What is Landscape?

Landscape is a system management service that allows you to manage multiple Ubuntu machines as easily as one. Canonical Support customers can manage many machines in a complex environment through a single web-based interface. Simply register the machines in Landscape to gain control of numerous systems management and resourcing tools.

What does Landscape do?

Like many businesses yours is likely deploying more Ubuntu machines running more applications and packages. This requires more administration. Additionally, environments are becoming increasingly complex with virtualized machines and appliances running as peers to standard software applications. Ubuntu on server and desktop can run the lot but you need control. That's where Landscape fits in. There is the package and security updates management you might expect, but Canonical Landscape has also built in a host of additional monitoring, user control, process management, inventory control and support enhancement tools that we describe in detail below.

How do I access Landscape?

Landscape is free of charge to all of Canonical's support customers. As part of your annual subscription you are allowed unlimited access to this powerful tool that will reduce the cost of ownership in your Linux environment significantly. As you consider which platforms to focus your environment on and which contract to take in order to support those decisions consider what Landscape is offering as part of the Canonical support offering.

Features of Landscape

System Management Features

  • Manage many machines at once: All operations in Landscape can be applied to one or more machines with the same ease.
  • Group machines to match your needs: Not all machines need to form a single group. You can split machines into multiple groups for different requirements but all can be administered through a single interface.
  • Manage packages across the network: Landscape allows you to see a package inventory for each computer and allow administrators to install, upgrade, or remove packages from one or more computers.
  • Integrate custom repositories: If you maintain your own repository even internally Landscape can report on and manage the packages in it.
  • Manage users easily: System users may all be managed from a central interface, and may have actions delivered to be performed in one or more systems in a comfortable way.
  • Handle security updates efficiently: Landscape highlights those package upgrades with security fixes (with links to detailed information) ensuring any vulnerabilities are dealt with as quickly as possible
  • Support disconnected users: Users who disconnect from the network can be handled asynchronously with updates provided when they next get online.

System Monitoring Features

  • Quickly understand system resource usage: Landscape constantly monitors your system's health and performance, and graphs that data in ways that let you quickly pinpoint bottlenecks or other problem areas.
  • Manage processes centrally: A simple web interface shows you all the recently active processes running across all your systems and lets you search and manage those centrally.
  • Maintain a detailed hardware inventory: Landscape removes the complexity from hardware inventory by showing complete and easy to understand hardware information for all your systems.
  • Simplify security audits: Auditing and security are simplified with Landscape's detailed history logs that display actions performed by all administrators, even if they were performed locally on the machines themselves without using Landscape.
  • Access full package information: The convenient web interface allows browsing of all packages installed, available, and available for upgrading, on all registered machines, including security notices.

Enhanced Support Experience

  • Streamline exchange of information with the Canonical support team: Our support experts receive read-only information on hardware and configurations that will allow them to more rapidly diagnose and resolve tickets.
  • Access the integrated support portal: Administrators can log, view and track support cases right in Landscape, this providing all your management needs in a single convenient location.

How do I get Landscape

  • Sign up for a free trial: Ubuntu users are invited to register for a free trial at www.canonical.com/landscape/register. Trials will be restricted to users who register 5 or more machines on the system. The free trial lasts for 60 days.
  • Benefit from Landscape now: Landscape is free to Canonical support customers who will be contacted with details. Customers should contact their account manager to activate their accounts.
  • Landscape without support: It is possible to get the goodness of Landscape even if commercial support is not immediately required. Priced at $150/year per node users can apply for precise interest at www.canonical.com/landscape/register