I read through the Early beta release thread and through my own thread again and decided to make a new thread with suggestions i picked up from both threads... i compiled a list of suggestions that i found in requests or mentioning in the threads mentioned and a thread in the ADNM forum.
The first mentioned improvement is an absolute must! Listen to your business users please, im not the only one wanting this option available.
Companies (even the small ones) have to comply to rules for data placement. So this point will also be a point to consider using this software
or go to the competition that DOES support this feature.
(And it will be a point for my company to judge if we want to extend our licenses next month or find another product that does comply to business
requirements)
These suggestions are open for shooting (except point 1) so if there are valid counter arguments, i love to see them (from anybody!)
Pro arguments not mentioned by me, are very welcome too ofcourse.
If there are features mentioned in below suggestions that dont make it to the first RTM but do come in a later one, it would be appreciated by all of the community (that is helping Avast to test this software) if this is mentioned too.
At least 2 of the suggestions have been spoken/agreed about in the Early beta release thread already.
All these points are based on the current Early beta release.
http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=76091.0http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=73456.01) Let us business users choose where the mirror data is placed!! This is an absolute requirement. We will not put frequently accessed data on a mirrored OS disk. That we dont get this freedom is unheard of, listen to your BUSINESS PAYING users.
This choice is best to be given at installation, if its after installation then changing the mirror directory should MOVE all the files automaticly.
A typical server is setup with with mirrored OS disk (expensive!!!! Its 2 disks with a loss of 50% data because of the mirror setup. This is best safety for the OS) and raid 5 or 6 or 1+0 or 0+1.
RAID 5 is the cheapest and best financial option (depending on data safety requirement) and thus mostly used for data storage like fileservers. This is the ideal location for the mirror location. Im sure that the current location for the mirror files are the WRONG location.
If you serve 199 users, then your a small business with these setups or even more expensive setups.
The counter arguments that have been given in one of the threads are not valid. I should not adjust my complete operating system just to be able to change 1 setting in 1 program.
There is a difference between programdata and fileserving data.
Next to that the microsoft programdata is aimed mostly on home users where they have only 1 disk for all data. We are running this software in a business enviroment where all types of data has a special place assigned to it, some smaller businesses also even use a NAS or a SAN for data storage. Different locations for data doesnt make it harder, it makes it more structured and comply to company standards.2) Make a BASE PATH for all the directory options. Right now all directories are manually set to mostly the same base (C:\programdata\avast software\administration console)
(maybe its also a good tip to shorten paths? (c:\programdata\avast\sbc), sometimes backups dont like too long paths)
IF there is a reason to move away from the base path, then you should be able ot set it manually, this is an expert setting. The only exception on this is the mirror and its sub directories which should get a separate base path.
3) When a shield is chosen not to be turned on (i.e. mail/IM/p2p shield on servers) then auto turn of the statusbar checking for these shields. If keeps to be manually a lot of people will come to ask why the client states that some services are not running and thus the computer is not fully protected.4) Drag and drop computers into groups (stated that it is coming, so just stating the obvious here)
5) Clean up the SCHEDULER TAB. Make some sub categories.
6) Make SBC Active Directory aware for login. I use Active Directory as my database for rights assignment.
Make a couple roles like Full Administrator, Update Administrator, Deploy Administrator (or something) and then we can link a user or a group from active directory to it for the rights.
You already mentioned the userroles, so that would be the ideal place for AD integration.
7) Always show which server is used for the updates/upgrades in the client.
8 ) Remove the need of LOGON AS SERVICE rights from the username used to deploy to servers. (i havent looked into the active directory GPO settings, but im sure this right could also be assigned to the user on the servers via GPO, not wished for tho).9) Not sure how the license assignment works right now but from wishes in the ADNM threads: dont assign licenses to clients if avast has not been installed yet and remove license count when an uninstall is performed. Eventually a manual remove of license should be possible
(something like the option of REVOKE LICENSE on a computer or a group)10) I havent seen any business running XP as a server OS for a critical system. Management of the AV software centrally is critical in a business. Remove XP as a possible SERVER part. XP is end of live, if SBC doesnt function properly because of a bug in XP that will not be resolved you have to tell the customer that he has to live with the fact that because he is using XP as a server OS for SBC he dont have a working program anymore. XP as a client is acceptable to support but not as a server. (yeah i know im nagging about this point).11) Give the shortcut that SBC creates the icon of Avast! Right now it is the icon of a html file, give it its own icon for SBC…. 12) Linux, Mac, Android clients support? Lately there is more and more a mix of OS’s in companies (yes also the small ones), would be nice if we can get clients for given systems to manage them too… and yes, on mentioned OS’s there are virusses too.
13) Make all installations in the GUI. Do not show dosboxes, the output can be captured in the GUI. If the choice is made to install SQL2008 too, is it possible to have it do a quiet install so it doesnt show the screens? Too much screens can be confusing and result in errors from the installing guy side.14) The console has an option JOBS under that title is (standard selected) SCHEDULER. This is i believe an incorrect naming since it is the job management (create/run/edit) portion. A better name would be appreciated. Maybe job manager or job maintenance (should fit in the GUI).
Possibly a third separate option could be made for just scheduling the jobs...
15) In advanced settings IF its needed to edit: make sure values of fields are checked. If there are numerical fields make sure the input of alphanumerical cant be saved.
16) Make an option in SBC for localization of clients. I hate automatic localization. I wish to see the English (my locale is dutch) text since im the one administrating the AV when needed.
If there are admins that want to see the locale set to their own locale then htey are no real computer nerds! Thats my big bang theory!
