Zimbra & VMWare

Zimbra is related, in a roundabout way, to Novell issues. Namely, it's a BIG competitor to GroupWise.  With VMWare as it's parent company and it's favored status in Europe, it's claiming market share quite easily.

I just got done with a VMWare webinar on Zimbra, and I must say I'm quite impressed.  Assuming that it does everything they say it can do; reality is ofttimes much different from test beds after all.

I like the fact that it has native support for smart devices - including BES - and that they developed the web client first, later providing the "fat" client for mobile users.  It works on Macs - including iPads - and Linux too.  This could be a real boon for schools.  The licensing is attractively priced and it's designed for virtual environments.  Very cool!

It's easy enough my Mom (poor Mom!) could use it, and powerful enough for everything I'd need.  I really like the file sharing features too, which would fit very well into the needs of many of my end-users.  Kind of like a morph of iFolder and DocXchanger with a very intuitive interface.

Maybe I should just apply for their Community Development Manager spot...I'm starting to sound a bit like an evangelist.  I seem to know what user groups like and need from their vendors; at least I think I do.

Don't Panic - don't you know where your towel is?

I know I'm a bit late to the party, but in case you hadn't heard yet, Novell's agreed to be acquired by Attachmate.  Sorry, but I've been busy job hunting, the wallet's a bit more important than the blog at the moment.

There's been all sorts of back and forth, rumor, speculation and general FUD about the whole deal  Don't panic just yet.  No one knows yet what this will all mean for those of us Novell die-hards.  Patents are being sold to CPTN holdings, which is apparently a Microsoft company in some fashion; Novell has said they're holding onto the UNIX patents.  That being said, none of this has cleared the SEC yet, so there's no definitive "these are going here, those are staying there" statements to be made yet.

Richard Bliss has put a spin on it that I've been mulling over, but does it in a much more brilliant fashion than I ever would/could.  I suggest you check out his blog postings about the imminent sale.  There can be much good from this, especially going from public to privately held companies.

http://preview.tinyurl.com/279ga6y

I've been asked a lot of "but what does this mean for us?"  Just a reminder folks, I don't work for Novell.  And even if I did I wouldn't be able to tell you.  My suggestion (having been a survivor of many mergers and layoffs) is to take a deep breath, continue about your business and wait for Novell, Attachmate, and the SEC to make accouncements as things commence.  Worst case scenario is that you need to migrate off of your current systems due to support concerns.  Best case is things vastly improve, the support that we used to know and love returns to its heyday.  More than likely, things will end up somewhere in the middle as usually happens in this kind of situation.

There is one truth here to be remembered though: IT is all about change and if you're change resistant you're in the wrong industry.

As for me, I'm back into my MCITP books, checking into financial aid for another round of college classes, and planning for the next sharp turn in this crazy thing we call IT.

The Big EveNt - may yet be revived

My current employer won't be needing me any more, which also means they also won't be able to limit my involvement in The Big EveNt any more.  I've mentioned this to a few folks and it looks like I may actually have some much needed planning help with pulling off such an event.

If you're at all interested in bringing back The Big EveNt to West Michigan, please let me know.  We're talking about a possible 2012 event, one that is broader than just Novell (which it has been moving towards this entire time), and we'd love some suggestions as to who to involve.  More importantly, we could use more volunteers!

GroupWise Problem 102 - Contact folders are out of sync

I was thinking it was just my environment.  After all, we're having odd issues with new user creations where the GroupWise database doesn't get created and the user isn't fully added to their groups.  I still think we're having an eDirectory sync issue, but this latest GroupWise issue has a couple of possible causes.

First, let me state that I started seeing this problem crop up with new user adds.  These are users with no personal address books as they haven't even logged in yet.  I'll get this message on the same GWCheck run day that I grab mailbox statistics and the fact that they have no quota is the key to them being a new account.

Second, this is cropping up for users whose GroupWise database actually gets created (not all of our new users' databases actually create).  I'm assuming there's some kind of syncing issue between the NetWare boxes that host the eDirectory replicas and our Linux boxes that host the various components of GroupWise.  Our GW domain sits on a Linux box with NSS volumes, our POs run on straight Linux boxes with EXT3 partitions.

Imagine my surprise when I *finally* found a TID related to this.  Check out Novell TID# 7005073 for possible resolutions.

Unfortunately for me, none of my affected users seem to have a "/" in their address books.  That doesn't mean there isn't one, just that no one's fessed up yet.  For all of my new users, this is apparently one of those "Reported to Engineering" issues that I simply have to wait for a fix on.  Or more correctly, that my current teammates will need to wait for a fix on as I won't be around here for much longer.

Job Hunt is On!!

For those of you who don't know yet, I was given word on October 29th that my position is being eliminated at the end of June.  Or I can leave at the end of January and get some severance.  I don't know which way I'll go yet, but I knew this was coming for some time so I'm okay with it and was ready with resumes and cover letters.  It's the right decision for work due to budget woes, and I'm excited about new opportunities and a change of pace.

The bad news is that another friend was told shortly after that that he'll no longer be needed after December 4th.  So my ears are open for all opportunities in the Grand Rapids/Lansing/Kalamazoo area for either one of us.

I hit most of my contact lists by Monday afternoon to give as many the news at once as possible.  My network has stepped up and is actively looking for me and passing on leads, introductions and extending offers.  I am most humbled at the outpouring of support and appreciate everything you all are doing to lend a hand.

You can post a note here or shoot me a note to wmnug at yahoo dot com.  If I hear of a spot that I don't quite fit, I'll post it here.

Just a reminder though...I can do more than Novell; it's just my preferred vendor.  :)

Any Twin Cities folks out there?

I've got a friend looking for a Linux and VMWare ESX guru if anyone's looking for a job with those skill sets in the Twin Cities area.  You can drop me a line at wmnug at yahoo dot com and I'll try to hook you up.

BrainShare 2011 - Call for Papers

Novell send out the announcement for the call for Session Proposals today.  In case you didn't get such an email, here's what I received:

Dear Mary,
Call for Session Proposals Open Until December 17

The time has come to begin accepting and reviewing session proposals for BrainShare 2011 in Salt Lake City.  The Call for Papers (CFP) will be open from now through December 17, 2010 (5:00 PM MST).  If you have a proposed topic which you believe would be of value to our attendees, please submit it by going to www.novell.com/brainshare and clicking on the “Call for Papers” link.

BrainShare will have a strong emphasis on technical sessions. Preference will be given to the sessions that are more technical in nature and are focused on an intermediate to advance audience.

We are excited to review your session ideas. Year after year, our content continues to improve. We are confident that this upcoming event will be the best ever!

If you have any questions, please contact us at news@novellbrainshare.com.

Thank you,

The BrainShare Team

If you've had a successful project that you'd like to brag about I'd suggest putting in a paper.  A presentation at BrainShare not only looks good on a resume, it gets you some perks no other attendees get.  I'm debating myself, several things are up in the air at the moment and I'm not sure anyone really wants/needs to hear me yakking on.  I'm pretty sure you all got your fill of me at GWAVACon for three years in a row. 

But seriously, if you have a really cool way to do something in Linux, or VM, or ZEN, consider doing a presentation.  And if you'd had a successful migration project that you're willing to share with others give it some consideration, there are those of us out here that would love to hear of your success.

GWAVACon Early Bird Registration and 2-for-1 deal

GWAVACon is in Torrance, California this year.  In January.  Not a bad place to be when it's bitterly cold in the MidWest.  I won't be making it this year (unless some Fairy Godperson picks up the tab for me), but it's something you don't want to miss if you have GroupWise in your environment.

I've presented there in the past and always learn something new from the people who've attended my sessions, as well as the rest of the folks attending the event. It's a lot like BrainShare, just more focused on GroupWise and third party solutions.

GWAVA's offering a couple of different discount options for the next few days.  I suggest you check it out.  And if you're not from the West Coast, stay an extra day and hit up DisneyLand.  Check out RiverBell Terrace.  I spent many hours in that polyester costume helping pay for college and learning how to make Mickey Mouse Pancakes.

And stay tuned for some news on OneCommunity Norm O'Neal's brainchild as well as OpenHorizons MidWest.

NSM 3.0

I love keeping one foot in the partner space!  It gets me access to all sorts of specialized webinars and extra training options.

I just got off of a webinar with Doug Ouzts (boy I hope I spelled that right!) from Condrey Consulting regarding the new NSM 3.0.  Best thing: feature parity between the AD and eDir versions.  Tough part: those of you who haven't upgraded to 2.5 yet will have a 2-step process to migrate to 3.0.  And yes, it is a migration not an upgrade.

If you are currently running on NetWare, you'll want to wait to go to 3.0 until you've got your OES2-Linux servers in place for storage prior to migrating to 3.0.  Don't be shy about upgrading to 2.5 first though as they'll be supporting this version for the foreseeable future.  And if you're considering the move to all Windows servers rather than Linux you'll really be happy with the collaborative space policies now available for AD.

Of course, my suggestion (should you still be on NetWare) is to take advantage of the planned move off of NetWare and take the opportunity to redesign your file storage architecture at the same time.  Something along the lines of all home drives go on ServerX and all shared space goes on ServerY.  Something that will make it a lot easier to implement an IDM solution if you don't already have on in place.  It's easier to keep track of, the IDM policies can be more streamlined, and the NSM policies will be a piece of cake to put together.

Just a reminder that Novell isn't just about NetWare - unlike Microsoft - their products DO play well with others.

Have a great Fall (or whatever season it may be in your area of the globe) weekend!

SmartPhones Project

"My" SmartPhones project at work has finally been approved to move forward.  It was put on hold for a bit due to lack of resources, and now I finally get to put the Data Synchronizer for Mobility into my environment.  Woo-hoo!  Bad news, is that I don't have a phone to test it with.  BlackBerry devices aren't supported and I got mine in order to support our BES users, even though I'm not allowed to attach my personal device to our BES.

I'm still thrilled to have a chance to get my hands on this new product and see what it can really do.  There are Droid and iPhone users around, so I'll have a group that can test it out for me.  If it's a slick as the beta showed it to be, I'm expecting a successful launch and happy users at last.  Okay, so they may not all be happy, but the majority will be happier.

NDAs are actually pretty cool!

Anyone who's been around IT long enough, understands what I mean when I say NDA...at least those from the West/East Coast seem to know off the top of their heads. For those that might be scratching their heads or still fairly new to the game an NDA is a Non-Disclosure Agreement.

I've been involved with plenty of them in my career, but only my current employer has ever given me authorization to sign one myself.  So I did. Today as matter of fact.  But, as I have no paper trail (just an email one), I figured I'd post that I was told "You may sign it." for my own CYA.

And yes, if you should ask me about something that's involved with an NDA, I will simply say "I don't know" or "I haven't heard anything about that" (okay, so I'd probably really say "squat" instead of "anything").  Because I believe in NDAs, I'm happy to sign them. I've even been the one who's asked someone else to sign an NDA before (this was long-long-long-ago and the company's defunct so I figure I can say that now).

Luckily for me, nothing I've "chatted" with execs about lately have anything to do with NDAs.  But I'll still keep the Oreo story between Alan Nugent and myself to a select few; even though I smile every time I think of it.  Although, I'm more than happy to tell people how I first met John Dragoon and badgered him into sending me a Novell USB stick.  BTW, John (in case you ever read this), I have kept the note you wrote (by hand) and am trying to find a suitable frame for it.  It's one of my most favorite "prizes".

John Dragoon made me smile today

So it was over an email dialogue, but still he made me smile.  He usually does, even when he's *picking* on me.  He does have a great sense of humor though, it goes well with his gig at Novell.

And he shows his business acumen in a recent Forbes article, that Norm O'Neal of Integrity Networks in Indiana and Open Horizons MidWest kindly linked up on FaceBook earlier today.  I suggest you read it, and I posted it on my LinkedIn profile as well.

What Is Creativity's Value--In Marketing, In Business? - Forbes.com

The other thing that you may/may not have noticed recently is the lack of buzz about the potential sale of Novell - or it's parts.  It's been a nice break for me, not having to answer so many questions.  And I've been invited to apply to be part of an advisory group for the Collaboration team at Novell.  Both of which is good news to my ears, as all I've been hearing around the office lately is SharePoint.

Now perhaps we can get those odd issues we've had with GroupWise of late resolved.  Like when clicking on a message to reply - it changes itself to a Posted Appointment, or the visual one that pops up on Windows 7 for some, but not all users, under the GW 8.01 HP3 and 8.0.2 client where appointments don't scroll but rather repeat. (I can post a jpg if anyone needs to see what I'm trying to describe).  Other than those few odd quirks it's been pretty quiet on the Novell front of late.

BlackBerry Devices - Good, Bad and HORRID!

Horrid piece first:  the Blackberry Storm 2 sucks!  Hate hate, HATE! the keyboard interface and SureType technology.  My poor co-workers had to put up with me muttering (none too quietly) under my breath about my intense desire to throw the idiot device across the room.  My hands and arms are still twitching from having to simply activate the damn thing.  It is the most horrendous piece of junk I've had my hands on yet and I've worked on a lot of junky prototypes in my time.

Bad piece: the new Curve device is so cheaply made (and is obviously coming out of China) that I dread the day I have to get rid of my Curve.  The latest Curves are about 1/2 the weight of my 8360 and feel like a kid's plastic play phone.  I don't think the replacement that I just activated will last long for the user in question as he's about as hard on his phones as I am on mine.  The worse part is he received a Curve as a replacement to his World Edition unit which is even more hardy and has a better keyboard than my Curve.  But when the main USB port fails, what can you do?

Good news - finally!  BlackBerry has announced their new PlayBook that we've been hearing rumors about for a few weeks now.  I prefer the name Richard Bliss came up with, but I guess RIM wasn't paying attention.  Either way, it looks pretty sweet, and may actually have a chance at giving the iPAD a run for Apple's money.  I'd like to get my hands on one, but I'm not holding my breath just yet.  I expect they won't be in any stores for a month or so, and that runs up against the holiday season and those that know me well know how much I 1) hate shopping in general and 2) really hate shopping during the holiday season.

Want to see more on the PlayBook?  Check it out here:

http://na.blackberry.com/eng/?2&RMID=MR00300_GL_EN_MU_2010-09-27_BB_Teaser&RRID=49B1D1D763F233FEE10000000A659D4A

Novell purchase rumors abound

Novell is understandably quiet on the potential sale of the company. As they should be for legal reasons.  Messaging Architects had put out an invitation for a webinar to discuss the sale further, but has since retracted that invite after talking to their advisers - wise move.

Anyway, the scuttle-butt now is that VMWare wants to purchase up the Linux portion of the business and everyone's chiming in on the good/bad/ugly of the deal.  And the reporters keep mentioning Attachmate to pick up the NetWare side of the business.  Apparently the reporters don't realize that Novell is FAR more than NetWare, and that NetWare end of lifed this year.  They have yet to discuss GroupWise, Teaming, Conferencing, Pulse, IDM, eDirectory, ZENworks, Access Manager, SecureLogin, Sentinel, Storage Manager, and all the new cloud offerings.  And anything else I missed.  Perhaps that's why people are stressed out over the sale.

I still don't understand all the kafuffle about the potential sale.  First, it's a potential sale.  No one who would know anything has said "boo" (it's close to Halloween, gimme a break!) about it.  And secondly, how many of you weren't around for the mid-80's massive M&A in all industries?  Maybe I'm just showing my age, but really, IT changes all the time.  IBM used to be the "big boys", then Apple was the rage, Microsoft took over PCs, Novell started LANs, and now Apple's popular once more.  It's all a big circle; centralized IT, decentralized IT, centralized IT (via cloud services)...it'll come around again.  New players will pop up...heck will Google even be around as Google in 10-20 years?  Who knows?  That's part of the thrill of being in IT.

Whether Novell as a brand and a company survives is yet to be seen, but there's been a lot of big players before who've lost out and the sky still hasn't fallen.

So take some advice from my favorite professor, Dr. Don Medley (who learned COBOL direct from Grace Hopper).  Paraphrased: you're in an industry that not only requires, but demands life-long learning, pay attention, keep your skills current and sharp, and go after every certification that you can - the paper proves you know the topic at some level.  Stay marketable!

Now, back to stick my head in my Active Directory book and hope I don't get a headache while I work at staying marketable.  If I only learned one lesson from my college days it's to "Pay attention to Dr. Medley - always!".

Novell Pending Sale - New or Old News? Depends on your POV

This morning the NY Post, in a very short article, heralded the 2-part sale of Novell.  This news very quickly hit the NGWList, but has yet to hit the TTP list.  Of course, we'd been warned way back in March during Elliott's somewhat-hostile takeover bid attempt that Novell would court other offers.  The good news on this is that the stock price is up to about $6/share.

ZDNet responded later with an article about this news, basically calling it "stale bread" (to paraphrase).  The most interesting point I found in the ZDNet article is the rumored news that Red Hat is also on the block.  That, in itself, is far more interesting news.

Whether or not Novell is sold is yet to be seen.  For my own selfish reasons I hope it's not, but I'm not holding my breath.  If it is sold, I hope that both Ron and John will let me continue to happily pester, bug, tease, and somewhat (but not in a scary way), "stalk" them if they move on to new digs somewhere else.  And that the rest of my Novell "homies" keep in touch as you never know where I might turn up at any given time.  Especially given that I usually have some freshly made cookies with me.

Link for NY Post article: http://tinyurl.com/2b23lx7

Link for ZDNet article:  http://tinyurl.com/2c7rkwq

Data Synchronizer Mobility Pack - SHIPS!!!

Just a short blog post here...it's finally shipped!  And after Alex Evans had a rough night of little sleep.  Thanks Alex and team!

If you don't see it in your Customer Center list, be patient, they're working on getting everyone's accounts updated ASAP.  You should see it within the next 24 hours or so.

Here's the link to Alex's blog on the subject:
http://www.novell.com/communities/node/11861/groupwise-mobility-pack-shipped-today

Now perhaps I can get my project moving forward (if I still have a job after October).

BlackBerry Desktop Manager v. 6 and GroupWise 8.0.2 client woes

In addition to my distaste for Windows 7 and some bozo's choice to move to "libraries" rather than consider how the real world tends to work, I've run into a RIM generated issue that's causing me to improve the profit margins for the makers of Excedrin.

My work laptop was recently reimaged to Windows 7 (don't get me started on what a pain Windows 7 is to access a Windows XP machine in a workgroup) which meant I had to reinstall my BlackBerry Desktop Manager to sync my GroupWise calendar to my Curve.  I've been very happy with the RIM DTM product - until this change.  I decided to update my GW client to 8.0.2, even though we're still at 8.0.1 on the backend.  The GW update went just fine, as usual, and gave me the ability to help end-users who also have this one-off type of configuration.

I happily went on to download the latest version of the DTM, which happens to be 6.0 and was released on 8/10/10, so I figured it should work just fine with GW 8.  WRONG!  DTM 6.0 doesn't like GW 8.0.2 client and gives the "oh-so-helpful" error of "The operation terminated unexpectedly" when trying to sync for the first time.

After fiddling with it for a while, and having an end-user with the same issue state that it worked just fine until we did "something" to her machine a few weeks back, I knew it wasn't an issue with the server side of things.  A back rev of the client to 8.0.1 HP1 allows the DTM to work fine without the insidious error.  So, if you need to run the DTM from RIM, make sure your client is 8.0.1 HP1 or earlier to have it work properly.

Yes, we do have a BES. No, I'm not allowed to use it as I'm using a personally owned BlackBerry.  My employer expects me to support them, but won't provide me with one to provide support with.

And yes, I've reported the "bug" to Novell, even though I place the onous of this "bug" squarely on RIM's proprietary shoulders.

Now I'm headed off back to my MS AD self-study for the MCITP.  If you know who the author MaryJanice Davidson is, you'll understand when I say reading MS Press guides is kind of like reading the "Book of the Dead" for Betsy...only without the totally insane parts.

Repeat after me: "Read the NOTES in the documentation"

We've recently migrated our iPrint from NetWare to Linux and put in PaperCut to replace PCounter (they weren't even developing for Linux when we started the project).  Bear in mind, I'm not even included in this project team, but I hear things and get asked to open up tickets when things don't work as planned.

So, I had to laugh at myself a bit when stumbling across this new issue.  You see, I have the habit of reading anything starting with "NOTE".  Even more so when it's in a nicely outlined text box in the documentation.  The particular note I'm referring to is a smidge vague in the wording, but from Novell's site, here's the "note" for the ShortInstallName feature that got overlooked:

NOTE:When changing the value use only lower ASCII characters and do not use slash, quote, space, or comma.

What they're telling you is IF you use the ShortInstallName (as we do), make sure the name is all in lower case and don't use the noted characters - including spaces.  We didn't do that.

What happens if you don't follow that rule?  The HP Universal Driver causes issues in iManager where it thinks the broker is down when it's up, ditto for the print manager and the printer.  And this causes iManager to not be able to do anything with the affected printer/broker/manager.

This note is also included in the .ini file on the server, and that's where it was first noticed.  I had to giggle a bit.  It's always that little tidbit that's right under your nose that gets missed in the middle of a production implementation.  Which is why I always pay attention to those special boxes.  Still, from time to time, they get overlooked, so this is your friendly reminder to please read the NOTE section.  It's there for a reason.

I have asked the PM to look into putting a TID out on this subject as it's come up in the forums with no answers.

As a side note, I also gave Microsoft some feedback on their training/certification pages - basically I told them to go take a look at Novell's certification/training pages and "grab a clue".  All I ended up with from trying to traverse that site in search of what classes are needed for which exams was a huge Excedrin headache.

Calm your fears...

My previous post about obtaining my MCITP doesn't mean I've lost all faith in Novell.  I haven't, but I do have to be more marketable - especially given the news that we'll be told if we're on the list of "layoff-ees" in October. And I'm 99.9% certain my name will end up on that list. So I'm concentrating on trying to crank out 7 exams in just a few months.  I've done it before, I'm just hoping my brain hasn't turned into mush since my last big certification push.

I'm really liking a lot of the cloud stuff I'm seeing from Novell.  There's some really critical needs being addressed by Novell.  The next decade is going to a bumpy, crazy, insane, thrill-filled joy ride for techies.  Not sure how long I'll be able to hang on to it all.  I'm hoping to do a bit of leap-frogging around the edges to avoid a few pitfalls and hopefully end up in a sweet spot.  Time will only tell.

For those with cash left to invest in the stock market you might want to take a look at whatever company makes Excedrin.  I'll be going through a lot of bottles as I bang my head on the table muttering "what were the MS folks thinking of when they came up with THIS chunk of code?".

Still bleeding Red N's here, just a lot slower.  BTW - BrainShare 2011 has a confirmed date and RSVP page on FB.  I'm listed as a "maybe"...I'll need as close to a free ride as I can possibly get this year.  And I really do feel bad about that, but considering I may not have a job by that point, it's a luxury for me this year, and my wallet's just full of moths at the moment.

Novell's been busy!

If you haven't been around Novell lately, you may not be aware of all of their cloud security offerings.  You really should take a look at them.  There's some really cool stuff coming down the pipe.

GroupWise 8.0.2 has also been released - earlier than I thought it would.  Nicest part is we can use the 8.0.2 client against the 8.0.1 backend.which makes life a touch easier for me.  My next window for a big update is the day after Christmas, so having a client that may potentially fix a lot of the unusual issues we've been seeing is most welcome.

Public beta of the new Data Synchronizer for GroupWise for mobile devices is here as well.  Happy day for me, but may be a tad late for some of our users who've started forwarding all mail to gmail and sync'ing that way.

I'm hopeful that Novell can really turn this ship around, but I'm not holding my breath.  Based on our results with 8.0.1 and randomly crashing agents, I'm hesitant to say things will be much better.  Yep, from the one who bleeds Novell Red, I've become cynical.  I haven't migrated to the "dark side" just yet, but am actively going after my MCITP just to be more market-ready in the event of changes.

Bit by the obvious

I hate it when I spend hours troubleshooting something that's right under my nose and should be "obvious" to me.  Two hours wasted tracking down an error that I should have hit on right away.  Instead I discovered that there's only 2 references to the error when googled and one of them wasn't obviously resolved either.  So I'll document it here in hopes that someone else may find it in a Google search and I'll have saved them some time.

The odd part is that this popped up in my newly rebuilt and clean testbed.  All virtual servers, some on OES-Linux, some on SLES 10, and some on NetWare 6.5.  (I need a complex test bed to mirror what we're doing in production).  Opening up ConsoleOne to get at the GWIA object - all so I could add on an HTTP user name and password - gave me the following error:

Unable to locate the file "\/wpgate/gwia/gwac.dc".

Full administration for the gateway will not be available until installation is complete.

A search of the Novell Knowledgebase turned up nothing on this error, there's one reference to it in the forums, which I'll have to go post a response to as well.

The cause of this error?  The domain object (not the MTA) had the UNC path set to a "\".  Where it picked this up from I have no idea as I created the domain during a fresh, new install of GW 8.01 HP1.  But there it was, as shown below, all mucked up.  Switch that to /mail/grpwise (my domain path in my testbed) and life is all groovy again.

Sorry for the sloppy graphic, but I don't have screen capture software loaded on the virtual boxes.  Usually I have these odd issues in the production systems, not the test.  Odd, but a fun one to deal with on a Monday.

New GroupWise Hiccups

For awhile now, I've been warning the powers that be that our eDirectory still has issues that can only be fixed by creating a new tree.  We had the perfect opportunity when we migrated to Linux servers and all new drive mappings, but I was nixxed on the decision.  The chant of "but we've had this tree since we went to 4.0" (which was badly botched BTW) was consistent and no one would listen to me.  Not a big surprise in a place where the motto seems to be "but we've always done it this way".

Because of this, I'm never surprised when there's an issue with a newly created account not getting it's GroupWise user database created properly.  It took me awhile to figure out why I was getting C05D errors sent to my mailbox with message attachments that I couldn't read.  I had set my POA logging to verbose and was seeing C05D messages related to another user ID.  I dug around in the logs for the C05D information and finally hit on the fact that it was related to an error I was seeing in my mailbox statistics log and finally put the two together.  Which was really good as the long time user of the other account that was being "blamed" would have had a fit if I tried a structural rebuild or re-create database on his account.

I found errors in my weekly GWCheck process logs - namely the one that captures mailbox statistics.  The error I found in the statistics log looks like this:  (with the letters fid indicating the particular users FID number)

          Checking user = aaa1 (fid) 1214/1448 - 0 bytes

                   Database not found - /mail/postofc/ofuser/userfid.db

I usually "fix" this issue by moving the user to a different PO and moving it back.  Not this time.  Oh it worked great moving it to my "all fubar accounts" post office, but moving it back failed miserably.  In fact the move couldn't finish because the POA couldn't create the new database for whatever reason.  Nope, no errors in the log - which was still set to verbose, we're not out of space, and the domain and agents have full rights to the drive space.

In an vain attempt to resolve the problem, I copied the user database over to the correct server.  This allowed the move to complete, but gave an error anytime a GWCheck process was run.  Not unexpected since I did copy it over from the second PO to the preferred PO.  The error I would get is an error 44 with the following message:

           Error 44 - Database userfid.db is invalid due to security breach!

             - Verification HOST_ID is "gwpo2", should be "gwpo1"

Novell's fix for this it to restore the database from backup, but since there never was one on "PO1" to begin with there was nothing to restore.

I ended up "fixing" it by first checking that the account was inactive (meaning it's never been logged in), then I deleted just the GroupWise account and readded the user to the correct PO in the GroupWise tab in ConsoleOne.  I didn't need to adjust the FID as there was nothing to recover, so I left the account with a new FID and ran a GWCheck just to verify I no longer received any errors.  All was fine and dandy.

Now I just have to wait and see what other bizarre things will occur with this account. DSRepairs show no errors on the specific object and our eDirectory Health Check shows our tree to be healthy - for the most part.  There are things I cannot fix without creating a new tree, so I'll just keep patching with bandaids until it dies in some horrible, complicated fashion.

Novell Pulse, BrainShare Amsterdam, and TTP Conference USA

I've discovered that my first 5 invites for Pulse didn't get to all of my invitees.  Surprise, surprise!  So, of course I complained (everyone knows I'm mouthy).  Today I logged in and found 10 new invites available.  I don't know why and I'm not asking, I'm just taking advantage of them.  And I've found that as long as I invite one person at a time, instead of a whole list separated by commas, it seems to work.  Now, just to figure out what to use Pulse for.  Any ideas?

This whole Novell Pulse / Google Wave stuff is a bit beyond me at the moment.  Not that I can't figure out the "how", it's more of the "why" to use it.  I'm still working on that bit, but am honored Novell's including me in this instance of Pulse.  I'm thinking it has broader uses for where I work than for the more social aspect of it, it's a new technology, so I'm assuming the training wheels are still on it.  It will be interesting to watch this evolve.

BrainShare Amsterdam has wrapped up and appears by all accounts to have been a resounding success.  Nice to have it back in Europe again, although I'll miss seeing friends at the Utah version.

TTP's annual conference is back in Provo from July 11 through the 16, 2010.  Peter is working on the schedule now, so if you've got some good technical presentation you'd like to give, let him know ASAP.  I'll be missing out on it this year (no $$ for travel).  I'm glad I had a chance to catch the TTP Summit prior to BrainShare this year.

On the tech front, not much is happening.  I finally figured out some of the eDirectory oddities I've been seeing aren't eDir after all and is all our LDAP server's fault.  So no techie points there to tell you about.

I'll be working on my NCE training this summer (all self-study) along wtih CLA/CLP and MCSE training.  SharePoint is here (unfortunately), so I've offered to try to take on the administration of that beastie.  We'll see if I'm actually allowed to do so, as it's all yet to be determined.

Novell for Sale? Wall Street Journal says so...

This hit the NCCI channel yesterday.  Apparently Novell is getting ready to accept bids to buy up the company.  What?!?  Our beloved Novell is for sale?  Why not just go with the flow and sanctify the old rumor mill by having IBM buy up Novell?

Anyway, to quote the Wall Street Journal:

Novell Inc., which has put itself on the block, plans to accept bids from potential acquirers this week, people familiar with the matter say, kicking off a process that will likely result in a sale of the software company.

While this week is the deadline for interested parties to submit bids, the auction is expected to take longer. A group of finalists will likely be picked from this round of bidders, with final offers due later, the people familiar with the matter said.

Novell spokesman Ian Bruce declined to comment. 

So what is Novell hiding?  They should comment one way or the other.  My boss is already "concerned" about Novell's "viability" (may be a weak attempt to see if I'll cut and run) and is looking at the possibility of moving to all MS - without knowing/realizing the full costs involved in doing so.  While MS on the resume makes for more job ops, I still prefer stuff that works right - and no IT company seems to be able to provide that any more.

In the meantime, GroupWise 8.01 HP1 continues to surprise me with odd issues due to bad code.  Odd memory errors, and really strange things like when clicking on the "Discussion Thread" tab while in a message pops up messages from more than a year that aren't related in any way.

Novell Community Rocks! On-Demand Training does too.

I went off on my once a month trip to get allergy shots and came back to a nice surprise on my desk.  A very kind and generous friend has shipped me a fun new Novell toy in the form of an RC Tesla complete with Novell and KIS logos on them.  KIS is a Platinum Partner of Novell and my friend Allan was at BrainShare this year, so I'm sure he's behind the fun toy.

Besides the fact that the Novell community is rather self-supporting, there is a new push to adopt an Open Horizons format for NUI in some regions.  Norm O'Neal is the force behind this push and behind NUGI (Novell User Group Indiana).  Keep your eyes open if you're in the MidWest for some news on this as wheels are churning in the background at this point.

I've been using the On-demand training offered by Novell for some time now and haven't really talked about it much.  It's actually really effective training, and if you're like me, you have access for free.  It's almost the same as being in the classroom, and for those of us with no Novell classes locally available it is the only training option.  The big benefit is being able to go through the training at your own pace, on your equipment, and on your schedule.  And I can usually listen to the lecture while addressing fires at work without impacting my training too much.  When you have a chance, check it out.  Too bad Microsoft doesn't have something of similar quality that I could mooch.

I'll post pictures of my new toy as soon as I take some.  And I'll be posting things about Teaming 2.1 in the next few weeks.

Novell File Management Suite

Is sweet!  I was in the ATT Online class for it and am really liking what I was seeing.  Very cool reporting features, some of which can be automated, and quota management has made leaps forward from where NSM was at when it first arrived.

The whole suite is what I'd consider a "must-have" for anyone struggling to manage storage space.  The reporting feature is user friendly and could be easily handed over to a help desk person for routine management.  I'm downloading the suite now to be dumped into my testbed.  May happen over the weekend just because I'm wanting to play with it.

Oh! And I found a way to post PDFs to my blog.  It requires a  bit of finagling and storing the PDFs to a hosting site, but I found a freebie spot, so I should be able to get those GroupWise PDFs posted over the weekend...that is if anyone cares.

Seeing as how I don't have any official followers, I've got no idea if anyone drops by (besides Richard) to see what useless chattering I may be doing.  :)

Mini's vs. iPads

I'm not sure if you can actually compare the two as they have different target audiences and uses.  Several friends already have iPads, with the majority extolling their virtues.  Most are already Apple fans.  Before you put on your judging hat, you should know that I've been an Apple fan since the Apple IIe - with Drol (my all time favorite game that I never beat).

I just don't totally get the iPad thing.  Of course, I don't get the whole Kindle/eReader stuff either as I like to feel my books in my hands.  If I'm going to pay that much for a device it better be able to do everything I need a comparably priced piece of equipment to do.  And from what I can tell I'd use an iPad for, my minis fit the bill just fine at about 1/2 the cost.  (Okay, so I've only paid for one, but I'm using the average retail price here as a comparison).

My minis already have wireless NICs on-board so I can connect to any available wireless in range that's available (i.e. either open or I have the key for), so I don't need or want to spend extra money getting to a 3G system.  If I'm that desparate my BlackBerry will do in a pinch...and there's nothing about IT that I am that desparate for any more.  I don't do much with pictures (I hate having my photo taken), and I can do without video entertainment for long stretches of time.  I already get email on my BlackBerry which already makes work too readily accessible to me.  So, I don't get it.  For those of you that do, I'm happy for you.  It looks like a cool toy.

Yes, I've had my hands on one and still don't get it.  And while I have 2 iPODs I still don't get the draw of them either.  I have stereos in my car, my office, and at home, CDs that can be played in them, and easily received free radio channels. I was never into boom boxes and never fully utilized my Sony Walkmans either.  I do like my Shuffle though as it makes working out a bit easier and I can blast my ears with my preferred tunes over what's normally playing in the fieldhouse I work out in.  Maybe I'm just getting old, or maybe I've just been in IT too long to get excited about new hardware as often.

I must admit, I wasn't sure what all I'd use a mini for either, but I had more of an idea than I do with an iPad.  My problem with the minis was not having a CD/DVD drive and the added cost when they first came out brought the total cost of a mini too close to what I'd paid for my Toshiba laptop.  But since winning my HP from Novell and having it run SLED I'm won over.  They're great for traveling, but definitely not a laptop or desktop replacement.

Maybe there's an iPad user out there that can explain practical uses to me other than "it's cool, you can play music, or you can read books on it".  Anyone?  Bueller...Bueller?

GWCheck

This all actually started yesterday with an email asking how to go about finding out the mailbox sizes on a GroupWise post office.  It evolved to me doing a quick search to remind myself of where GWCheck stores it's logs by default.  And I thought, "hey, I should probably put this on the blog".  So I am.

First off, if you're not familiar with GWCheck, it's a tool for GroupWise.  It does lots of stuff, but one of the coolest things it does is a Mailbox Statistics check.  It can tell you what each users mailbox size is, how many items they have in their Inbox, Sent, and Trash folders.  It also lists their FIDs (handy to have should you accidentally delete someone) and any quota you may have on it.  Which is exactly the information my friend was needing.

The problem was he wasn't sure where the log was stuffed.  Luckily, he already had himself setup as an admin so he got the log file via email.  But in case you're not so lucky, check in the /wpcsout/ofs directory under your post office directory. - i.e. /postofc/wpcsouts/ofs  (adjust slashes as needed for NetWare/Linux/Windows).

Once you have the log file you use this cool little parsing tool called GWMbSize (available at http://www.anykeyonline.nl/documents/31.html).  It will parse the log and give you a handy CSV that you can import into a spreadsheet and sort as need be.  Slicker than snot and fairly quick and easy.  I use this tool every Monday to catch users who've been created with no quota, users over their limits, or even changes to quotas that were made without following proper procedures.

Another thing I have GWCheck do is weekly maintenance on all my POAs.  I'll post my defacto-standard for those checks at a later date though.

How GroupWise issues prove that GWAVA's Reload Rocks!

While I was gone "something" went wrong that caused the GroupWise servers to all be manually rebooted.  Nope, I still haven't gotten details on the entire scenario.  What I can tell you is that the NCP mount to our domain server was not checked after the reboot to ensure it occurred.  This left our post offices and domains without appropriate connectivity.  Oh, everything was running, but not as well as it should have been and now I have issues that will require a rebuild of a couple of post offices.  The joys of those who don't read the wiki that was setup for times such as these.

Somehow in all this mess, my VP lost critical emails and needed to get a restore done.  I learned about this while sitting in the plane at the gateway, waiting for everyone else to board, on my return home from BrainShare.  Thankfully my VP is a patient man (those who haven't worked for banking or hospital VP's should consider themselves lucky) and was willing to wait until I got back to the office.

I arrived back at work, sick (courtesy of the man in front of me on the plane) and having issues thinking straight.  We worked out which dates were needed, and started restoring from tape,which under normal circumstances would have taken just a few hours.  Whap!  Out of space on the reload server.  Co-worker insists that Reload stores the data "just like" a POA (which I know isn't exactly correct), tells me to restore to another location rather than grant more space.  Guess what? wrong location and ran out of room again.  I'm still not 100%, so I restore it all to a different spot, create a temproray restore area and - hooray! - we can see the messages we need. BUT it can't find the BLOB files because Reload is written much better than that and no it's not stored identically to a post office because that would take too much room.  (No this isn't a dig, just trying to explain in a short-hand way).

So a day of finagling later, and following my co-worker's confident instructions that tape would be faster than copying the already untarred files over (causes me less grief to just go with the follow than correct the misconceptions) I finally have the TAR file untarred into the RIGHT location at last and my VP can get to his data.  YAY!!!  Dancing all around!  Best part is, we have a common path name for all restores, whether it's from tape or current backups and regardless of the post office name.  And it all works!  My VP was a very patient guinea pig and it turns out we only lost 1 email that he was able to work around not having.

Had we not had Reload the backup process would have been more painful, much longer, not completed in the time frame he needed, and since we were using two different tape backup dates far more work would have been necessary.  Still not convinced Reload rocks?  That's okay, here's the technical reasoning (sorry you had to sit through my whining here..okay, maybe not so sorry).

Reload stores the BLOB files in a way that they don't have to be copied multiple times like they would be on a tape backup.  It can be configured to create a TAR file of an entire week's data to be copied to a tape or other off-line storage system.  The really cool part about the TAR files?  You can extract just a single day's worth of data.  If it's the first thing you're extracting from the TAR file, you'll need to grab the GRE_DATA folder as well, but once that's done, you can extract just a single date at a time if you'd like.  Compare that to having to restore everything for a single date if you're using the default restore method for GroupWise.  Still confused?  How about a step-by-step comparision?

Scenario: UserA loses data at some point during the week of March 1st (they think), but also lost something that they knew they had sometime around mid-January.  It's now April 1st, so neither dataset is on your live systems as you only store 2 weeks worth.  And you have to use the standardized path name that your help desk knows; no custom restore areas allowed.  What do you do?

Using GWAVA Reload:

1. Restore the TAR file from March 7th (assumption is you create TAR files on Sundays) to a location on the Reload server.
2. Un-tar the contents to the default location on the Reload server (i.e. /reload/poa1).
• If time is of the essence, you can speed this up by creating a folder in the default location that matches the TAR file name (i.e. /reload/poa1/1-week1-2010), then un-tar the gre_data folder and the first date you wish to try.  You can then un-tar the other dates as needed.
3. In Reload Administration, select Access Backups, the correct POA profile and you'll see the new date listed.
4. Select a date to load and you're good to go
5. If that date isn't right, simply use the Reload Administration to unload the current set and select a different date in the TAR set to be loaded
6. Repeat with new dates or TAR files as necessary

Using GroupWise "default" method for restores

1. Pick a date that "may" hold the necessary data; best bet is to probably start with March 1st
2. Restore the entire post office from tape to a location either on the live post office or another server (it works best if it's on the same server that hosts the post office, even if it's another volume)
3. Create a Restore Area using ConsoleOne; if you're stuck using this method best bet is to have some default ones already setup
4. Add the user to the Membership list for the correct Restore Area
5. Grant the POA rights to that location
6. Provide the user with the correct path to use
7. Have the user check to see if the data needed is there, if not, go back to step one, pick another date, and repeat until data is found

The number of steps don't seem too different, but when you consider that you only have to perform 1 tape restore to provide 7 days worth of data for the Reload option, versus 7 tape restores for the default GroupWise option it's a significant time savings.  And for my post office sizes, the TAR file actually restores faster than an entire post office.  Plus it doesn't impact the live GroupWise server.

And that is why Reload Rocks.

Busy, busy, busy

Been busy playing catch up after being gone a week.  So I haven't posted the GroupWise stuff that I want to yet.  I really need to find a way to post PDFs here.  Anyone know of a way (to save me the research time)?  If not, I'll figure something out.

Anyhow, for those of you that are TTP members (education customers) there's a pretty sweet deal from Novell regarding SLED.  I've been busy getting that setup for work and have been downloading SLED ISOs while doing other things.  I'm thinking I may whack my Dell mini configuration and reconfigure it as a SLED 11 box, just to see if it's as fast a boot as my HP mini that I love so much.

I also had the annual, "Let's screw up Mary's PartnerNet account and see how long it takes her to notice" game with Novell.  Granted, my account is always a pain, it's always having issues because of my 1 foot in the customer space and 1 foot in the partner space, plus all my NUI connections.  But it's fixed now, so I have access to all the perks again.

Traveling with Minis

Everyone knows I love the mini I won from Novell.  But I had no idea how nice it would be to travel with 2 minis.  I took my HP mini from Novell with SLED 11 and my Dell mini with Windows 7 on it to BrainShare last week.  Not only do the two together weigh less than my big Dell laptop, but having 2 OSes readily on hand was a big advantage.  Especially when you consider the SLED 11 boots so much faster.

I'd decided to bring both for a couple of reasons.  First and foremost, my portable DVD won't work with Linux and if I wanted to watch DVDs I was out of luck.  Secondly, I was taking several of Laura's classes and wasn't looking forward to whatever mayhem she may wreak on my SLED mini.  I didn't care about my Dell mini as I have restore DVDs and have no data on it.

Getting them through TSA was faster than I expected - it took them longer to check my CPAP out - and they both fit in one bin, taking me about the same amount of time to pull out and put back in my case as my big guns do.

The best part was I had my "best of breed" tools on my SLED and everything that I might need via Windows all on hand.  I could even VPN into work; not that I would have as I was on vacation.

All in all, I'm really happy that I have minis now.  I'd been curious as to what it would be like to have them and now I know.  They're great to travel with and without all of the weight and extras I don't need when traveling.  Even the power bricks are lighter!

So, thank you again Novell for putting on the contest that I won the mini from, and thanks to my Dell rep who let me mooch the Inspiron mini.  All in all, good stuff.

And stay tuned.  Over the next few days I'll be posting some GroupWise stuff for routine maintenance tasks and administration.

BrainShare 2010 - Last Day

I'm torn...it's the last day.  I'm happy to be going home to my sweet hubby and the critters.  But it's like the last day at summer camp.  Saying goodbye to friends that I may or may not get to see next year.  Thank God for Facebook!

Anyway, it was still a long day.  Started with PartnerNet Breakfast where I ran into Brit, and didn't win anything, but got some good info.  Food was great as always.  Then it was off to a 9:00 SSH class about what you do/don't want to do with SSH.

Then it was Laura's last class, her last of this year's BrainShare as well.  Laura, being her usual sweet self, allowed Rusty to interview her for his Atomic Super Geek site, and submitted to photos with me to make Chad happy.  I didn't have any more classes after that so I picked up my BrainShare survey prize and floated around talking to folks and milling around IT Central.

I ran into several Novell execs in my travels this afternoon, including John Dragoon who was laughing at Deal or No Deal.  He's a fun guy.  All asked how I'd like the event, which of course is awesome, needed, and everyone is thankful it is back.  I also had chance to chat with Dave Cutler, who hasn't yet learned to run when I'm coming.  Let's just say, changes are being considered in Novell Support and it's all good.

Had a blast with Rusty, Brian, and Jonathon as we tried to win more stuff (I didn't win any vendor prizes).   My friend Dennis was picked for the Super Deal or No Deal - he didn't win the car, but was a good sport and went for broke, and upon winning $10, ended up with a MacPro!  GroupLink never disappoints.  We did a few rounds of GroupLink's Deal or No Deal game.  As I put it, I was "parking my butt" until the 2:30 drawing for the Kindle, which I'm happy to say Christel won. There were lots of woo-hoo's from those that know her. Way to rack up the prizes NGWList!  Jonathon got picked for Deal or No Deal and won a pair of purple ear buds, which of course I had to comment on, and he gave them to me - so I did win after all.   Patrick and Rhonda stopped by the GroupLink booth too, where I learned Rhonda won an HP mini from HP.  So some of my lucky streak did rub off on others.

Jonathon hadn't gotten the cool USB drives yet, so I ran around and mooched an extra of each for him and picked up Kaspersky CDs for Brian, Jonathon, and myself.  I had gone to HP because the Novell folks were out, and got one of the green Novell ones there.  Then I found a virtualzation one, and on my way back to GroupLink's booth I was flagged down by HP as they'd found more and I ended up with a handful more.  I gave 1 each to Casey Trujillo at GroupLink and Tay Kratzer at GWAVA - they've both been good to me, the least I can do is share a spiff I didn't even have to mooch.

I ran around to several booths saying good bye to friends that I won't see again for some time, and then it was time for the Keynote.  If you have a chance, watch the videos...there's some really good demos.  Also, drum roll please....Roger Dills from Ohio (yes, we of WMNUG know him) won one of the HP mini's at the Keynote!  WAY COOL!!!  I woo-hoo'd for him too.

On the way out of there I ran into Brad, Kathryn, Tim and Scott Campbell.  Kathryn hadn't gotten one of the mini drives so I dug in my bag and found one for her.  Tim had scored the last 2 MCNE polo shirts and I shamelessly mooched one off of him.  I'll have to send him cookies, he hooked me up with 2 goodies: the shirt and a Red Novell USB drive with a really cool driver utility for ZCM.

When I get home, don't expect any spiffs.  I already handed out the "extras" I had to folks at BrainShare that had been too busy to pick some up.  Even the BrainShare 2009 badge holders. I gave a GWAVA mouse to Kumar, who works with Rusty and hadn't gotten one yet, Brian, and I can't remember who else, but I'd started out with 4 and am down to 1.

So, here I am, looking at the stack of things yet to be packed and wondering how in the world I'm going to handle getting up at 3:30am to catch my 4:00am shuttle to the airport.  Ugh...too early.

Goodbye BrainShare, until 2011!  And for those lucky enough to attend BrainShare in Amsterdam, enjoy!  Thanks Ron and John for helping bring it back, and big thanks to Mike Morgan and the rest of the BrainShare crew, and the BrainShare Advisory Board for all the hard work it takes to pull off another awesome BrainShare.

BrainShare 2010 - Day #4

Another late night...I started packing to make sure everything can fit in my bag.  Looks like it will.  Oh, and I forgot to mention yesterday that I got a new picture with GWAVAMan, so hopefully I don't look SO tired.

Anyhoo...I missed the PartnerNet Breakfast, which means I missed a few announcements on the Collaboration side, so I'll nudge Norm to tell me all about it tomorrow morning.  I completely missed breakfast as I missed the buffet lines before they closed as well, but it was well worth it.

I ran into my friend Mike M. first thing in the morning, so nice to see a friendly face!  Hugs all around and then he told me about the wheeled bags being for sale in the Novell store for just $25 and it's the last few from the warehouse.  The Novell warehouse is moving from Lyndon to Provo so they're clearing things out.  I was most fortunate to grab one of the last few and with the discount coupon it was only $13.  Yay!  (Yes, I do pay for Novell schwag from time to time..geez, I'm not ALWAYS a mooch). 

After seeing Mike, I ran downstairs to see Pam and Kim (and all the rest - great now Gilligan's Island is stuck in my head!) at the SysOps booth when I spied Rusty, Teresa, Angie, and Brian doing something down the hall so I went to see what was up.  We all helped Rusty with some video for his class and had fun.  I hung out there for awhile before Brian and I had the Novell Support session.

Found out some interesting stuff regarding our support options and will continue working with Novell on some ideas to help those of us that truly should be passed up to at least 2nd Level Support get there.  It was a lot of great information, great side conversations, and I think we may see some honest changes.  And no, I didn't strangle Coleen O'Keefe, although she was in the room.  And Pam Robello was highly praised (she deserves it) as was Kim (who also deserves it).  So I'm fairly happy at this point.  Amazing!  A conversation with the support folks and I didn't wag a finger or yell.

While eating lunch, I overshot the start of my ATT class, so I just skipped it.  This IS my vacation after all, I'm here for me.  Had lunch sitting on the floor with Brian, and got online to put in some Enhancement Requests while we both thinking of it.  I saw a few folks I know and got helped up off the floor by a very nice gentleman from the Salt Palace team.

The smell of chocolate chip cookies freshly baked was overpowering, so I hit the dessert station where I took up space while eating and had the most fortunate of encounters.  Anga, from the SLE (desktop & servers) R&D team was looking for input from customers.  We had the nicest chat, I mentioned WMLUG, and found out we both loved animals, especially horses, and connected.  We'll be emailing more as I play with SLED 11 on my mini and continue working with SLES at work.  This is what BrainShare is all about, making those vital connections that you didn't know you needed or wanted; those oh-so-important chance encounters.

I made a detour to the Installation and Migration Depot, and after that milled around, visited GWAVA and GroupLink, saw Costas from EOS, saw Laila and dropped by to drool over the guitar at the Interoperability booth.  And I spent a lot of the afternoon weaving in and out of Jonathon's and Dennis' orbits, ending the afternoon conversing with Dennis and Rodney Bliss (yep, Richard's brother).  All in all a good day.

I hit the GroupLink dinner - great food!  And listened to Angie talk about her implementation of the Everything HelpDesk.  We had fun.  Then it was off to IT Tech Talk where I'd already had all of my questions answered, so mostly I hung out with the sales teams at GWAVA and GroupLink.  No idea if there were any prize drawings, but I did give a t-shirt to Jared Lord and mooched another one for Casey Trujillo who helped with my pass.  (They rock!).

I eventually ended up making myself at home in the GroupLink booth waiting for Jonathon to catch up and then I snagged Brian as he was walking by, so we all headed to GWAVA's Game Night - awesome idea Richard! - and had a blast playing Ticket to Ride with John from Canada, Jonathon, and Brian.

Howard Taylor was there - Scholock Mercenary fans you missed out!  I love Howard, and Scholock Mercenary and Writing Excuses, which Howard knows already.   Howard knows I love his drawings, so he did a quick pen sketch of me and he drew me really cute!  It really is a cute drawing and when I get home I'll see if I can scan it into my desktop in a fashion that does it justice, after which it will be framed and hung up with the Penguin one he did for me a few years back.  Then it was back to the room to pack.

Having a great time and hoping to hit PartnerNet Breakfast tomorrow morning before a busy day of classes, prize drawings, and the ending Keynote.  And maybe, just maybe, we can convince Laura to come out and play with us afterwards.

I can't believe it's almost over and even though I'm beat and ready to head for home I don't want it to end.  It's kind of like camp all over again, only an adult camp for Geeks.  :)

BrainShare 2010 - Day #3

Cool morning, but not raining.  I hit the PartnerNet breakfast first for the Executive Panel meeting.  I restrained from strangling O'Keefe.  As always it was great to see John and Ron, and Norm was up front and center with Jimmy.  Integrity Networks is doing some really great work, and it's always good to see those two with the execs.

Had a class with Laura first thing and then I had brain fade and missed out on my Migration Depot appointment.  But I did finish up all of my cards, played a few games at GroupLink's booth, where I wasn't picked and didn't win, but had fun.  Talked to GWAVA folks as usual, and had some lunch before hiking over to their reserved room for the community announcements.  Some really cool stuff's coming up, like NotifyLink's support of all the Droid phones, and a new GW client app for the iPhone (not written by Novell).  I didn't win any prizes, but Mike Walters from Kent County won something.

After that I ran around IT Central for awhile, connecting with old friends, and dropping schwag off back at my hotel.  Then it was time for Party with Partners...at which I didn't win anything, but Tom Hafeman won big, yet again at GWAVA.  He walked away with an XBOX and I got  - wait for it...nothing!  Again!  Just not my year for winning cool schwag.  GWAVAMan was there so I got a new picture, that hopefully doesn't look as tired as my last one.  I sat next to Patrick Hasenberger (I probably just mangled his name) at GroupLink's "Deal or No Deal" game and he would have won an XBOX 360 if he'd trusted me and not settled.  I cheated and peeked...I had the penny and it took awhile before he picked my suitcase (apparenty he didn't understand my hint).  But he did win $100, topping off Joe's and Rhonda's wins quite nicely.

I ran into Ron again and thanked him again for bringing back BrainShare.  Rusty decided we needed to party more so a group of us headed over to a Karoke bar (NO, I did not get up and sing), where Rusty and Willem (from GWAVA) sang quite a bit, and Teresa Kratzer sang a couple of songs.  I did get up and even out Rusty's dance partners for one song, so I'm sure there'll be a YouTube video getting posted at some point.  We kind of had a geek theme going for awhile before the normal crowd came in.  It was a blast and the group of "kids" (20-somethings) seemed to really enjoy Rusty, Willem's and Teresa's stints on stage.  They were quite fun and campy as well.  Then we had an addition of "geeks"...BrainShare attendees with one guy from Brazil who sang 2 rap songs and had a pair of girls that voluntarily came on stage to dance with him...then they didn't seem to know what to do with him.

And that brings you up to now...where I'm sitting in my room tired, shoulders aching (no wheeled bags and no masseuse this year), my ankle's swollen, and I need to hit the hay if I have any hopes of making the partner breakfast in the a.m. (it's better food).  So goodnight from BrainShare, it's turning out to be a fun vacation after all.

BrainShare 2010 - Day #2

Day 2 started out beautiful and sunny, but it ended up rainy, cold and windy.

Had Laura Chappell for my first class and I made sure she got a SnickerDoodle.  She doesn't have the t-shirt for me to sign (sorry Chad), and her book didn't arrive in time to sell at BrainShare, but she did give out the discount code. 

Had a hard time getting over to a meeting with Open Horizons and the NUGI folks with Novell.  Quite interesting, I see some changes coming soon to NUI.  I've got Norm's back for whatever he may need from me or WMNUG.

I had a GWAVA session later, where I broke some stuff, but ran into a few people who know me from the NGWList.  My mouthiness in action again.  I've been talking to a lot of folks about what Reload's done for me and answering questions about moving from NW to Linux.

I got to see Tay Kratzer today - YAY!!  Always happy to talk with Tay and  Willem, and Taylor, and all of the GWAVA folks really.  Can you believe Richard's got kids old enough to be married?!  I swear he had to have started when he was really young - like 10 or 11. 

I finished the Bug Hunt.  Tomorrow I have another Laura session, and a couple of more GWAVA sessions, but I start off early a.m. with PartnerNet Breakfasts as usual.  I saw John Dragoon today, passing in the hallway...it still really tickles me that he remembers my name.

We hit the MA BrewFest, so I got to see Laila.  I need to catch up with Suzanne at some point as well as I really need a new MA bag.

The best part of the night was at the Customer and Partner Appreciation party with BACA.  Rusty was dancing with a biker chick, we all got pics on a bike, I called a biker "fluffy" and a "marshmellow" and then got a picture with him.  His biker name is "Teddy Bear"  (pictures will come later).  Loved the bikes, love the bikers who are involved with the charity.  Teddy Bear was named by a little girl.  We chatted for a bit about my work at Children's and how hard that could be at times.

My friend Jonathon won the Fender guitar that I was drooling over, and since he was standing right next to me, I've told folks that want to win something to stand next to me.  Apparently I'm a lucky charm this year.  (I haven't won anything).

Having fun, catching up with old friends.  I saw Alan Hurst - which is just absolutely wonderful as always.  And Kevin, who used to work for Tiara Yachts and now is working for the State of Colorado.  I've run into people who've been in my sessions at GWAVACon before.  Always nice to see Joanna and Sunny. 

The one thing I've forgotten to do is drink enough water (which is why this is being entered at midnight as I suck down some more water).  Another good thing - since the shot's made my ACL not hurt as bad, I'm not walking funny and my ankle and foot are doing much better than I expected.  And I'm surprised that people have paid close enough attention to notice that I'm walking better - especially after not seeing me for 2 years.

Still having fun and this is turning out to be a great use of my vacation time.

BrainShare 2010 - Day #1

Okay, so technically I've been in Salt Lake since Friday, but this IS officially Day 1 of BrainShare.  And I've been having great luck with running into people!

Hit the GWAVA Movie - good choice Richard! - then hit the GWAVA VIP Party after.  Again, wonderful choices in food - love, love, love! the chocolate cake at the Marriott.  Although, you can rarely go wrong with chocolate cake.  Rhonda had a chance to tease me after the movie, she and Patrick and Craig headed off for food after the movie while Rusty, Brian and I headed to the party for the free food.  I am a mooch after all.

I did miss a chance to say hello to Howard Tayler - creator of Scholock Mercenary and GWAVA Man who I rarely get to see these days.  He was at the GWAVA movie helping throw out t-shirts and such. Hoping to catch him at Penguicon later this year if I can't catch him here.

Did get to see Christel's hat, it's cooler than mine (mine's very girlie and not at all like me), and Holly made it in as well.  Christel got out of Chicago just in time.  Brian and Dan (a new acquaintance from Toronto) both got stuck in Chicago last night due to weather.  I ran into Kathryn on the way out of the movie and totally forgot to ask if she'd need to borrow my Dell mini.  Had a senior moment, the first of many this week I suspect.

I missed catching Norm at the GWAVA Party, but did get to see Jimmy, and Teresa Kratzer, and Roger Dills (a virtual WMNUG member).  Phil and Matt arrived, and then Jose showed up much to my surprise!   So we have a bigger contingent from WMNUG than I expected.

Best luck was running into John Dragoon, and Ken Muir at the GWAVA party.  Where, as usual, I rudely interrupted their conversations to say hello and thank you.   And then I had the great pleasure of running into Ron Hovsepian outside of the Marriott where I again rudely interrupted a conversation (y'all know I mouthy, right?) and Rusty and I absconded with a few minutes of his time.  Ron agrees with me that Rusty's very cool wife, Karen, is a saint.

I know there are people who may not agree with me, but I've always felt that Ron and John make a great team.  I love these guys!  They're genuinely nice, they put up with me (which says a lot about how tolerant they are), and they always stop to listen to people at BrainShare.  When was the last time Bill Gates or any of the MS execs showed up and actually talked and listened to customers at TechNet?  (Do I have that name correct?  Here it is Sunday and I'm already a bit brain-fried).

I'm really liking this smaller format so far.  Things are closer in and people are talking more and sharing more already.  More people seem to be going out of their way to introduce themselves and step out of their comfort zones to ask questions and just talk.  For example, on the way back to the hotel I ran into 2 very nice folks from Montana (who's names I forgot to ask) that are having issues with their migration.  I asked about their NUI group (they dont' have one) and offered to give them my business card next time I see them so I can get them connected to this blog, and to Norm as well.  (Again, senior moment forgot to tell them my name).

So, while I'm sunburned and tired, I'm still geeked enough to pull out my beloved little mini and post to this blog (although I'm not much of a blogger).  We miss those of you who couldn't make it this year, and I'm very thankful I did manage to make it with the help of some very supportive organizations. 

The Novell Community ROCKS!!!

BrainShare 2010 & TTP Summit schedules

Figured I'd dump stuff here so I can direct people to one spot.

We will be missing Danita Zanre, Melissa Mitchell and Josee Greenshields this year, so the event will be a little lacking.

My hotel situation is a bit confusing.  Friday and Saturday I'll be in the Shilo, Sunday thru Friday a.m I'll be at the Plaza.

Schedules are as follows:

Saturday:
TTP Summit 8:15-5:30
Evening is wide open at this point

Sunday:
TTP Summit 8:15-5:30 with a break for switching hotels.
GWAVA Movie Night - Meet at the corner by the Shilo to head over to the GateWay

Monday:
8:00-4:30 Salt Palace for BrainShare
4:30pm meet up by Shilo to head over for MA's BrewFest

6:00-9:00pm Biker Bash
7:00-10:00pm GWAVA's Game Night

Tuesday:
8:00-5:00 Salt Palace for BrainShare
5:30 Meet up in the lobby at Salt Palace for picts and to get ready for Party with the Partners

Wednesday:
8:00-5:00 Salt Palace for BrainShare
5:10pm - Meet at GroupLink booth for escort to the Marriott for their party
6:00-9:00 IT Tech Talk at Salt Palace

Thursday:
8:00-5:00 Salt Palace for BrainShare
5:30 Meet up somewhere for dinner planning

Can't wait to see everyone and I'm having fun at TTP Summit!

BrainShare 2010

I have some last minute crafting to do tonight for a Super Heroes costume "contest" of sorts for this year's BrainShare.  Look for the Fab 5 wearing red hats and purple capes at the Partner Party on Tueday night.

The cookies will be safely guarded by Pam Robello, so if you're looking for them you'll have to find her and make sure to thank her and all the rest of the SysOps for the help all year round.

My flight takes off in the morning, at least it's later than my return flight - for which I have to leave for the airport at 4:00 a.m. uggghh!

Things seem to be fairly buttoned up here.  I've adjusted the SMTP send threads and that seems to be taking care of most of our stuck messages (reminder to self to post exactly how to do that when I get back).

For those that can make it I hope to see you there!  I'm antsy to get going already...I have less and less patience as I get older.

BrainShare is Next Week!!!

BrainShare 2010 is back, hooray!, and I'm flying out on Friday.  I'm doing the TTP Summit junket in addition to BrainShare as that's how my flights worked out.  And since it's my vacation time I'm focusing on classes I want to take and not necessarily what I need for work.  My employer's not paying a penny towards this trip (although we seem to have plenty of money to send other staff members off to conferences), so I'm planning on having fun and relaxing a bit instead of doing the typical whirlwind, constant running to sessions, vendor booths, and evening events that I typically do.

Due to the last minute nature of my trip I didn't have time to coordinate my BrainShare Buddies program that I've done for the past several years.  I feel like I'm shirking my duties there, but with the event being smaller this year, I'm hoping it won't be missed as much.  I have been playing BrainShare Concierge/Planner to the friends I know are going, making sure they're all in the loops for the various parties and prize winning opportunities.

Oh sure, I'll be at the PartnerNet Breakfasts (the food and info is better) and I'll be doing my usual round to visit all the parties The Big EveNt sponsors are throwing.  I appreciate their support and showing up gives me another chance to say Thank You to all of the companies that have supported me and WMNUG over the years.

Packing is always at the last minute as I wait until the night before I leave to bake up all the Snickerdoodles I have been taking with me since Boomer's departure from BrainShare.  (I never got a chance at his reknowned truffles.)  My clothes provide the necessary cushion now that I can't take as much on a plane and actually have to check them through.

I'm anxious to get back to SLC and see all the friends I missed seeing after last year's event was canceled.  The big surprise this year will be for the vendors...the only one I'm mooching for this year is me.  Sorry WMNUG folks, but I'm no longer on the board and can't afford to ship back any boxes.  Besides, I'm not sure if there's going to be a WMNUG BrainShare Highlights meeting this year or not.  (I'm not on the board any more, remember?)

Another DST surprise and a reminder to read labels

I haven't dug into the "why" just yet, but my cool, fun HP Mini running SLED 11 didn't adjust for DST.  I reset the time myself and it's working all hunky dory now.

Bummer is that I purchased an external DVD-burner for my other mini and didn't pay enough attention to it when I bought it - it only works on Windows machines.  Which means I can't use it with my favorite Netbook.  I was hoping to get away with one Netbook for BrainShare, I may carry two instead so I can watch movies on the flights. Then again...I do have several Laura Chappell classes, the extra mini may come in handy as my sacrificial device.  :)

DST Problems reoccuring

When the bozos in our government decided to change Daylights Savings Time, we had issues with the GroupWise calendars showing appointments off by an hour.

It's baa-ack!  In GW 8.0.1 HP1 the DST problem is rearing it's head again.  This time we're seeing it mainly affect multiple calender users and Calendar Publishing.  Either way it's a problem for me.

Get ready for 2 weeks of questions while time adjusts again.  There is no apparent fix for it at this point and I've no idea how far flung it will be as we have users still running GW7 clients.  It's another round of wait-and-see.  At least I'll miss most of it as I'll be on vacation over Spring Break.

Novell Community humbles me

I had no idea the number of people that were truly bummed out when it looked like I wasn't going to be able to make it to BrainShare.  The outpouring of "yays" when I finally figured I was going was amazing to me.  I'm truly humbled that so many people would have missed me, and not just for the cookies.  (I already had a "mule" targeted to carry cookies for me).

In addition to BrainShare I'll be attending TTP Summit.  The only way flights worked out was for me to leave on the Friday before anyway, so I might as well overwork my brain as much as possible.  I'll see a few WMNUG folks there, which will be the first time I've seen them since The Big EveNt as we haven't been meeting.  (And please don't email me about that - I'm not on the board any more - go bug Phil or Steven about it).

I'm looking forward to BrainShare, not just for the tech stuff, but as a chance to reconnect with the many friends I've made over the years.  I'm always surprised when people remember me (I always assume I'm forgettable), so it's always a surprise when someone does.  I just hope I can match everyone's faces to their names.  I always remember a face, but as I get older and meet more and more people I am consistently mismatching names to faces.  It's not personal, it's more of an "indexing" problem in my brain. 

Looking forward to seeing you all there!

I'm going to BrainShare! Yay!

Thanks to GroupLink I have a BrainShare pass and thanks to other assistance I'm able to make it to BrainShare this year.  My employer isn't sending anyone to conferences this year so I'm taking vacation time and paying my way.

It wouldn't have been possible without the outside help so MANY, MANY thanks to GroupLink.  And I'm crossing my fingers that we get to put in their Everything HelpDesk product this summer and replace our existing help desk system (that I despise).

Check out their product, it's pretty sweet and flexible enough to do more than just routine IT help desk functions.GroupLink

Novell News

First a bit of a sales pitch:  Danita's released a guide for GroupWise on iPhones.  Go check it out at calendonia.net.  She loves GroupWise and she loves her iPhone so I'm sure this new guide will be as useful to iPhone users as her GroupWise upgrade guides are to GroupWise Admins.  Well worth shelling out the bucks!

Okay, so now the interesting Novell news.  There's a bid to buy out Novell.  Check out the article at: http://news.cnet.com/8301-31021_3-10462638-260.html.

It seems at this point the majority of us talkative Novell customers/partners are concerned about the merger.  We're not necessarily assuming this is a positive move.

Although, when I think about it, perhaps this will be good.  That is if the purchasing group will actually LISTEN to the customer base about issues such as buggy code and bad tech support.

Back in the 1990's more than once I said that if Novell were to put out a Linux distro and couple it with their world class support Corporate America would be more likely to consider it as a serious contender in their computer centers.  Of course back then Novell still had regional support.  Meaning, we had support centers in each large regional area that spoke our native languages and understood our cultures.  Really, Canada and the US are pretty much kissin' cousins so one center in Utah would be just fine to support both countries, but a big place like Brazil may need it's own center.  And it was easier to get past the first line support when calling in for a bug fix than it is now.

And off she goes into another rant about India support....kind of.  Having support in India for India-based customers makes sense.  They understand their culture, speaking patterns, and language.  But India support for a female US-based customer is insufficient at best.  I end up in "Certifications pissing contests" with men who weren't even considered yet when I started in the industry (okay, so I'm old and crotchety but I have a point).  Colleen O'Keefe seems to think it is all an issue of accents  And that's SO not it!  I understand them just fine, no linguistics class will solve the major problem.  There's a huge difference in culture - women in India are still second class citizens and no manner of US "re-training" is going to change that attitude any time soon.  (Heck I still struggle with it here in the US MidWest!)  Front-line support in India is also afraid to go off-script or escalate calls and that's a cultural thing as well.  Free-thinking and risk-taking is not something most folks there are comfortable with given their unemployment rates.

My point is, if the bidding company does due diligence and talks to Novell's long time customers and actually listens, Novell may have a chance at one last resurgence.  But there's been so much damage already - and this is coming from a Bleeding Red "N" fanatic - most customers are going to very cynical of any new promises.

So, my suggestion to Elliott Investments is this: put back the WorldWide support the way it was in the late 80's/ early 90's when it was truly world class support.  Make it easier for partners to open calls and have access to back-line engineers and developers when reporting a bug.  It's a sad day when it is easier and cheaper to get an SR open and resolved with Microsoft than it is Novell.  Talk to the partners left in the channel (there aren't that many) and really listen to their needs.  Then follow through.  And finally - bring back the innovative coding to the US/UK/EU programmers who can think outside of the box and have proven time and again they can deliver solid, reliable code.  India is best used for commodity coding, not new products.  It can be done, and it can be done in a cost effective way if you get creative about it.  Reverse the off-shore trend and instead invest in a quality product and you may win back customers who left.  May, being the key "gotcha" word.

All-in-all, I'm on the fence about the deal if it goes through.  And for my environment, it looks like it's time to take a closer look about the pros and cons to move from Novell to Microsoft.  Which is a very sad day for me, but not a first in a long career that's had me in the programing chair, training chair, engineer chair, consultant, and "All things IT" chair.

Patching causes NetStorage issues & a Support Rant

I recently patched all of our OES2 boxes with the latest Nov/Jan patches.  That's when the NetStorage issue started.  It seemed to be a simple issue of "reaccepting" the SSL cert.  Wrong again!  If you're a TTP member, check out the thread on NetStorage Voodoo...interesting list of things going wrong.

For some unknown reason, whoever made the patch package decided it would be perfectly OK to replace any existing SSL certs (ours are Thawt certs in this case) and overwrite some of the customizations made for our environment.  One thing they did right was to make a backup copy.  But, for shame Novell, the SSL certs should be left alone by default.

The patching process is getting smoother, and slowly converting over my Red Hat guy to being happy with YAST.  I really don't care about the mechanism (I don't mind learning new products and processes) I just want it to work and not make assumptions about things like SSL certs and passwords.

In case you haven't run into this particular "fluke", several of Novell's products are having issues with complex passwords - especially those with spaces in them.  If you run into an issue with authentication to the tree or a root account, change the password to the funky one they use in ATT classes and it will work beautifully.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not dissing Novell.  I still love their products, but lately quality has been lacking as more and more coding work gets shipped over to India.  How about bringing those jobs back to US/UK/EU Novell?  We miss good code.

And please bring back the infamous world-wide support.  I said back in the early 90's that Linux would be more readily accepted into the corporate IT systems infrastructures when there was world-wide, Cadillac-class support available, like Novell had.  Had being the key word here. It's not just he US complaining either.  It's not an issue of accent, it's an issue of cultural differences that are not going to change rapidly.  It used to be you got a person that was at least on the same continent so there were fewer cultural obstacles.

I've been in the industry longer than some of the techs that I get on the phone have been alive and I usually end up arguing with them for sometime - unless it's a woman, they're usually really good about going off script.  I don't need a script kid...I need at least a 3rd tier support person who will talk TO a woman instead of DOWN to a woman (the guys usually hang up on me with no resolution) to verify that I need backline engineering support.  I don't call for anything other than a bug anyway, so figure out a way to help those customers out that don't have the inside connections that I do.  I'm lucky, I have a support manager's cell phone number and the ear of the CxO's (for now anyway).  And still it's harder to get an SR opened with Novell than it is with Microsoft now.  It used to be the other way around.  I miss the "good old days" of Novell support.  Sigh...

NetStorage Security Alert

For those of you who may not have heard, there is a security vulnerability in NetStorare on NetWare 6.5 SP8 and OES2-Linux SP1.  It has been resolved in OES2-Linux SP2  and is available via the patch channel.

For NetWare 6.5 SP8, you'll find the fix at:
http://download.novell.com/Download?buildid=jVmjkdAzJXc~

This is known as NetStorage for NetWare 6.5 sp8 patch 27012010


From TID# 7005282:

There may be a potential security vulnerability with NetStorage that may allow remote attackers to execute arbitrary code on vulnerable installations of Novell NetStorage. Authentication is not required to exploit this vulnerability.

 

NetStorage on both NetWare and OES Linux is affected by this.

If you haven't patched you're servers yet, you might want to plan on it.  This doesn't seem to have a lot of urgency behind it, but it's better to be safe than sorry in this economy.

WebAccess 8.0.1 and IE pain

I was happily humming along thing WebAccess was all hunky-dory...until the Help Desk got a call that someone was unable to open attachments in WebAccess.  Works fine in the client, but not WebAccess.  I immediately try to duplicate it...works fine in FireFox, what's the issue.  Ah, turns out they were using IE...they don't what version.

Dutiful drudge that I am, I open up the dreaded, and justifibly hated, IE 8 and was able to replicate the issue.  Do a search, can't exactly find a TID that fit.  But I do run across a forum posting that leads me to TID # - dang I can't find the TID #...I'll come back and update that.

The error you'll see is  "Internet Explorer cannot download filename from webaccess.calvin.edu.  Internet Explorer was not able to find this internet site.  The requested site is either unavailable or cannot be found.  Please try again later."

End result is this:

IE does not like having things cached.  Any updates to WebAccess pose the potential to overwrite the working webacc.cfg.   In my case someone had done something to the WebAccess agent via C1 and did a save, which overwrote the file. When that happens you need to change the configuration file.

1. Gain console access to the server hosting the WebAccess application and agent
2. Change directories to /var/opt/novell/groupwise/webaccess
3. Use vi to edit the file webacc.cfg and change all instances of "disableCache" settings to "false"
4. Restart tomcat and WebAccess

I really wish I could get more time in the OS and not be dealing with little things like this, but at least all of our components are now on Linux.  Yay!

GroupWise 8 Client - Reply button "issue"

Okay, so we all know my users are stubbornly anti-change, most are computer illiterates, anything new throws them into a tizzy, and they all have their own "unique" way of doing things.

So, imagine my surprise when one of them complained because the Reply button now includes the message in the reply and doesn't give you an option to change that.  Using Actions | Reply from the menu will give you the option to include or not include the message, but that's not "good enough".   This particular user doesn't like to include the message and learning to do so differently (such as hit the Reply button then delete anything you don't want to include) is apparently too taxing.

I don't know about you, but I like to include the message in my reply.  It makes it a lot easier for cleanup...instead of having to keep every sent and received message, I can just keep the last one and still maintain the thread of information.

I happen to like the new Reply and Reply All buttons functionality just fine.  But maybe I'm just weird.

Mac GroupWise 8 cilent oddities

Clarification:  I don't have a Mac and I'm not allowed to touch the Macs at work, so I can only relay this info 3rd hand.

First issue was when one of our TIS folks tried to use the GW 8.0.1 HP1 client on his home machine, using his DSL connection, which would cause the client to continually crash.  Barely open, then shut down.  No errors, no warnings.  He tried one of our "vanilla" Macbooks as well, same result.  But no one else was having this issue, and the ones who were successful and happy with the Mac client had a mix of cable and DSL connections.

Warp speed to a few weeks later.  TIS guy figures out something is hosed in his .novell folder (something he didn't have prior to GW 8).  Gets rid of that folder, reinstalls GW 8 client, and voila! it works fine.

So, if Mac client for GW 8 won't work for you, try whacking that .novell folder/file/whatever and reinstall GW8 from a good source.

Second Issue had to do with the installer we created.  Same TIS guy (he's kind of our go-to-guy for Macs) installs using our installer and can never get the client to open.  But this time we get an error about Java.  A really odd error that I'm trying to recover from my deleted messages to show you.

But in the meantime, while I search through my mailbox, the fix is this.  Un-install the client, and reinstall using the GW8 client install from Novell and it will work fine.  Then go back and fix your Mac installer..I wasn't privy to that exact information, but you get the drift.