I announced this in October; this month I started the move.

Why move?

Mainly the volume of postings and the amount of traffic at Cool Blogs compared with Cool Solutions.

Cool Blogs started as the first open, unfiltered blog from Novell almost two years ago. Since then I’ve made over 25% of the posts to the blog. That’s too much. I’ve slowed my blogging on Cool Blogs and moved a lot to this site; but still the proportion of posts that are my ZENworks posts is too high.

By posting on Cool Solutions I hope that my posts get a wider readership and I don’t take a too large proportion of the postings.

• Novell PartnerNet
• Novell Demos (requires PartnerNet login)

One issue that was reported by the field was that running Windows 2003 server on VMware workstation with ZENworks Configuration Management would sometimes cause the ZENworks services not to start.

I’ve never really seen this issue; I saw one VM that was broken – but only saw that everything was slow.

For the sales kickoff I built a set of VMs and was testing them. Moving from ESX to VMware Workstation on SLED running on a Thinkpad T42p laptop I saw the issue.

In short the workstation service was being slow to start; the server was stressed – and the service timed out. The dominos started to fall; Net Logon failed etc etc etc.

My fix is simple. Make the workstation service dependant on something that is relatively benign but that will start with some reliability. I chose the DNS service (it’s a single server) – because that ultimately provides the DDNS underpinning to Active Directory and other services.

Here’s how:

sc config lanmanworkstation depend= dns

That simple. Reboot and you should now have a working ZCM Utopia demo.

For the internal Novell people – did this fix your problem?

The default agent deployment packages created during Primary Server installation are hard coded to the Fully Qualified DNS Name and the static IP address of your server. All well and good for a single server; but what about:

• DNS round robin
• servers behind static NAT
• etc

Here’s how to build a custom agent deployment package with either no server details (add them via registration at deployment time) or with a single DNS name.

Inside ZENworks Control Center browse to Deployment and click on Edit Deployment Package:

Select the appropriate architecture and agent choices:

Next remove the pre-populated IP address and host name using Remove:

Next add in your DNS name:

Add a registration key if needed:

Name the agent package. Note that overwriting the default will cause this to be used during agent push deployment.

And you are done.

Push the agent to machines if saved as default or pull it down manually or during a deployment task.

First set the zmd logging to be at debug level; there are two ‘true’ settings in the conf file:

%ZENWORKS_HOME%\conf\logger-zmd-conf.xml

<configuration>
<log4net>
    <!–Appender to log event to console–>
    <appender name=”ConsoleAppender” type=”log4net.Appender.ConsoleAppender”>
    <param name=”Threshold” value=”DEBUG” />
    <layout type=”Novell.Zenworks.Logger.SimpleLayout, Novell.Zenworks.Logger”></layout>
    </appender>

    <!–This section is used to enable or disable the above configured appenders –>
    <logger name=”ZEN_LOGGER” additivity = “true“>
        <level value=”DEBUG”/>
        <appender-ref ref=”ConsoleAppender” />
    </logger>

    <!– This section is used to Enable component Logging –>
<!–
        <logger name = “ZEN_LOGGER.TestLogger” additivity =”true”>
                   <level value=”DEBUG”/>
        </logger>
–>
</log4net>

<ZenworksMessageLogger>
    <!– This section is used to turn on/off the Global Debug Flag –>
    <param name=”FileDebug” type=”Boolean” value =”true” />
</ZenworksMessageLogger>
</configuration>

Next restart the ZENworks agent

net stop “novell zenworks agent service”

The Novell ZENworks Agent Service service is stopping.
The Novell ZENworks Agent Service service was stopped successfully.

net start “novell zenworks agent service”

The Novell ZENworks Agent Service service is starting..
The Novell ZENworks Agent Service service was started successfully.

The log file for the agent is in %ZENWORKS_HOME%\logs\LocalStore\zmd-messages.log

The log rolls – so you might need to collect the zip as well.

Yesterday I was creating a Dilbert comic that will run in August. In the first panel, Dogbert needed to describe his job as VP of marketing. How do you do that in the fewest words? Here was my solution.

Feel free to leave your own comments..

A frequent comment is regarding downloading the ZCM ISO – it’s 4GB in size.

I recommend testing the md5 hash – I use Digest IT 2004.

There are a few open opportunities within the ZENworks Business Unit for Product Managers.

Ideally we are looking for people who can ‘hit the ground running’.

If you need any additional information – or if you want to apply – get in touch via the Novell email address.

[Edit - the role would probably be based at one of our ZENworks Development Centres - namely Provo, UT, Boston, MA or Bangalore, India]

Here’s my collection of stuff for an email I’m writing later. Just examples of ‘crap and bloated’.

First – one of my favourite examples from last year; Moishe Lettvin on the Vista Shutdown button:

The whole blog post was mentioned on Joel on Software (a great read; even for a non-coder)

.. here’s how the design process worked: approximately every 4 weeks, at our weekly meeting, our PM would say, “the shell team disagrees with how this looks/feels/works” and/or “the kernel team has decided to include/not include some functionality which lets us/prevents us from doing this particular thing”. And then in our weekly meeting we’d spent approximately 90 minutes discussing how our feature — er, menu — should look based on this “new” information. Then at our next weekly meeting we’d spend another 90 minutes arguing about the design, then at the next weekly meeting we’d do the same, and at the next weekly meeting we’d agree on something… just in time to get some other missing piece of information from the shell or kernel team, and start the whole process again.

I’d also like to sketch out how actual coding works on the Windows team.
In small programming projects, there’s a central repository of code. Builds are produced, generally daily, from this central repository. Programmers add their changes to this central repository as they go, so the daily build is a pretty good snapshot of the current state of the product.

The end result of all this is what finally shipped: the lowest common denominator, the simplest and least controversial option.

Next – a quote that I heard last week again:

“a camel is a horse designed by committee” – Sir Alec Issigonis

Wikipedia is especially complementary about Design by Committee:

Design by committee is a wry, pejorative term referring to a style of design and its resultant output when a group of entities comes together to produce something (often the design of technological systems or standards), particularly in the presence of poor and incompetent leadership. The defining characteristics of “design by committee” are needless complexity, internal inconsistency, logical flaws, banality, and the lack of a unifying vision. Design and style much more relate to intuition and aesthetics than science or politics.

By default the command line tool – zman – picks up the server locale. In some cases it is useful to be able to force zman to use a specific language.

Here’s how in beta 3. This may change for the released product.

Edit the file:

%ZENWORKS_HOME%/novell/zenworks/bin/zman.bat (ZENWORKS_HOME is the installation point chosen for the server components)

Modify the line:

“%JAVA_PATH%\java” -classpath %MYCP% -Dfile.encoding=%OUTPUT_CODEPAGE% -XX:+UseConcMarkSweepGC -XX:+UseParNewGC com.novell.zenworks.zman.ZManLoader %*

to be

“%JAVA_PATH%\java” -classpath %MYCP% -Dfile.encoding=cp850 -Duser.language=en_us -XX:+UseConcMarkSweepGC -XX:+UseParNewGC com.novell.zenworks.zman.ZManLoader %*

Note – all on a single line; differences highlighted.

The training looks fantastic; right now each track has 2.5 days of deep dive hands on labs.

What does it mean?

For those at BrainShare – take your camera; mail your pictures to me at ezs@novell.com

It’s tax return time – and I’m installing and updating TurboTax on Grania’s machine (she’s the one who does the money). TurboTax installed; updated itself, patched itself, added modules – without a hitch.

That’s a record I think enterprise software management should look to equal or better.

Altiris acquired Previo, Computing Edge, Wise, FSLogic, Bridgewater Tonic and Pedestal.

Symantec have aquired Ghost, Powerquest and On Technologies.

Novell aquired Ximian and Tally Systems.

LANDesk was aquired by Avocent.

Microsoft aquired Softricity and Desktop Standard.

Now Symantec have spent again and announced the intent to acquire Altiris.

One question that came up:

How do I integrate ZENworks 7 with Active Directory?

Well – here are the links.

Here is a really cool article from Novell Connection Magazine; it’s from December 2004 and refers to ZENworks 6.5 – but the concepts are valid today.

Also take a look at the Novell Wiki.

Here is how to integrate the ZENworks Middle Tier with a Layer 4 switch; here are the Middle Tier Best Practices.

There have also been several BrainShare sessions on Windows only management. I’ll try and find the links to presentations.

So why I am on Cool Blogs? Well, I’m very passionate about ZENworks and want to hear from you directly regarding your experiences, good or bad, so we can learn from each other. Over the coming weeks and months I’ll be sharing my experiences and posting tips and tricks to help you maximise your ZENworks experience.

I hope you find my future posts informative and useful.

Written at: Frankfurt, Germany

Ah – time to travel home from Düsseldorf. Up early and to the airport.

It’s great seeing your product in use. Lufthansa check-in desks are powered by NAL. Check-in agent logs in, up pops NAL and all of the applications.

I’m travelling United from Chicago to Salt Lake City – and United are also a ZENworks customers.

Take a look next time you fly. You might be having your check-in made possible by ZENworks.

I’m in Düsseldorf – running an internal training course on ‘Pulsar’. I wrote a pretty detailed, deep dive, technical training course on ‘Pulsar’ and delivered it today.

I’ve been polishing and writing labs and training course notes all week; I’ve had a couple of hours sleep in the last three days.

Today was the actual training – and I think it went well. We trained 25 internal people from across EMEA on the next version of the product; yesterday was training on our messaging and positioning; tomorrow is marketing, positioning and ITIL training.

It’s been a long time since I spent time with this many EMEA people in technical training; the response so far has been very positive.

The big thing is the Next Generation of ZENworks – I’ve blogged about that before.

I am proposing four sessions – co-presenting with Mark Schouls:

• ZENworks: Live Migration from ZENworks 7 to Next Generation
• ZENworks: Next Generation in an all Windows environment
• ZENworks: Next Generation and the Vista lifecycle
• ZENworks: Next Generation. Architecture, Planning and Migration

Thoughts?

So I got inundated with email from inside and outside Novell when I posted that ‘ZENworks for Networks’ was still available for download.

For those that don’t have long memories – ZENworks for Networks was released in 2000 as a directory enabled Quality of Service and Firewall solution. Part of it was from a Novell acquisition of Ukiah in mid-1999.

So why don’t you see ZENworks for Networks anymore? Simple – it was end-of-lifed within a few months.

The market for ‘directory enabled QOS’ disappeared rapidly when pretty much every switch and router vendor added support for LDAP directories within their products. Far better to get native LDAP support (and use eDirectory) than to build a product that competes with the switch vendors.

So where can you find ZENworks for Networks? Have a hunt around the Novell Support site. At a meagre 30MB the product is tiny! The documentation is still around too.

Thanks to all those that asked – for me another gentle wander down memory lane.

Written at: Salt Lake City, UT

I have written this series of blog posts using my experience of describing the Next Generation of ZENworks to customers and partners. These are slightly longer posts than normal – I apologise in advance. I hope the content is informative and useful. I look forward to your comments and questions.

Written at: Waltham, MA

The History of ZENworks

Looking back. Product evolution.

As I have been working with customers and partners to describe the future of ZENworks I have found it useful to describe the evolution of ZENworks over the years and to use that context to understand why we are evolving the ZENworks architecture.

As many of you may remember, ZENworks traces its origins back to the days of NetWare 4.11 when the NetWare Application Launcher (NAL) and Workstation Manager were released. Soon these components were expanded, features were added and the first Zero Effort Networking for users – Z.E.N.works 1 – was released in 1998.

The ZENworks product line was expanded in 2000 with the release of ZENworks for Desktops 3 and the first release of ZENworks for Servers. ZENworks for Desktops 3 was a milestone release; it used ConsoleOne for the first time and was cross platform – supporting NetWare as well as Windows NT 4 and Windows 2000 server platforms.

ZENworks for Desktops 4 in 2002 added the Middle Tier server – allowing management across the internet and without requiring the Novell Client32 on managed devices.

ZENworks for Servers continued to evolve adding close integration with ZENworks for Desktops and Tiered Electronic Distribution allowing vast scale for enterprise software distribution.

These architectures are still at the heart of ZENworks today. They have made ZENworks exceptionally successful.

Why so successful?

There are three main threads to the success of ZENworks:

Cross platform support

As I noted, cross platform support started with ZENworks for Desktops 3. Today ZENworks runs on NetWare, Windows, Open Enterprise Server and SLES. It supports a variety of databases. It manages Windows, Linux and Handheld devices.

Cost effective management

Time after time independent study shows that ZENworks costs less. Less to deploy, less to manage. Some of our most vocal reference customers stand up and state they manage tens of thousands of users with a team of a few people. ZENworks runs on your existing infrastructure, without requiring dedicated Windows servers or database servers.
The most telling aspect of the cost effectiveness of ZENworks is that once configured users and workstations will inherit their desired state by virtue of their business role, location or characteristics. ZENworks administrators regularly share that they ‘just create users, ZENworks does the rest’.

Best in class scalability and reliability

ZENworks uses Novell eDirectory as its backbone and store for all of its relationships, actions and objects. ZENworks also uses Tiered Electronic Distribution – part of ZENworks Server Management – to replicate applications and images across a heterogeneous enterprise. ZENworks inherently includes methods for failover, redundancy, load balancing as well as support for roaming and mobile users.
All of these features mean that ZENworks will scale. Typically ZENworks will run in any environment from 250 users to way over 125,000 users. Without breaking a sweat.
Novell shares its own best practices for design and architecture with customers and partners. The ZENMaster framework has been used around the globe as a blueprint for successful deployments. Using these recommendations anyone can deploy ZENworks with confidence that they will succeed.

Why Next Generation?

ZENworks has been wildly successful. There are many, many tens of millions of workstations under management, ZENworks is now the second largest revenue generating product inside Novell, customers are having great success. Why change?

The main reason for change is to meet the expectations of all of our customers in the coming years. Web services, open standards, server consolidation, desktop migration, security pressures, virtualisation, adoption of ITIL, COBIT and other best practices are all on the ‘To-Do List’ for IT organisations. The Next Generation ZENworks is intended to be a platform for the future that delivers on these areas, while continuing to deliver the value and agility that ZENworks has shown for the past eight years.

My next post will dive into the Next Generation architecture and cover why this is a good thing for existing Novell customers and also a good thing for new customers.

Stay tuned.

Written at: Waltham, MA

I planned the structure of this series while visiting customers in Europe; during that tour I was describing our roadmap, strategy and vision – all under Non-Disclosure. My challenge is to share much of that in a public blog, without requiring every one of you to sign a ‘virtual non-disclosure’, and yet keeping the content interesting and useful.

As we move through the remaining months of 2006 and into early 2007 we will be communicating a lot more about our plans for the Next Generation of ZENworks; BrainShare 2007 will naturally be a focal point for announcements.

So here is my rough plan for the next few posts:

• ZENworks History 101
  • Looking back over the last ten years
  • why has ZENworks been so successful with customers?
  • how did the product evolve?
  • why is there a need for ‘Next Generation’?
• ZENworks Next Generation Architecture
  • a dive into the architectural components of the Next Generation of ZENworks
  • why is this a good thing for existing customers?
  • why is this a good thing for new customers?
• Installation and Deployment
  • Zero to Hero – Deploying your first ZENworks server in ten minutes!
  • Adding managed workstations and servers
  • Expanding your ZENworks infrastructure
• A walk through the ZENworks Control Center
  • Web based management for ZENworks
  • Native integration with your corporate directory
  • Linux and Windows management from a single point
• How to get there from here
  • Some early notes on migrating to ZENworks Next Generation

I’m sure that questions will drive more posts – but for now that seems to cover a lot!

Written at: M�nchen, Germany

If you are a ZENworks administrator – you have probably seen that we released ZENworks 7 Support Pack 1 in the last few days.

The whole ZENworks team are very proud of this release – it is of high quality, fixes problems reported via Novell Support – and adds some new features to ZENworks 7.

This post will describe how to get ZENworks 7 Support Pack 1 and how to install it. My next post will talk about what’s new in this release – including platform support and software distribution bandwidth management.
This will be a longer post than normal – but there is a lot of useful information that needs to be shared!

Written at: Draper, UT

1 – Where to find ZENworks 7 Support Pack 1

We have made some updates to where ZENworks 7 Support Pack 1 is downloaded – and also how it can be installed.

The Support Pack is available from http://download.novell.com – you will notice that this is a new set of integrated CD ISO images. The specific link is here:

Documentation for the Support Pack is online at Novell Documentation. The link is here: http://www.novell.com/documentation/zenworks7
There is also a comprehensive Support document – TID 10097368 – describing the Support Pack.

There are FIFTEEN ISO images available for the full ZENworks 7 download. You most likely do not need to download them all. Here is a great document describing what is needed for each components of the ZENworks 7 Suite. This document describes what is on each ISO.

2 – installing ZENworks 7 Support Pack 1

First a note on the Support Pack itself.

You have probably noticed that ZENworks 7 Support Pack 1 is delivered as a new set of product CD images. We have moved away from a non-integrated support pack. The main benefits of this approach are:

• integrated installation of ZENworks 7 Support Pack 1. Upgrade customers do not need to upgrade to ZENworks 7 then install the Support Pack. You can get the latest and greatest with a single install.
• interactive upgrade from ZENworks 7 to ZENworks 7 Support Pack 1. You can work through an interactive upgrade, server by server and upgrade components.
• unattended upgrade using ZENworks Server Management CPKs. These support both the Standalone Package Processor and automated deployment with ZENworks Server Management

There are really three methods of installing the Support Pack – each method really depends on ‘what you have’ and the size of your organisation.

The CPK based upgrade is the most interesting option – it is new with this release. Take a look at the options for installing this with the Standalone Package Processor. For customers using ZENworks Server Management this is another reason to smile – you can now roll out this support pack after hours, with no interaction.

Novell have talked about ZENworks futures at every BrainShare and customer event for as long as I remember. During 1999 and 2000 I remember being the Product Manager for ZENworks and talking about the up-coming ZENworks for Desktops 3 release – and how that would run on NT 4 server!

The next generation of ZENworks – you may have heard this by it’s internal development name of Brimstone – is much more than an incremental update.

This next release of our Configuration Management product is designed to deliver several key promises:

1. unify and integrate the product components and architectures
2. provide a single management console which is web based
3. unify all backend services to use a single, database repository with a published schema.
4. utilise a single pluggable agent on the managed client device
5. allow seamless, yet powerful integration with corporate identity directories – Novell eDirectory and Microsoft Active Directory
6. allow rapid deployment and installation across your enterprise

My next series of posts will drill down into this next generation of ZENworks – and will include screen shots and other information from the latest engineering milestones.

For the record – Novell does not pre-announce shipping dates for products. We are looking to release this product “during 2007″ – BrainShare 2007 will have a lot of information on this major innovation.

Written at: Tel Aviv, Israel

[Edit: Reposted with updates. Original post 28 June 2006]

The email invitation looked a little like this:

From: openaudio openaudio
To: openaudio openaudio;  Martin Buckley;  Michael Douglas Pearson;  Ted Haeger
Date: 14/Jun/06
Time: 14:00 - 15:00
Subject: ZENworks 7 SP1
Place: Podcast Studio, 8th floor behind the mens room

Prep and Interview

The Novell Open Audio Crew
www.novell.com/openaudio

Behind the mens room? Nice.

I rolled up to Ted Haegers office – you can see him hard at work here:

[Ted used to be a Park Service Ranger - that's why he's in marketing.. I think]

The studio itself is pretty good – nice hardware; sound absorbing foam on some of the walls; no noise from the mens room..

And comfy chairs…

This is Ted’s script. More like a cheat sheet – it’s got the hard questions from listeners and readers on it.

The interview itself was good fun – we managed to give Michael our sound engineer some hard times with a bag of Doritos.

You can listen to the recording on Novell Open Audio – it should be posted this week.

So one other thing I was asked – what about ZENworks Success Stories.

Well – there is a Success Story database http://www.novell.com/success – and here is a huge list of public successes using ZENworks.

You probably want to copy and paste that url into your favourites.

I’ll be interviewed by Ted Haeger and Erin Quill tomorrow for Novell Open Audio.

I opened the question list up on Cool Blogs last week – and I’ve got about half a dozen things to cover specifically from the readers of Cool Blogs.

One other request that came in directly to my inbox – ezs@novell.com – is to ‘go behind the scenes’ at Open Audio. I’ll certainly have my camera and I’ll get some pictures and stories uploaded tomorrow evening. I’ll also have some really crunchy Doritos to pass around..

Written at: Draper, UT

Next week I will be recording a slot for Novell Open Audio on ZENworks 7 Support Pack 1. That’s due for release in the very near future – and I’ll be talking about some of the new platforms we will support and a new feature that we’ll be rolling into the release.

I’ll also take the chance to answer any questions that you post on this blog – so here’s your chance.

Post your ZENworks related questions here – and I’ll select the best ones to answer on Open Audio next week. If you leave your name I’ll even give you a mention.

Looking forward to those questions. Remember – anything goes

Written at: Draper, UT

A short while ago I wrote about Windows Vista and some of the implications it has for organisations.
Since then there have been several developments. At the start of May 2006 the analyst firm Gartner mooted that Vista will ship en masse in the second quarter of 2007

A research note released this week from Gartner Inc. predicts that Microsoft Corp. will miss its target to ship Windows Vista on PCs by January 2007. According to Gartner, Vista won’t be broadly available to customers until the second quarter of 2007

InfoWorld, 2 May 2006

The report document is here; there is a fee for the original.

There has also been a lot of commentary from many bloggers – from Robert Scoble to MiniMicrosoft – and a lot more.

All of this commentary – from analysts, press and bloggers – is having an impact with CIOs and their teams. I am seeing a lot more customers planning to refresh to Windows XP SP2 during 2006 and stay on that new platform for ‘a while’. The general impression is that Vista is still a ‘moving target’ – not helpful for planning purposes.
Written at: Calgary, Alberta, Canada

I promised in my last post on Windows Vista that I would comment on on large area of any desktop refresh – application refresh and validation.

In the last six or seven years we have seen several phases of this process – moving from DOS to Windows 3.1; moving from 16 bit Windows 3.1 to Windows 95 or NT4; and moving from NT4 to Windows 2000 or Windows XP. Each of these desktop OS changes introduces a fresh round of application testing.

Here is the typical process – one that is being followed my most organisations.

• Select a new standard desktop OS

• Most customers are at Windows XP professional or are rapidly re-standardising on this platform.
• I have recently seen a wave of ‘third generation’ Windows XP refresh projects – for deployment in 2006 and to be in place until 2008-2010
• Usually a combination of SYSPREP, ZENworks Imaging and ENGL tools are used to create a universal image.

• We see more usage of tools such as ZENworks Asset Management helping here
• Most organisations have ‘hundreds’ or ‘thousands’ of applications

• Aquisition and expansion historically means that applications are duplicated
• Lax standards and non-centralised, departmental purchasing also leads to multiple solutions being in place
• Consolidation can lead to license savings and more financial muscle in negotiating a better deal

• Many IT organisations are now squarely focussed on packaging applications as Microsoft Installer (MSI) packages
• ZENworks includes the Macrovision Installshield Admin Studio – this is really helpful – and can move NAL snapshots (AOT/AXT) to MSI packages

The next post will cover the re-packaging and test phase of this process – one of the largest areas of time expenditure – but also one of the most vital. I’ll talk about how good process and procedures will really make this successful.

Notice how nothing so far has been ZENworks specific? Everything here is really for any customer deploying XP and refreshing their standard desktop. My final post will be to tie this all together with ZENworks glue and magic – and show how we can make it very, very efficient and cost effective.

As always – I’m looking for your feedback and updates – comments welcome.

Written at: Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Several articles on this blog have referred to the Cool Solutions Wiki – http://wiki.novell.com.

If you have not used a Wiki before – you may wonder what this weird and wonderful sounding thing actually is.

I’ll try and give some background – and finish with a plea for content!

Written at: Toronto, ON, Canada

Put simply (again – quoting Wikipedia – itself a wiki)

A wiki (IPA: ['wi??.ki??] or ['w?.ki??] ^[1]) is a type of website that allows users to easily add, remove, or otherwise edit all content, very quickly and easily, sometimes without the need for registration. This ease of interaction and operation makes a wiki an effective tool for collaborative writing. The term wiki is a shortened form of wiki wiki which is from the native language of Hawaii (Hawaiian), where it is commonly used as an adjective to denote something “quick” or “fast”.

The Cool Solutions Wiki is a central spot for all of that ‘other important information’ that should be shared across the community. Sometimes created by Novell people; most often by you – our customers, partners and developers.

The content is as good as the community. Like one large ‘pot luck meal’ – if we all bring something good we’ll have a feast. The vast majority of wiki sites become the body of knowledge for the broader community – I’ve already plugged Wikipedia – but other sites as diverse as the WordPress Codex to Science of Spectroscopy use the Wiki structure to facilitate rapid and broad information sharing.

Sounds like a public information film eh? All very co-operative and liberal.

Take a look at the Novell Cool Solutions Wiki – and think for a moment. Do you have a morsel of information that can be shared? Can you spare a minute or two to jot it down.

I’ll especially plug the ZENworks part of the site – I’m just writing a lab guide or ‘Cook Book‘ on ZENworks 7 Linux Management. I’ve also created a ‘Call for Content‘ – where you can take the lead and start sharing your information. It’s a work in progress; a living body of documentation.

Let me know your comments, feedback and whether the Cool Solutions Wiki is useful. I’ll see if I can whistle up some ‘Evil ZEN Scientist’ T-shirts for the best few articles that get written as a result of this post. Bribery always works.

Written at: Toronto, ON, Canada