coolguys's blog

ZENworks Pulsar Beta 1 is now in the hands of a team of beta testers and customers across the globe.

We are all excited to reach this milestone; ever closer to announcement and release.

Time to get blogging. My next post will cover the installation of your first ZENworks Pulsar primary server.

Written at: Singapore

I'm in Singapore at the Asia Pacific Partner Academy; we are training partners on the forthcoming 'ZENworks Pulsar' release. It's just gone beta 1.

One question that came up:

How do I integrate ZENworks 7 with Active Directory?

Well - here are the links.

Here is a really cool article from Novell Connection Magazine; it's from December 2004 and refers to ZENworks 6.5 - but the concepts are valid today.

Also take a look at the Novell Wiki.

Here is how to integrate the ZENworks Middle Tier with a Layer 4 switch; here are the Middle Tier Best Practices.

There have also been several BrainShare sessions on Windows only management. I'll try and find the links to presentations and re-post them here.

Update: 31st January 2007

I found several presentations that I hope will help. Thanks to Mark Schouls for getting much of this documented.

ZENworks 7 - Design and Deployment Best Practices

ZENworks 7 - ZENmaster Architecture

Also the ZENworks 7 documentation has a useful section on integration with Windows and Active Directory. ZENworks 7 SP1 includes Novell Identity Manager 3 Bundle Edition - which is also documented for integrating eDirectory and Active Directory.

Written at: Singapore

One comment on my previous post about beta programs triggered this post.

Just so I understand..is “Pulsar” now the new name for “Brimstone”?

Paul DeSousa

The short answer - yes.

The long answer  covers a lot of our thinking about architecture changes in ZENworks.

The codename for the architecture within future versions of ZENworks is Brimstone. I have written a lot on this subject; but my post from July 2006 covers most points.

The key pieces are still valid:

1. unify and integrate the product components and architectures
2. provide a single management console which is web based
3. unify all backend services to use a single, database repository with a published schema.
4. utilise a single pluggable agent on the managed client device
5. allow seamless, yet powerful integration with corporate identity directories - Novell eDirectory and Microsoft Active Directory
6. allow rapid deployment and installation across your enterprise

Novell will be delivering many products against this architecture. During the next year expect to see at least four releases of our core ZENworks products running on this new platform.

The first release will be the next release of our Windows desktop management product - that is the project we have codenamed ZENworks Pulsar.

I hope this helps clarify things. BrainShare 2007 will be an interesting week.

Written at: Draper, UT

I blogged a few weeks ago about the ZENworks 'Pulsar' beta program. We were flooded with requests.

Unfortunately not all respondants will be selected for the program.

I received one mail that said:

I keep applying for beta - why don't I get accepted? How can I get on a beta program?

This post will look into the beta program in more detail - and answer the questions above.

Posted at: Draper, UT

First let's look at why we run closed beta programs.

The primary reason is to test out all of the features of a new release of a product before general availability.

Some beta programs last for weeks; others for months. (The Microsoft Windows Vista beta program lasted for over a year.) During this time the beta program manager will run weekly calls asking testers to try specific areas of functionality. During a longer beta program there may be several releases of the software - "beta 1", "beta 2" and then a "release candidate". Each release improves on the one before.

The other reason for testing with customers is to find all of the issues in a real world environment. Novell tests extensively internally - including scale and performance tests in the SuperLab - but nothing compares to the quirks of your environments.

The beta survey is the first step to the closed beta program. This is where you give information on why you want to help test and what your environment looks like. Usually we ask about your servers, desktops and infrastructure. We also ask how much time you can give to test.

We then take the results of the surveys and start sorting.

Novell is very selective in who we release preview and beta technologies to. We prefer independent corporate entities to participate; we do not select competitors, press or those just looking to 'kick the tyres'.

Second we are looking for certain profiles of customers; of a certain size, OS mix, site numbers, WAN infrastructure. These change with the various programs.

Thirdly we select based on past performance. Good closed beta customers often come from the public betas.

So my top tips for getting onto a Novell beta?

• Let us know why your environment helps us test. Are you able to dedicate a lot of time, or do you have an interesting configuration?
• Be realistic about the time you can spend testing.
• Join a public beta program and share information back to the product teams. Your comments are heard. Vocal testers tend to 'self-select' for future betas.
• If you get selected for a closed beta - use it to mutual advantage. Let us know what is good or bad about the product. Use it. Test it. Again - good beta testers move to the top of the list for the next program.
• Use your Novell contacts to advocate for you. Account managers, technical specialists, support people - they can all recommend.

If you have more questions about the beta programs run by Novell - stop by the Novell beta programs booth at BrainShare this year!

Posted at: Draper, UT

Most readers will know Novell Cool Solutions - they have been providing hints and tips and generally cool stuff to Novell customers for over ten years now!

I'm writing this as I feel a little guilty; I used to write articles for Cool Solutions. Now I blog here. Shame on me.

To redress this imbalance I am thinking of taking the best of my posts; adding a little more information for Cool Solutions and adding in the best comments, questions and answers from you our readers. It should give a condensed but complete view of a particular aspect of ZENworks.

What do you think? Would this be helpful? Leave your comments here.

Written at: Draper, UT (in 8" of fresh snow!)

I wrote about Vista - since then I have had a flood of emails - I'll try and answer them here:
Firstly - VMware Workstation 6 is in beta.

My friends at VMware let me know about that and got me on the beta. So far it's looking great with Vista as a host - and there are slew of new features.

Secondly - many people asked 'is it worth the switch from XP?'

Difficult question. If you have a burning need for x86_64 support, or if you have pretty good hardware and a good end-user training program - then a qualified 'maybe'.

Thirdly - I've been asked about ZENworks and the Novell Client.

Good news. The next version of ZENworks will be in beta in January - that will support Vista.

The second piece of news - and I have the scoop here - is that Jason Williams let me know that the Vista Client will be available as a technology preview in January with release in mid-2007.

I'll be working on some ZENworks Pulsar posts over the break - so see you then.

Happy Christmas and here's looking forward to a great 2007.

Written at: Draper, Utah