2. www.novell.com Deploying ZENworks ® Inventory Ganesh V Software Consultant Novell, Inc. vganesh@novell.com Michael Parillo Systems Engineer Novell, Inc. mparillo@novell.com

3. Session Goals and Assumptions Understand ZENworks ® for Desktops (ZfD) Prometheus inventory architecture and process Understand how to design and deploy your inventory system Assume basic familiarity with  ZENworks for Desktops 3  Novell eDirectory ™  NetWare ® 5.1 or 6 or Windows NT/2000 Server

4. Vision…one Net A world where networks of all types—corporate and public, intranets, extranets, and the Internet—work together as one Net and securely connect employees, customers, suppliers, and partners across organizational boundaries Mission To solve complex business and technical challenges with Net business solutions that enable people, processes, and systems to work together and our customers to profit from the opportunities of a networked world

6. What Is Novell ZENworks? The Novell ZENworks family of products… Automates and personalizes content and applications to increase productivity for end users and network managers alike Allows you to minimize costs by reducing redundancies, effectively leveraging your resources and precisely tracking their use

7. The Novell ZENworks Family ZENworks for Desktops  Manages the complete workstation lifecycle and provides personalized workstation service to end users ZENworks for Servers  Provides cross-platform server consistency, content distribution, and management of critical resources, alarms, SNMP, and inventory assets ZENworks Preboot Services  Enables PXE integration for ZENworks for Desktops workstation disk imaging ZENworks for Handhelds  Automates management for wireless and handheld devices ZENworks OnDemand Services  Automates digital asset provisioning to users wherever they are; tracks and reports usage; manages and personalizes terminal services ZENworks Suite  Extends the managed, personalized work environment to any location from any Windows machine

8. Agenda Why use ZfD Prometheus inventory? Inventory architecture Designing the Inventory system Deployment Troubleshooting Custom inventory Custom reports Resources

9. Why Use ZfD Prometheus Inventory? A systems engineer could manually inventory approximately four desktops per hour To inventory 2,000 desktops without sleep=25 days To inventory 2,000 desktops with sleep working for eight hours a day=70 days Validate the data collected—add another ten days Manually enter data and print reports—add another 10 to 15 days Total=90-100 days to inventory 2,000 workstations

10. Why Use ZfD Prometheus Inventory? 60-100 people To do the job in ten days (inventory 2,000 boxes)=60-100 people Time and resources to manage 100 people Need inventory department for this single function Error prone, high human resources costs, and almost zero ROI Organizations with more than 5,000 workstations  Inventory? Never…

11. Benefits of ZfD Prometheus Inventory MANUAL METHODAUTOMATIC METHOD 4 workstations per hour 300  500 workstations per hour 90  100 days for around 2,000 workstations 2  3 days for 2,000  5,000 workstations 60  100 people to manage Fewer than 4 people to manage Asset tracking beyond 5,000 workstations is very costly and almost impossible The inventory system can be scaled to 250,000 workstations

12. Giga Information Group (May 2001) #1 Desktop Management Tool Network Computing award at N+I Las Vegas (May 2001) Best Directory-based Application Best Software Delivery and Desktop Management System Best of Show award at N+I Atlanta (September 2001) Best in Network Management category Network World Reader’s Choice Award 2001 Best Desktop Management software Best of Comdex 2001 Enterprise Software Category Appreciation for ZfD 3.x AGENDA

14. ZENworks for Desktops 3 Inventory Architecture — Basic Inventory Process Workstation inventory data Inventory server Database server Console LAN/WAN eDirectory

15. ZfD Prometheus Inventory Architecture — Basic Inventory Process Inventory server Database server Console LAN/WAN ZENworks Middle-Tier server eDirectory Workstation Inventory works with Novell Client also (the ZfD3.x way)

16. ZfD Prometheus Inventory— Inventory Scanning Cycle Inventory components  Scanner  Selector  Sender  Receiver  Storer  Inventory database  Console

17. New in ZfD Prometheus Client independence Firewall friendliness Rollup across trees MS-SQL Database Support Interoperability with ZENworks for Servers (ZfS) 3

18. New in ZfD Prometheus Enhanced scanning  Software product location  Software product ID  Only customized scanning Customized inventory Canned reports using Crystal Reports Deferred scanning on workstations that are temporarily disconnected from the network

19. Client independence and firewall friendliness Workstation Inventory works with Novell Client also (the ZfD3.x way) ZfD Prometheus Inventory Features

20. Rollup across trees  When organizations merge they may not prefer to merge the trees—this results in Inventory at root of these trees which cannot be merged  Extending the functionality of ZfD3, the rollup can be done across trees MS-SQL database support  Allows Inventory Database to be configured for a MS SQL Server 2000

21. ZfD Prometheus Inventory Features Interoperability with ZENworks for Servers 3  ZfS 2 Service Pack 1 and ZfD 3 ship as a bundle used by a lot of customers—the solution is very manual and Inventory features are not common across the products  Inventory features are now common and they share a common database  eDirectory objects re-used  STR file format same for ZfS 3 and ZfD Prometheus

22. ZfD Prometheus Inventory Features Enhanced scanning  Software product location The location of products installed on a workstation is an important information to the user when it comes to deploying products on the workstations  Software product ID Microsoft product ID for checking the usage of licensed products

23. ZfD Prometheus Inventory Features Enhanced scanning  Only customized scanning If the user wants to scan only a specified list of applications Only the applications specified in the Custom Scan Editor are scanned  Scan mode Probe only, DMI only, WMI only, both DMI and WMI

24. ZfD Prometheus Inventory Features Enhanced scanning  Custom inventory User-defined inventory information Workstation inventory policy enhanced for –Enabling/disabling custom inventory –Indicating the custom scan executable –A configurable list of Inventory items for specific class names (Custom Attribute Editor) Discussed later in the presentation…

25. ZENworks for Servers 3 Inventory Scanners are different Inventory policies are distributed to the Managed Server through Policy and Distribution services The Scanner uses XML-RPC to transfer files to the Inventory Server—no Middle-Tier involved No Minimal Information in eDirectory for the Managed Server

27. Design Overview Gather data Design and document Develop a deployment plan Deploy Maintain

28. Data Gathering LAN and WAN topology  Type, speed, and cost of connectivity between the sites  Available bandwidth eDirectory tree topology  Structure  Object placement standards  Partitioning and replication Sites where inventory queries will be done Inventory data needed  Hardware  Software

29. Data Gathering Approximate number of desktops in each site Type and configuration of existing servers  Memory  Free space  NetWare and NT service packs Company database standards Administrative staff at sites Reporting tools  Spreadsheet programs  Third-party reporting tools

30. Design the Inventory Topology Identify a place for the root server  Bandwidth from site to downstream server(s)  Management and reporting console  Storage Identify Inventory server site(s)  Local to workstations  Reporting console Identify sites for databases  Are multiple databases necessary?  Database administrators Identify sites for consoles

31. Design the Inventory Topology Assign roles to the inventory servers  Avoid changing roles later Identify the route of inventory data  Estimate WAN load and cost Identify workstation object placement and naming  Workstation object containers should be replicated to local server  Use container placement to enable spread of scanning load Determine appropriate schedule for rollup of Inventory data  Data freshness required  LAN and WAN connectivity, server load costs

32. Workgroup Design Example LAN environment Up to 5,000 LAN workstations Over 5,000 workstations, one inventory server per 5,000 workstations Inventory database Console Windows workstation Managed workstation

33. Departmental Design Example Database server Standalone server Console Windows workstation Configured by database location policy No enterprise reporting needed Reporting done at site level only Standalone servers

34. Enterprise Design Example Site D Intermediate server with DB, without workstations Leaf server with DB and workstations Leaf server without DB, with workstations Root server Intermediate server with DB and workstations

35. Other Deployment Scenarios Mobile users outside the firewall Rollup across a firewall Rollup across Inventory Servers in different eDirectory Trees  Inventory Servers in different eDirectory trees can form a part of a single Inventory tree

36. Design Tips Do not schedule the rollup of data too frequently, causing performance degradation Balance freshness of data with server load Tune database cache size to avoid memory problems on the database server Keep purpose of inventory system in mind when designing server placement, scan, and rollup schedules

37. WAN Considerations Place inventory policies and workstation objects in a local eDirectory partition Send workstation scans to local or nearest inventory server Local database not necessary for local inventory server Use the inventory rollup facility to move the data between locations Reporting points should have local database

38. Estimating WAN Load Initial vs. delta scans Budget 50,000 scan data per workstation Assume modest compression of workstation scan files Multiply by number of workstations at site Multiply by frequency of scans Example 50 KB x 100 = 50 MB (.66)= 33 MB initial scan 10 KB x 100 = 10 MB (.66)= 6.6 MB delta scans

39. Migrating from ZENworks for Desktops 3.x Use top-down deployment when migrating a ZfD 3.x Inventory tree to a ZfD Prometheus Inventory tree Inventory information in the database can be migrated See the ZfD Prometheus Deployment Guide

40. ZfD Prometheus and NetWare Cluster Services ™ Before ZENworks installation  Ensure the Virtual server and all cluster nodes have DNS names configured ZfD Prometheus supports NetWare 5.1 and 6 clusters

41. Document the Design Graphical and tabular listings  Document and clarify design  Source for installation data Site A Site B Site C Site D Main site AGENDA

43. Execute the Deployment Plan Ready, set, go…  Install the servers, root server first  Install the Inventory files on the workstation  Create workstation policies to control scanning  Create rollup policies  Configure the Inventory Service Object settings  Prepare and run the Inventory cycle  Spread initial scanning load

44. Deployment Tips Check installation prerequisites like minimum configuration and service packs, and database versions Enable the Inventory server scanning process from the top down to ensure all data rolls up AGENDA

46. Troubleshooting General tips (if there’s a problem…don’t panic)  Check the logs  Know the source and severity of the problem and the component that caused the problem  Follow the data flow to isolate the malfunctioning component  Note error codes and the error messages  Check error codes in the Administration Manual

47. Troubleshooting Tips Workstation Scan Status  ConsoleOne ®, Workstation Object Properties  ConsoleOne, Container, Tools, ZENworks Inventory, Workstation Scan Status Workstation Scan Log  ConsoleOne, Container, Tools, ZENworks Inventory, Workstation Scan Log Rollup Status  ConsoleOne, Inventory Service Object, Properties, Status Report Rollup History  ConsoleOne, Inventory Service Object, Tools, Rollup log Status of Inventory Server components  View status of Sender, Receiver, Selector, Storer, Inventory Service Object properties, Status Report View or export to.CSV or TAB delimited See Administration Guide

48. Troubleshooting Tips Installation  Inventory Service Object for each server  Server role Service Object property  For Sybase inventory server, a database object ” _InvDatabase" should exist  On NetWare, check Sybase process screen  On NT/Win2k, check Sybase in running services  SCANDIR directory should be present on all inventory servers

49. Troubleshooting Tips Inventory Service Manager exits with –1  The Server Status Report indicates the problem

50. Troubleshooting Tips Workstation Inventory does not appear in the inventory scheduler  Check for correct version of Novell client  In case of middle-tier, check for the middle-tier libraries  Properly imported workstation  Inventory policies configured and associated to workstation or workstation container  Try restarting the workstation

51. Troubleshooting Tips Scanner is not scanning  See ZENERRORS.LOG in the temp directory  See Workstation Scan Status

52. Troubleshooting Advanced Inventory not showing up in console  Are there any scanner problems? Check minimal Inventory  Is the storer running?  Storer has not yet picked up the STR file  Inventory database is not mounted  You are probably connected to a different database  Inventory not yet rolled up  STR file is getting rejected by SELECTOR/STORER, try initiating a full scan

53. Troubleshooting Tips Inventory information not getting rolled up  Check the Rollup Log and Server Status Log

54. Troubleshooting Tips Inventory reports take long time to show  The database is probably huge (waiting time ~ DB size)  Try increasing the database cache size  Try restarting the database  Try putting the database files into multiple physical disks  Is your database in sync with workstations in eDirectory?  Use reporting filters effectively  May use Data Export tool (> 5,000 workstations)

55. Troubleshooting Tips Inventory database problems  Maximum open cursor exceeded for Oracle  Sybase screen give a performance violation error message  Sybase throws an assertion error during startup AGENDA

57. Custom Inventory User-defined inventory information  Cubicle number, cost, location, admin. name CUSTOM.INI file on the workstation CUSTOM.INI created by custom executable or manually Custom executable to be developed by user CUSTOM.INI is read by scanner Regular and Custom data are merged Inventory Query, Workstation Inventory, Data Export can operate on Custom data Security via policy for Custom attributes

58. Configuring Custom Inventory

60. Custom.ini Format * [START_CIM_OBJECT] Custom attribute Name 1 = value 1 Custom attribute Name 2 = value 2... [END_CIM_OBJECT] … * Subject to change

61. Custom.ini—Example [START_CIM_OBJECT] CIM.UnitaryComputerSystem PrimaryOwnerContactID GANESH A Location = FN43, Building 1. Cost = $ 1000 [END_CIM_OBJECT]...

62. Identification Information Specify regular attribute values to identify the instance to which the custom attributes belong One or more attribute values uniquely identify an instance of a class

63. Viewing Custom Information Inventory Summary reports custom information Inventory Query allows filtering on custom information AGENDA

65. Canned Inventory Reports Pre-defined set of reports Customization is not possible Reports available include Operating System Listing, Network Adapter Listing and Software Listing Uses Crystal Reports

66. Data Export Export from the Inventory database in to a comma separated value (CSV) file Select the inventory components that should be exported, such as the Operating System Name and Version Filter the managed nodes whose attributes will be exported Save the data export configurations Import the CSV file into a report-generating tool

67. Custom Reports To generate customized reports, you need to  Understand the Common Informational Model (CIM) Schema  Understand how Inventory uses the CIM schema  Understand how the CIM Schema is mapped to a Relational Schema Pre-requisites  Knowledge of Structured Query Language (SQL)  Knowledge of Relational Database Based Management Systems (RDBMS)  A basic understanding of the Object-Oriented Paradigm

68. The Common Information Model (CIM) The Distributed Management Task Force (DMTF) CIM is an approach to system and network management that applies the basic structuring and conceptualization techniques of the object- oriented paradigm A management schema is provided to establish a common conceptual framework for a description of the managed environment

70. CIM-to-Relational Mapping CIM is an object model complete with classes, inheritance, and polymorphism Inventory uses a RDBMS to store data The CIM object model is mapped to a relational model The generated mapping to a relational schema preserves the features of the object model to the maximum extent

71. Mapping a Class

72. Extended Views Combine related views into one for easy manipulation of data  ExtendedDisketteDrive(DisketteDrive,LogicalDiskette,PhysicalDiskette)  ExtendedCDROMDrive(CDROMDrive,LogicalCDROM,PhysicalCDROM)  ExtendedDiskDrive(DiskDrive,PhysicalDiskDrive)  ExtendedCacheMemory(CacheMemory,PhysicalMemory)  ExtendedSlot(Card,Slot)  ExtendedPointingDevice(PointingDevice,PointingDeviceDeviceDriver)

73. A Simple Query SELECT m.label, m.tree FROM ManageWise.NDSName m, CIM.UnitaryComputerSystem u, ManageWise.Designates s WHERE s.Designation=m.id$ AND s.Host=u.id$ Retrieve the name and tree of all workstations

74. Another Simple Query SELECT ip.Address, ipx.Address, mac.MACAddress FROM CIM.IPProtocolEndpoint ip, CIM.IPXProtocolEndpoint ipx, CIM.LANEndpoint mac, CIM.UnitaryComputerSystem u, CIM.HostedAccessPoint s WHERE (s.Dependent=ip.id$ AND s.Antecedent=u.id$) AND (s.Dependent=ipx.id$ AND s.Antecedent=u.id$) AND (s.Dependent=mac.id$ AND s.Antecedent=u.id$) List the IP, IPX, and MAC Address of all workstations

75. Custom Information—Schema

76. Querying for Custom Information A custom attribute ‘Location’ has been added to the class CIM.UnitaryComputerSystem Get all attributes (including the custom attribute ‘Location’) of a node named ‘A’ SELECT ucs.*, cv.value FROM CIM.UnitaryComputerSystem as ucs, ZENworks.CustomValue as cv, ZENworks.CustomName as cn WHERE ucs.Name=‘A’ AND ( ucs.id$=cv.id AND cv.cid=cn.id AND cn.Name=‘Location’) AGENDA

77. Resources ZENworks documentation  www.novell.com/documentation ZENworks Cool Solutions  www.novell.com/coolsolutions/zenworks Advanced Technical Training (ATT)  www.novell.com/education/pep/att/ AGENDA

78. Related ZENworks Sessions TUT216—Implementing ZENworks for Servers Policies and Distribution Services TUT312—In Depth: Designing your NDS eDirectory tree for ZENworks TUT315—Planning, Scaling, and Implementing ZENworks for Desktops Prometheus