Adaptiva | FAQ

How can Adaptiva work without complicated content boundaries? We don’t need content boundaries because The Adaptiva OneSite Platform doesn’t have to worry about overwhelming or crashing any servers by exceeding the limits of their capacity. All of the necessary intelligence and automation you need are baked into the very lightweight Adaptiva Client that sits on the endpoints. Lots of configuration is available if you want it, but the peer-to-peer system does a great job of discovering the network topology right out of the box (and continuously) and distributing the load of content distribution without needing any manual intervention.

Does Adaptiva's platform completely eliminate the need for server infrastructure? Almost! You still need one, but ONLY one, regardless of the size of your network. If you’re working with Microsoft Endpoint Manager (SCCM, ConfigMgr, etc), then you will always need one server because ConfigMgr needs to discover content locally from that server. However, beyond that, no more servers regardless of the size of your organization. Everything else can be done within a single boundary group where all distribution is handled peer-to-peer without any need for distribution or cache points, or any kind of server infrastructure.

Isn't Peer-to-Peer a drain on the seeding endpoints? No – not the way we have architected it. Adaptiva’s implementation of peer-to-peer is different than what may first come to mind. If you are most familiar with peer-to-peer from its usage in media sharing you may be thinking of a “one-to-many" implementation where an endpoint with the content on it is completely bogged down while trying to send it out to everyone else. Adaptiva uses peer-to-peer in a one-to-one fashion, creating a fire-brigade style of sharing where each endpoint is only responsible for a little bit at a time, but overall, the system is incredibly efficient. It also means that there is an extreme amount of redundancy and resilience in the system – if one endpoint experiences a failure, many others are available to step in and take its place until it comes back online.

What is OneSite Patch and how does it work? OneSite Patch is an automated solution for patching Windows applications at an enterprise scale, eliminating the need for manual intervention. It features a comprehensive library of common enterprise applications, offers template-based patching for both Windows and third-party applications, and ensures immediate patch delivery with zero network impact. This solution significantly enhances cybersecurity by prioritizing and remediating vulnerabilities efficiently and effectively.

How does OneSite Patch ensure the security of patch deployments? OneSite Patch secures patch deployments by automating the process and allowing customizable patching strategies in line with organizational security policies. It prioritizes patches based on severity and provides real-time control and comprehensive monitoring. Additionally, OneSite Patch employs robust security controls like virus scanning, secure hash validation of all content transfers, and encrypted client communications, ensuring both security and data integrity throughout the patch management process.

Can OneSite Patch be integrated with existing IT infrastructure? Yes. OneSite Patch is designed to complement existing IT infrastructure and solutions, requiring no modifications for integration. It can also leverage a robust integration platform to provide integration into both internal and external solutions. Multiple integration methods are available, including REST, PowerShell, and Command-line Tooling. Additionally, the Adaptiva workflow system provides an almost infinite array of activity combinations, ensuring that OneSite Patch can integrate with almost any product or solution with ease.

Does OneSite Patch support both clients and servers? Yes. Adaptiva OneSite Patch offers comprehensive patching capabilities, supporting both Windows and an extensive catalog of third-party updates across both client and server operating systems.

How does OneSite Patch handle large-scale patch deployments? OneSite Patch is built on top of the OneSite Platform, which has been trusted by some of the world's largest enterprises for over a decade to deliver content and secure devices. Its remarkable scalability means it performs efficiently whether deploying to 5 or 500,000 machines, ensuring rapid execution without impacting network performance or end-user experience. Additionally, OneSite Patch comes equipped with all the essential controls for large-scale deployments, such as customizable notifications, approval processes, phased rollouts, and more, providing a comprehensive solution for managing patches at any scale.

What kind of support and training does Adaptiva provide for OneSite Patch? At Adaptiva, prioritizing customer success is at the heart of our service philosophy. Deviating from the conventional tiered support model, we ensure that from the very beginning of the support process, our customers have direct access to our highly skilled industry experts. This approach guarantees that customers receive efficient and effective resolutions, as they are immediately in contact with professionals capable of addressing their issues. Our support team has received 100% satisfaction from customers. We offer comprehensive training options, including both instructor-led and self-paced, self-service formats, to equip our customers with the knowledge and skills needed for optimal use of our solutions.

How is patch success and compliance monitored in OneSite Patch? In OneSite Patch, patch success and compliance are monitored through a comprehensive dashboard that emphasizes two key areas: compliance and risk. The compliance aspect shows how well machines align with their desired state, while the risk component highlights the level of threat introduced by non-compliant software. This dual focus allows administrators to prioritize critical issues and set up appropriate automated strategies for maintaining system integrity and security within the enterprise environment.

What differentiates OneSite Patch from other patch management solutions? OneSite Patch stands out from other patch management solutions by offering comprehensive automation of the entire patching process, not just segments of it, while also maintaining complete administrator control with the ability to pause, cancel or rollback patches. Diverging from the typical one-size-fits-all methodology, OneSite Patch allows users to customize the patching workflow to align precisely with their unique business processes and needs. This tailored approach not only dramatically cuts down the time required for patch deployment but also enhances compliance efficiency, enabling a faster and more effective response to vulnerabilities. Additionally, OneSite Patch includes the complete handling of patch metadata and packaging. Unlike other patching solutions that only offer one-size-fits-all libraries, Adaptiva processes, packages and tests every third-party patch. With OneSite Patch, there are no manual processes to find, extract, repackage and test patch metadata.

How often is OneSite Patch updated and deployed? Regular updates are rolled out for the OneSite Platform and OneSite Patch to introduce new features, enhancements, and fixes, ensuring the product stays at the forefront of patch management technology. Administrators have complete control over these updates, with the flexibility to choose if, when, and how to apply them—aligning with their organizational schedules and priorities. Additionally, Adaptiva offers a convenient auto-upgrade service for client systems, which includes options for scheduling and load balancing, making the update process seamless and unobtrusive.

Can OneSite Patch block certain versions or create exemptions? It may be necessary for an administrator to exempt certain Business Units from certain patches or enforce particular versions for the entire enterprise. Patching Exceptions allows the administrator to create those exemptions. There are two exemption strategies used here: Desired State Override and Last Allowed Version. Desired State Override can allow custom behavior including optional installs, mandatory installs, skip install, version control and uninstall.

Can OneSite Patch rollback patch deployments? Yes, OneSite Patch includes the option to automatically rollback deployed patches, based on criteria set within manual patch approval. With this process, the new version is uninstalled, and the old version is reinstalled—rolling back to the desired application state.

What is a patching strategy? A patching strategy is how you want your patches to be deployed, including the automated handling of new patches. You can define what testing thresholds, roll-out phases, configurations, and deployment options for various devices, user groups, or applications are needed. Patching is not a one-size-fits-all problem so building customized patching strategies ensures the health and security of your endpoint network. OneSite Patch includes templates and reusable patching process workflows that can be customized to your environment.

How do I build custom patching strategies? With Adaptiva’s OneSite Patch you can create unique patching strategies for different business units, applications, and end users. Utilize our flexible pre-built templates or build your own with our easy to use, no-code interface that automates patching according to your strategies. You can customize the testing parameters, the deployment phases, approvals, notifications schedules, reboot rules and more on a per application, per endpoint, or per business unit basis.

How does OneSite Patch help with CVEs and known exploits? According to CISA, Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEVs) are a subset of CVEs which have been used to compromise systems in the real world — with OneSite Patch, you can set custom patching filters to accelerate deployment for critical patches. The moment a new patch is available to remediate vulnerability, OneSite Patch will automatically deploy via your preferred strategy. You also have the flexibility to pause all other content distribution to focus on delivering the important security update.

How does OneSite Patch deploy patching content? With the power of the OneSite Platform, OneSite Patch will rapidly deploy patches at scale to any device on any connection without the need for complex distribution infrastructure or repetitive human effort.

How large is OneSite Patch patch catalog? OneSite Patch has a comprehensive catalog including support for the Windows Update catalog and third-party applications. We also have a dedicated team that adds additional applications and versions daily. If you need an application we don’t have – just ask and we’ll add it to the catalog.

What does OneSite Patch’s real-time visibility include? With OneSite Patch you not only see current data on your enterprise’s patching status, applications, versions, and upgrade status, you will also be provided actionable intelligence into your patching process, historical risk performance, top non-compliant products and missing patches. This allows you to continuously automate and improve upon your patching strategy.

Is OneSite Anywhere's client large and burdensome on the endpoint?

No. OneSite Anywhere takes zero space from end users.

The OneSite Anywhere P2P infrastructure caches content in unallocated clusters (free disk space) on peer systems. Because the cached data is stored in free space, OneSite Anywhere takes no space from end users. Every user can see, access, and write to 100% of their hard disk space at any time, even if their system is caching tens or hundreds of gigabytes of systems content.

Other technologies on the market use disk quotas that typically take 20GB, 50GB, or more away from end users to dedicate as cache storage. The schemes not only take away disk space from end users, they are also limited in how much data they can store. A 20GB cache on a hard disk with 500GB unused space can still only cache 20GB of data.

Further extending the Adaptiva engineering advantage, only OneSite Anywhere compresses SCCM content on servers and peer computers—the competition doesn’t do that. OneSite Anywhere also transmits only compressed content over the WAN.

OneSite Anywhere has the thinnest enterprise P2P cache in the world, and yet it stores the most data.

Does OneSite Anywhere require a separate infrastructure that competes with SCCM? No, OneSite Anywhere does not require a separate infrastructure that competes with SCCM—OneSite Anywhere eliminates infrastructure! Adaptiva brilliantly removes the need for remote systems management servers (DPs, PXE points, SMPs, etc.) by creating a secure, enterprise P2P infrastructure that complements SCCM perfectly. OneSite Anywhere lets global organizations eliminate more server-based infrastructure than any competing solution. This phenomenal serverless technology delivers more content more efficiently to more locations than ever before, caches it in self-managing virtual SANs, and never impacts the WAN.

Does OneSite Anywhere use a separate console? Yes, OneSite Anywhere provides a separate console to save SCCM administrators amazing amounts of time and effort. Adaptiva makes managing global systems management operations many times easier than native SCCM or competing technologies. OneSite improves SCCM content delivery success rates too! OneSite Anywhere administrators use the Adaptiva Workbench on a ‘set it and forget it basis’ to express desired behavior when the global environment changes, and otherwise never need it. They use the SCCM console on a day-to-day basis, just as they always have. Administrators love OneSite Anywhere because it eliminates loads of drudge work required with other alternate content provider solutions.

Does OneSite Anywhere create a single point of failure? No, OneSite Anywhere does not create a single point of failure. It actually removes the single point of failure inherent in distribution point servers. OneSite Anywhere boosts business continuity by providing redundant, load-balanced P2P storage and services at each location. When an end node computer needs content, OneSite Anywhere first looks within the P2P cache at that location (the virtual SAN). If content is not found locally, OneSite Anywhere can look for the content in SCCM or bypass SCCM altogether—a simple setting lets administrators choose.

Are multiple copies of data scattered around with OneSite Anywhere?

No, OneSite Anywhere never scatters data. OneSite Anywhere can intelligently maintain multiple copies of content for business continuity and performance, an option our competition does not offer. Every piece of SCCM content is individually targeted, tracked, and orchestrated with exacting precision. This is one of many reasons OneSite Anywhere is the world’s most powerful P2P infrastructure for enterprises.

Administrators can specify preferences, and OneSite Anywhere does the rest brilliantly. OneSite Anywhere can direct each individual piece of content to designated machines. Or, to save administrators days of work deciding what systems to target around the globe, OneSite Anywhere can automatically choose the best-suited peers at each location to store content. The intelligent virtual SAN can even maintain a specified minimum number of copies at a location if desired, ensuring that content remains locally available even if the peer systems containing it do not.

OneSite Anywhere is the only SCCM alternate content provider that allows administrators to encrypt content both in transit and at rest on disk for an extra layer of protection. No competing technology can safeguard global SCCM content with OneSite Anywhere's pinpoint accuracy.

Does OneSite Anywhere use kernel mode drivers?

Yes. Just like SCCM and Windows itself, OneSite Anywhere uses kernel drivers to deliver proven functionality not available in user mode software. Because of this engineering advantage, OneSite Anywhere can better secure your content, protect your WAN, and defend end users from impact while participating in the P2P network. Developed in close cooperation with Microsoft, our drivers are digitally signed and certified.

The Adaptiva NDIS driver powers our predictive bandwidth harvesting, a paradigm-shifting UDP-based WAN delivery innovation that lets you deliver SCCM traffic over the WAN without worry. Only Adaptiva can completely protect your WAN from SCCM traffic overload. OneSite Anywhere’s content delivery is based on UDP so it can optimize traffic on a packet-by-packet basis, which is simply impossible with products that use the Windows TCP/IP stack. TCP-based solutions may claim to do the same thing, but in the real world they fall so far short of the mark that SCCM traffic must be throttled or scheduled for off hours. OneSite Anywhere just works: no throttling, no scheduling, no congestion.

The Adaptiva file system driver powers our zero-footprint caching, which uses unallocated clusters to create a voluminous, self-managing virtual SAN—without taking a single byte from end users. Less sophisticated technologies are forced to use disk quotas, often taking 50GB or more away from each system caching data. These quota-based systems not only steal space from users, but also restrict the amount of storage available for caching SCCM content. OneSite Anywhere, by contrast, instantly aggregates all unused disk space into intelligent mass storage with no setup, no quotas, no limitations, and no impact on users.

Adaptiva’s state-of-the-art engineering has long been improving the security and stability of computer systems worldwide, including multiple installations of over 300,000 machines.

Does OneSite Anywhere require installing Java on every computer? No. Every Adaptiva product is distributed as a single binary file that contains everything it needs to install and run. You never need install third party technologies. The .NET framework and the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) are components of our products, and Adaptiva always uses the latest versions in our builds.

Does OneSite Anywhere have a multicast capability?

No, OneSite Anywhere delivers superior functionality to multicast. Adaptiva engineered a new solution because multicast places an exhausting burden on systems and network administrators.

Multicast requires intricate network configuration—if the network team even approves it. Companies hesitate to deploy multicast because it is an insecure protocol in age where network security is critical. Administrators have to spend a lot of time babysitting each multicast. Then they need to follow up by troubleshooting failures that happen whenever systems miss a packet or are offline during the multicast.

OneSite Anywhere provides a much better solution. Using WANOnce, OneSite Anywhere only sends data over the WAN once to a location, where it is cached to eliminate the need for re-transmission. Within an operating location, Adaptiva accelerates delivery using our memory pipeline architecture, which transfers data between receiving systems in RAM. If a system goes offline, this remarkably fault-tolerant technology connects the remaining systems instantaneously and keeps the data moving at full speed without dropping a byte. The result is that SCCM administrators enjoy all of the benefits of multicast, with no network configuration, no babysitting the content delivery, and no troubleshooting multicast failures.

Does OneSite Anywhere require remote servers in the topology, creating redundancy?

No, OneSite Anywhere does not require any remote servers in the topology. Adaptiva empowers customers to remove all remote infrastructure, and is the only SCCM alternate content provider that can do this. In one US financial company, OneSite Anywhere eliminated 2000 DPs.

OneSite Anywhere runs extremely well with absolutely no remote servers. However, Adaptiva respects your need to implement the architecture that best fits your environment, so OneSite Anywhere seamlessly integrates with remote SCCM servers where desired. A CAS can be used with OneSite Anywhere, as well as primary and secondary servers—if desired. For example, some larger customers choose to run multiple primary servers. Others repurpose remote DPs—a server role no longer needed—as file and print servers, which OneSite Anywhere fully utilizes.

Can OneSite Anywhere create an SCCM hierarchy? Yes, OneSite Anywhere supports SCCM hierarchy even though it does not support one. One large customer who migrated from a competing product has 400,000 systems. They use three primary sites servers with one DP on each, and no other primary, child primary, or secondary site servers, no PXE points, and no other SCCM infrastructure at all.

Does each OneSite Anywhere client have to download everything for OSD over the WAN?

No. Content is delivered once over the WAN and never again. A key design principle of OneSite Anywhere is to manage WAN traffic with stunning efficiency by:

Eliminating redundant WAN downloads
Protecting the WAN from traffic overload
Intelligently pushing (pre-staging) content over the WAN to operating locations ahead of time
Reducing the size of content delivered over the WAN by compressing files
Sending and applying small binary difference files (e.g., instead of retransmitting an entire 20+ OS image because a single driver changed)

For operating system delivery (OSD), OneSite Anywhere can automatically find and pre-stage all content called for by a task sequence, making life much simpler for administrators and reducing the chance of error. The file content is sent over the WAN only once to a single location. When a system is re-imaged, it is sourced from a local peer, so there is no waiting for WAN transfer.

Does OneSite Anywhere distribute data with a daisy chain design?

No. OneSite Anywhere uses a fault-tolerant memory pipeline architecture to deliver content within an operating location. Data is moved in RAM between multiple systems which are organized into a high-speed pipeline for minimum impact and maximum efficiency. The content does not slow down by traveling via hard disks, as with fan out schemes. The technology is incredibly fault tolerant. If one system in the pipeline goes offline, then remaining systems connect immediately to keep the content moving at full speed without dropping a single byte of data.

Best of all, OneSite Anywhere does not require network configuration. OneSite Anywhere does all this while reducing burden on administrators, who don’t need to babysit and troubleshoot transmissions like they do with multicast.

Does OneSite Anywhere Support WinPE?

Yes. OneSite Anywhere fully supports WinPE and all forms of OSD with SCCM, including:

P2P PXE: Enable PXE at every location worldwide instantly with no network configuration (no router configuration, no DHCP scope options).
Smart Pre-Staging: OneSite Anywhere automatically delivers large files, such as 20GB+ images, ahead of time and maintains a desired minimum number of copies at a location.
Task Sequence Integration: OneSite Anywhere's P2P infrastructure integrates fully with task sequences, and will automatically find and pre-stage all content related to a task sequence. If content needed for a task sequence is updated, OneSite Anywhere detects and delivers the change.
Compact Delivery: All OSD content is compressed both on disk and in transit to reduce storage requirements and improve delivery times. When content is updated, OneSite Anywhere creates a small binary diff file, delivers it, and applies it. For example, instead of re-transmitting a new 20GB image file, OneSite Anywhere can send a 100MB (or smaller) diff.
Virtual State Migration Points: OneSite Anywhere uses the virtual SAN that resides at a location to save and restore user settings and data for OSD. This capability fully integrates with SCCM task sequences.

Does OneSite Anywhere Support Conditional Logic within OSD Task Sequences?

Yes, OneSite Anywhere's deep integration with task sequences is unparalleled. OneSite Anywhere offers comprehensive and unrestricted conditional logic within task sequences. However, OneSite Anywhere's task sequence integration goes much farther. OneSite Anywhere reads task sequences to automatically identify and deliver all the content they call for. If any of those files is updated, OneSite Anywhere will detect the change, create a small binary diff file, deliver it, and apply it—content is perpetually and automatically updated around the globe. This capability alone can save administrators countless days of needless work and headaches.

Additionally, OneSite Anywhere's virtual state migration points are fully integrated with task sequences for saving/restoring of user settings and data.

Task sequences are just one way to express logic. OneSite Anywhere also provides administrators a capability to express systems management and SCCM logic that far exceeds what any competitor can do. The product includes a full-featured visual workflow engine to that allows creation of simple and complex scripts. It’s all visual and there is no coding. This workflows can even be distributed as executable files for others who have appropriate permissions to execute.

Does OneSite Anywhere compete with business traffic on the WAN?

No, OneSite Anywhere does not compete with business traffic on the WAN. In fact, OneSite Anywhere is the only content delivery technology available for SCCM that truly delivers zero interference with the WAN, even when sending large content over narrow connections. Even if 100 different clients request different content at the same time, OneSite Anywhere will not overload the WAN like other solutions.

The problem with non-Adaptiva solutions is that they use TCP, an aggressive protocol designed to move data as fast as possible with no concern for other applications or business priorities. Only OneSite uses an advanced UDP-based solution. Adaptiva predicts network availability in real time and sends each individual packet only when the network will be free.

Key OneSite WAN capabilities include:

Yields to all business traffic, unlike TCP-based solutions
Eliminates the need to throttle or limit SCCM traffic, whereas competing offerings frequently overload the WAN if not throttled
Wipes out worry because you can safely put huge packages on your WAN any time of day, while other solutions are often scheduled for after-hours
No network configuration because OneSite automatically works on your existing WAN with no need to involve the network team at all, much cleaner than multicast solutions
Guarantees WAN responsiveness, even on narrow connections, so end users have a snappy experience even if SCCM is delivering content all day
Equalizes the flow of content delivery to multiple clients, unlike other solutions which can spike and overload the WAN if multiple clients download content at the same time.

Does OneSite Anywhere require router or network configuration changes?

No, absolutely no router configuration or network configuration changes are ever required for OneSite Anywhere.

OneSite works out of the box with all kinds of networks:

No modifications or configuration changes to routers or WAN optimization devices
No changes to network infrastructure elements such as DHCP servers, DNS servers, domain controllers, or Active Directory
No SNMP passwords or telnet logins ever need to be provided for any routers or any other network devices
OneSite Anywhere P2P PXE requires no IP helpers and no DHCP scope options
Efficient mass content distribution without the headaches of IP multicast (network configuration, constant babysitting, endless troubleshooting) OneSite Anywhere lets the SCCM team get their work done without bothering—or waiting for—the network team.

Does OneSite Anywhere look at edge routers only or the entire network?

The entire network. OneSite Anywhere's game-changing NDIS driver monitors not only WAN edge routers, but all other in-path routers as well. OneSite Anywhere inspects data queue lengths throughout the entire network stream in real time. This allows Adaptiva to send each individual UPD packet only when the network will be available all the way to the destination, even to the other side of the globe. OneSite Anywhere also measures latency and jitter end-to-end, and delivers content only when these values are within recommended parameters.

Adaptiva never floods the WAN, not even for a millisecond. Competing products use blunt methods, such as sending blocks of data round-trip via TCP and measuring return time, and can overload the WAN for several seconds before traffic flow is reduced. Only Adaptiva is able to leave other WAN traffic 100% unimpeded, while still harvesting all unused bandwidth for SCCM content delivery.

The technology works so well that Adaptiva OneSite Anywhere is the only systems management software in history to win the Global Red Herring award for IT innovation.

Does Adaptiva's OneSite Health have role-based administration? Yes, OneSite Health has built in Super Admin, Health Check Designer, Operator and Help Desk Operator roles. The platform also allows for customizing these roles or creating new ones to meet a customer's needs.

What if we do not want to grant Adaptiva console access to help desk admins? Our Tool foundry allows any workflow to be turned into an executable or PowerShell Cmdlet, with the ability to add command parameters to pass to the command as needed. These can further be protected by password and limited in scope to specific systems or groups of systems where they are allowed to be run.

Can the health checks run on a custom schedule? Yes, the Schedule Explorer allows the creation of custom schedules which can be setup to recur by interval, day, week, and monthly by date, last day or day of the week.

What visibility does Adaptiva's OneSite Health provide into the health status of an enterprise? OneSite Health has live dashboards starting with an overview and product impact, and dashboards which can be run on a specific device, group, health check, health check policy or location.

How easy is it to create custom health checks? Adaptiva's OneSite Health utilizes a GUI Workflow Designer, which allows users to create complex logic via drag and drop without needing to know coding or scripting languages.

If the Workflow Designer does not have a required control object can a script be used? Yes, the Workflow Designer gives the ability to create custom activities, which can use VB or PowerShell scripts.

Does OneSite Health fix issues detected or just pass issues on to a ticket system? Health checks are made up of a health check workflow, and most also include a remediation workflow. If the manual remediation can be performed on the device, a workflow can be created to automate the task.

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