In this second article of the ThinMan Tips & Tricks series we share with you some new “tricks” to make the most of the functions of the ThinMan management console.
Same infrastructure, different ways of representing it
ThinMan offers various tools to organize and divide into groups all the managed workstations and each of these tools coexists with the others allowing you to have different perspectives of your infrastructure and implement differentiated management policies according to the purpose. For example, you may want to manage office-based switching on/off and network-based distribution of updates or install a software only on workstations that have a certain peripheral, wherever they are.
In ThinMan you can simultaneously define groups of devices based on their technical characteristics or on the network structure, but that’s not all. Through the Configurator function, in ThinMan you can create (or quickly import from files) an unlimited number of alternative device classifications. Representations can be created on a functional basis (which devices serve which activities), on a geographical basis (which are located in which locations or offices, even if the network is unique), or on an operational basis (which must be managed in a certain way – for example updated – and which ones are not), which ones have a certain peripheral or not, and so on. Each classification can include all or some devices that can be divided into one or more groups.
Once the functional classification for your IT activity has been created, the game is done, you can choose to apply automated actions directly to the devices of a certain category: new configurations, updates, shutdown policies, etc…
Personalized and dynamic management of the device configuration
Are you the administrator of a very dynamic and flexible company where employees move frequently and where digital tools are made available to everyone to carry out the various activities? Again, you will not have to give up either your efficiency or the ability to offer the best user experience to your colleagues. You just have to use different tricks…
ThinMan, in fact, allows you not to flatten your infrastructure to the classic “all workstations must do everything, because I don’t know who uses them“, an uncomfortable motto for you, for your colleagues and moreover dangerous for the company (in terms of efficiency and security).
With the ThinMan Login (User+ Feature Pack) you just need to connect to the corporate Active Directory to create the different user profiles. In this way, you will be able to “dynamically” distribute customized connections according to their role, their activities, etc… Once logged in, users will directly receive the configuration, customizing the workstation, and will have immediate access only to the resources they need.
Quick reconfiguration of an environment
ThinMan tools allow you to quickly reconfigure even an entire group of devices. Do you manage eg. university laboratories for which you have to offer different tools depending on the use (subject, lesson/exam, etc…), or to frequently change the work tools made available to an office, depending on the orders?
You just need to have the different configuration profiles ready to apply in different cases and associate them with a classification. Only the devices classified in a certain way will have that specific configuration. To quickly reconfigure them you just need to use the quick reclassification that with a click allows you to choose in which group to reclassify all the devices of the class and restart them, so that they immediately start working in the new mode.
