Microsoft System Center Essentials 2010 Server (Includes Software Assurance)

Microsoft System Center Essentials 2010 is a server application for monitoring IT services and installing and updating software throughout a network. Microsoft System Center Essentials shares many features with Microsoft System Center Operations Manager, Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager, and Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager, but it is easier to use and includes all features necessary for most medium-sized organisations. Essentials has the capacity to manage up to 500 client operating system environments (OSEs) and 50 server OSEs.

Through a single console, administrators have a unified, organised view of the health and performance of an organisation's entire IT environment. Essentials can provide IT departments with status reports at defined intervals as well as alerts when immediate attention is necessary. Alerts can be viewed through the console and delivered by email, pager, and text message. In many cases, when Essentials diagnoses a problem it gives the choice of automatically repairing the problem.

Microsoft Essentials automates and standardises the process of installing and updating software on servers and clients throughout a network. Microsoft's large library of software profiles allows Microsoft Essentials to perform updates not only on Microsoft operating systems and applications, but also on many third-party and in-house applications, drivers, and hotfixes. Administrators can choose to deploy critical updates automatically or have them be subject to approval.

Microsoft Essentials gathers more than 60 hardware attributes and a complete inventory of the applications running on each machine in the organisation. Inventory information is available in summary or detail form.

The Virtual Machine Manager technology built into Microsoft Essentials 2010 allows administrators to perform such tasks as creating virtual machines, converting physical machines to virtual machines, and choosing virtual machine host servers on the basis of calculated placement ratings.

This product includes Microsoft SQL Server 2008 technology. Microsoft SQL Server technology acquired with this product can be used only to support Microsoft System Center Essentials 2010.

License Requirements:A server management license (ML) is required for each server device on which managed OSEs run, and a client ML is required for each nonserver device.