Shavlik To Begin Enforcing EOL Policy on NetChk Protect

Starting in May 2011, Shavlik will begin to enforce our existing end-of-life (EOL) policies for Shavlik NetChk Protect by disabling the ability to update the XML data on legacy/EOL’d versions of the product. This means the product versions affected will no longer receive data updates and will be locked at the XML data set that it received last. The reason for this new process is to clean up old versions of the product that are no longer supported and thereby reduce support issues for our customers and reduce turn-around time for support cases. By moving to newer releases this will also allow you the ability to take advantage of new features and functionality in the newer releases, which should make your patch management processes more efficient and effective. It also allows you the option to take advantage of newer non-patch functionality such as asset inventory, antivirus, power management and wake-on-LAN (WOL). As always, Shavlik Support will strive to deliver the best possible support for Shavlik customers as they migrate to the supported versions of NetChk Protect. We appreciate your help and patience during this process.

EOL Policy on Shavlik Website: (Note, this is the same EOL policy that Shavlik has had for years but that we are just now beginning to enforce)

http://www.shavlik.com/assets/docs/sup-life-cycle-policy.pdf

EOL Enforcement Schedule (i.e. dates Shavlik will begin locking the XML data for these legacy/EOL’d versions of NetChk Protect):

Friday, May 27^th, 2011:

Version 5.9
Version 6.0
Version 6.1
Version 6.5.0

Friday, June 24^th, 2011:

Version 6.5.1
Version 6.5.2
Version 7.0
Version 7.1

Friday, July 29^th, 2011:

Version 7.2

Friday, August 26^th, 2011:

Version 6.5.3

By the end of August 2011, we anticipate that Shavlik will have the following builds of NetChk Protect under support: (Please refer to the Support Life Cycle Policy for details on what support coverage is available for the supported builds)

Active Build: NetChk Protect 7.8 (Release Date: March 15th, 2011)
Prior Build: NetChk Protect 7.6
Inactive Build: NetChk Protect 7.5

Regards,

Chris Goettl
Product Owner
Shavlik Technologies

13 Comments

SalsaMan

Posted March 8, 2011 at 6:54 pm
Permalink

Hello! Pls help. I need to know how to configure Shavlik to deploy patches via script or so the patch executes with certain parameters such as “/quiet”, or “/norestart”, or “/nobackup”. Your assistance will be appreciated very much.

Chris Goettl

Posted March 9, 2011 at 6:09 pm
Permalink

SalsaMan,

Any patch that Shavlik supports will use quiet and norestart switches by default. We only push patches that we can run unattended. I believe there must be more to your situation. I will email you directly and we can talk more.

Regards,

Chris Goettl

Bobby

Posted May 17, 2011 at 7:07 am
Permalink

Hi there.

We are considering buying your NetChk product, but I feel a great deal of confusion over how it is priced, upgrade costs and intervals, etc, etc. I’ve looked at the PDF you’ve linked in this article.

The only pricing I can find indicates that for each workstation we license we’d pay $40, and $80 for each server. There is no indication of how long we receive updates packaged by you (for Adobe, Microsoft, etc, patching) and I can only make a guestimate based on looking at how you’ve superceeded things over the years. It worries me, because it seems we could buy 7.8 now, and then you could release version 8 next week. If you did, how long would you continue to allow us to get updates from you? (and are these the ‘XML data’ mentioned?)

And assuming our investment was good for 12 months, what would be the upgrade cost at the end of this?

By and large I really like your product, and I need to put in a recommendation to my MD in the next day. If I can have a clear idea of the costing, there is a good chance we can do business, most like licensing 13 workstations to being with, and possibly servers and further workstations beyond this.

I look forward to anything you can post back. Cheers!

Bobby

Chris Goettl

Posted May 17, 2011 at 9:27 am
Permalink

Bobby,

I am not the person to answer licensing questions, but I sent your info on to someone who can. You should have a follow up soon.

Chris

Bobby

Posted May 17, 2011 at 9:40 am
Permalink

That’s much appreciated. I look forward to response.

Best wishes,

Bobby

Linda

Posted June 15, 2011 at 1:51 pm
Permalink

Hi Chris,

we currently have HFNetChkPro 6.5.3 and since it will have its EOL in August, can you please tell me what version should i go for our upgrade?

also, i have noticed that our HFNetChk server is running low on the C: and this folder is becoming bigger each time – C:\Program Files\Shavlik Technologies\NetChk\Patches. Is it recommended to shrink this folder and if yes, how should i do it? Do i need these data that were dated since 2008?

thank you very much Chris,
- Linda

Chris Goettl

Posted June 15, 2011 at 3:02 pm
Permalink

Linda,

You should upgrade to NetChk Protect 7.8. http://www.shavlik.com/existing-customers.aspx to get the latest download. As for the patches folder you can go in and sort by date and clear out anything over 6-12 months old. If protect happens to need it again it will be redownloaded.

Regards,

Chris Goettl

Linda

Posted June 17, 2011 at 9:48 am
Permalink

great! thank you Chris. I will check on the System Requirments and upgrade before the August deadline.

thanks again,

- L

Willy

Posted July 13, 2011 at 12:56 am
Permalink

Hi Chris,

Do you have new EOL data available for version 7.5, 7.6 and 7.8?

Chris Goettl

Posted July 13, 2011 at 7:28 am
Permalink

Life Cycle Policy can be viewed here. Going forward you can expect to have a Current, Prior, and Inactive build under data support. Upon a new product release the current becomes the prior build and the prior goes to inactive status at which time its Data Support EOL is announced one year out. Typically you can expect 3 to 4 releases to be under data support at any given time.

7.5 Code correction has already ended (no hotfixes etc). Data support will continue until March of 2012.
7.6 Code correction ended March of 2011. Data support EOL has not yet been announced.
7.8 Code correction is still available. If critical issues should arise additional hotfixes may be available. Data support EOL has not yet been announced.

Regards,

Chris Goettl
Customer-Product Owner
VMware

Willy

Posted July 19, 2011 at 1:59 am
Permalink

Hi Chris,

Thanks for your feedback.

/Willy

Adolphus Addy

Posted August 31, 2011 at 1:59 pm
Permalink

Hi I am a government worker and we use shavlik protect on our enclave system. what do i need to do to download updated patches to my Government computer and transfer it to the enclave system with out downloading it at home and bringing it in?

Chris Goettl

Posted August 31, 2011 at 2:05 pm
Permalink

There are a couple of options depending on what will work in your environment (different rules in different branches). I will have our gov SE follow up with you to see which will fit best.

Regards,

Chris Goettl

Blog Authors

SalsaMan

Posted March 8, 2011 at 6:54 pm

Hello! Pls help. I need to know how to configure Shavlik to deploy patches via script or so the patch executes with certain parameters such as “/quiet”, or “/norestart”, or “/nobackup”. Your assistance will be appreciated very much.
Chris Goettl

Posted March 9, 2011 at 6:09 pm

SalsaMan,

Any patch that Shavlik supports will use quiet and norestart switches by default. We only push patches that we can run unattended. I believe there must be more to your situation. I will email you directly and we can talk more.

Regards,

Chris Goettl
Bobby

Posted May 17, 2011 at 7:07 am

Hi there.

We are considering buying your NetChk product, but I feel a great deal of confusion over how it is priced, upgrade costs and intervals, etc, etc. I’ve looked at the PDF you’ve linked in this article.

The only pricing I can find indicates that for each workstation we license we’d pay $40, and $80 for each server. There is no indication of how long we receive updates packaged by you (for Adobe, Microsoft, etc, patching) and I can only make a guestimate based on looking at how you’ve superceeded things over the years. It worries me, because it seems we could buy 7.8 now, and then you could release version 8 next week. If you did, how long would you continue to allow us to get updates from you? (and are these the ‘XML data’ mentioned?)

And assuming our investment was good for 12 months, what would be the upgrade cost at the end of this?

By and large I really like your product, and I need to put in a recommendation to my MD in the next day. If I can have a clear idea of the costing, there is a good chance we can do business, most like licensing 13 workstations to being with, and possibly servers and further workstations beyond this.

I look forward to anything you can post back. Cheers!

Bobby
Chris Goettl

Posted May 17, 2011 at 9:27 am

Bobby,

I am not the person to answer licensing questions, but I sent your info on to someone who can. You should have a follow up soon.

Chris
Bobby

Posted May 17, 2011 at 9:40 am

That’s much appreciated. I look forward to response.

Best wishes,

Bobby
Linda

Posted June 15, 2011 at 1:51 pm

Hi Chris,

we currently have HFNetChkPro 6.5.3 and since it will have its EOL in August, can you please tell me what version should i go for our upgrade?

also, i have noticed that our HFNetChk server is running low on the C: and this folder is becoming bigger each time – C:\Program Files\Shavlik Technologies\NetChk\Patches. Is it recommended to shrink this folder and if yes, how should i do it? Do i need these data that were dated since 2008?

thank you very much Chris,
- Linda
Chris Goettl

Posted June 15, 2011 at 3:02 pm

Linda,

You should upgrade to NetChk Protect 7.8. http://www.shavlik.com/existing-customers.aspx to get the latest download. As for the patches folder you can go in and sort by date and clear out anything over 6-12 months old. If protect happens to need it again it will be redownloaded.

Regards,

Chris Goettl
Linda

Posted June 17, 2011 at 9:48 am

great! thank you Chris. I will check on the System Requirments and upgrade before the August deadline.

thanks again,

- L
Willy

Posted July 13, 2011 at 12:56 am

Hi Chris,

Do you have new EOL data available for version 7.5, 7.6 and 7.8?
Chris Goettl

Posted July 13, 2011 at 7:28 am

Life Cycle Policy can be viewed here. Going forward you can expect to have a Current, Prior, and Inactive build under data support. Upon a new product release the current becomes the prior build and the prior goes to inactive status at which time its Data Support EOL is announced one year out. Typically you can expect 3 to 4 releases to be under data support at any given time.

7.5 Code correction has already ended (no hotfixes etc). Data support will continue until March of 2012.
7.6 Code correction ended March of 2011. Data support EOL has not yet been announced.
7.8 Code correction is still available. If critical issues should arise additional hotfixes may be available. Data support EOL has not yet been announced.

Regards,

Chris Goettl
Customer-Product Owner
VMware
Willy

Posted July 19, 2011 at 1:59 am

Hi Chris,

Thanks for your feedback.

/Willy
Adolphus Addy

Posted August 31, 2011 at 1:59 pm

Hi I am a government worker and we use shavlik protect on our enclave system. what do i need to do to download updated patches to my Government computer and transfer it to the enclave system with out downloading it at home and bringing it in?
Chris Goettl

Posted August 31, 2011 at 2:05 pm

There are a couple of options depending on what will work in your environment (different rules in different branches). I will have our gov SE follow up with you to see which will fit best.

Regards,

Chris Goettl