Novell ZENworks®
Design and Implementation

Mark Schouls

ZENworks Product Manager / NRM Practice Lead

Novell, Inc.

Christina Kocan

PC Operations Manager

W.W. Grainger, Inc.

Overview

Company background

Project background and goals

Project overview

Architectural review

Implementation

Learning experiences

Futures

Question and answer

Company Background

W.W. Grainger, Inc.

William W. (Bill) Grainger founded a wholesale electric motor sales and distribution business in Chicago in 1927. He established the company to provide an efficient solution for customers to access a consistent supply of electric motors. The business was incorporated as W. W. Grainger, Inc. in 1928. Sales in the early days were generated primarily through mail order via post cards and a catalog. The MotorBook, as the catalog was originally called, was the basis for today’s Grainger catalog.

Over 400 stores located across the United States

Stores/locations in Canada, Mexico and other countries

The largest supplier of industrial supplies... with literally thousands and thousands of products in the catalog

Project Background and Goals

Project Background and Goals
Historical Infrastructure

The field systems were legacy, and needed to be replaced...

AIX servers at each branch location – costly and not easy to administer from a central location

LANDesk infrastructure in place – outdated and not fully functional

Windows 95 desktop systems – outdated and unsupported

The core campus environment is based on legacy software and hardware which needed some attention...

Novell NetWare® 5.1 and 6.0 across the board

Mixed versions of eDirectory™

Novell ZENworks for Desktops 3.0 semi-functional

Project Background and Goals
Goals and Requirements

Grainger set a number of goals and requirements which needed to be met with the overall project. These included:

Standardization of eDirectory across the enterprise

Standardization of operating systems within the field and campus environments...

Windows XP Professional on desktop, laptop, and tablet devices (with some Windows 2000 to support legacy hardware)

NetWare 6.5 on all servers in the core campus

Windows Server 2003 on all servers/appliances in the field

Windows Mobile 2003 on all Symbol devices in the field

Standardization of desktop, server, and handheld management systems across the enterprise

Project Overview

Project Overview
High Level Project Plan

Two major project streams in motion at the same time

While Field implementation is being completed (after pilot to selected sites is complete), the core project team moves on to the core/campus infrastructure

Requirements

Assessment

Design

Implementation

Requirements

Assessment

Design

Implementation

Field ZENworks

Core/Campus ZENworks

Project Overview
High Level Project Plan

Project is broken down into two major streams...

Field Resource Management Project

Core/Campus Resource Management Project

Three traditional phases to each major stream...

Requirements Assessment

Design and Architecture

Implementation

Team consists of senior Grainger technical staff and senior ZENworks architecture consultants from Novell

Discovery workshops around each major ZENworks component/methodology... and everything is documented – close to 700 pages of documentation in total.

Project Overview
Requirements Assessment

The Requirements Assessment consisted of the following activities...

In-depth requirements discovery workshops around all of the major components of the ZENworks 6.5 Suite

Break down the major components into separate workshops around Application Management, Inventory Management, Image Management, Tiered Electronic Distribution, etc.

Development of a high level architecture which will be taken into the design phase and finalized there

Development of a Requirements Assessment document deliverable for review prior to the design phase

Development of design phase teams (Grainger and Novell)

Development of a detailed design phase project plan

Project Overview
Design

The Design phase consisted of the following activities...

In-depth design level discovery workshops around all of the major components of the ZENworks 6.5 Suite

Once again, break down the major components into separate workshops around Application Management, Inventory Management, Image Management, Tiered Electronic Distribution, etc.

Development of a detailed level architecture

Development of a detailed design document that is used during the implementation phase

Project Overview
Implementation

The Implementation phase consisted of the following activities...

Prepare all hardware and software for each specific deployment location

Execute against the plan using the design document (and other supplementary guides/documentation) as the guide...

The measuring stick is the architecture diagrams

Revisit the design documentation and update where necessary to ensure all changes/modifications to design are recorded and reflected in the design document

Document all findings and issues

Escalate all incidents/defects up the Novell line

A weekly status update meeting is optimal for the team to gather and discuss ongoing issues

Architectural Review

Architectural Review
Physical Network Environment

Location 1

Approximately 650 employees

ZENworks services provided from local server(s)

Intermediate Inventory Server with no database

Local import of workstations

ZENworks services hosted on Novell NetWare operating system

All ZENworks services for field locations and remote employees are hosted here

Location 2

Approximately 200 employees

ZENworks services provided from local server

Leaf Inventory Server with no database

Local import of workstations

ZENworks services hosted on Novell NetWare operating system

Location 3

Approximately 750 employees

ZENworks services provided from local server

Leaf Inventory Server with no database

Local import of workstations

ZENworks services hosted on Novell NetWare operating system

Main Location/Hub Site

Approximately 2,000 employees

ZENworks services provided from local servers

Root Inventory Server

Leaf Inventory Server with no workstations attached (no database)

Local import of workstations

ZENworks services hosted on Novell NetWare operating system

Branch Location (400+)

Approximately 6,600 employees

Some ZENworks services provided from local server (application management and imaging services)

Services hosted on Microsoft Windows Server 2003 operating system

T1

T1

T1

Gigaman

Public Internet

WiFi

VPN

OC12

Remote Employees

Core/Campus Tree

Field Tree

Architectural Review
Physical Network Environment

Centralized location of DNS and DHCP appliances.

Ease of administration

Low cost and simplified replacement

T1's basically everywhere... bandwidth is not the major concern across the enterprise.

Cisco IP Telephony systems at each branch location with complex routing system for traffic management and call capturing (the goal is... no call is lost at Grainger).

Architectural Review
Novell eDirectory™ Infrastructures

Each branch office is represented by a container and sub-container structure in a FIELD tree.

Branch containers are grouped and contained within TIMEZONE containers.

Each branch location contains a ZENworks container structure which is used to store ZENworks related objects specific to that site.

The CORE (Campus) tree is broken down by physical site.

Each CORE site contains departmental containers, and the ZENworks container structure.

Objects (specifically application) move throughout the trees using Tiered Electronic Distribution (TED) and pre-defined sets of methodologies.

Architectural Review
ZENworks Desktop Management

Standardization on MSI packaging for all existing and new enterprise applications.

Existing AOT/AXT based applications would be repackaged

Applications packaged and initially tested outside of the production space.

Core Business Applications are delivered using ZENworks Addon Imaging (applications that everyone is licensed to use across the enterprise).

Line of Business Applications are delivered using traditional ZENworks methodologies.

Architectural Review
ZENworks Desktop Management

Each branch appliance runs the Image Proxy and PXE services making automated imaging services available to all tethered and mobile Windows XP based devices.

Services that run centrally include:

ZENworks Transaction Service and Image Proxy

ZENworks Inventory Services

Automatic Workstation Import & Removal

ZENworks Middle Tier Server services

Novell eDirectory Replica services

All ZENworks functionality, excluding automated imaging services will be provided to the mobile workforce

Architectural Review
ZENworks Desktop Management

Work to standardize on two universal images:

Windows XP Professional

Windows 2000 Professional

In the Field, inventory services are centralized with all workstations reporting directly to the ROOT Inventory Server.

Traditional Inventory Tree in the core campus locations, with the Field Inventory Tree performing a cross-tree-rollup to the ROOT Inventory Server in the core campus tree (still in the process of happening).

Remote management functionality across the board.

Architectural Review
Image Management... Modularize and Simplify

Before

After

Windows 95

Compaq Desktop EN350

All Core Applications

2 GB Total

Windows 98/2000

Dell Desktop GX150

All Core Applications

2 GB Total

Windows 98/2000

Compaq Desktop EN450

All Core Applications

2 GB Total

Windows 2000

Dell Desktop GX260

All Core Applications

2 GB Total

Windows 98/2000

Compaq Laptop M700

All Core Applications

2 GB Total

Windows 98/2000

Dell Laptop C600

All Core Applications

2 GB Total

Windows 95

Dell Desktop GX1

All Core Applications

2 GB Total

Windows 2000

Dell Laptop C610

All Core Applications

2 GB Total

Windows XP + SP 2

500 MB Total

Core Business Application

Core Business Application

Core Business Application

Core Business Application

Core Business Application

Core Business Application

Core Business Application

Core Business Application

...

Methodologies and Approach

Architectural Review
ZENworks Server Management

Each branch appliance runs ZENworks Server Management Tiered Electronic Distribution (TED) specifically as a Subscriber to distribution packages.

The main FIELD Distributor is located at the hub site, and distributes Policies, and File Distributions (related to application source content, SOE Images, and add-on images)

TED will be used mainly to synchronize content amongst locations regardless of the tree, through the implementation of a formal provisioning framework.

TED synchronizes content across six trees using External Subscribers.

Middle Tier Servers (8 in total) act as Parent Subscribers for all field locations – distributions are sent during off-peak hours when the Middle Tier Servers are idle.

Architectural Review
ZENworks Handheld Management

System is in place to manage all Symbol devices located at each branch in the Field.

The Handheld Management server is located at the hub site, along with the default Access Point.

In the short term, all Symbol devices register and communicate with the default Access Point running at the hub site.

The Access Point software is running on each branch appliance, and the Symbol devices will be moved over to these Access Points.

Symbol devices communicate over the branch wireless network running the IP Client for Windows Mobile 2003.

Architectural Review
Platforms and Other Architectural Considerations

Windows XP Professional and Windows 2000 Workstation across the board – all legacy platforms being phased out!

All branch appliances are Windows Server 2003 Domain Controllers.

All backend infrastructure in the Field is Windows Server 2003 Member Servers.

All file, print and ZENworks servers in the core campus locations are NetWare 6 or NetWare 6.5.

Standardization of eDirectory 8.7.3 across all trees.

Clientless workstations in the Field and workstations with the Novell Client™ at the core campus locations.

Grainger ZENworks Architecture

Layer 4 Switch

Head Quarters

Devices include:

Laptops, workstations, handhelds and tablets

Tier 1

Backend Systems

Tier 2

Middle Tier

Server Environment

Branch Office

Tier 3

Branch

Appliance Systems

WAN

T1

Single DNS Record

Layer 4 Switch

Layer 4 Switch

Scripting Environment

Core Campus Locations

T1

T1

T1

Public

Internet

Demilitarized Zone (DMZ)

Laptop PCs

Tablet PCs

Implementation

Implementation
Staging for Rollout

A staging facility was used to build all branch appliances and branch workstations prior to shipping out to each location...

Appliances pre-built with Windows Server 2003

All workstations for the branch pre-built using ZENworks Imaging... powered on for the first time when brought on site

Complex post-imaging build process – custom development (internal) done here to control workstation naming, domain membership, agent installation, etc.

Over 30 branch sites done each working weekend – this includes branch appliances, workstations, and IP phone system.

Implementation
Staging for Rollout

All ZENworks services are installed on the branch appliance prior to deployment so that the services are ready when the server is turned on at the branch location

Sometimes this is a pain!!

Servers are turned on at the branch, then when connectivity is confirmed, the workstations are turned on... allowing them to finish the build process that was not completed in the staging facility.

Connectivity was key to the success of this process!!

Implementation
Facts

Core desktops receiving new operating system (XP)

Data Migration assisted with Personality Migration tools

Using in-house lifecycle management process

Content being distributed across six trees using ZENworks for Servers External Subscribers.

In addition, users will be moved into a new organizational structure in the tree, where new resources (applications, iPrint, etc) will be configured.

Implementation
Challenges

Ensuring success that all access rights are provided in new environment.

Providing a contingency plan for restoring user data for the desktop

Making the migration process as streamlined as possible:

This involved documenting a specific process to be carried out

Consulting assisted process by preparing for application migration

Process will be incrementally rolled out in phases, to adjust processes and correct issues

Implementation
Application Migration

During the migration process, all applications were verified against the new Windows XP Operating System.

A new set of application objects that passed this test is placed in the new OU structure in the tree.

When a user is migrated, a process as to occur to switch the user's applications from the old applications to the new applications---a proposition that would be very time consuming.

An application was created to assist in this process.

First, the administrator links the old application to the new application object

Second, the administrator “migrates” the user to receive new application associations.

Select the current production application and the new future application.

Next, decide how to associate the application when the migration occurs. You can use the default application flags from either the production or future application object, or you can create your own custom association flags.

Finally, to link the applications, click the Link the Application button. Instant feedback is given in the Activity log.

Note: Applications not linked are removed from the user's application association list for apps no longer supported or needed.

This application was developed by Novell Consultant Sterling Smith who also plans to contribute the source code back to the Open Source Community.

Implementation
Application Migration Preparation

The application can work on one container at a time-select the container having the users you need to migrate.

Next,select one or more users that you wish to migrate.

Finally, to migrate the user's application associations, click the Migrate button. Instant feedback is provided in the Activity Log.

Note: The application provides the facility to reverse migrate the user's application associations—they are saved before any migration process.

Implementation
Application Migration Process

Learning Experiences

Learning Experiences

When utilizing a staging facility to build eDirectory servers, and servers that will be hosting ZENworks services...

make sure you have replica placement figured out before you begin

Sometimes it pays to take your time...

getting things done in a rapid fashion without increasing the human resources means someone (or a group of someone's) are losing sleep

No matter how good you are at Project Management...

build the plan, and work the plan!!

Everyone involved needs to be in constant communication with each other...

or you will feel pain

Futures

Question and Answer

2003-12-08T12:43:39