Symantec Client Management Suite Reviews and Ratings

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use Symantec Client Management Suite across the whole environment. We use it to manage all our workstations and several of our servers. Specifically, we use it for patching, software deployment, blacklisting applications, and asset inventory. We particularly like the direction that Symantec has gone with software deployment. Symantec allows the use of Peer to Peer software deployment which limits the need for distribution servers in the network. We've been using it quite successfully with some of our smaller locations.

Likelihood to Recommend

Patching and Software Deployment are the strong points for Symantec Client Management Suite. We don't really use Symantec Client Management for Desktop Imaging, we prefer to use MDT, however we are just starting to investigate using Symantec Client Management to do Windows 10 servicing and so far it looks really good.

The direction that Symantec has started with peer to peer, in my mind, made it a solid solution. The peer to peer function allowed us to reduce our overall infrastructure, primarily with smaller sites

If you want to use Symantec Client Management Suite for blacklisting applications, be very careful. It's a resource hog. It works well if you have an emergency and want to block chrome from running due to a Zero-Day, but it's not something that you want to have a lot of policies running.

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Symantec Client Management (SMP) is being used throughout our entire organization on all of our desktops, laptops, and eventually servers. We have been a Symantec shop for almost as long as I have been with the company which is almost 20 years. We rely on SMP to keep all of our endpoints up to date with software updates as well as Windows Patches.

Likelihood to Recommend

If you need to manage a lot of endpoints SMP is a solid choice. We have over 8000 endpoints and SMP allows me to keep all devices up to date as well as track what software is currently installed. I do not know that I would recommend SMP to a small business as there can be a steep learning curve to fully utilizing SMP. You really need at least one person dedicated to managing the SMP.

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Symantec is the real-time client management tool using by our complete organization. The suite also integrates with the Symantec endpoint protection to provide superior security and data safety in cases of loss and theft. Higher availability for Mac, Linux and Windows platform. It is the best in class solution, and provides everything you need out of the box CMDB. It also improves the business process system and customer services. This solution has also stretched into business process automation through integrations with HR systems, and external systems such as CRM and Cloud-Based Files Services.

Likelihood to Recommend

For large enterprises, Symantec Client Management is really great to manage all the systems across locations, if it's for installation, software, licenses or even status. Also the patch, software delivery, and inventory of Symantec CMS are great.

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

I have used this product in the past 12 months to manage devices and software throughout their entire lifecycle. The solution is ideal for Windows, Mac and VM environments. It's a great deployment tool for patching and securing both desktop computers and mobile devices such as laptops.

Likelihood to Recommend

If you are looking for a tool for patching and managing your endpoints this is a great system. For Windows patches, it resembles WSUS from Microsoft, in the sense that you can focus on pushing out the Critical and Security Updates first.

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Symantec Client Management Suite (CMS) is currently used for 90% of our operation on our business computers. We use it to image the computers with a pre-defined image of Windows with custom settings for the computer. We customized it by looking up the computer model so it automatically fetches the right drivers. After this it is used to remotely install most of our softwares and keep and inventory of those. The computers are all filtered by department. We also use the data from CMS to keep inventory and trend of our computer inventory for the future (what we will be our needs in 6 months and 12 months). And finally, we use the automation policy to push specific fixes, software or updates to all the computers or specific department.

Likelihood to Recommend

Whenever you have computers that aren't easily accessible or you have a big site to cover (or multi location), Symantec Client Management Suite (CMS) is really great to manage all your computers, if it's for installation, software, licenses or even status. Setting up all you need from CMS can take some time, especially when you're in a multi-location site. We had to ask the Symantec engineers to help us a couple of times and set things up because even if we followed the documentation, it wasn't an easy task. But at least, the Symantec engineers are people that know what they do and they're really efficient at it.

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We currently use Symantec Client Management Suite internally and provide administration for three customers. We currently manage over 10,000 endpoints across several Symantec Management Platforms. Our largest use of the console is with Patch Management, Software Delivery, Inventory, Custom Inventory, Reporting and IT Analytics. Patch Management allows us to be somewhat creative with policy and filters to manage patch compliance across all Windows platforms. Software Delivery provides us the 'set it and forget" by utilizing compliance checks. The new 7.6 platform has better capabilities around importing and managing software. Inventory now provides a nice flip book page for agent health statistics. There are several scripting languages provided within the console to help you easily custom script inventory. Reporting can be done from an ad hoc perspective within the Activity Center if you're not a SQL guru. Otherwise there are several predefined reports, SQL creation tools, copying and editing tool or you can find many reports on Symantec Connect.

Likelihood to Recommend

I believe any business can benefit from the Symantec Management Platform. If you're looking for a tool that can image, configure, patch, deliver software, inventory and report on multiple platforms to include MAC, Windows, Linux then I would recommend Symantec Management Platform. Of course any investment needs to have a better return so the ROI may not meet the needs for everyone.

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We manage a huge client environment with about two thousand clients and the responsibilities include software delivery, patch management, inventory collection etc. The SMP makes all this quite easy to do. It has the ability to create sites based on geographical location and subnets and also the bandwidth throttling feature is quite helpful to ensure that the networks don't get overloaded while delivering software and patches.

Likelihood to Recommend

For anyone that manages a large estate of clients, 10,000+ there are not many options on the market to choose from. Basically it comes down to Symantec or Microsoft and from what I know, Microsoft's product doesn't offer such a verbose logging for troubleshooting issues and it probably requires higher technical skills.

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We have implemented the Symantec Client Management Suite (CMS) to get control over all end user machines, desktops laptops and tablets. We collect hardware and operating system information to assist in asset management. We collect software inventory and metering for license harvesting. We detect and deploy patches and distribute software requested by users. We have customized the Symantec Client Management Suite to detect and reconfigure whatever configuration is required on machines.

Likelihood to Recommend

Symantec Client Management Suite can perfectly support corporate devices, but is not quite mature for supporting bring your own device (BYOD).

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Altiris CMS 7.x is used by many departments in Oxford University. My department uses it mainly for managed software delivery across 3500 nodes, but it's also used for inventory information and 2nd / 3rd line support for incident remediation.

The main business problem it addresses is security compliance, particularly third party plug-ins like Flash Player, Shockwave, JRE, QuickTime etc.

Likelihood to Recommend

Most well suited to Windows enterprise management (it can also manage Mac & Linux in some ways but I have no exposure to this) including OS deployment, managed software deployment and security compliance. We have combined it with GSS 3.0 (formerly DS 6.9) to ensure that we have a full 360 degree solution.

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

I currently use Symantec Management Platform Client Management Suite. I utilize it for Windows and Mac workstations for: Inventory, Software Delivery, Patch Management, Imaging. Using these components of CMS, we are able to maintain our environment and accurately know what workstations have what software or patch levels. We are also able to identify older hardware and where it may be in the environment in order to provide reports for life cycle replacement.

Likelihood to Recommend

If you are looking for a client management suite to perform patch, software delivery, and inventory I think Symantec is great. I would recommend it without a doubt if it was in your budget. If you are a very small company and don't use these features to often then I think it would depend on your budget.