Ninjas!
When creating Smart Labels in Kace, I can tell you from experience that I struggled with creating them, as you can see here:
Most of us probably did I then met Ron Colson who is a trainer with Dell Kace. I will be paraphrasing him in this post. I enjoyed quite alot what he had taught me and felt compeled to pass it along, here are a few examples and thoughts:
Ron's philosophies are pretty simple – for Machine Labels, think the purpose of the label is what you want in the name and the criteria in the notes field – for Patch Labels, however, he recommends adding the criteria in the name and any additional information (e.g. REGEX code) stored in the notes field – for Software Labels the vendor and app title in the name, but the label criteria in the notes field.
Machine Label examples:
ML – HW – Laptops
ML – HW – Desktops
ML – HW – Servers – All
ML – HW – Servers – Physical
ML – HW – Servers – Virtual
ML – OS – MS – Win XP
ML – OS – MS – Win 7
ML – OS – Mac – OSX 10.6
ML – OS – Mac – OSX 10.7
ML – UPG – ADB – Reader X
ML – UPG – MS – Office 2010 PPß Note that this is an “upgrade” label, since it DOES look for a previous version
ML – UPG – MS – Office 2010 Std
ML – INST – APL – iTunes 10 ß Note that this one is an “install” label, since it DOES NOT look for a previous version
ML – LOC – MA – LEX – BLDG A – Floor 01 – IP Take Note that this is a location label, done using IP Address begins with (1st floor, building A, in Lexington, Massachusetts)
ML – LOC – MA – LEX – AD Take Note that this is a location label, done by LDAP grabbing machines in a specific Organizational Unit
Software Lable examples:
SL – ADB – Acrobat 9 Pro
SL – ADB – Acrobat 10 Std
SL – MS – Office 2010 PP
SL – MS – Office 2010 Std
Here is what my labels look like now following Ron's example.
Ninja in Training - Matt
Now Dell KACE, when creating smart labels only show labels in respective areas. Machines under Computer > Inventory, or software under Computer > Software etc.
Manually creating the labels now give you the ability to restrict where they can be seen.
There are a variety of ways to build out labels. I seen people use a dozen or less and I have seen customers use 2-3 dozen. It really comes down to what you need to group, how much you want to manage and what you plan on doing with the KBOX.
In sure, there really isn't one right way, its always what works for your environment needs. Many people ask if there is a template or best practices and this information from you and Ron would definitely be a good place for someone to start or get ideas from. - nshah 12 years ago