ZENworks Configuration Management SP3

admin — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 09:18:32 +0000

ZCM 10.3 just got released.

Some of the new features of this release:

Support for Windows 2008 Server R2 as primary server and Windows 7 as managed device
Support for failover of user source connections for Novell eDirectory
Authentication role for satellite servers
Enhanced support for content replication schedules
Support for replicating or distributing the imaging content for Satellites with the Imaging role
ZENworks 10 Configuration Management SP3 is now available as a software appliance that can be deployed to the supported virtual infrastructure

A more complete overview of the new features and how to use them can be found in the ZCM 10 SP3 documentation.

48 days to BrainShare EMEA 2010

admin — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 08:27:05 +0000

Yes, there was a ‘Day 4′ in Salt Lake City, … I did not forget. But after the closing keynote Jorn and I flew to Las Vegas. Had a real good time, some gambling, and of course two good shows from CIrque du Soleil (Love and O), and no time for blogging anymore. But….

During the past week we had a few partner meetings (good breakfast!) with Novell and at the conference I talked to a lot of people. And I noticed something strange. A lot of them complained that Novell is working on software and services that don’t make any sense. But is that not what they have the do?

Of course we work and live today, with the products that are available at this moment. And sure, the focus needs to be on having stable software, and on improving what we use today. But, standing still is going backwards. A software company with a vision needs to look forward, needs to check if the direction is the right one. This is only possible if we as users, partners, consultants get an inside view. And sometimes you wonder, what the hell they are talking about?. There are examples in the past that make clear that Novell most of the time is taking the rigt direction.

I remember a long time ago, I think the last BrainShare EMEA in Nice (good food ) that during the closing session Drew Major showed the alfa version of a piece of software. The idea was to sync certain data on a workstation to a server. You could have that data on different workstations, and all copies of the data would be in sync. I talk about the ISDN-days, so it was important that only changes to the files would be synced. After the keynote a lot of attendees had no idea what it was all about. What the hell was Drew Major talking about? Nobody had any idea that a few years later this was iFolder. Sure, not all ideas and new products are useful for everybody, but a lot of times Novell is taking the right direction. And if not… they listen to what you and we have to say about their intentions. They like to share, to BrainShare!

I love it when a plan comes together

admin — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 18:08:34 +0000

A small blog… Just used Novell Conferencing 2 to have a call with my family, and then a sales meeting with our secret sales person in Belgium. We looked at some offers for a customer, on screen. And even here with so many people on the wireless network, the connection was great, video was working perfect, voice really good and sharing my desktop to discuss the offer… without any problem.

Sometimes I love it when a plan comes together!

Migrating XP to Windows 7

admin — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 15:31:35 +0000

This morning I was in a 4 hour XP to Windows 7 migration session. I expected a lot from this ATT and luckily they delivered just that!

We started off by retrieving all user specific settings and files from a source XP workstation using the (in ZCM included) Personality Migration tool.

Then we created a Windows 7 base image using Microsofts Windows automated installation toolkit. This is an intense job to perform and without a doubt will I propose everyone whose looking into this to look at the ENGL imaging toolkit as well. A task that takes less than half an hour with the ENGL tools will take a lot longer just using the MS tools.

After that we deployed the image, overwriting the XP installation and pushed back all the user settings.

From XP to Windows 7 and things like desktop wallpaper, bookmarks from Firefox and IE, my documents data and lots of other personal settings are just the way the user configured them on his old XP machine!

Jorn

Novell Conferencing is great!

admin — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 22:33:55 +0000

Already for a few weeks there is a beta running for the new version of Novell Conferencing. And I’m one of the beta testers. The first version is a hosted version. The good thing is that you don’t have to install any software, everything is browser based. During the past weeks I did not spend much time on testing. So today Jorn and I took some time to test it.

Part One

How does that happen? I set up a meeting in my own meeting room, I invite Jorn via email, and he joins the meeting. We play with the sound, camera, share the desktop, show a presentation, switch from being a guest to a presenter, etc… . After a few minutes it is clear, this is hot stuff. So, why not give Leo a call? We did, and Leo takes his computer, opens a browser, we give him the url, and a few seconds later he is in the meeting. Again, after a few minutes it is clear, this is hot stuff.

Part Two

What is part two of this story? We are going to use this. We are going to have our own meeting rooms. What’s the use? OK, we can meet virtual. But that’s not our first goal. We will use it with you, with the customers, to deliver support! It’s an easy way to share a desktop (with the colleagues and with the customers), just https (so it’s secure). After introducing GroupLink eHelpdesk as our helpdesk portal, we will add Novell Conferencing to our support package.

And this are not the only ideas we get at BrainShare. But we cannot implement them all. Sometimes you have to give it time, and not every idea is a good one.

We had a great breakfast!

admin — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 15:29:17 +0000

Remember yesterday my complaint about the breakfast? Today we had our first Novell Executive Panel Breakfast for Partners. A long name for a really good breakfast, with about 200 people in the room and the board of Novell. Good presentations, good questions, good answers…. and good food. What more do you need to start the day?, at 7u.15…

Coming to BrainShare is worth each €

admin — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 15:18:35 +0000

We all know this, going to a conference in the USA is not cheap (flights, hotel, conference fee, and of course … food). But already yesterday evening Jorn and I agreed that it is good to be here. Before we left we made a question list, with questions from customers, questions from prospects and questions we have regarding to projects we would like to do, but where we see some obstacles. And yes, it’s nice to point out these things directly to product managers and developers. And these last one are important, because they are open and will give you an inside view on what’s coming, and in a lot of cases the next version will remove the obstacle we see now. One example, we like to work with iFolder, but see a problem when a customer has Citrix. You don’t want each user to transfer his/her data to a Citrix server. And yes, this will be solved in the near future!

And now up to the first session of day 2.

ps. and because we know that conferences are not cheap we created the BrainShare EMEA 2010 package for you, but you already know that.

Windows 7 imaging - building a universal image

admin — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 13:20:21 +0000

In preparation to the Advanced Technical Training I will follow tomorrow on Windows XP to Windows 7 migration I joined a general Windows 7 imaging session this morning.

After going thru some of the basic we went into detail on how to create a universal base image.
The idea behind a universal base image is that it can be used on multiple machine types, rather than having 1 image per brand or model.

It is clear that this is going to be a very intensive exercise for a lot of companies and the ZENworks Configuration Management can help a great deal in this process.
Also the addition of the ENGL imaging toolkit will be something most of our customers should look at because it will simplify the build process and allows you to go ahead a lot faster because they have all the knowledge already available on how to do this the right way.

I’m looking forward to the ATT session of tomorrow but first I’m going to look at the new ZENworks Diagnostic Center that will be available as part of the ZCM 10 SP3 release very soon.

Jorn

Novell BrainShare 2010 Keynote Opening Video Day 1

admin — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 18:47:57 +0000

Novell makes great software and… great video’s

look at this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGISJDqF1lI

There we go!

admin — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 18:13:51 +0000

With all the jet lag Jorn and I managed to wake up on time, and prepared for the well-know BrainShare breakfast. What a disappointment, cost cutting is also done at the breakfast. So no bacon, no eggs, no Belgian waffles, etc… . Of course, we are not here to eat, but as a Belgian guy this is very important. There was some breakfast, so we are not starving.

At 9AM BrainShare started with the first general keynote. The CEO, Ron Hovsipian, made the statement regarding the offer from Elliott. Then he went over to Novell’s strategy. Not boring, but we as consultants want to see the hot stuff.

An we did get it! The new version of IDM, version 4, which is the first step into IDM in the cloud. Of course Jorn was happy to see the new version of ZCM (SP3), and a live migration of a Windows XP workstation to Windows 7, with Personality Migration. One of our customers is also really happy with this. They migrated an amount of workstations, and with Personality Migration they avoided angry users who were missing files, bookmarks, etc… after the migration. I like to quote Hannibal Smith from the A-Team here - I love it when a plan comes together - and that happend at the customer.

After ZCM it was my turn, with Teaming, Conferencing and…. Novell Pulse. I just cannot wait until we receive our account. Every attendee at BrainShare will receive a Pulse-account and can invite 5 buddies. If you want to be invited, send an email to brainshare@nwfactory.com, and give us a strong argument to invite you. And maybe we select you.

At this moment in my first session, Novell File Management Suite. The solution to manage your files, not by adding more hardware, disks, but by trying to resolve the ‘problem’ at the source… the users.

I’ll keep you updated on this, but now I have to pay attention at the 3 speakers… and have to stop blogging.

Paul