Users Guide

12 Introducing IT Assistant
Terminology: Managed System and IT Assistant System
For the purposes of IT Assistant, a managed system is a system that has supported instrumentation or
agents installed that allow the system to be discovered and polled for status. IT Assistant simplifies
system administration of many managed systems by allowing an administrator to monitor them from one
management console.
In this guide, the terms IT Assistant system or network management station are used to identify the
system on which the IT Assistant software is installed.
Integrated Features
Native Install
The Dell OpenManage systems management software products are installed using the install process
native to the operating system.
User Interface Design and Online Help
IT Assistant User Interface (UI) includes wizard-based dialogs for performing many standard tasks.
IT Assistant menu bar options have changed, so previous users should take some time to familiarize
themselves with the new layout.
Comprehensive online help is available, both from the Help link at the top right of the IT Assistant
window and from context-specific Help buttons within individual dialogs and wizards.
The UI is exclusively Web-based, uses Sun Microsystems’ Java technology, and supports Linux systems.
DMI Support
IT Assistant no longer supports the Desktop Management Interface (DMI) protocol. As a result, systems
running DMI using Dell OpenManage Server Agent 4.5.1 (and below) and Dell OpenManage Client
Instrumentation 6.0 (and below) will not be discovered by IT Assistant.
New Topology View
In the UI, you can select Views→ Topology to see a graphical presentation of the devices in your network.
When you double-click the icon for the group you want to view, you move down through the hierarchy.
In addition, you can display detailed device information by moving the cursor over each icon. You can
also perform tasks on the devices in this view, such as application launch, refresh inventory and status,
and troubleshooting.