Hardware and software inventory collection is typically associated with asset management, but an inventory also has great value to administrators who must assess needs and plan rollouts (not to mention the inventory's value to Help desk staff). If an application-deployment product's collection tools are good enough, you might be able to leverage them for asset-management functions.
All the clients I tested, with the exception of WinINSTALL's, perform some sort of regular inventory collection. Common sources for harvesting software and hardware data are the client's registry, its BIOS, and the file-version resource data from the executables on the hard disk. The four products that collect inventory information let you store the results in an open database that you can run reports against.
netDeploy Global uses a SQL Server 7.0 database out of the box and provides several preconfigured reports to aid your searches. Castanet supports Oracle, Sybase, or SQL Server 7.0 out of the box, has a built-in Inventory Manager channel that you can use to browse the database, and provides Crystal Reports as a built-in reporting tool. eXpress also supports SQL Server 7.0 and provides an inventory GUI; you can right-click on a machine icon and choose Properties to browse the inventory of an individual client. TS.Ready uses its well-developed TS.Census client to collect hardware and software information from client machines. The client gathers inventory data collected from the same sources as the others, plus Desktop Management Interface (DMI) information. TS.Ready is unique in that it uses proprietary fingerprint files that Tally Systems updates monthly. These fingerprint files act as filters on the front end of inventory collection that use unique criteria to accurately identify files. The result is an impressive report, which I found more accurate and readable than the sketchy version-resource data that executable files provide.
All the products I tested regularly collect logging information from their clients. WinINSTALL tracks installation in the registry and uploads the tracking information to the database along with event log data. eXpress has options for storing detailed log information on each client and tracks less detailed information in its server database. netDeploy Global and Castanet log data in XML format and pass it to a server, which interprets it and adds it to a database. TS.Ready uses standard log files and, like most of the other products, offers multiple logging levels to control the data flow.
Ultimately, you must develop your own reports to gather the information most pertinent to your organization. With the exception of WinINSTALL, which doesn't collect inventory data, each product gathers inventory and logs events in its own way. All the products provide decent diagnostic information that's crucial for determining the status of your application-deployment efforts.
The Bottom Line
The good news for organizations looking for an application deployment and management solution is that the glaring needs in this sector have spawned a variety of solutions from numerous vendors. All of the products I looked at have particular strengths that lend themselves to different environments.
Castanet has many features that make it well suited for a dispersed enterprise environment. Castanet's multi-tier architecture offers several choices for bandwidth-controlled package distribution to remote locations. The software's ability to transmit only the changed bytes of files is unique and enhances the product's ability to reduce network bandwidth consumption. Castanet supports several UNIX platforms along with its Windows offerings, so it can work in heterogeneous environments. Because Castanet uses standard Web protocols to communicate between its servers and clients, it integrates into existing network infrastructures with few modifications. On the downside, Castanet is expensive compared with the other products that I examined. For organizations that require all of Castanet's functionality, however, the ROI might justify the price.
After using eXpress for a few weeks in the Lab, I considered it a good tool for small and midsized organizations with Windows platforms. Although eXpress lets you deploy multiple eXpress servers that help it scale, its use of standard TCP ports and lack of bandwidth control could make management and replication more difficult than the other products do across a widely dispersed enterprise. Nonetheless, eXpress has many attributes that make it a good value. eXpress installation packages are simple, self-executing files that are easy to create and highly portable. Thus, administrators don't necessarily have to worry about client software as long as they can get packages to the client. Although eXpress doesn't have some of the advanced features of higher-end products, at $50 per seat, it's an economical option for organizations that don't require a lot of bells and whistles and that can use the cloning and desktop-migration utilities that the eXpress suite includes.
If you're currently using AD or plan to migrate to AD in the near future, I recommend that you take a hard look at netDeploy Global. NetDeploy Global uses Web protocols, supports a wide range of client platforms, and is highly scalable. Thus, it's well suited for large organizations that have committed to AD. Because netDeploy Global leverages AD for much of its functionality, you can use Group Policy to control and administer the software. This AD-centric approach can centralize and streamline your administrative processes. A bonus is that netDeploy Global starts at a competitive $100 per seat. Unfortunately, netDeploy Global doesn't have the same appeal for organizations that don't intend to migrate to AD.
TS.Ready is also well suited for large environments because of its scalable architecture. At $110 per seat, this product is in the middle of the pack in terms of cost and could be the right choice for organizations that need scalability, bandwidth control, and multiple-platform support. With its advanced inventory solution and remote control capabilities, TS.Ready could serve as a Help desk solution for some organizations. However, because TS.Ready uses standard TCP ports for communication, deploying it in a large, dispersed environment requires additional planning and configuration.
At $29 per seat, WinINSTALL comes in as the lowest-cost solution of the five I looked at. As such, it's very competitive for small-to-midsized installations and might even suit the needs of some large organizations, if their administrators don't mind tweaking it a bit. WinINSTALL's architecture is simple, but it could get unwieldy in large, dispersed environments. One of WinINSTALL's main attributes, however, is that it's easy to use. This product would be particularly well suited for organizations that have a fairly savvy user base that can initiate events or respond appropriately to options. Because WinINSTALL doesn't include any built-in bandwidth control, administrators will need to do some extra work to accommodate mobile users.
The challenge in choosing the right application-deployment solution for your environment lies in thoroughly assessing your needs, then finding the product best able to meet those needs. Although the five products I assessed are only a sample of the available solutions, you can use the same criteria I used to judge how other products measure up. Functionality, usability, scalability, and cost are usually the primary considerations, but your checklist should reflect the requirements of your unique environment.