Zero Effort Networks (Z.E.
N. works) is a great new tool in NetWare 5, that makesthe network administrator's job a lot easier by allowing him to spend less timeat each user workstation. To be able to use the Z.E.
N. works these are theminimum hardware requirements: O Processor: 486/33 or higher O Memory: 16 MB(for Windows 95); 24 MB (for Windows NT) O Hard disk space: 4 MB (workstation;24 MB (full station) Z.E.N. works needs to be installed on the server and theclient on the workstation needs to be updated.
During the installation processDynamic Link Libraries (DLLs) are copied to the workstation. DLLs containsubprograms that are called by an application to perform certain operations.Another utility that is included in Z.E.
N. works to help the distribution andmanagement of applications is the Application Launcher, which consists of fourmajor components: O Snap-in DLL O Snapshot O Application objects in the NDStree O Application Launcher Window and Application object The snAppShot utilityallows you take a "snapshot" of the Windows workstation beforeinstalling the application. The snapshot includes Registry settings along withthe names of system and application files on the workstation. After theapplication has been installed, the snAppShot utility takes another picture ofthe workstation's configuration and then uses the two snapshots to create anApplication Object Template (AOT) file. The Application Launcher uses the AOTfile to determine what Registry settings and system files need to be copied tothe workstation to run the application from the network.
In addition toincluding configuration settings and system file names, the AOT file alsocontains the name of the Application object and the path where you want to storethe AOT and installation files. Consequently, before running the snAppShotutility, you need to define the name you want to use for the Application objectand decide where the application and AOT files will be stored. The ApplicationLauncher software consists of two components: the wrapper program and thelauncher. The wrapper program determines which launcher program (NALW31.
EXE,NALWIN32.EXE, or NAL.EXE) to run based on the client computer's operatingsystem. The launcher program then determines the Application objects to whichthe user has access and displays a window showing all applications the user hasbeen authorized to run. When the user selects an application, the launcherdetermines whether the application is installed on the workstation.
If this isthe first time the user has run the application from this workstation, theapplication will automatically be installed using the AOT file created by thesnAppShot utility. If Application Launcher senses that the applicationconfiguration has been damaged, or files are missing or corrupt, it willautomatically correct the application configuration and copy and damaged ormissing files.
