Novell Support Advisor
Novell Support Advisor (NSA) is an automated self-help tool used to support and diagnose SUSE® Linux Enterprise Server, Open Enterprise Server (Linux), NetWare and associated products.
This tool provides customers with a streamlined way to perform both pro-active and reactive system diagnostic tasks typically provided by Novell Technical Services, but in a local, secure and automated fashion.
Best of all, this revolutionary tool is absolutely FREE to download and use so you might as well install and begin using it today. It could save you time and money.
Novell Support Advisor will be incrementally and automatically updated every four to five months. Customer feedback is essential and welcomed as we consider the next set of features for implementation. You can view the planned set of features and projected timelines below.
Download Novell Support Advisor for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server, SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop, openSUSE® and Microsoft Windows
View a video demonstration of the latest Novell Support Advisor features
Read the Novell Connection article "Resolving Problems Quickly and Easily"
Join NSA Client Community to Receive Periodic Email Updates Specific to NSA
Join NSA Pattern Community to Receive Periodic Email Updates Specific to NSA Patterns
Novell Support Advisor 1.1 Features (as of July 2009)
- Novell Support Advisor can be installed and run from:
- SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 11 or later
- SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 or later
- OpenSUSE 10.3 or later
- Microsoft Windows XP SP2 or later
- Microsoft Windows Vista
- Microsoft Windows Server 2003
- Novell Support Advisor can run against and analyze these platforms:
- SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 9
- SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10
- SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11
- Open Enterprise Server 1.0
- Open Enterprise Server 2.0
- NetWare 5.x
- NetWare 6.x
- System discovery based upon IP address, IP range, or DNS name
- Flexible server authentication via ROOT user, SUDO user or SSH key certificate
- Enhanced user-to-server association management (new)
- NetWare-to-OES migration category and Support Diagnostic Patterns (new)
- SUSE Linux Enterprise Server health diagnosis, with recommended solutions
- Authentication support for Novell Customer Center (NCC)
- Automated client and Support Diagnostic Pattern (SPD) updates
- Ability to select and execute support diagnostic patterns by product category
- Pattern reporting and feedback to ensure validity and refinement of existing patterns
- New and enhanced support diagnostic patterns (including security vulnerability alerts) released as available (on-going)
- Notification filtering and categorization (new)
- Ability to send NSA directly back to Novell and associate with Service Request (new)
- Diagnosticis reporting (new)
- Enchanced data collection management
- Centralized links to Novell Technical Services
How It Works
The Novell Support Advisor consists of a client that runs on SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 11 (or later), SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 (or later), OpenSUSE 10.3 (or later), Microsoft Windows XP SP2 (or later), Microsoft Windows Vista or Microsoft Windows Server 2003. The client will need to be installed on a system that can both communicate with Novell's update server and with servers within your local environment. The self-help and health diagnosis portion of the Novell Support Advisor allows the administrator to select the system(s) for which they would like to run a support health-check. When a health-check is executed on a system, it will gather the needed configuration and log files from the system to be analyzed by the Novell Support Advisor Client. Based upon the installed products and the type of health checks being performed, the Novell Support Advisor uses a set of Novell Support Diagnostic Patterns (SDPs) to determine the current health state and provide recommended solutions for repairing potential issues.
The Novell Support Advisor Client will automatically prompt you to update to the latest client version. Additionally, users will be prompted to download newly released Support Diagnostic Patterns as they are published by Novell's Technical Support Experts. This provides administrators with the ability to diagnose systems based upon the most current issues known to Novell.
The Novell Support Advisor performs its tasks in an automated way, using the latest diagnostic techniques and information available from the Novell Technical Services team. This diagnosis occurs securely and locally, and does not require sending log information to Novell for analysis. However, Novell has provided users with the ability to provide direct feedback and relevancy ratings for individual patterns.
Client System Requirements
- SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 11 or later, SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 or later, OpenSUSE 10.3 or later, Microsoft Windows XP SP2 or Microsoft Windows Vista or Microsoft Windows Server 2003
- Intel Pentium III GHz or faster processor
- 512 MB of RAM
- 5MB of disk space for each server you will be analyzing
Product Features and Roadmap
| Release Date / Target Time Frame | Novell Support Advisor Version |
Feature Set |
|---|---|---|
| December 15, 2008 | Alpha Release |
|
| January 30, 2009 | Beta Release |
|
| March 20, 2009 | Version 1.0 |
|
| July 2009 | Version 1.1 |
|
| December 2009 | Version 2.0 |
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| March 2010 | Version 2.1 |
|
Feedback Appreciated
New functionality for Novell Support Advisor will be driven in large part by feedback from the user community. We appreciate and rely heavily upon the input, involvement and support from our customers in driving future functionality of this tool.