click to create a new power management policy, or right-click
Power management > Power policies in the left pane and
select Add.
Delete: Deletes the power management
policy selected in the left pane of the power management tool. You
can also right-click a power management policy name and select
Delete.
Refresh: Refreshes the items displayed in
the left pane.
Properties: Displays the properties of the
selected power management policy. You can also right-click a power
management policy name and select Properties.
Schedule: Click to schedule the deployment
of the selected power management policy. You can also right-click a
power management policy and select Schedule.
Reporting: Click to run a report that
estimates the power and cost savings you can get by deploying the
selected power management policy to a specified group of devices,
or to run a report that shows the power and cost savings across a
specified time interval. You can also right-click a power
management policy and select View Report.
Historical data: Click to run reports on
client usage information. You can also right-click a power
management policy and select View report.
Customize: Lets you customize the settings
that define overall power usage for specific manufacturers and
computer models.
Application management: Lets you manage
the running of processes as they relate to power policies.
Help:
Displays this help file.
Creating a new power management
policy
Power management uses policy-based management to send stand by,
hibernate, shut down, and turn on instructions to your managed
computers. Create power management policies to control specific
computers and groups of computers.
The New policy dialog lets you enter a name and a
description for a new power management policy. Click OK to
accept the name and description.
After you click OK to close the New policy dialog,
options and parameters for adding power schemes to the new policy
are displayed in the right pane of the power management tool. These
options and parameters include:
Action: Select the action to take on the
managed computer — hibernate, standby, turn on, or turn off
Device: Select the device on which to perform
the action (for example, computer).
Inactivity trigger: Select the time interval
that needs to pass before the action is triggered (1 minute to 5
hours, or never). Note: If you
select Turn off from the Action drop-down list, the
title of this drop-down changes from Inactivity trigger to
Shutdown type (hard or soft).
Source: Select the power source the device is
using (plugged in, battery, either).
Day: Select the day or days of the week to
perform the action.
Time: Select the time or times of the day to
perform the action.
Add power scheme: Click to add the selected
options and parameters to the current power management policy.
Save power scheme: Click to save the current
power scheme after you have edited the options to suit your
needs.
Save: Click to save the currently selected
power management policy.
Delete: Removes the power policy from the
Power policies tree in the left pane. (To remove a power
scheme from a policy without deleting the policy itself, click the
Delete button ()
next to scheme you want to remove.)
Power management policy options
Process-sensitive trigger
Use this page to delay the power policy if any of the listed
processes are detected. SelectEnable process sensitive
trigger to enable this option. The policy will continue if no
policies are detected after the number of minutes specified.
The list of processes is created through the Process
sensitive trigger list toolbar button. For more information,
see Process Sensitive Trigger List below (under Application
Management).
Usage monitor
Enforce the power policy if the conditions specified in the
dialog are met. Conditions that can be specified are CPU usage and
Network traffic. If either or both reach a specified percentage
lower than the maximum, the power policy will be enforced. Click
Enable usage monitor.
End process
End the processes in the list. Click Enable end process
list.
The list of processes is created through the End process
list toolbar button. For more information, see End process list
below (under Application Management).
Using Hibernate on Windows 2000 and Windows XP SP2
Power management can't automatically enable the hibernate
function on Windows 2000 and Windows XP SP2 computers. Users on
your managed computers must manually enable the hibernate function
through the Control Panel.
In the Control Panel, double-click Power
Options.
In the Power Options Properties dialog box,
click the Hibernate tab.
Select the Enable hibernation check box and
click OK.
Using the Turn On action (wake on LAN)
Power management uses wake on LAN (WOL) technology to remotely
power on a computer to run scheduled tasks. For power management to
use WOL functionality, your managed computers must have properly
configured network adaptors that support WOL.
Power Management can't set up or configure a network adaptor's
WOL functionality for you. If the WOL functionality on a computer's
network adaptor is not enabled, a power management policy that
includes a "turn on" action in its power scheme will fail on that
computer. Power Management currently does not include any way to
monitor whether a network adaptor's WOL functionality is
enabled.
Viewing Reports
The power management tool allows you to generate and view power,
cost savings, and historical reports.
NOTE: Reports require
that a group with at least one device or a query is created first;
otherwise the report cannot be run.
Policy properties: Displays the name and
description of the currently selected power management policy. This
field displays information only and can't be edited.
Select targets: Click the Browse button to the
right of this field to select the groups that contain the devices
on which you want to run the savings report. After you select the
groups, the total number of machines in the groups is displayed
below this field.
Select the estimated graph type: You can run a
report that estimates how much wattage or money you can save with
the current policy.
Cost per kWh: Adjust the associated cost per
kilowatt hour to determine how the cost would affect the selected
targets.
Select currency symbol: From the drop-down
list, select the currency you want to use.
Estimated savings: Click the timeline you want to
display (1 Day, 1 Week, 1 Month, or 1 Year). The graph is displayed
in this field.
Export: Click if you want to export the
savings report in .htm format.
Historical data
Use this toolbar button to modify client usage info
settings.
Start collecting the client usage info: Click
this option to turn on the collection of client usage info. This
button opens the Start collecting client usage information
task in the Scheduled task window, from which you can target
specific clients and schedule the task to run. For more
information, see Scripts and tasks.
Stop collecting the client usage
info: Click this option to turn off the collection of
client usage info. This button opens the Stop collecting client
usage information task in the Scheduled task window, from which
you can target specific clients and schedule the task to run. For
more information, see Scripts and tasks.
Delete old client usage data: Use this dialog
box to delete all historical power consumption and usage
information prior to a specified date.
Custom Wattage Settings
The Power Management tool includes a utility that lets you
customize the wattage settings for similar computers for more
accurate power management.
To open the Custom wattage settings dialog box, click the
Custom wattage settings button () in the Power Management tool.
Default Settings
The default settings displayed in the Custom wattage
settings dialog box are based on the type of computer running
the Power Management tool.
For example, if you are running a desktop computer, Power
Management displays default wattage settings based on the average
settings of a typical desktop computer. If Power Management is
running on a laptop computer, the default settings are lower
because laptops typically use less power.
Custom Settings
You can use pre-configured custom power settings to match the
type of equipment you are using. Many power settings for popular
desktop and laptop computer manufacturers have been added for your
convenience.
For example, if you are monitoring the power usage on a Dell
Inspiron 531s desktop computer, select Dell Inc. from the
Manufacturer drop-down list and Inspiron 531s from
the Model drop-down list. The wattage settings for the
computer and its monitor have been added based on the data returned
from a LANDesk
inventory of an Inspiron 531s computer.
Wattage Settings
When the Default settings check box is selected, these
fields display the average power usage of a typical desktop or
laptop computer (depending on the type of computer on which the
Power Management tool is running). When the Default settings
check box is cleared, use these fields to enter power usage
settings for specific computer brands and models.
Creating Custom Wattage Settings
If the type of equipment you want to manage does not appear in
the pre-configured System Information drop-down lists, you
can enter the information you need manually.
Generate the XML file for default usage table
The Replace client usage assumptions with historical data
button opens the Default usage table generator dialog box,
which allows administrators to select the group or groups of
devices from predefined queries and a specific timeframe to
generate an XML file. This XML file contains data that populates
the Savings report window. If client information is collected, the
XML file created at installation is updated with the actual usage
information from the client machines. This reflects the power usage
in an organization and provides more accurate Savings reports.
All groups that are created from queries are displayed in the
Target tree structure and the time frame can be selected
from the Time options dialog box.
The Default usage table generator
dialog box contains the following options:
Time: Select a time frame from the XML file
usage table
Latest week: Select
the most recent week of use from client usage info.
Specific Period:
Select a specific time range by selecting the month, day, and
year.
Generate Default usage table: Create the XML
table.
Application
Management
Identify process-sensitive triggers
Use the Identify process-sensitive triggers toolbar
button to observe the process of any program of importance and wait
for it to be completed before enforcing the power policies. In some
environments programs need to run for an extended period of time.
For example, the Management Suite Patch process can be a short or a
long process to install the patches. The time frame needed for the
managed device to be powered up is unknown when dealing with patch
deployment. Other programs can have similar parameters that need to
be uninterrupted in an environment.
The Process sensitive trigger list
dialog box contains the following options:
Add: Adds a process that is a known .exe that
needs to delay power policies.
Import: Adds a process from information
gathered from the client machines using Historical data
information.
Delete: Removes the selected process from this
list.
Modify: Changes the name of the .exe
file.
All:
Selects all the processes in the list to be added to the default
list of processes when creating the power policy.
None:
Clears all the processes in the list to be added to the default
list of processes when creating the power policy.
Identify processes to terminate at shutdown
Use the Identify processes to terminate at shutdown
toolbar button to allow the administrators to stop processes. Some
processes cause a machine to not follow the configured power
policies parameters. This same process affects a few or many
machines following the policy. Power management terminates the
processes preventing the machine from going into standby or
shutting down.
The End process list
dialog box contains the following options:
Add: Adds a process that is a known .exe that
needs to be terminated.
Import: Adds a process from information
gathered from the client machines using Historical data
info.
Delete: Removes a process from this list.
Modify:
Click this button to change the name of the .exe file.
All:
Selects all the processes in the list to be added to the default
list of processes when creating the power policy.
None:
Clears all the processes in the list to be added to the default
list of processes when creating the power policy
Identify processes to ignore in exception bugs
Use the Identify processes to ignore in exception bugs
toolbar button to designate processes that do not need attention
from the power policy. Processes are added to the Import list from
Client usage. This list can be large and hard to sort through.
Power management has created a way to organize the list of
processes for management. The Import button is used to
select a process as sensitive or to terminate the list.
The Processes to ignore
dialog box contains the following buttons:
Add: Adds a process that is a known .exe that
is to be ignored.
Import: Adds a process from information
gathered from the client machines using Historical data
info.
Delete: Removes a process from this list.
Modify:
Click this button to change the name of the .exe file.
Click to create a new power management policy, or right-click
Power management > Power policies in the left pane and
select Add.
Deletes the power management
policy selected in the left pane of the power management tool. You
can also right-click a power management policy name and select
Delete.
Refreshes the items displayed in
the left pane.
Displays the properties of the
selected power management policy. You can also right-click a power
management policy name and select Properties.
Click to schedule the deployment
of the selected power management policy. You can also right-click a
power management policy and select Schedule.
Click to run a report that
estimates the power and cost savings you can get by deploying the
selected power management policy to a specified group of devices,
or to run a report that shows the power and cost savings across a
specified time interval. You can also right-click a power
management policy and select View Report.
Click to run reports on
client usage information. You can also right-click a power
management policy and select View report.
Lets you customize the settings
that define overall power usage for specific manufacturers and
computer models.
Lets you manage
the running of processes as they relate to power policies.
Displays this help file.