Application Metering and Denial in ITMS 8.0

Products

• Inventory Solution

Issue/Introduction

In ITMS 8.0, a new application metering driver is installed on Windows client computers (except for Windows XP) together with Application Metering Plug-in. The driver monitors the beginning and the end of processes and blocks applications that are denied by a policy.

Environment

ITMS 8.0, 8.1, 8.5

Resolution

On Windows XP client computers, application metering and denial works in the same way as in ITMS 7.6 and earlier.

The new features of the application metering driver are as follows:

• Application metering is supported for the systems with enabled UEFI Secure Boot.
• The driver blocks the processes even when Symantec Management Agent is disabled, using the existing application denial rules.
• When the driver blocks a process, a Windows Explorer system window may appear, notifying the user that the system administrator has blocked the application from running.

Warning: Once the new driver is installed, Application Metering can block any process that is defined in the application denial policies, including the system processes. To avoid blocking important system processes, Symantec recommends that you specify the details for application denial rules and avoid using rules that are too general.

If the driver fails to install together with Application Metering Plug-in, the system automatically switches to the legacy mode and works in the same way as prior to ITMS 8.0.

To switch to the legacy mode manually, set the value for the UseAMDII registry key as follows:

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Altiris\Altiris Agent\AMAgent UsAMDII:REG_DWORD: 1