NxTop Management
NxTop combines a master image of virtual disk images (OS, application set and rights definition) and a user profile (at least one virtual disk image customized for a user or user group). A NxTop is a given user’s virtual laptop or virtual desktop. A NxTop master is the base virtual image that is assigned to users.
NxTop management is easier than you might think, regardless of the number of NxTops you may have deployed. The features include:
- NxTop Object Library – Hardware, operating systems, applications, policies, user profiles and data files
- Compatibility Validation – Check that the current NxTop matches the NxTop Master
- Create and Customize a new NxTop Master – Choose the name and location of the master files; select a parent management server or no parent management server; choose the permitted hardware, OS and application objects; select the virtual disk size and memory allocation; set policies, user profiles and data file objects
- Clone any existing NxTop Master
- Import an existing virtual machine that is in the Open Virtual Machine Format (OVF)
- Import an existing physical machine
Enterprise Database Integration
The NxTop Center can easily integrate with any enterprise database application, such as Microsoft SQL Server or Oracle 10g. An Embedded Management Database is included with NxTop for smaller deployments.
Web Interface
An easy-to-use web-based user interface ensures that you are spending your time performing core functions – not learning a new system. Accessible using Internet Explorer 6 or greater and Firefox 2 or greater, the web interface can be run using HTTPS or RDP over a Local Area Network, the Internet or a Wide Area Network.
Easy Administration of User Groups and Rights
Managing and supporting multiple user types in an intuitive rights management system is important. With NxTop, administering various user groups and their rights is a breeze, whether you are creating custom administration users (for example, providing full administration rights to a user or limiting access to a help desk user) or assigning specific rights to an existing user group. You can create user groups in the NxTop Management Console or NxTop can inherit user groups from Active Directory.
NxTop Policy Object Management
NxTop policy object management gives you the ability to:
- Activate and authenticate policies with Microsoft Active Directory Integration or the NxTop User Database
- Change passwords with Microsoft Active Directory Password Change Proxying
- Set how long a NxTop is valid on an end-user system – Choose to expire a NxTop after a set number of days, on a specific date or to leave active until explicitly revoked
- Manage encryption settings
- Determine how long a NxTop is allowed to run before requiring a call-back to the management system for verification and updates
- Specify data backup policies
- Set wired and/or wireless network resource privileges
- Define which users have access to USB privileges – Choose to allow all USB devices, deny all USB devices, select specific USB devices to allow or permit specific USB vendors
- Provide user display privileges, such as allowing a laptop display only or both laptop and external displays
- Set printer privileges – Choose to prohibit printing, permit network printers to be added or used, permit USB printers to be added or used, permit specific network printers only or allow specific USB printers only
- Allow/disallow users to take snapshots or revert to snapshots
- Define the default setting for NxTop execution, such as launching the primary user NxTop, a NxTop selection screen or the NxTop local user interface
- Specify storage location, whether that is the NxTop Management Server, a Network Attached Storage (NAS) location or an external network-based storage location
NxTop Publishing
Deploy new and updated virtual PCs quickly with NxTop. A newly published NxTop is placed in a location that is accessible to the end-user device. Updated NxTops can be pushed out to end-users with instructions on how to publish the updates (force an immediate reboot, wait for the user to reboot, require the user to reboot in a set number of days or by a specific date).
Hardware Object Management
Track each active hardware configuration using various hardware configuration options, such as vendor, processor, display, graphics card, memory, hard drive, optical device, wireless card and wired NIC. Each hardware profile can be manually edited and looked up using both manual and automated tools.
Operating System Object Management
Create, patch and customize various operating system objects using familiar methods and tools:
- Create operating system objects by installation media (CD, DVD, ISO, etc.) or with Microsoft Windows Deployment Services
- Patch operating system objects with Microsoft Windows System Center Essentials
- Customize any instance of Microsoft Windows, allowing you to run Sysprep against the OS with user-specific information without needing to modify the base OS
- Install NxTop Windows Tools into any Windows-based operating system object
