14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft is currently inviting System Center Configuration Manager 2007 customers to test drive an add-in designed to deliver reporting capabilities without requiring them to use the Configuration Manager console. In this regard, the company announced the availability of Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007 Dashboard. Released in Beta stage, the Dashboard can be accessed through Microsoft Connect. Early adopters will, of course, need to have an existing Configuration Manager 2007 infrastructure already in place in order to start test driving the Configuration Manager Dashboard.
“The System Center Configuration Manager 2007 Dashboard lets customers utilize a browser based graphically rich reporting experience that showcases the robust reporting capabilities of the world’s leading system management product. The dashboard will help you stay informed of application and operating system deployments, security updates, system health status and more; whether on the plasma screen in your operations center, or your administrative desktop,” revealed Jeff Wettlaufer , sr. technical product manager, System Center.
In order to be able to integrate the Dashboard add-in, customers need to be running Configuration Manager 2007 R2 or SP2, but also Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 SP2 or Office SharePoint Server 2007 SP2 as an alternative. SQL Server 2008 and.NET Framework 3.5 are also required. According to the company, the add-in is designed to provide reports in Internet Explorer 7.0 or Internet Explorer 8.0.
“Some key benefits of the Dashboard are: •Provides dependable, timely access to key information: The dashboard lets you easily stay on top of deployments, security updates, client health, and compliance status. •Easy to install and configure: The dashboard allows customers to quickly integrate your data in just minutes. Utilize either the base set of datasets “out of the box” or choose your own. •Easy to customize: The dashboard can easily be customized to meet the needs of your different departments. Any dataset in the Configuration Manager database can be presented on the dashboard, in chart, gauge, and table formats. •Flexible & interactive: Administrators can easily filter data and create ad hoc, custom views. Filters allow users to quickly drill down from high-level to more specific data,” Wettlaufer added.