When I started my new job this year, I walked into an environment that was radically different from my previous job. There, I was running Windows Server 2003 along with Exchange 2003, which was a platform that ran very well for about 350 users. So to come into a place still running Novell Netware was a big system shock for myself. Suddenly all the skills I had, things I knew and tricks I could do became next to impossible. The computers were in about 11 different workgroups, static IP’s were being used and I can’t even remember what all else. With my colleague, we’ve since cleaned up much of the mess but some things still just don’t work.

The last time I worked with Netware was back in 2003 when I was at high school. Back then I loved the platform and how well it ran. Netware 4.11 and Windows 98 worked well together. However, as you can see, that was already ancient technology back then. With the rise of Windows XP, Microsoft well and truly killed off Netware due to the way XP worked. Multiple users, individual profiles and others made things very different from 98. After I finished high school, I got into Microsoft products and learnt how much more advanced that platform really was.

Getting back on track, it took me a long time to get back into using Netware. While this is version 6.5 running on top of Open Enterprise Server, a lot of things still work the same, including using NWADMIN for some tasks. To my horror, the school is still running Pegasus Mail and the Mercury mail server. Unfortunately this system is severely out of date, and the school gets so much mail that we are actually breaking Pegasus by pushing it beyond what it was designed for.

As I explored Netware with my colleague, I began to develop a respect again for the platform. Combined with Novell’s Zenworks product, you are able to do bring a network very close to the level that Windows 2003 offers for example. The downside is that you have to work with about 4 different management tools, including some written in Java which not only look outdated, perform as badly slow as they look.

Previously the servers would crash what seemed like every 3 days, but since then we have managed to pull it up to just under 43 days for the main server, and about 2 weeks for the server that does proxy services. However, on that server the now defunct BorderManager isn’t running too well due to a massive 3rd party defunt Surf Control web filtering database. On the main server, a module that controls the shared controlled HP printers has caused a lot of the problems, which is still something we want to possibly replace to improve uptime and stability.

Zenworks has proven interesting to play with. I think the Microsoft equivalent would be Systems Management Server 2003 or Configuration Manager 2007. I’m not sure if they can put icons on the desktop, start menu or so on though, which is one small but useful feature of Zenworks. The inventory part is something I’m looking into, as I want to be able to pull information like that out for other purposes.

Zenworks also runs with Windows servers, so I’m downloading it to test how it would work in a full Microsoft platform, see how it works with Active Directory and so on. Should be interesting stuff.

In closing, if you are still running Netware, you really need to look at migrating if humanly possible. Support for it is becoming very hard to find and the platform itself is dead according to Novell. OES is a stop gap measure really, as sooner or later everything will run under SUSE Linux Enterprise Server, with no need for anything strictly Netware related. Will be sad in a way to see Netware go, but that is how the market changes and evolves.

Ah the old geek joke “get the red out”, a play off Visine and meaning the usual process of prying some ancient Netware network loose and replacing it with Microsoft.  Now I find myself saying “green is in” and getting laughed at.  Green being the new red as far as Novell is concerned, their traditional logo now being accented by their Linux branding, a green Suse and gecko lizard.  So why am I laughed at, because I am adding Linux to the conversation?  No, rather that they ask in disbelief, “NOVELL?!  Are they still in business?!”

Novell is doing the hardest possible thing at the worst possible time, reinvent itself and not react to the screams of it’s aged faithful.  Long standing Netware gurus are staring at SLES (Suse Linux Enterprise Server) and like all dodos they staunchly refuse to retrain, so sure of their faith that they are sure Novell will do an about turn.  This despite the evidence of every major hardware manufacturer long ago abandoning Netware drivers for their products.  But, they shout with fists beating chests, I can still beat that new server into submission and install old Netware… what?  Now why the hell would you put your customer in that cul de sac?  Oh yeah, because it means something to you.  Always a good piece of customer service.

Oh, don’t get me wrong, Netware was (because it has been retired by Novell, move on people) an incredibly stable operating system, one that quite simply failed to make anywhere near as much money as the Microsoft platforms they so happily scoffed at…but had to use as Novell had no desktop answer.  Worse, in choosing Linux as its underlying operating system once again Novell fails to follow the revenue model of Microsoft and goes with a rock solid, stable platform. They, under the umbrella of Open Enterprise Server (OES 2)  they layer on their long tried LDAP based eDirectory to manage central authentication (Ctrl-Alt-Del), ported over GroupWise (yes, still around and still works great as long as you didn’t sell your soul to Outlook), add key purchases around Teaming + Conferencing for collaboration, had Xen for virtualization and added PlateSpin to manage it, and ZenWorks to manage the whole pile and you have a complete answer typically for far less than Microsoft…and yet they struggle to win.  Why?  Because Linux is still weird.

But seriously, you ask, Linux?  The realm of uber weird geeks?  Like Netware folk aren’t equally as odd?  I kid, go to any IT product release event and you will witness the most shallow one gender gene pool ever seen.  If anything the now defunct Novell BrainShare showed a much broader cross section of population than any Microsoft event I have ever attended.  But I digress, and yet Linux is central to this discussion so I guess we wander some.

Linux you ask?  Why not?  Massive development pool thanks to open source, and whether you know it or not it runs just about everything from your (ok, your kid’s) Microsoft XBox to your new LG refrigerator (if not yet true simply give it time).  Its everywhere and simply runs, and well.  Juniper Networks, our favorite router, switching, and security company (that by the way is one box if you want) runs on hardened Unix, close enough, while almost every significant website on the planet runs on Linux web servers.  It runs our gaming consoles, our Apples (ok, Unix again) including the iPhone, our DVR’s, and is the tool of choice in my world for quickly cracking your Windows computer that you spaced the password on.  Oh I am sure there are a slew of devices I am not mentioning but that is the point, they are quietly running our world and we are oblivious to it.

If you are following my blog you know I have two laptops, one MacBook Pro (running OS X = Unix) and one Dell that dual boots between OpenSuse 11.1 64-bit (Linux) and Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit (yes I like it, it works fine).  But I am a geek and such things come naturally to me, as does a fondness for Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Monty Python.  Keep in mind I was able to meet the opposite sex and reproduce, two lovely semi-normal kids I might add, so I wasn’t that weird.  Damn, I digressed again.  So to prove that Linux is safe for normal end user use (is that a cup holder? No, its your CD-ROM) I have snuck it into my kids world and they were fine, then I put it in front of a stereotypical front desk gal and she was fine.  But I have yet to find a business willing to save the gazillion dollars they would spend on Microsoft products and give it a whirl, I am blaming the economy for this at the moment.  Not a lot of risk taking going on.

Point is, if you are someone who goes into work every day, fires up Office (so Word, Excel, Outlook, etc, all accept Access), uses a browser like Firefox, opens a few PDFs, prints, sneaks pictures of your kids, then I bet I can drop Novell’s SLED (Suse Linux Enterprise Desktop) onto your computer and it will run faster, offer an equal or better work experience against Windows XP and Office 2003, and do so on the same or less hardware.  Add that viruses are not built to attack it, it can be locked down to prevent users from breaking it, and it cost like 20% of what Microsoft would have, and you see my frustration at not being able to get someone to try it.

Ok, back to Novell.  Not dead, I think that was where we left off.  So to put a really sharp point on this, given their offer of free OES 2 Small Business Edition including SLES,  SLED, eDirectory, GroupWise, and OpenOffice for up to five users, how is it anyone in the SMB (small medium business) market space would pass on this?  With their key products able to run on Microsoft even as an existing medium business you ought to take a hard look at their solutions.  At any size if you are looking to cut IT costs then your foolish, regardless of platform, to not consider ZenWorks.  The list goes on, my point is here is a company paving a different path, providing real alternate vendor choices, and in this economy your budget deserves the break.  If change is to be the calling card for so much in this time, then open up your own technology use to new options.  What’s the worst that can happen?  It crashes and you at least get a new and different set of error messages!

Pt. arbejder jeg på en ZCM 10 sp1 løsning i et “næsten” rent MS Miljø, forbereder Groupwise 8 udrulning internt, afventer en Teaming løsning, og prøver at hitte hoved og hale i forskelle og fordele gennem live testing på SLES/Novell Xen, Citrix XenServer og VMware (bla. vha OES2 migreringer fra Netware til OES2 Linux).

Keder mig, det gør jeg ikke

Existe um ditado que diz que o bom filho à casa torna. Pois bem,  voltei e reatei meu namoro com o openSuse.

Desde a versão 10 ponto alguma coisa, que definitivamente eu deixei a distribuição de lado. Não sei o que houve, talvez tenha sido por causa de um tal de ZenWorks e uma lentidão sem precedentes,  daí resolvi navegar em outros mares, buscando outras soluções.

Porém, sempre existem um reencontro, afinal, nosso mundo é muito pequeno e eis que resolvi então experimentar a última versão da distribuição predileta de Linus Torvalds. Antes que me chamem de puxa-saco, não o fiz devido a escolha do guru e pai do pinguim, fiz porque o  filósofo e colega José Rafael vive me dizendo que a cada versão o sistema fica melhor. Pois bem, resolvi testar.

Foram dois dias de download. Lógico que aproveitei o link da faculdade para baixar os 4.2 GB do DVD.

Não farei no entanto um review tendo em vista que  já escreveram o suficiente, mas confesso que fiquei impressionado com as mudanças ocorridas no sistema. De cara, após instalar uma VM no VirtualBox, afinal, primeiro testamos e depois de aprovado vai pro disco definitivamente, posso dizer que realmente surpreende muito a rapidez e a beleza do KDE 4.

Feita a instalação, fui refinar o produto final. De cara instalei o KDE 4.2. Nota-se um enorme salto em relação à versão instalada inicialmente (4.1). Digamos que está mais rápido e mais polido, sem  esquecer que de cara já quebrei aquele paradigma de que é uma mudança radical e que é difícil.

Em suma, agora é hora de explorar. Óbvio que ainda é cedo, afinal, venho do conceito de simplicidade do GNOME, mas uma coisa já é certa, já da pra dividir o HD com meu Ubuntu.

First post of 2009! The new job is going well, certainly learning a lot of new things, especially where Novell’s ZENworks Configuration Management is concerned. I thought now might be a good moment to impart some of the things I’ve picked up over the last four months as I think I probably get 90% of the ZCM traffic that comes through Technical Support here.

Firstly, if you’re a ZEN7 shop and you’re wondering, should I upgrade? The answer takes many different facets, and each situation is totally different. I think you have to analyse your business drivers first and then wrap the technology around that as it fits best.

My first question would be – what’s the motivator to upgrade? If you are a ZEN7 shop with Windows XP with no plans to move from XP any time in the near future, my advice would be to stay as you are. Why? Well as Windows 7 has been brought forward considerably by the relative failure of Windows Vista, in many cases there is no pressing need to support Windows Vista workstations in the enterprise. If you take a look at Novell’s Support Lifecycle page for ZENworks, you will see that ZEN7 is supported until the end of August 2010 and then stays in Extended Support until the end of August 2012. What do these support phases mean? The short answer is that regular support is just that – service requests against the product by Novell, bug fixes, security releases, new TIDs, service packs etc.

Extended Support is what is available for customers on the higher level support plans, generally where you have PSEs or ASEs on your account. If you have Premium Support, you can continue to raise SRs and get defect fixes until the end of the Extended Support phase. So if you’re in this category, you needn’t worry too much about moving to ZCM until perhaps early 2011, which is a good two years off.

On the other hand, ZCM has not had the best of starts. From it’s release up until Christmas last year, there seemed to be a major release of bug fixes every month. It’s quite a departure from what you’re used to with “traditional” ZENworks, and I would strongly recommend attending any courses you can get on the product before you even throw it up in the lab for testing. There are many major differences from “traditional” ZENworks, including :-

- ZCM content repository for applications and content

- ZCM holds all configuration information in a backend SQL database (Sybase by default, NO MySQL support as yet)

- ZCM can operate in a “pure” Microsoft AD environment (as some customers already do)

- Much of the ZEN nomenclature changes – we now talk of “bundles”, “content servers”, “deployment stages” and “baselines”

I hope to write further postings as we go along to help current “traditional” ZEN customers decide when and if ZCM is suitable, but for now, this is a good start!

Zenworks Configuration Mgmt (Zen 10 SP1) d 20 til 24 April.

This Novell ZENWorks 10 Configuration Management training teaches network administrators how to use Novell ZENWorks 10 to effectively manage and administer network users and corporate assets across a wide range of platforms. Students attending this course will learn how to use Novell ZENWorks 10 with Novell eDirectory, Microsoft Active Directory , and in stand-alone mode.

Novel nuncio ayer sus planes para entrar en el mercado de la virtualización de aplicaciones.

La empresa firmó un acuerdo OEM con una pequeña empresa llamada XenoCode, la cual recientemente modifico su tecnología para la virtualización de aplicaciones.

Novell ya ha renombrado XenoCode Application Studio por ZENworks Application Virtualization (ZAV), el cual se ofrece por 39 dólares por usuario concurrente.

Con esta iniciativa Novell confirma su firme compromiso en la virtualización.

Novell ya cuenta con su propio Hypervisor, la aplicación Xen incorporada en SUSE Linux Enterprise 10.

Por último, pero no por ello menos importante, al comienzo del año Novell adquirió PlateSpin el cual se incluirá en la familia ZENWorks a finales de este año.

Following its acquisition of virtualization company Platespin, Novell has embarked on a countrywide training program for its partners.

Starting October, the vendor will conduct advance training programs in five major cities—Mumbai, Bangalore, New Delhi, Kolkata and Chennai—on Platespin virtualization products.

Sandeep Menon, Country Head, Novell India, said, “The technical program will include hands-on training on installing, configuring and working with Platespin products on Novell platform. We recently completed the first phase of this program for large system integrators like Wipro, Pentagon Communications, GT Enterprises and Frontier Business Systems. In the second phase, we will target mid-size partners”

Novell acquired Platespin in March for $205 million. A 5-year old company, Platespin provides virtualization management software and services.

“Addition of Platespin makes our virtualization portfolio stronger. Platespin solutions provide conversion of workloads from physical to virtual machines and vice-versa, which compliments Zenworks range of products that help in categorizing and provisioning virtual workloads and backing it up thus providing disaster recovery control. Our partners have expressed excitement about the strong synergy between the two product lines,” added Menon.

If you’re having problems using Zenworks 7.0.1 imaging with Dell Optiplex 755 workstations, you need to apply the Novell ZENworks Desktop Management 7 SP1 Interim Release 3a update per TID 3761823.

You can find links to the updated Zenworks 7 SP1 software in TID 3484245.  You can also download the ZDM7SP1_IR3a_IMG_Resource.zip file and simply replace four PXE files on the Zenworks server with the updated versions: bootcd.iso, initrd, linux, and root.

Novell does provide a workaround, which is described below:

Workaround – Need to add the parameter newid=”0×8086 0×10bd,e1000″.

To know where to put this parameter see:
How To get Linux to recognize new device ID.

If Using PXE, do this:

1. On the server, find this folder: \tftp\cmds\

2. You will need to edit all four cmd files (which are text files) if you want to give yourself the option of the various boot modes. The files are:
z_auto.cmd, z_maint.cmd, z_zpdis.cmd, z_zpen.cmd

3. Assuming the files are in their default state, the 2nd line of each file will be a very long APPEND command. In each file, at the very end of the APPEND command, add a space and then this: newid=”0×8086 0×10bd,e1000″

4. Save the files and then try PXE booting the 755. You might possibly need to stop and start Zen on the server first ( zfdstop, zfdstart).

If you want to use the manual mode of the Zen imaging utility, do this:

1. Turn on the 755, and just as it is starting up, hit F12 (for boot options)

2. Tell it to boot from the On board Network Controller.

3. As it begins to start the network boot process, press and hold (for a very long time) these keys: ctrl-alt-shift

4. If all is well, you will eventually be presented with some menu choices. Choose Maintenance Mode Zenworks Imaging.

5. After quite a while, you will get a bash prompt. Type img and hit enter. You should now be at the imaging menus.

Note that these steps only work if you are using ZDM 7.0.1 IR1 or later, as it already has the necessary driver present, e1000.ko. The newid command simply tells the kernel how to use the driver.

If you already have a working Zenworks for Desktops (ZfD) Office 2007 NAL application, it’s extermely simple to update it to Service Pack 1.

1) Download Office 2007 SP1

2) Extract the Office 2007 SP1 files using the following syntax:

office2007sp1-kb936982-fullfile-en-us.exe /extract:c:\sp1

where c:\sp1 is the directory to extract the files into.

3) Once the extraction process is complete, you should see several files in the c:\sp1 directory. Copy those files to the \Updates directory in your Office 2007 NAL app installation directory.

Any files located in the \Updates directory will automatically be installed when the NAL app executes, so you’ve just successfully updated your existing Office 2007 NAL app to SP1!

You can find additional SP1 deployment guidence on Technet. See KB 936982 for details regarding changes in SP1.

Chris Graham has written a .vbs script that he uses with Zenworks to deploy applications to clients only if their screen resolution meets certain requirements.

This is very cool because we have some old educational software that will only run if the screen is set to 800 x 600 or lower. We had been running QRes to change the resolution every time the applications were launched, whether the change was needed or not, because we had no way of determining the client’s settings.

QRes is a good program, but we have noticed it does cause Windows XP to hang on occasion. We plan to use Chris’s script to determine if the screen resolution needs to be changed so hopefully we’ll run QRes only when necessary.

The Windows Server 2003 Resource Kit Tools contains a utility called ADM File Parser, aka admx.msi. 

According to Microsoft,

“(AdmX) is a command-line tool that enables an administrator to export Group Policy settings to a tab-delimited text file. The administrator can then use the text produced by ADM File Parser (AdmX) to find changes for the policy settings between different versions of the operating systems.”

and

“The AdmX.exe tool runs on Windows 2000, Windows Server 2003, and Windows XP Professional. AdmX.exe also requires the Microsoft .NET Framework 1.0.”

My Windows XP SP2 machine already had the .NET framework 2.0 installed, so I figured installation would be no problem.  I was wrong.

I installed the Windows Server 2003 Resource Kit Tools to their default location of C:\Program Files\Windows Resource Kits\Tools and then ran C:\Program Files\Windows Resource Kits\Tools\admx.msi to start the ADMx installer and received the following message:

To run this application, you must first install one of the following versions of the .NET Framework:

v1.0.5000

v1.0.3705

Contact your application publisher for instructions about obtaining the appropriate version of the .NET Framework.

I was majorly bummed, since my administrative machine was running perfectly and the last thing I wanted was to mess it up by installing some archaic version of the .NET framework that was released back in 2003.  I was desperate for a workaround.

The GPOGUY suggested using ORCA to remove the .NET version dependency check for a similar situation, but I didn’t have much luck in the ten minutes I tried to figure out where the dependency was at (btw, if anyone can help here, I’d love to know how to do it).

My next approach was to try to fool admx.msi into thinking .NET 1.0 was installed by modifying the registry.  KB 318785, How to determine which versions of the .NET Framework are installed and whether service packs have been applied showed that version 1.0.3705 was the original .NET 1.0 RTM revision. 

Next I checked out KB 315291, How to detect the installed version of the .NET Framework in a Visual Studio Setup and Deployment package, which showed the following registry keys were generally checked for determining the .NET version.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\.NETFramework\policy\v1.0

I did not have the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\.NETFramework\policy\v1.0 key, so I created it, then created a new string with a value name of 3705 with value data of 3321-3705 per KB 315291.

I was sure this method was going to work, so I started doing my Superior Dance prior to starting the admx.msi installation – only to see it fail once again, reporting it still needed .NET 1.0. 

Copying the C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v1.0.3705 directory from a Windows XP SP2 machine that did have .NET 1.0 installed to my administrative machine didn’t make a difference either.

I finally decided I spent long enough trying to fool the installer into thinking I had .NET 1.0 installed, so I finally downloaded and installed it.  It’s coexisted with .NET 2.0 just fine so far, I’m happy to report.

Incidently, once admx.msi installed I was able to parse the .adm settings to a tab delimited text file using the following syntax:

Syntax:  admX <admfilename> [/Output:<filename>] [/DIFF:<filename>] [/All] [/TIT
LE:<title text>]

Value                      Description

<admfilename>              Specifies path to .adm tempate file to be parsed.
                           ‘.adm’ extension must be included.
                           This is a required parameter.

/Output:<filename>         Specifies path to text file to write output info
                           If no output parameter,
                           text is written to the console.

/DIFF:<filename>           Performs a diff between the admfile and the
                           specified diff .adm filename filename.
                           ‘.adm’ extension must be included.

/ALL                       Prints all parsed information for the policy to
                           the console or the output file

/TITLE:<title text>         Adds the title text to output file.
                           Title text must be inside double quotes.

Here’s an example of the syntax I used to parse the system.adm file located at s:\zenworks\policies\media\adm\ and saved the data to media.txt with a title of “media system.adm” (type as all one line)

admx.exe s:\zenworks\policies\media\adm\system.adm /output:media.txt /Title:”media system.adm”

To delete a cached copy of a roaming profile

Run Regedit and navigate to the following registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\

Create a DWORD value named DeleteRoamingCache and set it to 1

The current roaming profile should be removed at user logoff. You may need to reboot before this setting takes effect.

If you would like to push this setting out via Zenworks:

1) Copy the following italicized text into notepad or other text editor and save the file as deleterc.reg. Make sure the file has a .reg extension, not .txt!

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon]
“DeleteRoamingCache”=dword:00000001

2) In ConsoleOne create a new simple Zenworks application and associate it with the appropriate users or workstations. I suggest setting this application to Force Run.

3) Edit the properties of the new application, and select Distribution Options – Registry

4) Select File – Import, and browse to the deleterc.reg file you created in step 1. Highlight deleterc.reg, and press open. This will import the registry key into your application.

5) Remain in the Registry window of your application, and highlight the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\DeleteRoamingCache DWORD value you just imported.

6) In the box below Distribution options for the selected leaf item or leaf items below selected item, set Item Will Create Always and press Ok.

You can select options other than Item Will Create Always, but I choose to use this setting in case someone makes changes to this setting by hand.

For more information see KB 173870.

If you’d like to remove or modify a profile via the command line or a script, check out Optimum X’s DeleteProfiles.exe and ModifyProfile.exe

We are replacing our old desktop security program with Zenworks for Desktops 7 Group Policies, which are essentially Windows Group Policies integrated into eDirectory.

After deploying these policies, we found that users did not see any of the shortcut icons on their desktops that had been placed into the “C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Desktop” folder on the workstation’s image. If an administrative user logged into the same machine, the icons appeared as expected.

After much troubleshooting, we found that the problem was a result of enabling the following Group Policy setting:

User Configuration – Administrative Templates – Start Menu and Taskbar – Remove Common Program Groups from Start Menu

Once we changed this setting from enabled to not configured and had the affected users reboot their computers, all their icons were shown on their desktops once again.

I wanted the Zenworks NAL Application Launcher, Nalwin.exe, to start minimized in Windows, without a splash screen, so that employees wouldn’t just close the Application Window.

To do this, I created a a shortcut with the following target and placed it in the Windows Startup menu:

“C:\Program Files\Novell\ZENworks\NalWin.exe” : /min

Conversely, if you want the Application Window maximized at startup, use the following target for your shortcut:

“C:\Program Files\Novell\ZENworks\NalWin.exe” : /max

Make sure to put spaces on either side of the colon (:)

If your users move or resize the Window, you can specify if size and location changes are saved (default) or not.

You can also configure settings to allow users to be able to close the Launcher (default) or not.

There are several command line switches you can use to further customize the NAL Application Launcher.

If you really want to restrict what your users can do on their workstations, replace the Windows Shell with the Application Launcher. This will replace the regular Windows desktop with the Application Window.

Every once in a while I need to extract the content of a .msi file in order to customize a deployment for a particular network environment. Sometimes initializing the .msi installer will temporarily extract the files into C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Local Settings\Temp, but those files are removed once the installer exits.

To extract files from a .msi file at the command line, type:

msiexec /a PathToMSIFile /qb TARGETDIR=DirectoryToExtractTo

For example, to extract files from f:\zenworks\zfdagent.msi into c:\zfd701 you would type:

msiexec /a f:\zenworks\zfdagent.msi /qb TARGETDIR=c:\zfd701

The destination directory does not need to exist prior to running this command.

[update 05-20-2009]

I have a new favorite MSI extraction tool called LessMSIerables.  Check it out!

I just pushed out a Zenworks NAL application that installs the Groupwise 7.1 client. After rebooting a few machines, the following error popped up when trying to run the GW 7.1 client:

“ccw32.dll cannot be found”

According to TID 1009508, the NMAS client is the culprit. I verified the TID was correct in renaming the c:\windows\system32\nwsso.dll fixes the problem.

I then created a simple NAL app that deletes the nwsso.dll file, then made the GW7.1 client installer dependent on it. By the way, the nwsso.dll is a part of Single Sign On (SSO), a component of the Novell Client software.

Here’s my NAL app, based upon TID 3240416:

1. Create a simple Zenworks NAL app, then view the app’s properties
2. On the Distribution Options tab, select Application Files. Click the Add button and select File. Check the Target File to be Deleted box.
3. In the target box, type %systemroot%\system32\nwsso.dll
4. On the app’s Association tab, select the workstation(s) objects or workstation OU you’d like this application to run on.
5. On the Associations tab, check the force run box next to the objects you associated the app with in step 5.
6. Reboot the workstation, and you should find the nwsso.dll missing.

This thread discusses the impact of disabling SSO on the Groupwise post office. Also, see TID 10100049 “It’s time to put back the GroupWise client option of “No password required with eDirectory”".