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We are thrilled to announce the new home of Cool Solutions -- on the Novell Communities site at www.novell.com/communities

This site was built using the popular open source tool called Drupal (Drupal.org), and it is a doozy. In addition to Cool Solutions, the community site is the new home for Novell Users International (NUI), and PartnerNet partners also have a secure section in which they can work with each other and with Novell. There is a lot to be gained from using one community infrastructure to house all those communities. For example, you'll be able to see when NUI events are taking place near you, in case you want to join in. And some of your AppNotes and Installation articles can be leveraged for NUI Install Fests. (Some chapters may even invite you to present your solutions at an event!)

The site uses Novell Login. You can read all of Cool Solutions without logging in, but if you login you'll be able to post comments, rate content, submit content, post in the forums, etc. Just click the Login link on the page header and get busy.

Migrating Content

We decided to only migrate the content that was posted on Cool Solutions throughout 2007 (since there is a TON of content dating back to 1996 in there, some of which is obsolete by now), so we are keeping the Classic Cool site in place as a repository of Cool Solutions Vault material pre-2007. (The Free Tools are one exception to that rule: we brought every tool forward into the new site.)

We're still hard at work on the migration, so don't despair if you're looking for something on the new site that you know was posted in 2007. You can still find it in the Classic Cool Vaults.

Migrating Author Accounts

This is a little trickier than migrating content. If you are an existing Cool Solutions author (meaning you have an Author Page on Classic Cool), you might have some login conflicts. We had to create temporary user accounts for the authors whose work we imported into the site, and obviously we didn't know each person's Novell Login username. We did our best to sync up via the email accounts associated with your Novell Login, but we are certain to have missed some of you.

If you login and you get an error that indicates there's already someone with your name registered, it's because we couldn't sync you up. Here's what you do to help us sync up your accounts:

• Login at www.novell.com/communities using your Novell Login. (If you don't have one yet, create one.) You have to login on the site at least once so the system logs you as a user.
• Email us at coolguys@novell.com and tell us your Novell Login user name. Also include the link to your Author Page so we make sure we have your name right.

We'll take that information and go adjust your account so you can login properly.

Submit Content for Rewards Points

We are continuing the Novell Rewards program. However, since it's so easy to submit content via the new site (rather than emailing it to us), things will work a little differently.

Check this section of the Site Help for details on how to submit content and earn points.

Disclaimer: As with everything else at Cool Solutions, this content is definitely not supported by Novell (so don't even think of calling Support if you try something and it blows up).

It was contributed by a community member and is published "as is." It seems to have worked for at least one person, and might work for you. But please be sure to test, test, test before you do anything drastic with it.