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.