Migrating from SGE to SGN

Hi,

To question 3; I'm using SGN in standalone mode. Boot up time overall is very similar SGE to SGN. The initial start time that SGN imposes seems to take on average around 10-15 seconds prior to OS boot but the overall startup time on Win XP for me is almost identical for SGE and SGN. Win 7 I'd say is marginally quicker than XP on good hardware with SGN over XP with SGE.

Matt

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andrew wrote:

We are starting our Windows 7 migration project.  At the same time, we are migrating from SafeGuard Easy (on our XP laptops) to SafeGuard Enterprise (on the Win 7 laptops.)  I have some questions on how others have approached this.

1. In SGE we could prepopulate our installations with support accounts so that the support center and desktop support teams could log on to a PC at POA without the end user being present.  I haven't figured out how to do that in SGN yet.  How are others handling support logins in SGN?
2. Is anyone using token logins?  If so, which tokens are you using?
3. Seems like the boot process takes longer using SGN than SGE.  Anyone else experiencing that same thing?

Guess that's enough for now.

Thanks for any help.

Andy

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Hello Andrew,

Thank you for posting your question in the SophosTalk forums.

In regards to question 1, in it's current release, SGN 5.40 unfortunately does not have the ability to add prepopulate POA accounts for administrative tasks. From what I have read in the What's New? (still in draft) doc for SGN 5.50, adding an administrative type account controlled by policy will become a possibility.  In the meantime, I have a work around to your problem. Prior to restarting the system (when remotely performing updates/repairs) activate the Secure WOL feature in POA. While still remotely connected to the computer, then force a policy synch (systray icon or command line will work), restart the system, it will securely bypass POA and sit at Windows waiting for you to reconnect remotely or login at the console.

For the sake of brevity I didn't go into the settings details because they are well documented in the SGN MC UI, as well as, the published guides. Before going "live" with this method, I suggest testing it out until you find the optimal settings which work best for you and your organization.

In regards to question 2, take a peek at the Release Notes for the version of SGN you are using. There is a long list of certified, functional and non-functional smartcards and tokens. Considering the many relationships that Sophos has with the token manufacturers I'm reluctant to suggest one over the other. I can suggest that you speak with your partners who are your trusted advisors that can best assess the appropriate fit for your organization. Of course, be sure to select token manufacturers for testing that are certified with SGN POA.

In regards to question 3, I will defer boot time stop watch results to the other members of the SophosTalk community. I can tell you that the SGE PBA was built mostly on 16-bit code, running on todays 32-bit processors. SGN POA is mostly 32-bit code and soon to include 64-bit code on 32-bit and 64-bit processors. I'm sure when 128-bit processors or quantum computers are running 32-bit and 64-bit compiled code, that code will be running much faster than it does today on our fastest processors. :smileywink:

I just wanted to add our boot times have slowed significantly since adding SGE to our 35 laptops.  What makes it more challenging is some people's machines boot MUCH slower than others.  I disabled the Smart Card service per SG support - did not make much difference.