GroupWise Cool Solutions

DBCOPY Cleanup Tool

soundsolutionsinc — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 16:30:28 -0700

BACKGROUND:
We use DBCOPY to stage our GroupWise backups to a different location on the server. This function works just fine in the background. The problem is that the files from the target server are not deleted if they no longer exist in the source server. So they will just stay there over time. Until now.

Using a tool called AutoDelete from Cyber-D, you can now schedule the older files to be purged from your staging area. Simply download this free utility at http://cyber-d.blogspot.com/2005/10/cyber-ds-auto-... (yup, free). Configure the paths for the folder structure that you want pruned, set the period of time that you want to search for (since we perform daily DBCOPYs, there's no need to keep anything older than 2 days).

Our DBCOPY kicks off at 8pm and our AutoDelete will kick off daily at 2am, pruning anything older than two days. DBCOPY runs from our NetWare servers, but I am setting up AutoDelete on one of our GroupWise servers running on Windows to prune all of the other NetWare servers.

WARNING:
If we request a restore to the DBCOPY area from tape, the Cyber-D AutoDelete tool will wipe that area clean of old files, so our restores need to be finished before the 8pm DBCOPY and the 2AM AutoDelete.

I initially found this tool to remove files in a folder that were older than 30 days and it has done a great job in doing so. I then used it on a folder that normally gets files deleted after 30 days, but I was finding that it needed to be cleaned out more frequently. Since I could not alter the purging period of the existing tool, AutoDelete came in really handy.

You'll find other uses for this tool in no time!

This is Freeware, please consider donating (I have no affiliation with this product or company). I believing in supporting companies who produce tools that work.

Cool Solutions

Leicester City Council Success Story

coolguys — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:12:36 -0700

Challenge:

Leicester City Council wanted to migrate to a more modern and flexible operating system for core services such as file serving, print management, user management and networking.

Equally, the Council wanted to replace its existing Pegasus Mail solution, which lacked integrated calendaring and collaboration tools, and left users reliant on e-mail to set up internal and external meetings.

Novell Solution:

Leicester City Council opted to migrate its existing network, file and print services to Novell Open Enterprise Server running on SUSE® Linux Enterprise. The Council deployed the software on new HP servers with HP EVA storage arrays.

"Novell Open Enterprise Server running on Linux gave us continuity with our previous ways of working, combined with new options for the future," said Kamal Kotecha, Server Manager for Leicester City Council. "We were able to continue using the rich set of Novell tools to manage our network resources, which meant that the transition and training costs were low."

For its new e-mail and collaboration platform, Leicester City Council chose to implement Novell GroupWise. For all office-based employees and the many staff based in social welfare centres, museums and leisure centres, Novell GroupWise provides a single, integrated personal workspace for e-mail, calendaring and collaboration.

Read the complete success story here –>
http://www.novell.com/success/leicester.html

Cool Solutions

Webinar - The Novell Integrated Help Desk and Free BrainShare passes for eligible purchases

GroupLink1 — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 14:07:51 -0700

Are you planning on attending BrainShare this year and can't quite get the budget to attend? Are you in need of a help desk that integrates with your Novell environment? GroupLink would like to help you out!

GroupLink's everything HelpDesk solution, the Novell Integrated Help Desk Solution, features critical Novell integration:

- Schedule appointments, tasks and receive email notifications with GroupWise email and calendaring integration
- Manage your assests with NEW! powerful ZEN 10 integration
- Authenticate your users with essential eDirectory integration
- Lower overall costs by leveraging your current Novell technology

If you purchase at least 3 technician licenses of everything HelpDesk before the end of the year, you will receive a free BrainShare pass*. To kick off this great promotion and to learn more about how this solution can benefit your organization we have planned a special webinar. This webinar will feature Angie Veach, from Carrol Consolidated School Corp. She will discuss how this Novell integration has helped her organization be more effective and lower overall costs.

Date: December 3
Time: 11:00 am Eastern
Link: http://www.grouplink.net/redir.asp?id=2009102902

* of for new customers only, cannot be combined with any other promotion or discount.

Cool Solutions

Early Bird Discount: Save $300 on BrainShare

mattclayton — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 13:31:43 -0700

Novell has taken steps to make BrainShare more affordable by dropping the full price of the conference from US$1,895.00 to US$1,695.00. You can save an additional $300 with the "early bird" registration. The "early bird" rate of US$1,395.00 will be available until February 19, 2010. Learn more at http://www.novell.com/brainshare

Cool Solutions

Stubbing confusion - It just doesn't work that way

richardbliss — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Stubbing. The issue continues to be discussed with a lot of claims being made. Stubbing is a function of email archiving. You can't stub unless you have an archiving solution. All, 100%, every single one of the GroupWise vendors offering archiving solutions support stubbing in GroupWise. But, just because they support it doesn't mean that it is a good idea.

Jay Parker, a very skilled and distinguished engineer for the GroupWise team asked me today why I keep beating up on stubbing.

Here is my answer:

Why do you stub? Mainly you stub in the hopes of reducing your GroupWise message store. You want to reduce your GroupWise message store so you have better performance, faster backups, and more stability.

That is all good. But what do you have to do in order to achieve this level of success with stubbing. Ah, here is the question and the core of the confusion. Recently a vendor claimed that stubbing can possibly reduce your GroupWise mailbox by 80-90%. The claim in based on attachments taking up the majority of your mailbox size and if you stub out the attachments, then presto, your GroupWise message store is reduced. NOT!

Look, GroupWise is an extremely scalable, robust, stable product for a reason. It has something called Single Instance Storage. This means if you have 100 users on a Post Office and send them all a file that is 10 MB in size, you don't end up with 1 GB of disk usage (100 users x 10 Mb = 1 GB), instead you simply have a single copy of the file at 10MB with everyone pointing to the file.
This is the simple part. It is clean and easy.
Now, let's stub that 10 MB file attachment and see if we achieve a 80-90% decrease in our message store for GroupWise.

First, who is going to be stubbed? Who makes this decision? Does everyone have the same policy, or is the their a hierarchy of needs where some people in the organization don't want to or can't use stubbing?
For example. Mobile users on mobile devices can't see their messages if they are stubbed. Web Access users can't see their files. Mac and Linux client users can't see their files, only Windows clients.
Is their an age policy of files with exceptions for Executives?

With all of this now decided, let's look at what happens to the file that is being stubbed.

100 people received the 10 MB file. There is only one copy of the file in the message store. The decision is made to stub everything older than 60 days, or bigger than 5 MB, or whatever reason.

Okay, off goes the stubbing and pulls it out of the GroupWise message store and places it in an archive that also has single instance storage. This means even though multiple users are moving in their data, only 1 copy exists in the archive. Ideally, the 10 MB file should be out of GroupWise and in the Archive, thus reducing GroupWise by 100% for this file, or 10MB.

BUT WAIT....did 100% of the 100 users meet the stubbing requirements? Are 100% on Windows, do 100% not need access via WebAccess, and are 100% in the same archiving policy group, meaning no one is an exception.

Because if even 1 person is an exception, for whatever reason, then that 10MB file stays in GroupWise, with ZERO reduction in the message store. You now have a 10MB file in GroupWise AND a 10MB file in your Archive. You didn't reduce your disk requirements, you actually increased them. And at the same time you introduced a level of complexity to your message system without any of the benefits of a smaller GroupWise system.

The claim that 80-90% of your message store can be reduced with stubbing is flat out wrong and irresponsible to suggest. The requirements to meet this number are so strict and confining that it is nearly impossible to achieve.

You can't stub a single mailbox and reduce the message store significantly unless certain situations are met.

First, the majority of the files with attachments are sent to a group inside the GroupWise system that ALL are stubbed together.

Second, a large number of files with attachments are sent outside of the GroupWise message store.
These two circumstances will allow you to drastically reduce your GW system, but again, one person, one user, one exception, and it all is for nothing.

I'm not bashing Stubbing, I'm bashing the misinformation that is being pushed as a reason to adopt stubbing. If you are implementing this feature, be very sure that you realize how you must configure your stubbing to limit the exceptions. Otherwise you are simply creating a bigger problem than you are solving.

I have created a short video that explains what I'm talking about. You can find it at:
http://richardbliss.typepad.com/richardblissblog/2...

Workgroup Cool Solutions

GWAVA to Support Pulse

GWAVAComm — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 15:01:52 -0700

GWAVA, a Novell Collaboration Partner, is planning support for Novell Pulse, the recently announced real-time collaboration initiative that supports Google Wave protocols. GWAVA's focus on collaboration data security and its long history of expertise with Novell technology means that communication security and data management will be available when Novell Pulse ships in 2010.

GWAVA has worked with Novell to provide data archiving, anti-virus and anti-spam, disaster recovery, and ediscovery tools for Novell Teaming and Novell GroupWise. Nearly 50% of the worldwide Novell collaboration market relies on a GWAVA solution.

“There is a strong need for security in the new real-time collaboration space,” stated Charles Taite, CTO for GWAVA. “Novell's involvement with Google Wave draws upon the greatest strengths of both organizations. GWAVA intends to continue our support of this market.”

Cool Solutions

Ken Muir, Novell CTO For Novell Workgroup, to Keynote GWAVACon Las Vegas 2010

GWAVAComm — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 15:00:16 -0700

GWAVA is pleased to announce that Ken Muir, Chief Technology and Strategy Officer for Workgroup at Novell, will be the keynote speaker at GWAVACon in Las Vegas 2010. Mr. Muir, responsible for Novell’s Collaboration Strategy, will discuss Novell’s role in the future of collaboration in the enterprise. Mr. Muir’s presentation will be given on January 24, 2010 at the Marriott Renaissance in Las Vegas.

“Ken Muir is a dynamic speaker, bringing a new level of energy to the Novell community,” says Richard Bliss, GWAVA Vice President of Marketing Worldwide. “The recent Novell Pulse announcement with Google demonstrates the leadership that Mr. Muir has brought to the Novell community. We couldn’t ask for a better speaker for GWAVACon attendees.”

GWAVACon presents an important opportunity for Novell and its partners to communicate updates, strategy and releases to its community. Previous GWAVACons have been held in Berlin and Munich, Germany; Sydney, Australia; Dallas, Texas; San Diego, California; and in 2009 Las Vegas, Nevada. Keynote speakers have included executives from Nokia and RIM, as well as John Dragoon, Chief Marketing Officer for Novell, Volker Smid, President of Novell EMEA, and in January of 2008 in San Diego, Ron Hovsepian, Novell CEO.

GWAVACon is the conference with total access to the top engineers and experts in the world on GroupWise and GroupWise solutions. Novell employees who work at the heart of GroupWise, GroupWise gurus and GroupWise expert speakers and vendors from around the world join GWAVA to offer attendees the most up-to-date information about GroupWise. In addition to the GroupWise focus, additional tracks on Novell ZENworks and SUSE Linux are offered. It also features hands-on advanced technical training for GWAVA products such as Reload, Retain and Vertigo. GWAVACon will be held in Las Vegas January 24-26, 2010. To register for GWAVACon, go to www.gwavacon.com.

Workgroup Cool Solutions

Messaging Architects Awards Danville School District's Christel Powell for her Commitment to GroupWise and the M+Platform

Messaging Architects — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 11:11:31 -0700

Messaging Architects Names Danville School District's Christel Powell as a GroupWise and M+ Champion

Messaging Architects is pleased to recognize Christel Powell, Manager of Information Systems for Danville School District, as a GroupWise Champion. Christel received a $50 Amazon Gift Certificate for being an active participant in the GroupWise 8 Beta program and one of the earliest proponents of M+Archive, which leverages the new GW8 Stubbing API.

Located in central Illinois, Danville School District relies on Novell GroupWise for its collaboration system. Powell is constantly looking for ways to keep her messaging system lean and efficient, and offer the latest collaboration features to her users, so she was eager to participate in the early GroupWise 8 beta. Stubbing was one of the key new features she was looking forward to testing and deploying.

To fully maximize the investment in her collaboration system, Christel Powell takes advantage of Messaging Architects’ M+Platform. Danville School District is a long-time user of M+Guardian to keep its messaging environment spam and virus free. The biggest benefit for Powell is that she doesn’t have to touch the M+Guardian box.

Another example of Powell's proactive approach was her role in instituting an email archiving policy prior to the federal statute being passed. To help support and enforce that policy and provide end users with easy access to their email archives, Danville School District uses the robust capabilities of M+Archive.

"Any time I have a question, the Messaging Architects support team is there to offer timely help and advice," says Christel Powell.

In the years Messaging Architects has been working with the Danville School District, we've been impressed by Powell's constant focus on taking advantage of GroupWise's latest features to keep her users happy and push her messaging system to the next level. The phrase "status quo" is definitely not part of her vocabulary. However, she couples her affinity for new technology with good judgment and has become a trusted voice in her district when it comes to recommending and defending technology. As a result, GroupWise and M+Platform play a mission-critical role in Danville School District's messaging infrastructure.

Cool Solutions

European Exclusive Webinar - Inform GMBH Help Desk Success Story

GroupLink1 — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 10:01:11 -0700

Inetra and GroupLink have teamed up to bring you an exclusive European help desk success story with Inform GMBH. This webinar will be held on:

Date: Wednesday, November 18
Time: 10:00 am Central European Time
Registration Link: http://www.grouplink.net/redir.asp?id=2009102901

Attend this webinar to see how Inform GMBH uses GroupLink's everything HelpDesk as its premier help desk solution. Inform GMBH is one of many GroupLink customers in Europe, including:

Blohm + Voss Industries
Mesco Engineering GmbH
Univ of Music and Dramatic Arts Graz
Raiffeisen Centrobank AG
Zonnelied vzw

In this webinar see how Inform uses everything HelpDesk to:

- Turn emails into tickets for easy tracking until the ticket is closed
- Keep end users up to date on the progress of their ticket
- Ensure that tickets don't slip through the cracks by using the scheduler/ticket batch system

GroupLink is the provider of the everything HelpDesk solution and has been a Novell partner for the past 15 years. http://www.novell.com/partnerguide/product/208678....

This fully web-based solution integrates with your email and calendaring systems, provides a powerful, yet easy-to use submission form and can be used by multiple departments for request resolution tracking and workflow management.

Cool Solutions

PortaMail Live

Quartz Development — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 15:25:25 -0700

PortaMail Live is our new PortaMail product. It enables users to finally synchronize their GroupWise Calendar, Contacts, Tasks and Email directly with their device over the air without the need for third party server software or desktop PC.

It's so simple to use, ask your administrator to switch on SOAP on the GroupWise server and note the SOAP port used, configure PortaMail Live on your device and sync.

Supports secure sockets if the server supports them, security certificates can be created by a Console One plugin and need to be applied to your Post Office for SSL to work.

Email
You can include attachments.
You can synchronize either today's emails or a previous number of days worth of emails.
Select the actual mailboxes you want to synchronize.
Filter either un-read or read messages.
Calendar
Select the sync window for the amount of data you want to keep up to date.
You control the amount of data that stays on your handheld device.
Synchronizes device repeating calendar items to GroupWise.
Contacts
Select multiple Address Books within GroupWise. Select the default GroupWise Address Book for new device Contacts to be created.
Tasks
Select the sync window for the amount of data you want to keep up to date.
You control the amount of data that stays on your handheld device.

System Requirements:

Windows Mobile 5.0/6.0/6.1/6.5 + touch screen device.
Microsoft Windows® 9.x, ME, NT 4, NT 2000, 2003, XP, Vista, Windows 7.
Microsoft ActiveSync version 4.5 and above or Windows Mobile Device Center.
GroupWise 7.x/8.x.

download url:
http://www.quartzdevelopment.com/Trial/PortaMailLiveSetup.exe

Cool Solutions