Clearspace Server Syndication Feed

The Manageability DTK, formally known as the AMT DTK, is now available for download

dbrunton — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 17:52:50 GMT

The DTK is now available for download. Please note the new name: Manageability Developer Tool Kit. The Manageability DTK underwent internal review and improvements and is now available in conjunction with Intel's Open Source efforts. The compiled applications included with the Manageability DTK introduce a client limit of 20. This setting, along with other settings, options and features can be modified using the provided source code included with the Manageability DTK package. Please review the Manageability DTK release notes for a comprehensive list of updates and changes.

You can download the DTK at the following URL: http://softwarecommunity.intel.com/articles/eng/1034.htm

For on-going DTK questions and comments, please visit the Intel Software Network and the Intel vPro Expert Center online communities.

Dialing in your Datacenter - using Intel Dynamic Power Datacenter Manager

Todd Christ — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 23:19:05 GMT

Everyone is talking “green-energy” and “power-efficiency” these days. Reducing carbon footprint, renewable energy, CFLs, solar power, biking instead of driving, etc… the list goes on forever. Many people are excited to do something to change power consumption, but as a server administrator - are the proper tools in place?

Many of you have probably experienced the power/efficiency example at home. When the summer gets hot - many of us run to the thermostat and set it accordingly. When it's REALLY hot outside, we tend to twist the dial cooler - knowing all along, that our electric bill will most likely be higher at the end of the billing cycle. So, what do we do?

Some of us just live with the higher bills, some of us turn off the A/C and struggle in the heat - but I'd hope that most of us set the thermostat to a 'livable' temperature - it may not be the coolest, but it's enough to do the job and keep the electricity bills at a more moderate level - in a sense, it's a happy medium. In today's modern age, thermostats are programmable - taking a lot of the guesswork out of our hands and automating many of the old day-to-day temperature functions that our parents had to follow... Intel server platforms are evolving in this realm as well!

As a server admin, do you have the tools and technologies to reduce power consumption? There are several avenues addressing this issue, and I suggest reading the post from Lori Wigle on Data Center Efficiency. The datacenter is different from the desktop… server admins aren’t likely to enable sleep states to save energy – but rather, increase utilization on fewer servers to maximize your performance output in relation to your server footprint.

When was the last time you looked at your server’s power footprint? Do you even know how much power you’re using? Some of you may have some power meters and can monitor a server (or a few servers) at a time… but how many of you can monitor a rack or servers or a datacenter?

What if this capability was built into your current generation Xeon server platform? The good news is that modern processors DO have power management capabilities. Based on the ACPI specs:

P0 Performance State
While a device or processor is in this state, it uses its maximum performance capability and may consume maximum power. Thereby the processor uses it's maximum power allocation.

P1 Performance State
In this performance power state, the performance capability of a device or processor is limited below its maximum and consumes less than maximum power.

Pn Performance State
In this performance state, the performance capability of a device or processor is at its minimum level and consumes minimal power while remaining in an active state. State n is a maximum number and is processor or device dependent. Processors and devices may define support for an arbitrary number of performance states not to exceed 16.

Each Pn State is a "notch" in the processor's performance powerband (as seen below)

As these performance notches are set, the processor will lower it's power envelope and reduce the power needed in order to save energy. Just as a note, EIST must be enabled in the BIOS for this performance enhancement to work on your platform.

If you attended Intel’s IDF (Intel Developer Forum) you may have run into a few demos in regards to Datacenter Power Management, my booth showcased 4 current generation Intel Servers based on Bensley/Starlake Xeon DP boards and Xeon 54xx Series (codename Harpertown) Processors.

Here’s a quick video showcasing the demo – and just a note - we’ll be redoing this in a higher-quality format soon – so stay tuned!

Hopefully if you’ve watched the video – you’ve got some questions! The good news is that we have a new website from the Intel Software Network that is focused on Intel® Dynamic Power Datacenter Manager. The site lists the features, system requirements, downloads, and FAQ to get you started!

I’m looking forward to your feedback and questions!

Multi-Core in the Embedded Smaller Form Factor

Jones_advantech — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 14:05:05 GMT

Looking at the main trends for CPU and chipset development, we see performance increasing but board and chip sizes getting smaller and smaller, this change is driven by popular demand for smaller embedded form factors. Smaller form factors help system designers integrate their solutions into a wider variety of applications. Take the advertising industry; display advertising is powered by ever-larger digital signage screens that require a robust back-end infrastructure to deliver rich media content in public spaces. Retail kiosks need powerful CPU performance to distribute engaging content and interactive solutions at the point of information and sale.

Intel 945GME-based platforms support a range of powerful multi core engines and rich I/O features. They are perfectly suited for Advantech's reliable 3.5" Biscuit embedded SBC platforms. Dual Independent displays and unique Module I/O (MIO) interface answers the need for powerful and flexible 3.5" SBCs requiring high resistance to vibration, and plenty of expansion possibilities. MIO integrates the most popular bus signals together into a high-density 160-pin connector. These bus signals include PCI, High-Speed USB 2.0, Digital Video Output (DVO), Low Pin Count (LPC), and AC97 audio.

SCCM SP1 hotfixes KB955355 & KB956337 released

miroyer — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 18:42:57 GMT

Microsoft has just released two additional hotfixes that address issues with System Center Configuration Manager SP1 and vPro/AMT Out of Band Management. Please reference the following WIKI for a comprehensive list of required software bundles and hotfixes for SCCM SP1 and vPro/AMT Out of Band Management: http://communities.intel.com/openport/docs/DOC-1897

System Center Configuration Manager 2007 (KB955355):

Description: A distinguished name that contains more than 100 characters and that is discovered from Active Directory for an AMT host causes the SMS_EXECUTIVE service to crash in System Center Configuration Manager 2007
URL: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/955355

System Center Configuration Manager 2007 (KB956337):

Description: System Center Configuration Manager 2007 Service Pack 1 is unable to remove AMT user ACLs during the provisioning process for AMT 2.x computers
URL: http://support.microsoft.com/KB/956337

--Matt Royer

Happy 1st Birthday Open Port!!

KellyFeller — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 16:23:35 GMT

Josh thinks we should have cake. But I prefer champagne. Whatever your fancy, this week is Open Port's 1st birthday as a community destination--and we couldn't be happier about that. What a momentous occassion!

The site was born because we folks in marketing (shh, I know...marketing ) believed we needed a better way to help you--Intel customers--find and understand information about Intel products. However, suprisingly (to us, probably not you) Open Port has evolved into so much more. Although we know it's not yet perfect, the site continues to grow as more folks join our community. And I think it's only going to get better in the years to come.

So how did Open Port come into existence a year ago? Well, the infamous Bob Duffy was doing his usual "looking under the hood" of stuff and realized folks weren't connecting with the technical content that was available on the intel.com website (uh, as in traffic was pretty bad). So he looked around at some other sites, like Slashdot and Ars Technica, and realized many folks were getting their information--yes, even technical information--from each other on forums and in discussions. "What if we hosted discussions on Intel technology on our site?" Bob wondered. And the rest, they say, is history.

Open Port first launched with three "communities" or "zones:" the general community, the vPro Expert Center, and the IT@Intel community zone. We've now grown to 7 communities overall with plans to add more and re-organize the content so you, our wonderful users, will have more control over the content you see on the site.

So what are some of the highlights of the past year? Well, you'd have to ask those who've been around longer for their unique perspectives. But here are some of the things I know:

Just this year alone site visits, comments on posts, and logins have grown at about 2.5 %
User registrations for the community have climbed by 6%
More and more content is coming from you--our wonderful community--than from Intel folks...this includes our superstar technical expert Javed Lodhi who keeps answering questions in our Ask An Expert forum. Thanks and keep up the great work, Javed!
We've made some mistakes, heard your comments, and hopefully changed things for the better both here on Open Port and in our technology as well.

Josh goes into greater detail on many of the highlights and lowlights of the past year on his Happy Birthday blog so I won't bore you or steal his thunder.

What I will tell you that you may not yet realize is that Open Port represents a monumental shift in the way Intel talks with our customers and community. I say "with" purposely because in the past Intel's primary way to "get our message out" was to talk at people instead of with them. But inviting you, our community, to share your ideas with us and engage in dialogue, you not only learn from us but from each other--and we learn from you. And that, at a minimum, is enough to inspire me to raise a glass and make a toast.

Oh, and lest I forget...thank you to you and to everyone who makes this community so terrific. We couldn't do it without you!

SCCM SP1 hotfixes KB954718 & KB955126 released

miroyer — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 17:29:17 GMT

Microsoft has just released 2 hotfixes that address issues with System Center Configuration Manager SP1 and vPro/AMT Out of Band Management. Please reference the following WIKI for a comprehensive list of required software bundles and hotfixes for SCCM SP1 and vPro/AMT Out of Band Management: http://communities.intel.com/openport/docs/DOC-1897

System Center Configuration Manager 2007 (KB954718):

Description: You cannot use the Out of Band Management console in Configuration Manager 2007 to connect to computers that use versions of Intel AMT that are earlier than version 3.2.1
URL: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/954718

System Center Configuration Manager 2007 (KB955126):

Description: The SMS_Executive service process (Smsexec.exe) in System Center Configuration Manager 2007 may crash if you have Intel AMT-related software installed
URL: http://support.microsoft.com/KB/955126

--Matt Royer

Bring out the cake and candle - 1 year anniversary is here!

josh.hilliker — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 05:55:11 GMT

1 year anniversary - YES!

I wanted to start this blog by saying what an interesting, fun, and action packed year it's been for the vPro Expert Center. we had a vision about 1 1/2 years ago to create a community where we could bring all parties together to talk about vPro and really make a difference in the activation and integration of this technology into the IT environment. I know that to be 1 years old in a community is just a small milestone, however for me it has been a blast to connect with a # of folks from the community both in the forums, onsite and at events where we can talk face to face. As I reflect back on the year, here are the top 5 and bottom 5 of what the community did that I think made a difference. (I could have made this the top 50).

TOP 5

Have seen some of the best bloggers join us online for dialogue (BIG Thank You)
Had great participation across the board - HW(OEM), SW(ISV), YOU, Intel, etc..
Started a Radio show on blogtalkradio - check it out (even on itunes)
Started a few sub zones that are really helping - microsoft, activation, and our latest SMB Talk.
Partnered with Myitforum.com and started using resources/wiki's for key events (Manage fusion, Microsoft mgmt summit)

Bottom 5

We published over a dozen tools and then didn't call them free tools and then we pulled one down that folks really cared about (yes it's almost fixed for those that know what I am referring to)
Implemented an ask the experts section, however we used as a single thread and now it's hard to find past solutions/fixes - (yes this is being fixed)
Tried to do an online TV show (good luck finding that legacy show anywhere)
We started a contest and made it to hard to participate - (we took the feedback and will try something soon that is easier to participate)
We haven't created a points system yet to showcase who's really answering all the questions and if the answers are good one's. (reputation system or something of that nature).

What does this all mean, we still have more work to do to make this community better. I'm committed to making this an awesome community, focused on you and how to make your life easier with vPro. Keep coming back and spreading the word to friends.

I also want to recognize the great community for giving me input on how to make this better over the year and I want to hear more over the next year on what we can do to make this a better community, increased functionality, richer video, tools, etc. If you have input on what you would like to see, what we can improve, what we should stop doing, etc.. please drop me a line by either blogging me back here, or just send me an email - josh@intel.com.

Or if you have product input that is always welcome, for example, on features we should have in the ME (manageability engine) or Software to leverage our silicon.

So.. what's next? I can tell you that I have been planning, thinking, waiting for September 22nd for the last 2 month's, I can't say much, but I can say you will want to be on the vPro Expert Center that day and check out something very exciting. (if I say any more I'll get the PR/Mktg teams yelling at me).. I can say that we will have more video's, more quick start guides and more focus on CIRA (FAst call for help) coming out soon as the HW starts to show up and we can show real life scenario's with rich detail. We are also going to spend more time focused on how to fast track a few use cases, like Going Green with vPro, Remote Repair, & Patching @ Night. After hearing this discussed the last month I believe the community with see value in the output here.

I would also like to give kudos to a # of community peers both inside & outside of Intel that have shared their wisdom, data, approaches and even video editing skills to help me start this community. I think we've only just begun and I am personally looking forward to the road ahead. please give me a shout out to tell me what you think of the community..

Josh H
Community Manager - vPro Expert Center

Activating an HP 6910p in Basic mode - and using the Intel System Defense Utility to remotely manage it!

michelegartner — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 22:53:45 GMT

Hi everyone -

Here's new guide that we just finished. Let me know what you think of this new format - we're trying to increase the usability of our documentation - let me know if we're on track!

This guide steps through Basic Mode Activation (formerly known as SMB Mode) of a Hewlett-Packard* 6910p. Once activated, follow the instructions to install the Intel(R) System Defense Utility and start exploring the supported use cases.

Basic (SMB) Mode Activation for the HP 6910p

Defeating malware infections with Intel system defense

Omer Ben-Shalom — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 08:13:16 GMT

I'm Omer Ben-Shalom and I am a principal engineer with Intel information technology (IT) focusing on mobility and client platforms. I have had the pleasure of working with the Intel development teams on the vPro AMT system defense and decided to share my experiences via a three part video series showing how system defense can help in active response to infected PCs.
There are many threats to the environment. the 'classical' threats originate from the outside and it is the job of the perimeter defenses such as firewalls, IPS and others to block them but the more problematic ones are those that originate from inside the perimeter, these type of attacks are mostly conducted from legitimate machines owned by the business and are quite often carried inside the perimeter unknowingly by employees especially when using mobile platforms such as notebooks which are carried outside the business and back in.
Detecting infected PCs and other malicious activity is done with the help of the various intrusion detections systems and the alerts generated can be collected and aggregated to provide a very good picture of the existing threats. A much more difficult task is the ability to quarantine the hosts carrying out the malicious activity and perform remediation. there are solutions involving both host software and network side blocking but with the host possibly compromised and the network location of the offending host subject to change with mobile platforms effective quarantine and remediation is very complex.
This is where the Intel vPro system defense capabilities come into play by allowing selective network access restrictions on a host, these restrictions can allow only the connectivity necessary to fix the problem and being implemented on the host platform itself cannot be escaped just by changing the network location.
This week we are publishing the first of a three part video series on how to use system defense for this purpose both manually and via integration to existing AMT management. I hope you will all take the time to view the introduction video below. any comments are welcome. I would love to hear your views about the problem as well as the solution.

http://www.podtech.net/home/5329/vpro-technology-system-defense-nar-videos-part-1-of-3

I hope you enjoyed this video, parts two and three should post by next week, stay tuned