If you don’t have Windows Server 2008, download the trial version from Microsoft from the following link Windows Server 2008 download link that should be enough for you to play for a few months. then you can uninstall it.

Once you download the ISO image, logon to your VMware Infrastructure Web Access, and click on the virtual machine you created following the tutorial above, then right click on the CD/DVD Drive and select Edit:

Then right at the bottom select ISO Image.

Now, minimize the browser and copy the Windows Server 2008 ISO Image you downloaded from Microsoft to your Virtual Machines directory. in my case that directory will be C:\Virtual Machines\Server 2008. now go back to the browser again, and click on Browse and the Server 2008 ISO image should show up at the directory like the image below:

Select the ISO Image and click OK.  now you should be ready to start.

Power on your virtual machine.

After a few seconds of loading, the following window should come up:

Choose your settings and click on Next.

The Install Now button will come up.

Click on Install Now.

next, the activation button will come up. and because we don’t have an activation key for this server, we won’t put any. just click Next.

You will get the following warning:

and assuming you are installing Windows Server 2008 just for testing clicking NO should be fine. otherwise you probably will need to buy a license when the trial period expires.

Next, select the edition of Windows you purchased ( downloaded) from Microsoft. Windows Server 2008 Standard ( Full Installation)

check "I have selected the edition of windows that I purchased" and click on Next.

Next, the license terms. check " I accept the license terms"

Click on Next, after agreeing the license terms.

Next, choose the type of the installation you want. the Upgrade option should be grey-out, so choose the custom (advanced) options.

Choose, Custom (Advanced) option.

Next, Installer will ask you where you want to install Windows Server 2008. of course we only have one drive on the VM machine. so choose that:

click Next, after selecting your drive.

Windows should start installing at this point.

That should take awhile…

the above window should come up after windows rebooting.

Windows completing installation.

After awhile, windows will ask you that the password needs to be changed before logging in the first time:

Click OK.

choose your password for the administrator user.

After changing the password, windows should start preparing your desktop for the first time.

Wait a little bit, and windows will load.

the first thing you should do when windows loads, is to change the time zone. on the Initial Configuration Task page that comes up the first time, click on Set Time Zone:

click on Change Time Zone on the window that pops up, and choose your zone, and click OK.

Now server 2008 should be installed on your VM machine.

on the next post we will be installing track it demo on this virtual machine. stay tuned.

please note. this article was selected from my other blog http://forevergeeks.com

Today we will create the virtual machine on VMware console that will host our Track It server.

Login to your VMware console, and click on Virtual Machines, and select Create Virtual Machine:

The create virtual machine wizard will come up. name the virtual machine.

Click on Next and choose the Guest Operating System you will be installing. I will be installing Windows Server 2008 on this virtual machine, so I will choose the operating system accordingly:

After choosing the Guest Operating System, click on Next.

choose the Memory Size and processors on the following screen:

On the next screen click on  Create a new Virtual Disk and choose the hard disk space you want to allocate for this virtual machine:

I’ll allocate 16 GB for my VM.

on the next screen select the Network Adapter:

choose the network connection to be Bridged, and check connect at power on option if you want the NIC card to be available when you power on the machine. otherwise you won’t have network connection.

Next choose to use the Physical Drive or ISO Image:

On a VMware virtual machine you can use either the physical CD drive or an ISO image to install the operating system and applications. 

choose your CD-ROM letter, and select connect at power on option if you want the CD-ROM to be activated when you power on the VM.

click on on Next.

on the next screen select the option if you want to use a floppy drive. as you know, floppy drives are barely used nowadays. so I won’t choose any:

Next choose if you want to use the USB Controller:

and yes, that can be useful.

after that, you are done! well, almost.  you need to click on Finish.

that’s it, after clicking the finish button, your virtual machine should be created, and should show up at the inventory section on the left panel.

On the next post we will be installing windows server 2008 on this virtual machine which eventually will host our demo track it server. stay tuned.

If you are not very techie, don’t be intimidated by the idea of virtualization, I will guide you step by step on how to install track it on a virtual machine, and demo the track it software before you install it on a production server.

Getting The Virtual Machine Ready

for this tutorial we will be using a VMware machine, to download VMware server go to this URL http://www.vmware.com/products/server/ be aware that the download size is about 500 MB for VMware server 2.0 so you will need a speedy Internet connection – it could take more than 24 hours using a dial-up connection.

The Installation

after you download the VMware server, execute the executable file. the installation wizard should come up:

Click on Next.

the agreement window should come up:

Accept the agreement and click on Next.

the destination path window will come up:

Choose the path, and click on Next.

on the next window you will be asked to enter the full qualified domain for the URL you will be accessing the VMware console. this is typically the name of the computer or IP address. choose your domain and click on Next.

note. if you don’t want the VMs to start every time you turn on your computer, uncheck the “allow virtual machines to start and stop automatically with the system.

next, select the shortcuts:

finally, ready to install.

Let it install!

after the initial installation, the registration window will come up:

Enter your VMware registration key, and click on Enter.  

And that Should finish the installation.

you might need to restart the computer.

To login to the VMware web console, click on the VMware Server console on the locations you chose to have shortcuts during the installation. the VMware infrastructure Web Access  will come up:

The password to login to the console should be the same as the administrator password you use to login to your computer. if you are you using a computer without a password, you will need to set a password, otherwise you won’t be able to login to the VMware console.

On the next post, I will create the virtual machine where track It will be installed.

I don’t know how much you know about software structure and design, and its a little irrelevant if you don’t know anyways, but there are many approaches to software development from complexity to simplicity.  Numara track it software is designed with simplicity. I have always been a believer that the simpler the software the better. now don’t get me wrong with the word “simple”, with simple I mean devoid of unnecessary clutter. I know software that it does not matter how much training you give to users they never learn to use it, those software quickly are left to oblivion by people, what is left is a very embarrassing return of investment in the software for the CIO .

Track  it is very simple for the user, it does not required training, or existing infrastructure modification, it simply integrates with existing structure. this is the simplicity principle I like, make the software work for the user, not the user for the software.

Track It Overview

The exact price for the track it software is unknown , because it does not have a fixed price, it depends on your needs. for example, how many technician and audit licenses you need, and the track it version you you purchase. Numara software offers three track it versions:

1. Track It Single user (1  technician license, audit 25 PCs, Crystal Reports not included)
2. Track It Standard and Professional  (5 technician license, audit 100 PCs, Crystal reports bundled) ( starting price around $895.00 )
3. Track it Enterprise (Standard and professional version plus, designed for large organizations

I know a technician license costs $300 and an audit license goes for $25

these are the add-ons included on track It – not all versions include these features:

Track It! Alert
Provide technicians with notification and escalation capabilities using pager and email.

Track It! Audit
Collect detailed hardware and software information from Windows 9x, NT, 2000 and XP systems.

Track It! Audit Plus
Manage and initiate auditing from a central console for added flexibility.

Track It! Deploy
Install and update software on every local, mobile and remote PC, laptop or server across your entire organization from one place.

Track It! Mac Audit
Collect detailed hardware and software information from Apple Macintosh systems.

Track It! Receive
Captures emails from applications, network management tools and end users, and automatically converts them to work orders. Additionally, users can check the status of their work orders and add additional information.

Track It! Remote
Remotely control PCs from within Numara Track It!, including file transfers and chat sessions.

Track It! Sync
Create, edit and close work orders remotely with handheld computers

Track It! Self Service
Give users the ability to submit work orders including attachments , view status of their work orders and messages from help desk staff, search Numara Track-It! Solutions for self help, and perform an audit on their PC.

Track It! Self Service Plus
Add your own problem/solution entries to the database and allow end-users to search for solutions on their own.

Track It! Technician Web Allow technicians to use  Internet Explorer browser to access track it dashboard

Track It! User Synch
Integrates with Microsoft Active Directory and/or LDAP to automate population of user and technical information in Track It.

as you can see, track it provides a lot of functionalities,  and you might be thinking that integrating these add-ons onto track it might be a pain, it is not. all of them get installed when you first install track it, and then you configure them according to your needs.

The track it 8.0 dashboard resembles outlook 2007 interface.

Track it Overview conclusion

If you are an IT manager or CIO researching for a good reliable help desk software you should look into  track it. if track it is the most used help desk system is not because it does not have competition or because it is marketed as hell, is because is a very good reliable help desk software. during the years we have been using track it in our organization we have had only one issue, and that was because I installed a software that was not compatible with track it database and the service was interrupted. I learned my lesson and since then I have left the track it server alone.

There so many things I could talk about track it here, but I will hold those thoughts for later articles. for now, if you are an IT manager or CIO looking for a good help desk system, you should look into track it software. this software does what it was designed to do – keep your users and technicians in harmony by providing a seamless integration between them.

A good help desk system starts with well trained support people, and good help desk software. I often wonder of all the bad reputation that IT has accumulated over the years – some people I meet that don’t know I work at IT, they pour out their bad karma about IT people they have met on places they have been employed. Pedant, repugnant, stupid, etc. Are some of the words I hear from these people describing some IT folks. We know IT folks don’t have those qualities, we are cool, we are good people, the problem is the attitude we take when it comes to interact with users. When I was a rookie in the help desk game, I used to think people were stupid. Who the heck in the world does not know how to turn on a computer? Even a cave man with a little fiddling will find the god damn power button right? The problem is that people don’t have the time and interest to learn those things when there are other people that can do that for them.

that’s why having well trained personnel in help desk is essential. personnel that understand the need of the users, that put themselves on the shoes of the users whenever frustration or other stresses arise. contrary to what some IT folks believe, a help desk system should be designed to help people in the most possible direct way. when users needs are put first before anything else, when help desk personnel take pleasure doing their job, that’s when you have a successful help desk system.

but having great personnel is of no avail if you don’t have a good help desk software. what’s good of having a bunch of happy help desk agents waiting to help, but unfortunately the help desk server is down, or malfunctioning, and there is no way users can communicate with them unless they use the phone, but as any help desk manager knows, that’s not good for statistics and records, so you end up with a crippled help desk system.  that’s why you need to have a good reliable good help desk system like Track it.

read more about help desk software at Help Desk Applications

the track it help desk cycle consist of three steps.

1. a user submits a help desk request via email or self service web.
2. the track it manager receives the request and assign it to a technician
3. the technician respond to the user to resolve the problem immediately.

as email is widely used in businesses today, I believe letting users submit their requests by email is the best option. I will talk about how track it is setup to to convert emails to work orders, and many other automated features that comes with the software in future posts, so now I’ll just talk about these things briefly.

When a user submits a help desk request, track it automatically generates an auto-reply to the requestor with three links. the auto-reply email looks like this:

Click on this link to submit additional information related to this workorder:mailto:Helpdesk?subject=Append:14280

Click on this link to request an updated status for this workorder:mailto:Helpdesk?subject=Status&body=14280

Click on this link to request an updated status for all of your recent workorders:mailto:Helpdesk?subject=AllStatus

from this three links a user can append, request status, or check the update on a specific work order.  on the administration side, work orders can be setup for escalation, overdue notification, assignment alerts etc. track it can also be setup to not convert replies from emails to new work orders, so in that way the system does not create unnecessary work orders.

Find out more about other help desk software at Help Desk Software

One of the best thing I like about track it is it’s simplicity, you can basically have a helpdesk system up and running within two hours with track it, the installation is straightforward and does not required advanced knowledge on networking or computing, anyone willing to follow instructions can setup a helpdesk system with track it numara software. it can either run on a PC or Windows server.

I will go over the installation of track it 6.5, but for now we will discuss its features and capabilities.

that screenshot above is the track it 6.5 dashboard. this is the technician homepage. as you can see, on the dashboard the technician gets an overview of what’s going on helpdesk. how many work orders are overdue, work order due today, and overall open work orders. from the dashboard also the technician can see the work orders arranged by type, priority and status, and if the technician has the permissions, he can also see the workstations currently audited on the inventory module. the Dashboard also features a simple announcement window, where technicians can post text announcement for himself or globally, so all technicians using track it will see them:

by checking the “visible in self-Service” option, customers will be able to see the announcements on their self-service page too.

track it 6.5 professional comes with five modules and a reporting feature by default. they are lineup as a menu on top as you can see from my dashboard here:

you can choose the modules to display on the menu, but if you click on File on the menu tool bar, you can see all the modules:

the first Module is the Inventory module, this is where all the tracked equipment in the organization reside. you can either track network equipments with a logon script on track it workstation manager ( I will talk about how to configure the workstation manager later on ) each computer is assigned to only one employee, and all employee fields can be easily modified if in case there is a need for equipment transfer:

the second module is the Purchasing module, this is where all purchasing records get saved.

the next module is the Helpdesk module. this is the module where all helpdesk ticket are located.

there are many things you can do to facilitate the helpdesk process on this module. color coding, custom views, etc.

the picture above is a completed helpdesk request. there is the summary field, priority field, date, technician assigned, etc. also on the helpdesk module there is a history, search and user defined fields options. from the history option you can see all the past issues with the equipment assigned to the requestor ( I will get into more details about the helpdesk module in the technical topics)

the next module in the menu is the Training Module. I haven’t use this module that much, but from this module you can schedule or organize trainings for users needing help on any specific subject.

the next module is the Library module, again I rarely use this module, but as the name implies, you can use it to keep track of things going in and out of the IT department. you know, like projectors or training equipment.

Library adding new item.

the last module on the track it software is the reporting feature. on track it you can customize your own reports using crystal reports, but track it already comes with tons of predefined reports for easy reporting.

this is a predefined report on how helpdesk requests closed by technicians.

as you can see track it is a simple but very well designed helpdesk system. it can definitely accommodate your needs, for small or large they might be.

next, we will looking at the technical site of track it, how to configure it and get it up and running on a production environment,.