ZENworks Community Builds

ZENworks 10 Configuration Management SP3 (10.3) Beta 3

misorensen — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 08:39:17 -0700

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Installation

ZENworks 10 Configuration Management SP3 (10.3) is available as a full installation or via System Update for this beta release. Full installation instructions can be found in the file titled readme_zcm103beta3_download_instructions.pdf in the beta download area.

What’s New in this Build?

Please see the What's New section of the product documentation.

Known Issues

Please see the Beta 3 Readme for a list of known issues with this release.

Documentation

The full documentation, including a more comprehensive list of known issues, can be found at http://www.novell.com/documentation/beta/zcm10/

Beta License Keys

The following beta license keys are available for testing Beta 3:

71AF6546-17E8F9243581 - ZCM Beta
C056F790-12C648260E4D - ZAM Beta
F7A28B06-AA73FD8DA82A - Asset Inventory Beta

Report Bugs

How to Log a Bug Using Novell's Bugzilla

ZENworks Community Builds

BrainShare 2010 Partner Promotions!

dlythgoe — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 09:49:43 -0700

I received an email this last week from GroupLink about a promotion they are doing around their products and BrainShare 2010. I thought it would be a great idea to collect all of these promotions and post them together in a single place. A blog seems like the perfect medium!

I only have this one promotion right now, but I am sure there are several others that will be made available. Please send them to me or post in this blog's comment section so that everyone can see what is available.

Of course, we want everyone to come to BrainShare and get the very most out of this technical conference. There are many new changes to BrainShare this year and a few throwbacks from previous conferences. I am very excited about seeing all of our customers, partners and friends. We want everyone who wants to come to be there. I hope that a few of these types of promotions/contests/giveaways/discounts will enable all of you to be there.

GroupLink

We at GroupLink would really like to do all that we can to ensure that BrainShare 10 is a great event! We would love to have as many people attend as possible. To help this happen, we have created a great promotion and detailed it on Novell Cool Solutions. http://www.grouplink.net/redir.asp?id=2009111101

The first 30 people who purchase GroupLink's everything HelpDesk, before the end of this year, and mention this email will receive a free BrainShare pass!*

Contact:
Casey Trujillo
Sales Manager, everything HelpDesk, the Novell Integrated Help Desk
GroupLink Corporation
Novell Silver Partner for 15 years
801‑335‑0708

*For new customers only. Minimum purchase of 3 user licenses, cannot be combined with other offers.

Workgroup Cool Solutions

ZENworks 10 Configuration Management SP3 (10.3) Beta 2

misorensen — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 21:38:10 -0600

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Download
Installation
What's New?
Known Issues
Documentation
Beta License Keys
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Download Build >

Installation

ZENworks 10 Configuration Management SP3 (10.3) is available as a full installation only for this beta release. Full installation instructions can be found in the product documentation at http://www.novell.com/documentation/beta/zcm10/.

What’s New in this Build?

Please see the What's New section of the product documentation.

Known Issues

Please see the Beta 2 Readme for a list of known issues with this release.

Documentation

The full documentation, including a more comprehensive list of known issues, can be found at http://www.novell.com/documentation/beta/zcm10/

Beta License Keys

The following beta license keys are available for testing Beta 2:

71AF6546-17E8F9243581 - ZCM Beta
C056F790-12C648260E4D - ZAM Beta
F7A28B06-AA73FD8DA82A - Asset Inventory Beta

Report Bugs

How to Log a Bug Using Novell's Bugzilla

ZENworks Community Builds

Free beta ZENworks Cert Exam

stessier — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 20:16:14 -0600

Just wanted to share some info on how to register and take (for free) the upcoming Certified Novell ZENworks Administrator exam at a testing center near you. The exam is in beta and is available to be taken for free but only during the week of October 12-17.

http://now.eloqua.com/es.asp?s=1163&e=12297&elq=f5...

The exam is based on ZENworks 10 Configuration Management, and the certification is ZENworks-specific, to provide a record of competency with ZCM 10. Only 125 spots are available, so be sure to register soon if interested. And don't forgot to provide feedback too.

Good luck!

ZENworks Cool Solutions

ZENworks 10 Configuration Management SP3 (10.3) Beta 1

misorensen — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 08:16:53 -0600

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Download
Installation
What's New?
Known Issues
Documentation
Beta License Keys
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Download Build >

Installation

New for this release, ZCM is also available as a virtual appliance, which is available for download on the download page.

What’s New in this Build?

Please see the What's New section of the product documentation.

Known Issues

Please see the Beta 1 Readme for a list of known issues with this release.

Documentation

The full documentation, including a more comprehensive list of known issues, can be found at http://www.novell.com/documentation/beta/zcm10/

Beta License Keys

The following beta license keys are available for testing Beta 1:

71AF6546-17E8F9243581 - ZCM Beta
C056F790-12C648260E4D - ZAM Beta
F7A28B06-AA73FD8DA82A - Asset Inventory Beta

Report Bugs

How to Log a Bug Using Novell's Bugzilla

ZENworks Community Builds

ZENworks Application Virtualization 7.1

lpitt — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 10:59:37 -0600

So, you may or may not have spotted yet (and if not then please explain to me: Why is Download.novell.com not your homepage?) but we have a new release of ZENworks Application Virtualization. Since the purpose of a Blog is to let us speak directly with you about 'new stuff' I'm going to take some time out here and talk about the changes in this new product version.

(Notice, no pre-amble this time. Straight to the point. Succinct. I'm interested to know what is preferred - do people want to hear about 'a day in the life of Product Management', or should we lose the waffle and cut to the chase?)

The product version for this new release will be 7.1. It's not a major update, just some fixes and enhancements that were requested from the field (you!).

Platform Support

We are including support for running Virtualized applications on Windows 7. This will help you to migrate from Windows XP (or Vista anyone?) to Windows 7, whilst at the same time reducing or removing any need to have lengthy product/application compatibility testing programs. Whilst we realise that you will still want to test all those older applications - or possibly have a need to upgrade them - as part of a move to this new platform, we also realise that time and resource is of the essence. Providing the ability to run these applications as ZENworks Virtualized Applications on Windows 7 will simplify the migration process, and allow you the time to test/upgrade those applications outside the pressure of an operating system migration.

Application Expiration

It is now possible to configure an application - at build time - so that it will only work for a set number of days, or will expire on a set date. At the same time messages can be set to warn the user of the application status; one message for 'Application is to expire in xx days', and another 'This application has expired' when it is out of date.

General Enhancements

A new setting to isolate Virtual application window instances from non-virtual application window instances. This will prevent any interaction between 'installed' and 'virtualized' versions of the same application running no a device.

The supported runtimes have been enhanced. We now include SQL Server 2005 Express and improvements in the .Net 3.5 Client Profile.

The method of publishing an application that is USB drive optimized has been improved. When a virtualized application is created specifically for use on a USB drive it will now do three things:

When the USB drive is connected the application on it will be registered to the workstation
When the USB drive is disconnected the application on it will be de-registered from the workstation
The USB drive becomes the sandbox for the application, making this type of virtualized application truly portable between devices and ensuring that NO footprint is left on the host device.

Finally, we have a new tool: XREG

This controls the methods of registration for a virtualized application with the host device, benefits of the XREG command are:

It is possible to register a virtual application with a host device, this means that file associations and shortcuts can be created and managed automatically.
Allows for multiple virtual applications to be registered to a 'shared' sandbox location on the host workstation
Used to unregister a virtual application and remove all associated settings.

So, there you go. Get on over to http://download.novell.com and give it a try. As ever there is a test licence included with the download.

Thanks for reading!!

ZENworks Cool Solutions

ZENworks Application Virtualization - What XLayers

lpitt — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 02:08:13 -0600

In my last blog I talked about how ZENworks Application Virtualization saved me a lot of grief when presenting with Impress on a customer site. However I have now spent a couple of weeks meeting and talking with other customers, and it's clear that we have features in the product which are not getting enough airtime — something I plan to start putting right with this entry.

When we talk about Application Virtualization the product story fits very nicely to our core product values:

Simplify
Reduce/Manage Costs
Control Risks

This is all great, but the normal conversation only takes us as far as the normal product use cases which are:

Deployment of packaged applications for simple installation and repair
Providing applications that can be installed to a locked-down and managed environment
Allowing people to run versions of applications either alongside incompatible versions (testing), or on non-compatible operating systems (Vista/IE6).

Outside of this there is actually a great way that ZENworks Application Virtualization can benefit your business with feature which you probably use all the time in packaging automatically, but when used as a custom feature can really assist in application and version control.

The XLayer

So what is an XLayer?

These are quite simply a type of file that can be used to package components that are then available to be used with applications. Each XLayer contains all of the virtual registry and files that a component needs, meaning that they can be installed to a virtual application very simply.

Why do I want to use XLayers?

The most common use case for ZENworks Application that we discuss is to deploy a browser. How many of you have (for example) requirements for multiple JAVA versions to access applications? This is very common.

Using an XLayer you can create a common version of the browser, and then separate JAVA XLayer instances that can be automatically by the build as required.

If you then combine this with ZENworks Configuration Management Application Deployment the result is an incredibly slick way of not only deploying virtual applications, but also having version control abilities around the different plug-ins and web-methods that are used.

So how difficult are they to build?

XLayers are very simple to build.

In the ZENworks Application Virtualization console configure your settings exactly as you would for a normal application
On the settings pane, select Component from the Project Type menu
Press the Build button

The difference is that having selected Component from the project type your output will now be an XLayer file rather than an executable. This means that the XLayer cannot be run as a separate piece of code, only as part of a virtualized application.

Next time I plan to discuss some of the new ZENworks Configuration Management features which we have introduced with the ZENworks Application Virtualization 7.0 release this year.

Thank you for reading!

ZENworks Cool Solutions

What to do if you find a USB stick?

rvanherk — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 08:49:43 -0600

Trying to find the right balance between cost and a certain security level is something many customers have problems with. What is the return on the investment on security products?

When I'm taking to customers about ZENworks it's easy to discuss thing's like distributing applications or imaging the workstations, but talking about security is something different. Customers need to image their workstations and distribute applications so that their staff can use the applications to do their daily work. Security however is something that isn't visible, what do you get back when you invest in software that helps you to secure your environment.

I often compare IT security with the security of an office building, would some proper locks be sufficient, do you need an alarm system, maybe camera's or do you need a security staff looking after your property 24x7? When you decide on securing your building you try to get a balance between the cost and the value of your property. Securing your computer infrastructure is no different, you try to balance the different aspects to set a certain security level.

There is one large difference between securing an office building and securing your IT infrastructure. Most people can imagine how much effort it would take to break in to a building and get some items, this is quit different for the security of IT assets. It's difficult for most people to imagine how easy or how difficult it would be to get access to computer networks or how difficult it would be to get control over some workstations.

This week Nova, a Dutch TV program, discussed the risks of USB devices, they worked with a security company and created 80 USB devices that would send a message out as soon as the USB devices where plugged in to a Windows workstation, they left the USB sticks behind at offices of different companies. The result, within a day many of these USB sticks where plugged in to a workstation on the company networks.

Events like this show how easy it is to break in to IT environments, still many IT managers find it difficult to find the right balance when it comes to securing their network.

We only know one thing for sure, just like with securing office buildings, when items get stolen, you are too late.

ZENworks Community Builds

ZENworks Application Virtualisation (ZAV)...

lpitt — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 17:54:47 -0600

For the last week or so I've been out here in Australia meeting some great customers and partners around Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. On arriving at the Novell Melbourne office a couple of days ago I made an amazing discovery: The office panoramic window has fantastic views into turn 11 and 12 before hill (you can also see the pit-lane, but only from the rear). So, clearly, as the consummate petrolhead my original plan was to fill this blog with automotive references (as well as working out a way to be here for the next F1!).

That was until yesterday when I visited the art museum. They have a fantastic Dali exhibition going on there (well worth a visit if you're in town!), and since Dali has always been one of my favourite artists I want to apologise in advance if this blog entry begins to ramble and randomise!!

Ok, so on to the techie stuff. After all, that's why you come here isn't it? (If you come for other things, please let me know offline!)

The scenario is that we're meeting a customer to talk about ZENworks solutions. The office is very smart and organised. However a bomb is dropped in that we have someone who's going to conference over video - and the presentation needs to be shown on a special computer which... guess... has Office XP installed. A challenge: I only have the presentation in OpenOffice format and converting without time to review the output may cause problems (no OpenDocument support in XP).

So. ZENworks Application Virtualisation (ZAV) to the rescue!

The computer was locked down, but would allow a simple executable to run. I had a VM with ZAV and the OpenOffice code available. So, seeing the opportunity for a product demo, we 'fire her up!'

Within 5 minutes OpenOffice has been virtualised, is running, and the presentation begins. However it wasn't until the end of the session that we pointed out to the remote connectee that this was a virtualised app - and nothing had been installed.

Impressed I think...

I know I'm biased but this REALLY is a product worth taking a look at. Now that it can be integrated (optionally) into a ZENworks Configuration Management Zone it's almost a no-brainer to have some licenses in an environment. It simplifies deployments, upgrades AND testing whilst at the same time ensuring application compatibility and availability for users.

My example is perhaps extreme, but it does show the power of the product.

Now that you've read this far why not take a look. We even have a 60 day evaluation available. Go on, you know you want to: http://download.novell.com

Finally, for those of you who came by this blog entry by way of an erroneous surrealism search on Google a comment:

May you turn the atmosphere wild with currents of wild humour when smiling at a passing insect.

Thanks for reading!

Cool Solutions

ZENworks Configuration Management SP2

gcattelain — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 14:27:10 -0600

Why should your business upgrade to the latest version of ZENworks Configuration Management SP2 (Support Pack 2)? We've added many new features such as:

Product purchase, installation and operating flexibility
New enhanced cross-reporting engine
New platform support
And many improvements in quality and support!

Listen to our latest ZCM SP2 Podcast which talks about our ZENworks solutions along with the new ZCM SP2 features!

http://www.novell.com/media/media.php?media=novell...

Thanks

Gil Cattelain
Senior Product Marketing Manager, Novell Inc.

Cool Solutions