Novell GroupWise ® 6 Deployment and Best Practices

1. Novell GroupWise® 6 Deployment and Best Practices Howard Tayler GroupWise Product Manager htayler@novell.com Steve Whitehouse Systems Engineer swhitehouse@novell.com Frank Sinak Technical Consultant UAB Health System fsinak@uabmc.edu Jayson Berger Account Manager jberger@novell.com Gregory White Systems Engineer gbwhite@novell.com

2. 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

4. Agenda • Guidelines for deployment of Novell GroupWise® 6 • The upgrade process • Case Study: University of Alabama • Leveraging new features of GroupWise 6 • Server consolidation • Proactive monitoring • LDAP authentication • The “Internet Office”

5. guidelines for deploymeNt

6. Key Principles Behind the GroupWise 6 Upgrade • Take no chances • Pilot the code before rolling out enterprise-wide • Remember, GroupWise is a mission-critical app • Admin, agents, clients • The “back end” is compatible with all 4.x and 5.x “back end” components • The GroupWise 6 Client, WebAccess, and GWIA cannot connect to a 5.x post office • The GroupWise 5.x Client, WebAccess, and GWIA connect fine to a 6.x post office

7. Upgrade At-A-Glance • Install the Novell ConsoleOne® snap-ins • Upgrade the primary domain • Upgrade secondary domains and post offices • Upgrade gateways • Deploy clients • The upgrade is simple—just install and load the new code

8. Upgrading Domains • Primary domain first • Communication • Primary must be able to communicate with all secondary domains • 4.x and 5.x MTAs can communicate directly with a GroupWise 6 MTA • Steps • Install GW 6 MTA—agent install will merge startup files (user ID and password can be in the directory now) • Previous configuration settings in Novell eDirectory™ are preserved • Unload MTA and reload with GroupWise 6 MTA • View domain with ConsoleOne to verify version • Repeat for each secondary

9. Upgrading Post Offices • The “owning” domain must be upgraded first • Steps • Install GroupWise 6 Post Office Agent (POA) • Unload/reload POA • Wait… • Post office upgrade is complete when the POA has rebuilt/recovered WPHOST.DB • ConsoleOne will indicate version 6 for the post office • The Admin thread in the POA will show a “recovery count” of 1

10. Agent Installation Information • Information to have on hand • Domain name (for MTA startup file naming) • Post office name (for POA startup file naming) • Universal Naming Convention (UNC) path to domain and post office directories • HTTP port for the monitoring agent • Automatically launch agents? • If this is used, and a POA and MTA are running on the same server, the POA will need to be unloaded and reloaded later

11. Upgrading GroupWise WebAccess • Upgrade servlet • Upgrade GWINTERs • ConsoleOne will have new objects • Provider (Application) objects for GroupWise Monitor, WebAccess, WebPublisher • Servlet objects • Set default WebAccess • WebAccess is now capable of redirection • New features • Rules, Signatures,“Mark Unread,” personal address book creation • Required for GroupWise wireless

12. Upgrade the GroupWise Internet Agent (GWIA) • Run the agent install • Configuration tips • DSN (Delivery Status Notification) is now available • Relay does not require exceptions for authenticated POP and IMAP • Secure POP, IMAP, and SMTP require a certificate • The certificate cannot be password-protected

13. Roll Out The GroupWise 6 Client • Novell ZENworks® • Use .AXT files provided by Novell with GW6 SP1 • Installation MUST deal with dependencies: Windows Messaging is the critical piece Or… • SetupIP with SETUP.CFG • Hide prompts from users • Force standardization of paths • Prevent help-desk calls

14. Using SetupIP and SETUP.CFG • Run WRITEIP.EXE • Software/admin/utility/setupip • GUI for creating WRITEIP.INI and SETUPIP.EXE • List paths to up to four web servers for client install • Edit SETUP.CFG • Show dialogs = No, Standard Install = Yes • New option for showing individual dialogs • “Windows Messaging = Yes” will require a reboot mid-install • Web server requirements • Web server must support file dates • Web server must list 400 files without truncating the list

15. deployment in actioN

16. Deployment Case Study: The University of Alabama at Birmingham Medical Center

17. The University of Alabamaat Birmingham (UAB) • The cornerstone of the UAB Health System is the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) • UAB was established in 1969 as an autonomous university within the University of Alabama system • It now serves as one of the nation’s top-ranked universities in research support and higher education and is home of a world-class medical center that has been serving Alabama for over 50 years • UAB is widely known for top-notch medical education and innovative medical and scientific research activities • Participating in Novell Academic Licensing Agreement (ALA) and Novell Tech Support Premium 600 with PSE

18. The University of Alabamaat Birmingham Medical Center • The medical center is part of the UAB Health System • UAB Hospital—908 beds • UAB Kirklin Clinic—30 distinct multidisciplinary clinical units • UAB Health Centers—neighborhood clinics in Birmingham, Hoover, Huntsville, Montgomery, Selma, and Tuscaloosa • The University of Alabama Health Services Foundation—a 660+ closed-group physician practice • UAB Eye Foundation Hospital—offering the latest ophthalmic microsurgery, corneal transplantation, and an emergency department dedicated to treating trauma to the eye • The University of Alabama School of Medicine—clinical training programs

19. Just the Facts… • The University of Alabama Health System (UABHS) network is a campus area network consisting of over 685 hubs, routers and switches connecting 55buildings and maintaining, on average, over 9,800 active user connections • UABHS maintains two parallel network backbones • An ATM LANE network and a Gigabit Ethernet network • Full migration to Gigabit is currently in progress • 11,000+ users (total), 8,000+ GroupWise users • 128+servers (total), 16 GroupWise servers • 68 NetWare, 49 NT/2000 • 3 domain servers, 10 Post Office servers, and 3 gateways

20. UABHS GroupWise Layout Primary Domain UAB Internet Agent GWIA1 MSGUAB Secondary Domain HSF MSGHSF Secondary Domain HOS MSGHOS Internet Agent GWIA MSGIA Secondary Domain WEB2 MSGWEB2 Secondary Domain WEB1 MSGWEB1 SVC CLN ADM ANC ANC/CLN SFM/SVC MSGADM01 HOSP01 HOSP05 MSGCLN01 HOSP04 HOSP08 MSGSVC01 HOSP02 HOSP06 MSGANC01 HOSP03 HOSP07 MSGHSF01 HSFPO1 HSFPO2 HSFPO5 MSGHSF02 HSFPO3 HSFPO4 HSFPO6 GuinNT2 GuinNT MSGANC02 HOSPO11 MAGADM02 HOSPO09 MSGCLN02 HOSPO12 MSGSVC02 HOSPO10

21. Why Move to GroupWise 6 • Secure POP/IMAP • Near full-featured WebAccess • Wireless • Backup/restore • GW Server clustering • Improved user move/post office consolidation • Mailbox size restrictions

22. Pre-Installation—Do the Homework • Read • README.TXT • Novell Product Documentation Installation and Upgrade Manual • “GroupWise 6 Upgrade Guide” • By Tay Kratzer and Danita Zanré • Developed implementation procedures • Performed upgrade on test system • Created check list

23. Pre-Installation—Do the Homework (cont.) • Prepared the system • Validated domains and post offices to be sure no physical problems exists • Backed-up each component immediately before the upgrade • Copied new startup files to each domain and post office • Prepared the users • Scheduled a time • Notified/reminded the users

24. Installation • Used installation wizard • Extended schema • Walked through the wizard to upgrade each component • Upgraded the entire system at once

25. Post-Installation • Rolled-out new GWCheck • Rolled-out ConsoleOne and new snap-ins • Flagged GWDOM.DC and GWPO.DC files as read-only • Obtained new MAC view files from Support.Novell.com and installed to each PO • Pushed client

26. Problems/Gotchas • WebAccess • WebServer would not load • Installed Field Test File of GW 5.5 Enhancement Pack Support Pack 3 to work around problem until a fix was found • Relay exceptions • With GW6, the IMAP or POP client must authenticate to the server before they can relay • No other exceptions need be defined

27. “Upgrading to GroupWise 6 was no more difficult than applying a GroupWise Support Pack” Frank Sinak UAB Health Systems

28. turning principles into solutioNs

29. Getting the Most Out of GroupWise 6 • Proactive System Monitoring • Server Consolidation • LDAP Authentication • The “Internet Office”

30. Proactive System Monitoring • Deploy GroupWise Monitor • Use the same HTTP Monitoring password for all agents • Monitor can track legacy agents via SNMP • Set Thresholds • Queues • Agent Status • Requests Pending • Disk Space • Rebuild/Recover operations • Start with low thresholds • Monitor with increasing severity • Frequency, magnitude, and duration yield Impact

31. MTA POA POA POA Connect to Domain Database Poll agents via XML over HTTP Alerts WAP Device SNMP-based Mgmt System GroupWise Monitor MTA Learn more during Session TUT221 GroupWise Monitor

32. Server Consolidation • Why Consolidate? • Reduced hardware expense • Reduced administration overhead • Increased administrative responsiveness • The “Internet Office” • Supporting Features • GroupWise Smart Caching™ mode • Multi-threaded GWCheck • “Live” mode user moves • Disk-space management • GWCheck expire downloaded items

33. Online Mode vs. Caching ModePerformance Scalability Thresholds • Lab Results on a Pentium 1266 system • The POA starts to back up at around 570 c/s requests per second • Online mode: the 570/sec mark is around 4700 users • Caching mode: 570/sec is around 14,000 users • With Caching mode, performance thresholds are not your limiting factor

34. Preparation for Server Consolidation • Deploy GroupWise 6 at the POA and all clients • Collect Benchmarks • Apply Mailbox Size Limitations • Be generous… just let online users know the space they are taking up • Enforce Caching mode • Run GWCheck with “expire after download” options • Collect Benchmarks

35. Meaningful Benchmarks to Record • Post office directory size • Time required for backup/restore • Pending Client/Server Requests • Client/Server Requests per unit of time • Server Utilization • Messages in queues • End-user opinion • Be sure to tune the server for best GroupWise performance • TID 10016883, Appendix B

36. Server Consolidation • Based on your benchmarks, decide how many users you can support on a single server • Consolidate by moving users from multiple post offices to a single post office • The GroupWise 6 “Live” move process is 4 times faster than the 5.5 move process and is transparent to the end-user

37. Server Consolidation And The WAN • Configure for Stability • LAN links should be meshed • WAN links should follow WAN topology • One MTA and domain per server • Immediate Purge ON • Create separate routing domains for GWIA, Async, and WebAccess as necessary • Improvements in GroupWise 6 • 8KB chunk transmission (first appeared in 5.5ep SP2) • Message size-based delay and blocking per link • Message size restriction per user, domain, or post office

38. Credentials Results LDAP Authentication to GroupWise Post Office Agent LDAP Server Login Request GroupWise 6 SP1 eDirectory 8.5 (or any LDAP v3 Directory) Results GroupWise Client GroupWise WebAccess

39. LDAP Authentication: Prerequisites and Limitations • GroupWise 6 SP1 POA, WebAccess, and Client • (client and WebAccess required for interface support of password expiration dialogs) • eDirectory 8.5 LDAP Server, with GroupWise users in the eDirectory 8.5 tree • OR • User object MAIL attribute synchronization between GroupWise and the LDAP server of choice • For full password expiration functionality the POA must be forced to BIND

40. 636 LDAP Authentication: Post Office Configuration required recommended leave blank

41. LDAP Configuration: Why Leave the LDAP User Name Blank? • Credential behavior with the LDAP user name and password • POA will use this user name and password to connect, and then do a ‘compare’ of the user-provided credentials against the LDAP directory • ‘compare’ does not support expiration of passwords • Credential behavior without the LDAP user name and password • POA will use the user-provided credentials to attempt to bind to the LDAP server. • Password expiration is supported for a BIND connection

42. LDAP Configuration: SSL Certificate Use and Requirements • Why Use SSL? • Without SSL LDAP credentials are passed in the clear—this is unacceptable, even within your firewall • SSL Certificate must be a Trusted Root certificate for the LDAP directory • This is the way the standard is written—it’s an LDAP requirement • The LDAP SSL Port is 636—required in the address field Learn more during Session TUT222

43. LDAP Configuration: Using an external LDAP Directory • By default, the POA will look for the DN-converted user name (CN=htayler, OU=groupwise, O=novell) • If the LDAP directory is not structured like the tree GroupWise is using, this will fail, and the POA will fall back on the MAIL attribute. • This assumes a meta-directory synchronization tool (DirXML, anyone?) populating both GroupWise and the external LDAP directory, so that the GroupWise email address and the LDAP MAIL attribute match.

44. Reducing Your Network Costs: The Internet Office WAN $$ Corporate Network

45. GroupWise 6 Reducing Your Network Costs: The Internet Office Internet Corporate Network

46. Supporting Features for The Internet Office • SSL Transfer Between Agents • Securely use the Internet as your WAN for POA and MTA traffic • POA Proxy-Server Connectivity • Allow remote users to connect to the POA without requiring a VPN or a Live-Remote MTA Learn more during Session TUT222

47. Requests sent to address “Y” Requests sent to address “Z” Responses sent to address “X” Responses sent to address “Y” The Internet Office: POA Proxy-Server Connectivity Client @ IP Address “X” Proxy Server @ IP Address “Y” POA @ IP Address “Z”

48. required start here recommended POA Proxy Server Connectivity: Agent Configuration

49. For More Information • GroupWise 6 Best Practices Guide • http://www.novell.com/coolsolutions/gwmag/features/a_best_practices_guide_gw.html • GroupWise 6 Deployment Guide • http://www.novell.com/info/collateral/docs/4621213.01/4621213.pdf • GroupWise 6 Upgrade Guide • From Tay Kratzer and Danita Zanré • http://www.caledonia.net/update6.html • GroupWise 5.5 Best Practices Guide • TID 2955576 at http://support.novell.com