Microsoft System Center Essentials 2010
Microsoft System Center Essentials 2010 is a systems management suite for midsize businesses that comprises part of Microsoft System Center 2010.
Pros
- Improved fault tolerance, support for "roaming laptops", self-service recovery
Cons
- Not much in the way of cross-platform support
Bottom Line
Micosoft System Center Essentials 2010 adds some welcome touches to update deployment and removes a lot of the mystique around how to deploy virtualisation technology in the middle market. It can also save staffers a lot of time through better monitoring and better software installation methods. The redesigned interface is simple and comfortable, and the product's limitations are few - and all in all, it's appropriate for a product that's lighter than the full System Center suite. On the other hand, it's not right for your business if you're already in the upper bounds of the projected user range (more than 400 PCs), if you run a very heterogeneous environment either on the client or on the server, or if virtualisation isn't at the top of your company's to-do list.
-
Price
TBA (AUD)
Microsoft System Center Essentials 2010
System Center Essentials 2010 is the latest revision to the integrated systems management suite designed for midsize businesses. Microsoft already offers the full System Center suite for enterprises but has recently focused on filling the gap that often exists between product offerings for tiny shops with fewer than 25 people and global corporations with 5,000-plus users.
Microsoft has a pretty wide definition of what a midsize business looks like: It suspects such a business has between 25 and 400 PCs and five to 50 servers, doesn't already have systems management software, has fewer than five IT generalists in its internal support operation and predominantly uses Microsoft software. (Clearly that's a model picture in Microsoft's view.) Obviously, this vision is a bit more likely in the smaller end of that space, with more heterogeneity probable in the upper end of the midsize market.
In any event, Essentials 2010 is designed to help make an environment not managed by specialists every bit as efficient and healthy as one that is. Essentials 2010 attempts to achieve three key goals:
- Monitor the total environment of a network and proactively alert administrators to, and sometimes automatically fix, problems that crop up - anywhere from a client PC to a server to a piece of software.
- Deploy software and patches in an efficient, streamlined way, rather than sneakernetting CDs and DVDs around the office.
- Integrate virtualisation strategies and techniques into a market that traditionally hasn't been ready for that complexity.
Microsoft System Center Essentials 2010: The interface
Essentials 2010's interface will be comfortable for Outlook users; the team redesigned the interface to be more fluid and expose more functionality with fewer clicks. The administrative console is easy to navigate. Thanks to the comprehensive task list that appears in the pane on the right, we didn't spend a lot of time looking for features.
Microsoft System Center Essentials 2010: Updates and software deployment
Essentials 2010 integrates Windows Server Update Services more fully with Essentials' administrative console, monitoring capabilities and deployment features.
At its core, WSUS attempts to automate the patching process as much as possible. Between Essentials and WSUS, the tools can discover which updates are required in your environment and set auto-approval deadlines for update deployment; these are the dates at which a particular update will automatically be deployed, even without an administrator's explicit approval.
Another feature is the ability to perform those update installations according to the class of machine - workstation or server. Since patching is likely a manual process in these environments, Essentials tries to take the menial work out of the task and improve system health. In the end, it works pretty well.
Essentials also attempts to make the process of deploying software much more streamlined than running software discs around an office. It puts an attractive, easy-to-use interface around Group Policy-based software deployment and also adds some intelligence found in the suite's big brother, System Center Configuration Manager, so that pushing out Office to 150 clients, for example, doesn't take weeks.
We found the deployment wizards much simpler to understand than the native Windows Server/Active Directory tools. The additional capabilities for non-Microsoft Installer-based software packages not found natively in Windows are also welcome.
Microsoft System Center Essentials 2010: Supporting virtualisation in the midmarket
The virtualization phenomenon is in full swing, and one could reasonably wonder why Essentials 2010 took as long as it did to integrate virtual machine technology into its core. Quibbling aside, in Essentials 2010 Microsoft has added virtualization hand-holding for the IT generalist: there are wizards to perform many common VM-related tasks, including building new virtual machines from scratch and importing existing VMs into the Essentials management console, with support for both Microsoft's VHD format and VMware's folders. Templates can be used when creating VMs to achieve consistent performance and "spec'ing" of your VM farms, and a tool that intelligently decides the best host for a particular VM is included as well.
Converting existing physical machines to VMs, a process known as P2V, can be handled from within the Essentials 2010 console. And once the VMs are created and placed, and the Essentials agent installed on them, they can of course be managed and monitored like any computer on the network. You can also live-migrate VMs as well (that is, move a virtual machine from one host to another without any downtime).
Brand Post
Most Popular Reviews
- 1 Dell U3223QE review: A winning debut for an IPS Black monitor
- 2 HP Spectre x360 16 review: The right 2-in-1 at the wrong time
- 3 Acer K242HYL review: An affordable monitor for any occasion
- 4 GeForce Now review: You bring the games, Nvidia streams the hardware
- 5 Asus ProArt PA279CV monitor review: The go-to for content creators on a budget
Latest News Articles
- Want to go watch the WWDC keynote at Apple Park? Here’s how to apply
- Apple to support ‘passwordless’ iPhone logins on Android phones and PCs
- If you downloaded iOS 9 on an iPhone 4s, you may be entitled to a refund check
- Best wireless headphones
- An intrepid YouTuber made his own 5K Studio Display for just US$600
Resources
Macworld
What's new, plus best mac-related tips
and tricks
Business Centre
The latest business news, reviews, features and whitepapers
Videos
Watch our video news and reviews from around the world
Guides
Comprehensive buying guides, features, and step-by-step articles
PCW Evaluation Team
Pedro Peixoto
Aruba Instant On AP11D
Set up is effortless.
Cate Bacon
Aruba Instant On AP11D
The strength of the Aruba Instant On AP11D is that the design and feature set support the modern, flexible, and mobile way of working.
Dr Prabigya Shiwakoti
Aruba Instant On AP11D
Aruba backs the AP11D up with a two-year warranty and 24/7 phone support.
Tom Pope
Dynabook Portégé X30L-G
Ultimately this laptop has achieved everything I would hope for in a laptop for work, while fitting that into a form factor and weight that is remarkable.
Tom Sellers
MSI P65
This smart laptop was enjoyable to use and great to work on – creating content was super simple.
Lolita Wang
MSI GT76
It really doesn’t get more “gaming laptop” than this.
Featured Content
- Which Lenovo Laptop Should I Buy?
- Every TV in Samsung's 2022 line-up: OLED, Neo QLED and more!
- Top 10 best Android and Apple phones for under $600
- Everything you need to know about Smart TVs
- What's the difference between an Intel Core i3, i5 and i7?
- Laser vs. inkjet printers: which is better?