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Workstation Management

In 1994 Novell released NDS, a LAN-based directory service that solved some problems for large customers with multiple servers. For a couple of years thereafter, Novell was content to fine-tune the complexities inherent in deploying and supporting a partitioned, replicated, distributed database, and Novell administrators were content to reap the benefits of a single, unified point of administration for their NetWare users. As customers began to recognize the potential for enhanced manageability and reduced TCO (total cost of ownership) afforded by the implementation of a full-service directory, they began to clamor for additional products that leveraged the directory. Novell responded with a string of products, none more successful than ZENworks, its directory-enabled workstation-management package. In early 2000, Microsoft entered the fray by releasing its IntelliMirror technologies as an integral part of Windows 2000 and Active Directory.

Directory-enabled workstation-management products have the potential to be much better than standalone products, such as Microsoft's SMS and Intel's LANDesk. Why better? Directory-enabled workstation-management products tie your corporate computing policies into the same system that manages your users, while providing the tools your support staff needs to keep 50--or 50,000--computers on the job. Standalone products are mature, offer many of the same tools and are a good first step, but they fail to tie user, workstation and policy data into a unified system.

Effective workstation management is policy-based and is dependent on user and workstation identity. We took a close look at Novell's ZENworks for Desktops 3.2 and Microsoft's IntelliMirror to see how close they come to realizing the tremendous potential of directory integration.