Deploying Multiple Branch Office Appliances

You can deploy multiple Novell^® Nterprise^TM Branch Office^TM appliances to your branch offices by

• Configuring the appliances at the central office and then shipping the preconfigured hardware to the branch office sites.
• Sending software and a Settings disk to the branch office and having someone at the branch office initialize the hardware.

If you will be configuring the appliances at the central office and then shipping the preconfigured hardware to the branch office sites, complete the following steps.

1. (Conditional) If the appliance will be replicated to the central office using Rsync software or if users will authenticate to the appliance using the LDAP protocol, prepare your central office servers.

   See Setting Up Data Replication or Setting Up User Authentication to an LDAP Server at the Central Office.

2. Initialize and configure one appliance with the standard appliance configuration you will use for the appliances.

   See Setting Up Branch Office Appliances for instructions on the standard appliance configuration. You might want to configure additional appliance settings such as the IP access methods, users and groups, or end user Web access settings. These settings and other appliance settings are explained in the Nterprise Branch Office Administration Guide.

3. Create a Settings disk that can be used to configure the remaining appliances.

   See "Importing/Exporting Configuration Settings" in the Nterprise Branch Office Administration Guide. The Settings disk includes the configuration settings file that must be named autoload.nbo and the Rsync certificate.

4. (Conditional) If users will authenticate to the appliance using LDAP, copy the LDAP certificate you created on the central office LDAP server to the Settings disk.

5. Modify the configuration file on the Settings disk using a text editor to include appliance-specific configuration settings.

   You might want to edit the following:

   • IP address
   • Subnet mask
   • Gateway
   • Server name
   • Server names in protocols
   • Server descriptions in protocols
   • DNS name
   • DNS domain
   • Time zone (optional)

   An example of the .nbo settings file with the specific settings you must change is available in "Configuration Settings File" in the Nterprise Branch Office Administration Guide.

   HINT:  If you will be configuring multiple appliances, create a Settings disk for each appliance and then change the configuration information. Then, after you have deployed the appliances, store these Settings disks in case you need to restore the appliance in the future.

6. Do one of the following:

   • If you will initialize the hardware at the central office prior to shipping the appliance to the branch office, follow the steps for Initializing the Appliance with a Settings Disk.
   • If you will send the hardware and the Settings disk to the appropriate branches, then ship the hardware, Nterprise Branch Office Soft Appliance CD, and Settings disk to the branch office. Instruct them to follow the instructions for Initializing the Appliance with a Settings Disk.