March 21, 1998
By Lee Bruno
Product Leaders: Client-Server Software
Zen and the Art of Software Administration
Novell's Zero Effort Networks (ZEN) software lets networkers manage desktop software centrally
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More users plus more apps. Corporate networkers know that the sum
of that equation is sky-high costs for maintaining desktop software.
Nov
ell believes it has a way to keep desktop management headaches (and
costs) in check. Its Zero Effort Networks (ZEN) client-server software
automatically upgrades desktops from afar. What's more, with a little
fussing, net managers can send the data ZEN gathers about a desktop to
help desks for faster diagnosis of end-user woes. Best of all, because
it's an add-on to the vendor's NDS (Netware Directory Services), net
managers won't have to rekey management data.
So how does ZEN from Novell Inc. (Orem, Utah) work its magic? Its
server software adds extensions to NDS's database of client
configuration information. These let NDS store information about apps
on each client. Once ZEN client software is downloaded from the
network server onto a PC, it takes an inventory of the PC's CPU,
memory, and the applications on it. It then sends its findings to the
server software, which adds them to NDS's database (
see the
figure
).
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The Sound of One App Updating
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Network managers only have to load upgrades once, on an application
server attached to ZEN. ZEN periodically checks that end-users are
running the application server's version. If they're not, the server
software gets the necessary fixes from the app server and sends them
to the PC. "We have a lot of NT workstations, and installing
applications on them is a big administrative problem," says Peter
Cruikshank, infrastructure engineer for the U.S. Navy's Space-Enabled
Warfare System (San Diego). "ZEN allows us to do frequent
updates."
It's a big improvement over manual configuration. Novell estimates
that it takes only a few minutes to configure desktop software with
ZEN, vs. one hour without it.
Saving all that time may be well worth ZEN's $39-per-client price
tag. After all, time is money. Companies she
ll out about $3,830 in
management costs per PC each year, according to Forrester Research
Inc. (Cambridge, Mass.). ZEN should also relieve some job-related
stress for corporate networkers who have to perform downloads over and
over, at each desktop.
But faster downloads aren't all there is to ZEN. It can also set up
a PC from afar—provided it has the ZEN client installed. Another handy
feature: Once end-user parameters are loaded into the NDS server,
employees can roam from one networked PC to another—provided each
machine is capable of running the apps they need. When they log in,
ZEN reconfigures the machine to match their setup.
Further, ZEN lets help-desks work faster. It can add configuration
and RAM information to trouble tickets, giving help-desk staff a quick
read on what's going on at a client's desktop. But net managers who
want to use ZEN for this purpose need to know that they will have to
write code that ties ZEN to help-desk software—a time-consuming
task.
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MORE INFO
Product Summary
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The vendor promises more to come. Right now, network managers
administer ZEN from a Novell-enabled workstation. But the vendor plans
to add a Java applet to ZEN sometime this year. This will let network
managers direct the software from any browser. Also, by the second
quarter of 1998, Novell plans to add the ability to count software
licenses in use. Then ZEN could automatically determine if networks
are in compliance with vendor contracts.
What sets ZEN apart from its rivals? Because it relies on NDS's
data, it doesn't require corporate networkers to retype a lot of
management information. That's not the case with competing desktop
management products, like ZAW (Zero Administration for Windows) from
Microsoft Corp. (Redmond, Wash.) or
Wired for Management from Intel
Corp. (Santa Clara, Calif.). And ZEN not only manages Windows
desktops, but also it works with network computers from Sun
Microsystems Inc. (Mountain View, Calif.), IBM, and Oracle Corp.
(Redwood Shores, Calif.). This lets network computers interoperate
with PCs.
ZEN and NDS reside on a Netware, Windows NT, or Sun Solaris server.
(NDS on NT costs $48 per server.) ZEN clients run on Microsoft Windows
3.1, 95, and NT.
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