The coexistence of ZENworks for Desktops 3.x and ZENworks for Desktops 4
Articles and Tips: tip
01 Apr 2003
by Novell Technical Services
Novell ZENworks for desktops
Problem: Upgrading from older versions of ZENworks for Desktops to ZENworks for Desktops 4 and the coexistence of ZENworks for Desktops 3.x and ZENworks for Desktops 4. solution: ZENworks for Desktops 3.x and ZENworks for Desktops 4 can coexist in the same environment. Use ZENworks for Desktops 3.x to manage the platforms that ZENworks for Desktops 4 does not support. Here are a few thoughts on the co-existence:
NAL
With ZENworks for Desktops 4, NALWIN32 or NALDESK is launched from the local machine (usually from C:\Program Files\Novell\ZENworks). With ZENworks for Desktops 3.x, NAL.EXE or NALEXPLD.EXE was launched from the server. If you are going to launch NAL from the login script, ensure that every container?s login script in your environment has built-in logic to determine if the ZENworks for Desktops 4 agent exists or not and then run NAL from the appropriate location. This has been thoroughly discussed in the upgrade guide found on the ZENworks for Desktops 4 Documentation Web site (www.novell.com/documentation/lg/zdpr/index.html).
Even if you are only migrating one site at a time to ZENworks for Desktops 4, this login script change needs to happen everywhere at the beginning of the migration process to accompany roaming users.
Remote Management
Use the ZENworks for Desktops 4 console to control ZENworks for Desktops 3.x and ZENworks for Desktops 4 workstations (a workstation becomes a ZENworks for Desktops 4 workstation when the ZENworks for Desktops 4 Management Agent is installed).
Inventory
Even after migrating Inventory to ZENworks for Desktops 4, the ZENworks for Desktops 3.x clients can still run the scanner as they always have, and a ZENworks for Desktops 3.x formatted STR file will be created and sent to the server. The server has a STR Converter service to handle conversion to ZENworks for Desktops 4 format and then it will get stored in the database. Review the upgrade guide found on the ZENworks for Desktops 4 documentation Web site for specifics on how to perform this migration.
Policies
The ZENworks for Desktops 3.x workstations will read the same policies the ZENworks for Desktops 4 workstation will read (except the newly added ZENworks for Desktops 4 policies), except it will only look for attributes that were known in ZENworks for Desktops 3.x. This means that even though each workstation is reading the same policy, the ZENworks for Desktops 3.x workstations will be limited to the functionality of ZENworks for Desktops 3.x.
Imaging
Make sure you use the same boot disk version as the version on the backend. For example, if you upgrade the Imaging server to ZENworks for Desktops 4, make sure you use a ZENworks for Desktops 4 boot CD when invoking imaging manually.
Workstation Import
If the Import Service is upgraded to ZENworks for Desktops 4 on a server, the ZENworks for Desktops 3x workstations will register in the same way and the ZENworks for Desktops 4 Import Service will import them. Both ZENworks for Desktops 3.x and ZENworks for Desktops 4 workstations can be imported by a ZENworks for Desktops 4 Import Server.
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* Originally published in Novell Connection Magazine
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The origin of this information may be internal or external to Novell. While Novell makes all reasonable efforts to verify this information, Novell does not make explicit or implied claims to its validity.