PowerMAN Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
PowerMAN Power Manager is a powerful tool but shouldn't take very long to get to grips with.
The following sections answer some of the most common questions:
What is PowerMAN Power Manager?
Which platforms support PowerMAN?
How does the reporting work? Will the reporting slow down our network? Do I have to use it?
How do you configure PowerMAN?
What is computer insomnia?
How long does PowerMAN take to deploy?
We need to wake computers to install updates or perform AV scans. How can we do this?
How does PowerMAN work?
We want to save energy but we have important tasks that must not be interrupted. How can we do this?
We frequently re-install our PCs or use system protection software such as Faronics™ Deep Freeze™ or Microsoft SteadyState. Will the reporting continue to work?
Windows® Vista/7/8/10/11 can configure some power features using Group Policy. Why do I need PowerMAN?
Is there any limit on trial/evaluation deployment?
What happens when the evaluation PowerMAN product key expires?
Can PowerMAN exclude specific computers from power management in the same OU?
What is the policy enforcement feature? How does it work?
How do I investigate power management problems? What is the Power Management Event Log?
How scalable is the PowerMAN solution?
How do I implement PowerMAN? How can I maximize energy savings?
Why do I need PowerMAN? There are some power management settings in the computer BIOS
Does PowerMAN use Wake-On-LAN (WoL)? Will WoL work on my network?
What is the relationship between PowerMAN and PowerMON?
What is the difference between PowerMAN and Group Policy Preferences (GPP)?
What is the difference between PowerMAN and Windows Powercfg?
Can PowerMAN be deployed in a pre-built software image or 'Ghost'-style deployment?
How can I do a small PowerMAN deployment without Group Policy or similar?
We regularly re-image our computers or dual-boot them. How many licences do we need?
Can PowerMAN save my documents before saving energy?
Will power management cause power surges or blow fuses?
How do I migrate from the PowerMAN hosted reporting system to the (on-premise) PowerMAN Enterprise Server system?
How do I migrate from the (on-premise) PowerMAN Enterprise Server reporting system to the hosted PowerMAN reporting system?
How do I migrate a PowerMAN Enterprise Server (PMES) system from one server to another?
What is the PowerMAN internal shutdown timer?
What is the difference between 32 and 64-bit PowerMAN?
How do I manually backup the PowerMAN Enterprise Server SQL database?
How do I configure my firewall to use the "*.pmstats.org" hosted reporting service?
What is PowerMAN Cloud / Hosted Reporting SSL Compatibility Mode?
How does PowerMAN work with "Modern" standby mode (S0ix, AoAc)
What is PowerMAN Power Manager?
PowerMAN Power Manager is a client-side service that is installed on each computer in your organisation.
The software performs two key functions:
- Configure PowerMAN applies your chosen power policy and schedule. Different policies may be applied to different users, groups and computers. If necessary PowerMAN can optionally enforce the policy to prevent unauthorised changes and avoid computer insomnia.
- Report PowerMAN can optionally monitor the usage pattern of each PC and report to either Data Synergy's hosted servers or your own server. This information can be used to monitor your policy and measure your savings.
Microsoft Windows includes a basic, built-in, power management system. This can be used to configure the
computer to enter a low-power mode after a period of time. This feature has evolved with each version
of Windows but remains limited. PowerMAN adds several important extensions:
- Central configuration of all power management features
- Multiple policies per user or computer
- Specific policy when nobody is logged on
- Multiple scheduled sleep, hibernate, shutdown or wake-up policies
- Option to logout or shutdown on idle
- Powerful, enterprise-wide, power management reporting
PowerMAN's unique benefit is that it places all of these features in one place and allows them to be
used in any appropriate combination. This allows effective power management strategies to be
created for every organisation that meet user requirements and maximize energy saving. The
inclusion of a built-in reporting suite means that progress can be monitored and policies fine-tuned as
necessary.
Which platforms support PowerMAN?
PowerMAN supports the following platforms:
- PowerMAN Client – Windows XP Professional (before v5.5), Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8.x, Windows 10 and Windows 11
- Enterprise Server – Windows Server 2003 (before v5.5), 2008 and later
NB: We do not recommend that active power management is applied to production servers. However, PowerMAN can be used
on these operating systems when they are used as workstations.
How does the reporting work? Will the reporting slow down our network? Do I have to use it?
PowerMAN includes a powerful reporting engine. Anonymous power related data is collected and uploaded every night
to either Data Synergy's hosted servers or your own Enterprise Server. You can use this information to monitor
application of your power policy, spot problems and calculate savings.
The PowerMAN reporting process system is designed to have no impact on network performance
or other infrastructure. Approximately 1KB (4-5KB if live reporting used) of data is collected
each day for each PC and typically the client software will only transfer this to the logging server
once per day. The upload occurs at a random time and not as soon as the PC is
turned on. An organisation with 1000 computers could produce 500KB of data per day.
This is equivalent to less than half of one 3.5inch floppy disk. The reporting system is
highly recommended but
completely optional.
PowerMAN uploads historic report data after the end of each day. Typically, this happens between
00:00 and 03:00 the following day or the next time the computer is powered up. The uploaded information
normally appears on the reports within a few seconds. If you install the software today you
can start to view reported statistics tomorrow.
PowerMAN uploads live data as workstation status changes. Typically this happens when a signiciant
event such as sleep, hibernate or user log on/off occurs. If you install the software today you can
start to view live data immediately.
In the event that data cannot be uploaded the PowerMAN client caches the data locally.
The default data retention period is 28 days. This period may be customised if required.
If you need to know more information about the anonymous information collected please
contact
Technical Support.
How do you configure PowerMAN?
PowerMAN is configured using Windows® Group Policy or direct registry settings. The settings are easy to understand
and are fully documented in the Administrator Guide.
What is computer insomnia?
You can use PowerMAN to create policies that define what should happen when the computer is idle
for an extended period. Typically these are used to logout, sleep, hibernate or shutdown the computer.
Some applications can prevent your computer from becoming idle and keep the computer awake. There are some
legitimate reasons for this such as playing a DVD/Presentation, performing a virus scan or a system update.
However, sometimes rogue applications, user configuration, or even Windows itself can keep the computer awake.
PowerMAN includes a
powerful enforcement feature that can independently monitor the system
and ensure that the policy applies as expected. In PowerMAN v5.2 and later policy enforcement is enabled by default.
How long does PowerMAN take to deploy?
A typical PowerMAN deployment can be divided into three stages. Each stage does not take very long but the product will work best if you pause between phases to monitor and assess the results:
- Deploy in monitoring mode. This is the most important stage and will allow you to understand the current situation and formulate a policy that can improve it
- Apply some initial power configuration
- Wait and re-monitor to see the effect of your configuration. Consult the users and repeat as required
Typically we would recommend that the initial monitoring phase is run for
at least two weeks before you consider
applying any active power management. PowerMAN should take less than an hour to deploy in a standard Group Policy based environment.
We would recommend that you allow each power configuration several days (longer is better) operation before considering changing it.
We need to wake computers to install updates or perform AV scans. How can we do this?
PowerMAN includes a scheduled wake policy and this is supported on most modern hardware. You can use the
SLEEPCHECK command
to confirm if your hardware is compatible with this. This can be configured to wake systems to perform regular tasks such
as system updates or AV scans.
Microsoft Windows ® only permit wake from the Sleep and Hibernate states. Some motherboards extend this
by supporting full power-on (from the shutdown state). Unfortunately, because each system implements the feature differently PowerMAN
cannot be used to configure this feature.
PowerMAN's companion
WakeMyPC product uses Wake-On-LAN and fully supports wake-up from all power states.
WakeMyPC is an ideal companion to any PowerMAN deployment
How does PowerMAN work?
Power Manager installs a client service called PowerMAN.exe on each computer. The service spends the vast majority of the time idle and therefore does not result in any measurable loss of system performance. Periodically (every 5-10 minutes) the service wakes and checks the current status of the computer. This process only takes a fraction of a second.
During each cycle the service performs the following:
- Determines if the system has recently been accessed by a user
- Checks for the managed power scheme (‘Managed policy for [username]’)
- Creates the power scheme if necessary
- Updates the scheme settings according to the administrator configuration
PowerMAN is fully capable of configuring the power management settings for users who are not permitted, themselves, to perform this action. Unlike most other solutions for power management this is achieved without lowering any of the security safeguards built into the operating system. In addition PowerMAN provides finer control not normally available including:
- Default user power policy
- Separate policy for the logon prompt screen (when no user is logged on)
- Separate policy per user (if required)
- Scheduled wake
- Scheduled shutdown
- Full management reporting
- User override (for permitted users)
- Protection against shutdown/sleep when specific programs are running or files present
NB: PowerMAN is active less than 0.01% the time. Therefore the user is never aware of PowerMAN performing its task.
We want to save energy but we have important tasks that must not be interrupted. How can we do this?
Power Manager allows a list of
Protected Programs and
Protected Files to be defined. When such a program is running or
file exists the Power Manager will automatically prevent the system from entering a reduced power state.
We frequently re-install our PCs or use system protection software such as Faronics™ Deep Freeze™ or Microsoft SteadyState. Will the reporting continue to work?
PowerMAN uses a combination of the site identity and the network card hardware (MAC) address to form a unique computer identity.
This identity is persistent and will be regenerated if the computer is reinstalled. Once created the identity will be retained if the computer is renamed or the network card subsequently replaced.
If the computer is only infrequently re-installed it is probably acceptable for the most frequent power usage information to be lost during this process.
However, if the computer is frequently re-installed you can use the 'Log Backup' feature to store the power usage information in a backup file.
You are responsible for preserving this file and restoring it as part of you re-installation process if necessary.
This scenario is further explained
here.
Windows® Vista/7/8/10/11 can configure some power features using Group Policy. Why do I need PowerMAN?
Windows® Vista and later include basic Group Policy support for power management. However, as many customers
have found, the features offered can be inflexible to real-life demands and lead to compromises in power
management efficiency. PowerMAN offers many features beyond those present in Windows to ensure you maximise the savings.
You can read more about this:
Is there any limit on trial/evaluation deployment?
We are confident PowerMAN will be easy for you to deploy and will be quickly saving
you money. To demonstrate this we offer a standard 30 day evaluation of the full
product. The trial allows you to deploy PowerMAN to
any number of computers and
includes access the full to PowerMAN's web-based management reporting. If you need longer to evaluate
the product are we happy to extend the period if required.
What happens when the evaluation PowerMAN product key expires?
PowerMAN evaluation product keys are designed to expire. When this happens PowerMAN
stops applying new power settings and stops reporting usage information to the reporting
server (if used). The PowerMAN service continues to run and internally cache usage
information. In a normal configuration the log data is retained for 28 days.
If a new product key is applied PowerMAN resumes normal operation following the next
system reboot.
There is
no user pop-up when the product key expires and the process is
transparent to the user. PowerMAN continues to report in the event log.
Can PowerMAN exclude specific computers from power management in the same OU?
Normally it is possible to apply the same power management configuration to each
computer within an organisational unit (OU) and use a separate OU for each logical
power policy. However, sometimes this may not be desirable or it may not be practical
to re-arrange the OUs to match the required power scheme. In this scenario the
Protected Files feature may be used to exclude specific computers.
To use this procedure proceed as follows:
-
Create an empty text file which matches the computer name. One way to do
this is to use a computer start-up script to execute the following batch file:
echo %computername% > c:\%computername%.txt
- Use the Protected Files feature to exclude the c:\%computername%.txt file.
For instance the following settings would exclude three computers:
c:\CriticalPC.txt
c:\OfficePC.txt
c:\FaxServer.txt
The following Microsoft document provides further information on computer start-up scripts:
Assign computer startup scripts
What is the policy enforcement feature? How does it work?
Windows uses an idle countdown timer to track the last significant system activity.
When this timer reaches zero the computer normally enters a low-power state (suspend).
Activity such as keyboard/mouse or CPU usage can reset this timer and postpone the
low-power state.
The Windows timer can also be inhibited or reset by applications. Applications
legitimately do this when performing a critical task (such as an update) or when
it would be inconvenient to the user for the system to enter a different power state.
For instance, the idle timer is disabled when Microsoft PowerPoint is performing a
slideshow.
In some circumstances applications may make excessive use of this feature. This is
sometimes known as PC "insomnia" and results in the selected power management policy
not performing as expected. This will reduce system energy efficiency and increase
operating costs. Depending upon the installed applications this phenomenon may almost
never happen or may be a constant problem. PowerMAN includes a powerful policy
enforcement feature that can be used to overcome this undesirable behaviour.
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The PowerMAN Reporting system marks periods spent in this "forced awake"
state with an exclamation mark (!) symbol. This will result in increased
energy consumption if it occurs during otherwise inactive (red) periods.
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There are several signs that policy enforcement may be required:
- Computer power settings often fail to behave as configured
- Power Management event log reports "The computer is being prevented from entering the idle state by an unknown program"
- The historic reports for a computer include significant periods marked "forced awake" – indicated with the exclamation mark (!) symbol character
The PowerMAN Policy Enforcement feature allows you to configure a further
timeout in
addition to the standard timeout setting. When this time has expired
PowerMAN will force the configured power action to occur. This works alongside
the Protected Programs/Files feature and will not enforce a power action whilst
protection is active.
How do I investigate power management problems? What is the Power Management Event Log?
PowerMAN incorporates a powerful power management event logging feature.
This can be accessed with the standard Windows event viewer tool Eventvwr.exe.
The event log combines relevant power related events together with PowerMAN
activity in chronological order. This information can be extremely useful
when investigating power management problems or fine tuning settings. There
is a summary of the most commonly logged events in the Administrator guide.
PowerMAN can be configured to log additional information using the appropriate
option under Advanced/Event Logging. The PowerMAN service must be restarted
or the computer rebooted for this change to become effective.
In Windows Vista / Windows 7 / Windows 8 / Windows 10 and Windows 11 the Power Management event log is located under Applications
and Services Logs.
How scalable is the PowerMAN solution?
PowerMAN is very lightweight and scales very well. The client software
(power policy implementation) is configured using standard registry based
settings or Windows Group Policy. This does not require any additional
server resources and will scale to the largest Windows based networks with ease.
The PowerMAN reporting (server) software is only used for reporting and
can handle > 50,000 computers on a single server. PowerMAN has minimal
bandwidth requirements. Typically, less than 500 bytes of network traffic is
generated per client PC per day and around 1MB of data is logged per PC
per year.
How do I implement PowerMAN? How can I maximize energy savings?
The
most effective PowerMAN deployments use an initial passive monitoring
phase to fully understand the existing usage profile. This passive process
is transparent to users and allows you to collect information that can then
be used to better the specific strategy you use to reduce PC energy waste.
After you have implemented an energy reduction initiative it can be very
useful to refer back to the data previously logged to measure progress and
identify areas for possible further improvement.
Why do I need PowerMAN? There are some power management settings in the computer BIOS
Modern, Windows NT-based, operating systems implement power management using the ACPI standard.
This has replaced the older APM system. When using Windows 2000 or later the BIOS power management
settings are not used and will have no effect. Power management on such computers is configured
directly in Windows. PowerMAN provides a simple method to centralise this process.
Does PowerMAN use Wake-On-LAN (WoL)? Will WoL work on my network?
PowerMAN uses two complementary systems for PC wake-up.
The scheduled wake-up feature uses the timer built-in to most modern computers.
This is more reliable than WoL techniques and does not require any network communication.
You can test this feature on a PC by using the SLEEPCHECK or HIBERCHECK commands.
The scheduled wake feature is not suitable for ad-hoc wake because the timer must be configured
before the PC enters the low-power state.
The PowerMAN server system also allows you to perform ad-hoc system wake-up using Wake-On-LAN (WoL).
This can be accomplished by clicking the link provided on the server reports
or by manually forming the required wake URL. This feature requires the Data Synergy
WakeMyPC Enterprise Server software.
To use a WoL based technique some computers will need this feature to be enabled.
This configuration is usually accomplished in two phases:
- Wake-on-LAN must be enabled in the BIOS. The Data Synergy DMCMOS32 tool may be used to automate this process
- The network card must support WoL and this must be enabled in Windows Device Manager
Wake-On-LAN can be complex to implement in some networksand can
fail for a number of reasons which are beyond PowerMAN’s control
The most common issues are:
- Standard WoL uses broadcast network packets. These are not normally routable and therefore only work within the local sub-net. This why the Wake Proxy is necessary. It may, in some cases, also be possible to re-configure your router to forward WoL packets
- A typical WoL implementation does not include any security. It is possible to wake an arbitrary PC on the local sub-net. This should not normally be a significant security concern
- WoL must be enabled in the system BIOS and usually in Windows Device Manager. There is sometimes a degree of trial and error required to get WoL working
Data Synergy provides the free
WoLMAN command-line tool to aide WoL debugging.
Data Synergy also supplies
WakeMyPC Server software. This is a web-based Wake-on-LAN (WoL) gateway service. The software allows users to wake workstations using familiar computer and user names. The software uses a variety of network techniques to transparently support WoL in almost all networks overcoming the most common problem with WoL technology.
What is the relationship between PowerMAN and PowerMON?
Data Synergy distributes the PowerMAN client software in two forms. The full software
product is known as PowerMAN. This allows power management policies to be applied and
power usage information to be monitored. PowerMON is a limited feature version of the
same software that is used only for power monitoring. The same executable is used for
both products. The term PowerMAN is generally used in the documentation. The supplied
licence key and ADM file are different.
What is the difference between PowerMAN and Group Policy Preferences (GPP)?
Group Policy Preferences (GPP) allow you to assign initial power policy settings to users. GPP has a number
of significant limitations:
- The settings are only preferences. The users can change them
- GPP does not include any reporting or feedback system
- GPP does not include policy enforcement or resolve PC 'Insomnia'
- GPP does not support logout or shutdown
- GPP does not provide a separate policy for when nobody is logged on
- GPP does not support schedule based power policies
- GPP does not exclude specific critical programs / files or support planned maintenance windows
- GPP must be configured from a Windows Vista or later client PC
PowerMAN is a cost effective, reliable and uniform solution for all supported operating systems. It will reliably enforce the
chosen power management policies and includes comprehensive reporting to monitor the deployment.
What is the difference between PowerMAN and Windows Powercfg?
Windows Powercfg is a Windows command line tool that may be used to assign initial power policy settings to users. Powercfg has a number
of significant limitations:
- The settings are only initial values. The users can change them
- Powercfg does not include any reporting or feedback system
- Powercfg does not include policy enforcement or resolve PC 'Insomnia'
- Powercfg does not support logout or shutdown
- Powercfg does not provide a separate policy for when nobody is logged on
- Powercfg does not support schedule based power policies
- Powercfg does not exclude specific critical programs / files or support planned maintenance windows
- Powercfg may require system security to be relaxed for non-administrator / power users. This can compromise overall system security
- Powercfg can frequently fail in roaming user profile environments unless consistently applied to all users and workstations
- Powercfg is not supported on Windows 2000 and requires different scripts for Windows XP and Windows Vista/7/8/10/11
Powercfg is very similar to
Group Policy on Windows Vista and later and has very similar
limitations.
PowerMAN is a cost effective, reliable and uniform solution for all supported operating systems. It will reliably enforce the
chosen power management policies and includes comprehensive reporting to monitor the deployment.
Can PowerMAN be deployed in a pre-built software image or 'Ghost'-style deployment?
PowerMAN fully supports deployment in a pre-built software image. This is sometimes known as
a ‘Ghost’-style deployment. Typically, in this scenario, PowerMAN is manually installed
on a master computer and configured with the desired settings. This computer is then
cloned on to multiple destination computers. There is one important thing to remember
when performing such a deployment:
Remember: The ClientGUID setting is used to uniquely identify each computer.
This is automatically generated and should not be cloned from one computer to another.
If this field is removed PowerMAN will generate a unique new ClientGUID. If the same
ClientGUID is present on multiple computers this will prevent the reporting feature
from operating correctly. Please remember to remove the ClientGUID prior to creating
the master software image. The easiest way to do this is to stop the PowerMAN service
and then use the RegEdit tool to delete the setting from the HKLM/Software/PowerMAN
registry key. This step should be performed just prior to creating the software image.
This process is further explained
here.
How can I do a small PowerMAN deployment without Group Policy or similar?
PowerMAN is designed for automated large scale deployment to many computers. This is
normally achieved using Windows Group Policy, Intune, SCCM, ZENWorks, SMS, Altiris, Landesk, RM Community Connect or a similar tool.
Sometimes it may not be possible to use one of these methods. If this is the case PowerMAN can be
deployed manually using the following technique. This method is more time consuming but
ideal for a small scale or trial deployment to a handful of computers.
The PowerMAN deployment requires the following on each PC:
- PowerMAN settings configured
- PowerMAN service installed
The simplest way to configure the settings on each PC is to use the supplied ADM file
and local Group Policy. This is described at the end of the PowerMAN Administrator Guide
in the section
Alternative Configuration Method - Local Group Policy / Registry Settings.
PowerMAN will work best if the settings are present before the service is installed.
If the service is installed first the PC must be rebooted (or the service restarted)
for PowerMAN to become operational. The minimum settings required are described in the
software manual.
The PowerMAN service may be manually installed on each PC using the supplied MSI file.
To perform such an installation (after configuring the settings) simply double click
on the MSI file and follow the on-screen prompts.
PowerMAN can be removed from a PC using the reverse technique. To uninstall PowerMAN
simply double click on the MSI file (again) and follow the on-screen prompts or use
the option available in Control Panel / Add + Remove Programs.
We regularly re-image our computers or dual-boot them. How many licences do we need?
The PowerMAN client software is licensed based upon the number of concurrent computers running the software
at any one time. You may permanently transfer PowerMAN licences provided that the number of simultaneous
computers does not exceed your licensed limits. The client software does not include an "activation"
requirement and you are welcome to install the software twice on a dual-boot system.
Similarly, you are free to record historic information about any number of computers in
your PowerMAN Enterprise Server database as long as the number of computers reporting at any one
time does not exceed your licensed limit. This feature can be very useful over time because it
allows historic information to be retained as computers are naturally replaced.
Please remember that you will need to confirm the number of computers currently running
PowerMAN when obtaining an updated product key or technical support. For further information
please see the
Fair Use Policy
Can PowerMAN save my documents before saving energy?
PowerMAN supports
several low-power modes.
The sleep and hibernate modes (collectively known as ‘suspend’) preserve any open programs and documents.
The user may continue with their work immediately after the system has resumed.
Optionally the user may be asked for their password when the system resumes. This approach is perfect
for office computers typically used by a single user and is ideal because it does not disturb the user.
In some circumstances, such as a public access area or classroom, it may not be appropriate to use sleep or hibernate whilst
a user is logged on or may be undesirable to resume to a locked workstation. In this scenario PowerMAN may be used to log the
user off first and then enter a low power state. This approach is commonly used with shared computers. This feature
is not available with Windows alone or other power management software and is unique to PowerMAN.
PowerMAN may also be used to fully shutdown (power-off) the PC. This is generally used when nobody is logged on.
A full shutdown does not preserve the user’s session and they must therefore logon again and re-open any documents
or programs.
A common misconception about power management is that it is necessary to save the user's open documents before
power management. This is rarely necessary because the Windows suspend modes automatically preserve open programs
and documents. In cases where this is necessary, PowerMAN offers a scriptable "Custom Actions" feature to
define a safe program shutdown strategy. We recommend that this feature is only used where absolutely necessary as the built-in
suspend features are very reliable and most likely to produce a consistent result. This is because document scripting must rely
on the behaviour of third-party software which may not always behave consistently. This is not a limitation of PowerMAN
and other manufacturers of reputable power management software make similar recommendations.
Will power management cause power surges or blow fuses?
No. When a PC is turned on the PSU can draw more power than at any other time.
This happens for a fraction of a second and occurs as the PSU capacitors 'charge' up.
If many computers (>10) are on the same circuit / phase and all turn on at EXACTLY the same
time this can cause a demand surge and ultimately may blow a fuse or trigger a circuit breaker.
In practice, this is
VERY unlikely to be a problem with PowerMAN because:
- It would only occur when using scheduled wake-up from the full shutdown (power-off) or hibernated state. Computers in the standby (sleep) state already have active power supplies.
- The schedule wake feature is only as accurate as the internal PC clock. In practice this is commonly +/- 5 seconds and it is very unlikely that a significant number of computers will all start at exactly the same time
If this problem is perceived to be a significant concern then the following should be considered:
- This is really a hypothetical problem! We have never seen this in a live deployment
- It may cost over £50 a year to 'play safe' and avoid this scenario completely
- The probable worst case is a blown fuse. It is unlikely to cause any other damage
- Wake-up times can always be staggered for different groups of computers
How do I migrate from the PowerMAN hosted reporting system to the (on-premise) PowerMAN Enterprise Server system?
Many organisations use the hosted PowerMAN reporting system for either evaluation purposes or as a complete live system.
The hosted platform has many advantages and is generally cost effective for organisations with less than approximately 2,000 computers.
In some situations it may be desirable to move from the hosted environment to the on-premise PowerMAN Enterprise Server (PMES) system.
Data Synergy offer a free data transfer service for customers upgrading to PMES. The following procedure explains the transfer
procedure for a live installation that is currently using the hosted reporting platform:
- Setup your own PMES server using the blank database supplied.
- Confirm the system is working with test data. The simplest way to do this is to manually configure a single PC to report to the server using Local Group Policy. Confirm the PMES server is working satisfactorily
- Stop the IIS server e.g. not accepting data from clients. Confirm that the website is inaccessible
- Prevent the clients from reporting to the hosted system. The best way to do this (if possible) is via the external firewall by blocking "*.pmstats.org". If this is not possible please contact Technical Support
- Confirm that data has stopped flowing to the hosted system - this should happen instantly
- Ask Data Synergy Technical Support to prepare a database export
- Restore the exported database to your SQL server replacing the test database previously used
- Update the client settings to use the new (private) reporting server
- Allow clients to start reporting to private server. This will happen after the next client reboot or PowerMAN service restart
NB: The most important step is point 2. This is vital to ensure that the changeover is clean. There are 28 days (by default) from this point before there is any risk of data discontinuity.
How do I migrate from the (on-premise) PowerMAN Enterprise Server reporting system to the hosted PowerMAN reporting system?
Data Synergy offer a free data transfer service for customers transferring to the hosted reporting system from PMES.
The following procedure explains the transfer procedure for a live installation that is currently using PMES.
The procedure is very similar to that described above for transfer to PMES:
- Disable your existing PMES server. The easiest way to do this is to disable the IIS website or block traffic with the server’s local firewall
- The client software will continue to record data locally and periodically attempt to transfer this to the server. This is harmless. Do NOT configure your client software to report to our hosted system just yet
- Backup your local PMES database and compress it (ZIP is ideal)
- Email Data Synergy Technical Support the compressed database. If the database is too large to email please contact Technical Support for advice
- We will extract the data from your database and load it into the hosted system
- We will then confirm the hosted system is ready to accept data from your deployment
- Update the client settings to use the hosted reporting platform (secure.pmstats.org)
- Allow clients to start reporting to hosted system (for instance by unblocking the external firewall). Data will start to flow after the next client reboot or PowerMAN service restart
NB: The most important step is point 2. This is vital to ensure that the changeover is clean. There are 28 days (by default) from this point before there is any risk of data discontinuity.
How do I migrate a PowerMAN Enterprise Server (PMES) system from one server to another?
To move the PowerMAN PMES IIS web component to another IIS server proceed as follows:
- Disable your existing PMES server. The easiest way to do this is to disable the IIS website or block traffic with the server’s local firewall
- Install PMES on the new server following the instructions in the Platform Installation Guide
- Configure the appropriate settings (including SQL database ‘connection string’) in the web.config file
- Update the client settings to use the new reporting server address
- Allow clients to start reporting to hosted system. This will happen after the next client reboot or PowerMAN service restart
NB: The most important step is point 1. This is vital to ensure that the changeover is clean. There are 28 days (by default) from this point before there is any risk of data discontinuity
To move the PowerMAN SQL database to another SQL server proceed as follows:
- Disable your existing PMES server. The easiest way to do this is to disable the IIS website or block traffic with the server’s local firewall
- Backup the SQL database following the instructions in the PMES Platform Installation Guide
- Restore the database to the new SQL server
- Update the SQL database ‘connection string’ in the web.config file to point to the new SQL server
- Re-enable the PMES server (for instance restart the website)
What is the PowerMAN internal shutdown timer?
Windows 2000, XP and 2003 directly support system shutdown on idle. On later operating systems this feature is implemented internally by
PowerMAN. In some cases it may be desirable to use the internal PowerMAN timer to work around problems with the Windows timer.
An example of this is when using shutdown scripts which are ignored by the Windows internal shutdown timer.
This feature is
disabled by default.
What is the difference between 32 and 64-bit PowerMAN?
Nothing! The PowerMAN client is a common executable (EXE) on all supported versions of Windows.
The client software is available in both 32-bit and 64-bit formats. The 32-bit version may be used in mixed 32/64-bit workstations
estates and offers identical features on 64-bit systems. The 64-bit version is provided to support 100% 64-bit environments.
If the 32-bit version is installed on a 64-bit system it is located in the \Windows\Syswow64 folder.
This is not in the standard command-prompt search path.
How do I manually backup the PowerMAN Enterprise Server SQL database?
The PowerMAN SQL database may be manually backed up at any time by following the procedure below:
- Open SQL Server Management Studio
- Navigate to Databases\PowerMAN5
- Right click and select Tasks\Back Up
- Select Backup type: Full
- Click Add
- Select an appropriate backup destination folder
- Enter an appropriate backup name: PowerMAN5-Full Database Backup
- Click OK
TIP: SQL Database backup files can be quite large. Often they will compress
very significantly using tools such as ZIP or WinRAR. Please compress SQL backup files before
sending them to Data Synergy Technical Support.
How do I configure my firewall to use the "*.pmstats.org" hosted reporting service?
Most PowerMAN deployments do not require specific firewall changes to operate. The service uses the industry standard HTTP/HTTPS protocol
and common TCP port numbers. The following section may be applicable if you operate a firewall or web proxy that requires
a specific rule to permit outgoing traffic.
The "*.pmstats.org" hosted reporting service has multiple sub-domains which are used for specific markets (e.g. UK, EU, US)
and multiple redundant IP addresses. Ideally firewalls should be configured to use the FQDN provided when the service is
provisioned and not a specific IP address. This will avoid configuration problems if the associated IP adddress should change in the future.
If your firewall configuration requires a specific IP address/range it should be configured to permit traffic to ALL of the following IP addresses
to ensure reliable operation.:
- 193.237.230.38/32
- 81.174.246.61/32
The public hosted reporting service is available on the following port(s):
- 443 - secure.pmstats.org (SSL)
What is PowerMAN Cloud / Hosted Reporting SSL Compatibility Mode?
The PowerMAN Cloud/Hosted reporting platform supports SSL encrypted operation. The majority of customers can access this
using the reporting URL:
https://secure.pmstats.org
PowerMAN client v5.3.0 and later support SSL encrypted data uploads. If not visible in the PowerMAN client settings,
this feature can be enabled in older client versions by uncommenting the SSL section in the Group Policy ADM/ADMX template.
PowerMAN client v5.5.x enables SSL data uploads by default. This enhances data security by encrypting anonymous PowerMAN reporting
data when it is uploaded over the Internet. The SSL feature can be disabled for use with private, non-Internet facing, reporting
servers but this is not recommended for customers using the public reporting platform.
To enable backwards compatibility with existing PowerMAN settings and legacy clients prior to v5.3, clients v5.5.x (before v5.5.4)
will switch into compatibility (non-SSL) mode when the following legacy server/port combinations are used:
- pmstats.org - ports 443 or 8080
- www.pmstats.org - ports 443 or 8080
- us.pmstats.org - ports 443 or 8080
This backwards compatibility feature was removed in PowerMAN client v5.5.4.6130. The legacy on-SSL reporting platform was discontinued in January 2023. We recommend that customers either upgrade to the latest client and enable SSL reporting at the earliest convenience.
How does PowerMAN work with "Modern" standby mode (S0ix, AoAc)
Windows 8 introduced a new "Modern" standby mode on the Microsoft "Surface" range. Subsequently, this mode has started to appear on other high-end Windows 10/11 portable devices and mini-PCs based on mobile chipsets.
This feature is sometimes also referred to as S0ix, S0 low-power idle or always-on/always-connected "AoAc".
The "Modern" standby mode requires special hardware support and allows the OS to retain much finer control whilst the device consumes less power. This means that applications such as email and
messaging clients can continue to periodically process data whilst the system is inactive. From a user perspective, a device in the "Modern" standby state has no display and appears to be "asleep".
In this respect, it is functionally the same as traditional sleep mode but capable of resuming instantly.
Portable devices that support "Modern" standby typically have SSD (fast) disks and do not support
the traditional S1-S3 "sleep" modes. Such devices retain S4 "hibernate" support as a fall back to protect user data when the battery is low.
PowerMAN client v5.5.4.6130 and later offer improved support for "Modern" standby and will use this state, if possible, when the administrator has selected "Sleep" as the low-power mode. This allows the
PowerMAN "sleep" action to be used seamlessly on both traditional and "Modern" standby devices. PowerMAN behaves as follows:
- "Modern" standby is treated as a valid power-saving mode, functionally equivalent to traditional "sleep" mode.
- "Modern" standby and AoAcConnectivity support are now detected and reported by the POWERMAN INFO command, the power management event log, and in the computer detail report (requires PMES v5.5.4).
- When "Modern" standby is present, PowerMAN will automatically enable hibernate to ensure a fall back power-saving mode is available. This is reported in event #4129.
- When "Modern" standby is present, a PowerMAN sleep on idle policy and the sleep button both enter modern standby correctly.
- When "Modern" standby is present, scheduled sleep and enforced sleep on idle may upgrade to hibernate (due to OS design). This may marginally increase resume time following a scheduled sleep operation. However, the user impact is limited because the "Modern" standby feature is typically enabled on devices with a (fast) SSD disk. This is resolved in PowerMAN v5.5.5.
- When "Modern" standby is present, scheduled wake-up may not occur at the precise time specified, the display may not turn on and, in some circumstances the system may return to the previous low-power state after a few minutes if no user is present (due to OS design).
Microsoft provides further information about "Modern" standby here:
Modern Standby