Harrahs Altiris Overhaul February 2008

Agenda About Harrahs The Altiris Connection Business Challenges and Objectives Architecture Review Deployment Strategy The Road Ahead This presentation and all trademarks appearing in this presentation are the sole and exclusive property of Harrah's License Company, LLC for use by its related companies (collectively, "Harrah's"). This presentation and its contents are confidential and proprietary to Harrah's and may not be used or reproduced in whole or in part without Harrahs express prior written authorization. Trademarks not owned by Harrah's that appear in this presentation are the property of the respective owners. © 2005, Harrahs License Company, LLC

Who is Harrahs Entertainment? Founded in 1937 by William F. Harrah in Reno, Nevada First casino company listed on the NYSE 2007 Revenues $10Bil Privately held as of Jan 08 by Texas Pacific and Apollo Management World's largest provider of branded casino entertainment –Domestic Harrahs Horseshoe Caesars –International Conrad Resort, Punta del Este, Uruguay London Clubs International Future… Spain, Bahamas, Slovenia, South America

Harrahs Information Technology – the Numbers Forty Locations –Each has its own IT Department –Local IT staff manages PCs and Servers –User Administration Corporate IT - Wintel –Sets infrastructure standards –Implement new technology –Provide 3 rd level of support –Maintain Data Center Total Managed computers –1200 Windows Servers –20000 Client PCs

Putting it in Perspective January 2004 Approx. 20 locations ~10K clients March 2004 Harrahs acquires Horseshoe 3 addl locations ~12K clients Harrahs begins the transition to Altiris June 2005 Harrahs acquires Caesars Entertainment 9 addl locations ~20K clients January 2006 Primary engineer focused on Altiris project transfers out of dept; taken over by a 2 nd engineer December 2006 Primary engineer focused on Altiris project leaves the company April 2007 I am now the lead engineer… February 2008 Deployment is well underway and I am still here!

Business Challenges and Objectives Challenges What do we have?? –No centralized hardware/software inventory for all Windows workstations and servers –Software license compliance is fuzzy; licenses are under- or over- purchased Are we vulnerable?? –Ability to deploy Windows security patches and provide compliance reports on coverage Why does it take so long?? –Bare metal deployment and application rollouts cannot be done in an efficient, timely manner How can we help?? –Help Desk is unable to provide highest level of service without remote visibility to their customers desktops When can we use our investment?? –Current (04/07) Altiris environment is unreliable

Business Challenges and Objectives Objectives Complete the deployment of Altiris agents to all PCs and Servers, providing the ability to analyze and audit inventory –AD Discovery / Agent Push –Routine cleanup Maintain security compliance with Patch Management Enhance Helpdesk services via Remote Control (Carbon Copy) –Leverage security: authentication, encryption –Audit usage Increase end-user productivity with Software Deployment Increase IT efficiency with Software Deployment and Imaging

Architecture Review – June 2007 One NS Server for 20K clients Not all Sites had a defined Package Server Solutions out of date Reputation as computer killer Server Performance renders Altiris unusable

Deployment Strategy Infrastructure Review –Stabilize infrastructure by deploying additional Notification Server(s) –Rehome agents to load balance across Notification servers for optimal performance –Update all installed solution components for enhanced features and bug fixes –Configure SQL and Altiris for optimal coverage and performance Upgrade to SQL 2005 IT Accessibility –Provide a central console for Reporting and Carbon Copy access (Reporting Server) let the Notification Servers do their job! –Implement Role-based security each location can only access their resources –Develop Training for Property and Corporate IT

Deployment Strategy Usability – areas of focus –Reporting –Remote Control –Patch Management –Software Delivery

Architecture - Evolving Split NS over two servers Move Reporting Server to same site as NS Define Package Server for all sites (currently co-located on Property file servers) In progress: multi-purpose Altiris Server to additional locations (DS, Package, PXE) In progress: Continue to evaluate NS performance; evaluate need for 3 rd NS?

Solution Benefits to-date Inventory Reporting aids in identifying and budgeting –hardware replacements/upgrades –software upgrades/license purchases/renewals Patch Management and Reporting keeping Windows environment up-to-date; fulfillment of PCI compliance goals –Moving toward fully automated Server patch strategy IT Workload reduction through automated software deployment Help Desk efficiency increased; remote access is audited

Solutions In Progress Develop training for Software Deployment; hand over to Property IT –NS and DS methodology Roll out updated Altiris Deployment Solution / PXE / Package server to Property locations Hardware Independent Images and PXE Rollout across all locations Customer Software Portal Application Metering and Denial of Authorized software Dell Server snap-ins for NS and DS –Manage drivers/firmware –Image assist Symantec snap-ins –Backup Exec –Anti-virus