Iowa/Nebraska Novell Technical Blast
John Bezy, Novell Iowa/Nebraska Systems Engineer



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Vol 4, No 7 - 3/11/02

** High Priority **

BrainShare 2002- Last Chance!!
BrainShare 2002 is next week! So get ready, set, go to learn first-hand about Novell's latest products and strategies. Get hands-on technical experience. See the latest third-party offerings. Network. Play in the technology lab. Take a certification test. And have fun! As every year, BrainShare 2002 will be held in Salt Lake City, Utah, at the Salt Palace Convention Center; the dates are March 17 through March 22, 2002. Online registration started December 1, 2001 at www.novellbrainshare.com. See Salt Lake AFTER the Olympics....

Northlands Customer Party @ BrainShare - Novell Northland BrainShare Bash
(Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, western Wisconsin)
Come enjoy snacks and a cool beverage and meet the Novell Northland Team as well as other attendees from around the Upper Mid-West. We will also give you a special Novell Northland gift.
When : Thursday, March 21 from 8:00 - 11:00pm
Where : Squatters Pub (ask for the Novell Northland Party)
        http://hcisecure.com/squatters/
Questions : Please contact your Technology Account Manager or Ellen Bridenstine at 952-893-2601 or ebridenstine@novell.com
Squatters is located at:
147 West Broadway
Salt Lake City, UT
Tel: (801) 363-2739

Looks like record attendance for customers from Iowa and Nebraska this year!!! Thanks to everyone that wants to get first-hand, updated information. Looking at the sign-up lists though shows not many resellers from Iowa and Nebraska attending. Is your Reseller taking advantage of this great opportunity??? Give them a call and ask if they are going.. If not, how can they expect to support you as you move forward with new technologies???? Do you need a new reseller??

Want to be a part of the BrainShare community...right?
Go here... http://brainsharenetwork.novellbrainshare.com/login.html ...login and join a community. I have set up one for Iowa/Nebraska.. See if you can find it...

While you're at it...join a few more and keep checking back, participate in the discussions, and post some cool info!

Novell Portal Services Customer Roundtable
The Novell Portal Solutions Group will hold a customer roundtable at BrainShare Salt Lake City as part of it's continuing effort to provide open lines of customer communication. During the meeting, Novell Portal Services product and development managers will share product plans and ask for your input on future products and solutions. The meeting will take place Tuesday, March 19, 8:00 - 9:30am. If you are interested, please email Jason Werner jwerner@novell.com with your contact information, including the following: Name, Title, Company Name, Address, email address Phone Number
Thank you.
Novell Portal Solution Group

ZENworks Synergy
For those of you that are planning to attend BrainShare 2002, we would like to invite you to stop by the tech lab for a demonstration of the new exciting ZENworks Synergy Solution.

If you would like to setup an appointment for demonstration or if you have any questions please feel free to call or email me. With enough advanced notice and for the right opportunities, we can build a personalized portal skin with your customers logos and color schemes. As some of you can attest from our online demonstration this is a powerful tool for closing business.

Synergy will be officially announced at BrainShare and documentation will be available. Until then there is a great article on Synergy @ http://www.ncmag.com/2002_03/toc.html

Iowa/Nebraska Upcoming Events

Novell SecureAccess
What is Novell's SecureAccess??
The seminar presenters will discuss Novell's solutions to:

April 4, 8:30am-12 Omaha, Compaq
Sign up soon to be on the web...

Minneapolis Strictly eBusiness Expo
May 8 and 9 in Minneapolis. Check out http://www.strictlyebusiness.net/strictlyebusiness/mpls/main_mpls.po Guess who has one of the main Keynotes??? See it at http://www.strictlyebusiness.net/strictlyebusiness/mpls/events_keynotes.po


The CIO Corner

Novell Reports First Fiscal Quarter 2002 Results
PROVO, Utah Feb. 28, 2002 Novell, Inc., today reported revenue of $271 million and earnings of $0.02 per share for its first fiscal quarter 2002. More available at the Quarterly Results page at Novell's Investor Relations Web page: http://www.novell.com/company/ir/qresults/

Gartner Recommends Novell Portal Services
Influential industry analyst Gartner writes: "Novell has entered the portal product race with the introduction of Novell Portal Services 1.5. Gartner recommends this second-generation portal offering to Novell customers looking to deploy a basic portal infrastructure." Read the report.
http://www3.gartner.com/DisplayDocument?doc_cd=104836

Consultants Revisited
Extracted from several recent articles in trade journals as well as customer feedback...

Misleading common sense about how change is brought in organizations.-- Nearly everyone carries around in their background a strong, but taken-for-granted interpretation about how people bring change. In Western countries today, most of those interpretations are misleading or worse. People operating from these common senses often wait when they should get moving, misjudge resignation as opposition, and make other important mistakes.

Another pernicious common sense idea is that changes really come when someone outside the organization brings them. Ask around and see how effective most organizations feel their consultants have been in bringing effective change and you will see, again, that committed people inside the organization can lead far more ably than can consultants. Further, no consultant will ever know your operations, your "business," or your clients the way you will.

Another related and equally wrong-headed common-sensical idea is that there are two jobs: coming up with great ideas, and implementing them. In the first place, in any organization of any size at all you can find lots of people with great ideas about what is wrong and needs to be changed. They may not be speaking, or they may be fully resigned, but there is no lack of ideas. Great ideas are the ones that all but implement themselves, and they don't come from the heads of geniuses, but from the conversations of concerned people in the middle of the organization.

A major impediment to successful change is the persistence of the kinds of moods and emotional constructions in which people cannot listen to the possibility of doing something new and then commit themselves to that. The people of a very large client of ours were convinced that they were big enough and diverse enough that everything worth thinking had been thought there. They may have been right, but the idea made them so arrogant that they did not notice that how you think something matters, and how you talk about it, with yourselves and with others also matters. They had developed a style of communication in which nothing new was ever done well enough to pass all the committees. Also, they had adopted a way of talking and listening to each other in which any show of emotion indicated a lack of proper reason. As a result, there was in the company very little room to show essential emotions: indignation about the mistreatment of customers, passion about something new that warrants fresh attention, or shame over broken promises. Hence the outside consultant, who charged them lots of money for recommendations that, when implemented, did not meet the customers needs, and essentially wasted much more money...

Some additional comments...
"As an ex-consultant, I know: consultants traditionally choose to support 'Redmond' products because they make so much extra money afterwards. While a Novell server will sit happily for a year needing no maintenance, Microsoft products need constant tweaking and fixes, which adds up to billable hour $$$$ for the happy consultants. Honest consultants that have their clients' true interest at heart recommend Novell products."

"Because he [an IT consultant] was both a CNE and MSCE, I was fairly confident he would give me the straight story on which NOS was the better choice. Without hesitation, he stated that Novell was by far the superior product in terms of technical elegance, functionality, reliability, ease of administration and total cost of ownership. So why did he typically recommend a Microsoft solution to his customers? Simple-money. With a Novell solution, it was unlikely he would be called back anytime soon to fix problems, which translated into less business (money) for him when customers went with Microsoft products, he could count on a steady stream of consulting fees over time.

"The bottom line is that consultants get paid by the hour and are interested in maximizing income for their business first and foremost. The best way to do this is to sell customers high maintenance solutions (Microsoft) that will ensure a lots of repeat business."

"I went onsite and found a NW4.11 server with an uptime of about 450 days. He had an NT Server and a W2K server onsite also. I told the client [the W2K server] was a rebuild...and since it was a rebuild, why not build a NetWare 5.1 server and get rid of the MS servers? I showed him the 450-day uptime...case closed! He converted...and he is oh so happy! Only problem is...I don't get too many billable server-related calls. Heh! Maybe that's why some people sell Windows? More support calls?"

"I now work for a consulting company... The owner believes strongly in [Microsoft], primarily because of [the money]. I can understand that; Novell's much cheaper to run, and therefore you can't make as much money off of continuing support."

This is NOT ONLY a symptom of the independent consultant or reseller, but also beware of the hardware vendors that come in and recommend going to platform X. Digging a bit deeper will usually find they will be able to sell more hardware into your account... Ask them, if they know how to spell ROI or TCO, to provide you documentation on how much you will save in costs by implementing their recommendation..

A Fresh Vision for Novell?
"Buy some popcorn" and watch Novell's comeback plot unfold. That was Chris Stone's advice just days after he rejoined Novell as its number-two executive - and it was directed "to those who doubt the company's ability to rise again as a significant force in the software industry." Chris's return to Novell "has raised hopes among some that the company - known for innovative engineering but weak marketing - can turn the corner. But many, including some Novell customers, remain skeptical that the company will be more than a marginal player." http://news.com.com/2100-1001-848816.html

Exec Promises Big Changes at Novell
Deni Connor refers to Chris Stone as "the newest executive hired to right Novell's ship"-and says he "intends to save foundering products by lashing them into suites, scuttle proprietary development tools, and emphasize the company's directory-based offerings through revamped marketing." Read what else Connor has to say.
http://www.nwfusion.com/news/2002/130585_03-04-2002.html

Novell Shakes Up Management Again
According to the article, "Chris Stone, vice chairman of Novell, followed up on promises to shake up management at Novell by announcing the appointment of a new vice president of engineering and the departures of several Novell executives."
http://www.nwfusion.com/news/2002/0304novellexec.html

And some Interesting reading...
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104-849148.html

Identity Protection for All
Quickly emerging as a main voice for evangelizing open standards in online identity protection, the Liberty Alliance Project got a boost when Novell signed on in February. That's a plus for the Alliance, because Novell brings with it a long list of global partners, including the U.K.'s Ministry of Defense and the French Tax Authority.
http://www.pcmag.com/print_article/0,3048,a=23159,00.asp


Technical Tips

Auditing Your License Usage
I was asked recently by a customer what the easiest way would be for them to audit their license usage, especially since the license objects don't seem to be doing it too accurately. We followed up with the Compliance guys, and they've actually setup two websites which contain much the same information: http://www.geocities.com/novellauditteam/
http://www.novellaudit.homestead.com/
This puts the tools together and a brief description of how they can be used for auditing. We are working on Novell Advanced Auditing Services (NAAS), that comes with NetWare 6, as a better means of license auditing. NAAS is still a 'work in progress'...

CERT Advisory CA-2002-06 Vulnerabilities in Various Implementations of the RADIUS Protocol
    Original release date: March 4, 2002
    Last revised: --
    Source: CERT/CC
    A complete revision history can be found online...

Systems Affected
Systems running any of the following RADIUS implementations:

Overview
Remote Authentication Dial In User Service (RADIUS) servers are used for authentication, authorization and accounting for terminals that speak the RADIUS protocol. Multiple vulnerabilities have been discovered in several implementations of the RADIUS protocol.

"Real-time Computer Monitoring"
In south Australia, a company called DTex Systems has created a program called System Skan that can tie into Novell versions 4.X and later and do real-time computer monitoring. It uses a word list that can easily be modified. When a word in that list is typed in, the computer sends a message alert straight to the network admin or other IT support officers. This means real time Instant Messaging, pornography and other bad network and user practices are being monitored and controlled.

If you have any questions you may contact David at nilani@iprimus.com.au

NetWare 6 Upgrade Tips
The first step before inserting the first NetWare 6 server into a tree is to perform a comprehensive DS Health check. Insure all servers in the tree are operational, syncing properly, and no other DS operations are pending.

Review TIDs #2960568 & #10065372 and carefully follow the instructions contained within.

There have been reports of customers having problems with their NSS Partitions after an in place upgrade to NetWare 6.0. The partition may be visible, however customers can not do a ZLSS upgrade or activate pools and volumes. A tool has been posted on the Novell Support website called NSSCHECK.EXE which should be run on a NetWare 5.x server prior to the upgrade to validate/repair the MAL information and prevent this type of problem from happening. The actual file to search for at http://support.novell.com is NSSCHK1A.EXE. which extracts to nsscheck.exe.

Although reports of this issue have been extremely wide-spread, a schema import problem has been uncovered in some environments when the first NetWare 6 server is brought into a tree. TID 10066345 covers it in detail, make sure to check it out!


Cool URLs

For BorderManager statistics take a look at BRDSTATS
http://www.novell.com/coolsolutions/freetools_a_c.html#brdstat

GroupWise Tool
Download a free trial copy of M@ilTo, a "snap in" product for GroupWise from our partners at GroupLink. M@ilTo will make the monotonous task of mass emailing simple, time-efficient, and productive. http://www.novell.com/coolsolutions/gwmag/features/a_grouplink_freetrial_gw.html


The Other Guys Corner

Can't Remove IE? Revisited...
http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/industry/03/05/microsoft.states.ap/index.html You would have thought they would have learned the first time around...

Sun files antitrust suit vs. Microsoft (SUNW, MSFT)
By Tomi Kilgore
Sun Microsystems (SUNW) has filed a $1 billion suit against Microsoft (MSFT) for making the Window's XP operating system incompatible with Sun's Java programming platform. "This private antitrust lawsuit is intended to restore competition in the marketplace by removing unlawful barriers to the distribution of the Java platform and to interoperability between Microsoft software and competitive technologies," Sun Micro lawyer Michael Morris said. Sun's stock is now up $1.40, or 16 percent, to $10.23 (see 9:40 item) and Microsoft is adding $1.28 to $64.00. Prior to the announcement, Microsoft was trading around $64.60. http://cbs.marketwatch.com/news/default.asp?siteid=mktw

Cool Stuff...

From NW to Win2000???
Perhaps an executive demonstration would be beneficial. Check out http://www.novell.com/coolsolutions/nds/features/a_demo_w2k_nw6.html. This simple demo proves to be a real eye-opener, especially if you have a few Microsoft sales reps present for the demo. It's fun watching them splutter. Takes a bit of time to set up, but well worth the time... and eventual cost savings...

GWPop - Secure Instant Messaging for GroupWise
GWPop is the first and only native GroupWise instant messaging (IM) system available. GWPop utilizes GroupWise Address Books and Novell's eDirectory (NDS) as the basis for its IM presence management system. This eliminates the need for system administrators to create a separate user directory for the IM application, plus offers the security benefit of authenticating all connections via NDS. Other features include voice chat, presence management, application-sharing, remote control and message encryption! To download a trial version, click the " TRY " link at: http://www.groupwisesolutions.com/gwpop. For details or pricing, please call: 1-866-GWS-0101 (that's 866-497-0101).


Education

Advanced Network Technologies, Omaha, NE

For more information on ANT, visit www.ant.to or contact a Technical Training Advisor: Donna Brindamour @ 800-638-6911 ext. 4481, dbrindamour@ant.to or Pamela Vokolek @ 402-431-5420 pvokolek@ant.to

Help Desk, Des Moines, IA

Help Desk will also be offering several free, one-day NetWare 6 Workshops through May. Click www.novell.com/netwaredare for more details or see below...

Help Desk will host on these dates the free 5-hour "NetWare 6 Workshop" course. All to be held at the Des Moines location: Please check www.hdesk.com , or contact Tom Hollister (515-276-3713, tom@hdesk.com ) to register or for additional information! Please check www.hdesk.com, or contact Tom Hollister (515-276-3713, tom@hdesk.com) to register or for additional information!

New Certified Novell Salesperson Courseware Available
The latest edition of Selling Net Services Solutions version 6.0 has just been released. It includes updated materials on Novell's strategy, NetWare 6, new versions of the ZENWORKS family, Security and Provisioning solutions including industry partner examples, increasing your revenues with Novell licensing options, along with coverage of other great Novell solutions. Completing this courseware prepares you to take the Certified Novell Salesperson exam and obtain your CNS certification. http://www.novell.com/partners/channel/academy/spresent.html


Partner Information

PartnerNet Requirements
Do you know what they are? Have you met them, or have plans in the works to get your CNEs certified to NetWare 6 and your CNSs updated? If not, head over to www.novell.com/partners/channel/ and click just to the left of the picture where it mentions the 2002 benefits an requirements for the program. You will have to authenticate to the ePortal, then access the information (or sign up if you haven't already) .. Time runs out in June...

The deadline for current Gold and Platinum partners to renew is March 31, 2002. Once you renew, you will have until June 30, 2002 to complete the certification requirements. The PartnerNet 2002 Program details and application are posted in the PartnerNet Portal.


Users Groups- A Great Place To Network- The Person-to-Person Kind

Be sure to visit and support your local NetWare/Network/Novell users group-

Nebraska NetWare Users Group (NNUI)
http://www.gioffre.com/nuiomaha/index.htm
meets second Tuesday of each month (except Jul, Aug)
Lincoln Area NetWare Users Group (LANUG)
members.aol.com/thomstarr/lanug
meets third Tuesday of the month, Noon-1pm, Energy Square/SE Community College
Central Iowa Network Professionals (CINP)
Meetings are held at 3:00pm on the third Thursday of the month.
Check website at www.cinp.net.
Mississippi Valley NetWare Users Group (MVNUG) (Dubuque, Iowa)
Meetings will usually be held on the Second Thursday of the month...
Contact Skip Hefel and board members at MVNUG@DigitalMe.com

Sales Stuff----

ZENworks for Handhelds 4.7 - English
Novell is pleased to announce ZENworks for Handhelds 4.7 to all customers worldwide. ZENworks for Handhelds 4.7 is a suite of tools that provides a central point of administration for handheld management functions including software inventory, hardware inventory, and software distribution. With this powerful feature set, businesses can automate the management of handheld lifecycles, bring down the high cost of supporting these devices, and increase end user productivity.

ZENworks Starter Pack and ZENworks for Desktops 2 Promotion
Novell is pleased to announce the following promotion to all CLA customers worldwide.

The ZENworks Starter Pack and ZENworks for Desktops 2 Promotion adds ZENworks Starter Pack to the upgrade eligibility list on a promotional basis when purchased with Full Term Upgrade protection.

ZENworks Starter Pack and ZENworks for Desktops 2 (ZfD 2) customers may order ZENworks for Desktops 3.2 at 20% off the upgrade price and Full Term Upgrade protection price. This brings the price of ZENworks for Desktops 3.2 and Full Term Upgrade protection from $81 to $43 for ZENworks Starter Pack customers, a 47% savings.

Rules:
Customers may purchase ZENworks for Desktops 3.2 licenses and Full Term Upgrade protection up to the number of ZENworks Starter Pack or ZfD 2 licenses currently in use. The number of licenses purchased may not exceed the number of NetWare licenses they own.
Customers must order an equal number of upgrade and Full Term Upgrade protection licenses to be eligible for this promotion. If a customer desires to purchase an unequal number of licenses they must purchase these additional licences using the full price SKUs.
This promotion applies to the purchase of first time ZENworks for Desktops 3.2 licenses and to the upgrade of ZENworks Starter Pack and ZfD 2 licenses not under upgrade protection. It cannot be used to add incremental licenses to existing ZENworks for Desktops 3.2 pools.

ZENworks for Desktops Upgrade Bundle Promotion
ZENworks for Desktops 3.2 is a policy based, management tool that simplifies network administration by leveraging the directory to automate and streamline software distribution, software repair, desktop configuration, remote management and enterprise workstation operating system imaging.

ZENworks for Desktops 3.2 offers the following features above those of ZENworks Starter Pack and ZENworks for Desktops 2:

ZENworks Starter Pack and ZENworks for Desktops 2 were discontinued in 2001. These products are missing features critical to the successful management of user desktops. ZENworks Starter Pack is no longer supported by Novell.

ZENworks for Desktops 3.2 is licensed on a per user basis

Support Resource Library
Novell announces the Novell Support Resource Library, which replaces the Novell Support Connection® CD. The Novell Support Resource Library saves you time and money by placing the latest technical resources at your fingertips. Everything from Support Packs and Technical Information Documents to Cool Solutions, Novell Connection magazine articles, Novell AppNotes® and product documentation are available when and where you need them.

Novell Software Evaluation Library
Novell is pleased to announce important changes to the Novell Software Evaluation Library. The most significant change is that the Novell Software Evaluation Library, an annual subscription, will now be updated six to eight times a year. The next release is scheduled for delivery in April 2002.

Discontinuation of Physical License and Upgrade Protection Part Numbers for all Distributors World Wide
Novell announces the discontinuation of physical license and upgrade protection part numbers to distributors world wide for Volume License Agreement (VLA) and Corporate License Agreement (CLA) customers.

Effective 1st April 2002 Novell will discontinue all physical VLA & CLA license and upgrade protection part numbers and requests all distributors to move solely to electronic licensing ordering for both VLA and CLA orders. This requires:

Electronic License Distribution, or ELD, is a next-generation delivery program that takes advantage of the Internet-speed of doing business by electronically delivering VLA and CLA certificates. Customers will benefit from ELD by having quicker delivery times over a physical fulfillment. They will also benefit from reduced administration needs, as electronic certificates are much easier to store and maintain.

Your Novell Customer Service Representative can be contacted anytime to answer any questions or concerns you may have. For more information on Electronic License Distribution:
Channel partners: http://www.novell.com/partners/partnerplace/eld_training.html
End users: http://www.novell.com/licensing/eld

Novell GroupWise Partner Nexic Releases Symphony 6
Nexic has released Symphony 6 for GroupWise, which enhances the client interface, delivers contact management from within the GroupWise client, and incorporates Spam filters as well as a host of other features. Many customers, including Novell, have been attracted to Symphony because the new client interface helps end-users making the change over from Microsoft Outlook. Find out more. http://www.nexic.com/html/nexic_news.html


Administration Information:

Novell Deployment Guides Ease Installation
Anyone who needs to install or upgrade a Novell application can now get help at the click of a mouse with a collection of handy deployment guides. The in- depth information in each will help your deployment go smoothly. http://www1.novell.com/resourcecenter/ext_showType.jsp?typeId=9

Trouble Incident Escalation
I am NOT a Tech Support person... But, if you have an open support incident and it has been open for an unusually long period of time, one of my functions is to help escalate the issue inside Novell Tech Support. I will decide what the 'unusually long period of time' is... If you have a support contract, your issue should be resolved within days (resolved; depending on the level of the support contract, someone should contact you within minutes/hours to start working on it.) Without a support contract, you might face hours/days of waiting before tech support can address your call. So, if you feel you need assistance, send me an e-mail describing the incident, the incident number, and who to contact. If you don't have an open incident, don't get me involved until you do.

How to Get Tech Support

Due a Software Upgrade?
Here is how the process works.... You should receive an e-mail from Novell Sales Operations stating you are entitled, as an upgrade protection customer, the next upgrade for product XYZ... You should then go to the upgrade request site at www.novell.com/licensing/upgfulfill and fill in the appropriate lines and information. Your upgrade should then be shipped second day.... BUT turnaround time is dependent on when the product is actually available for FCS (First Customer Ship), which could be days or weeks after the actual product announcement. If you are then having problems, please let your IA/NE Novell team know so we can get involved.

Previous Editions of this E-Blast
Have you missed previous editions of this newsletter? Want to read them? Thanks to the CINP (Central Iowa Network Professionals), they have posted them all at http://www.cinp.net, click on News...

Unsubscribing
If you do NOT want to continue to receive this e-mail blast, please send an e-mail to jbezy@novell.com, with 'unsubscribe e-mail blast' (without the quotes) in the subject line, and you will be removed from the list.

Subscribing
If other people in your organization not directly receiving this e-mail blast wish to do so, have them send an e-mail to jbezy@novell.com, with 'subscribe e-mail blast' (without the quotes) in the subject line, and they will be added to the list.

Changing Addresses
If you need to change your e-mail address, send an e-mail to jbezy@novell.com with 'change e-mail blast' (without the quotes) in the subject line, and your address will be changed. We like to keep track of Novell users. We recognize there is frequent turnover in the networking business, so if you are changing jobs, please drop me a line....

Disclaimer:
Information contained herein is provided as-is. Opinions are those of the author and may or may not be the same as those of Novell, and are definitely NOT attributable to Novell unless otherwise noted.

John Bezy
Technology Account Manager
Iowa/Nebraska
ph: (402) 291-1808
eFax: (561) 760-6149
fax: (402) 291-4529
Novell-the leading provider of
     Net Services Software
     www.novell.com
jbezy@novell.com



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