Use Section 7.6, GroupWise Agent Installation Worksheet to record your decisions about how to install the GroupWise agents as you review the following considerations:
To help with the above tasks, you can also review the GroupWise Wiki, which includes a Best Practices section.
IMPORTANT:If you plan to install the GroupWise agents in a clustered server environment, refer to the GroupWise 7 Interoperability Guide as you plan your agent installation.
The MTA and POA are available as NetWare NLM™ programs, Linux executables, and Windows executables.
In general, GroupWise is most efficient if you match the agent platform with the network operating system where the post office and domain are located. For example, if a domain and post office are located on a NetWare server, then you would install the NetWare agents for them. However, this is not required.
Those with mixed networks might wonder what platform combinations are possible. For more information, see the following sections in the GroupWise 7 Administration Guide:
|
GROUPWISE AGENT INSTALLATION WORKSHEET |
|---|
|
Under Item 1: Agent Platform, mark whether you plan to install the agents on NetWare, Linux, or Windows. Review Section 7.2, Agent System Requirements to ensure that the specific server you have selected meets the listed requirements. |
Record which GroupWise agents you plan to run on the selected server (POA, MTA, or both) and whether you want to install the agents locally or remotely in relation to their directories and databases, as described in Section 7.1, GroupWise Agent Overview.
|
GROUPWISE AGENT INSTALLATION WORKSHEET |
|---|
|
Under Item 2: Agents and Locations, mark the agents to install and their locations relative to the directories and databases they need to access. |
If the NetWare agents need to access their directories and databases on remote NetWare servers, you must add configuration information to the agent startup files to provide the needed access. Use the /dn switch to specify the distinguished name of the agent object that was created along with the Domain or Post Office object. The remote servers must be in the same eDirectory tree as the server where the agents are running.
|
GROUPWISE AGENT INSTALLATION WORKSHEET |
|---|
|
Under Item 2: Agents and Locations, for the NetWare agents, record the startup switches and settings you’ll need to add to the agent startup files after installation if you are installing the agents on a different NetWare server from where their directories and databases are located. |
The agent installation directory depends on the platform where you are installing the agents.
Consider these platform-specific guidelines:
|
NetWare: |
When installing the NetWare agents, we recommend you use the sys:\system directory on the NetWare server. This simplifies the use of startup files and ensures that the NLM programs are in the server’s search path. If you use a different directory, you must add that directory to the server’s search path. |
|
Linux: |
The Linux agents are automatically installed to /opt/novell/groupwise/agents. |
|
Windows: |
The default installation directory is c:\grpwise. However, you can install the agents to any directory you want. |
|
GROUPWISE AGENT INSTALLATION WORKSHEET |
|---|
|
Under Item 3: Installation Path, record the directory where you want to install the GroupWise agent software. |
Both the MTA and the POA are installed to the specified directory.
Record the following information about the domain and post office for which you are installing and setting up the GroupWise agents:
|
GROUPWISE AGENT INSTALLATION WORKSHEET |
|---|
|
Under Item 6: Domain Information, record the domain name and path to the domain directory for the new domain. Under Item 7: Post Office Information, record the post office name and path to the post office directory for the new post office. The domain and post office must exist before you install the agents for them. If necessary, create the domain and post office that you are installing the agents for now. |
If you have administrators with various language preferences, you can install and run the GroupWise agents in multiple languages. You should also install all languages used by GroupWise client users, so that message status information returned from the POA to users’ mailboxes matches the language in which each user is running the client.
NOTE:On Linux, all available languages are included in the same RPM, so all languages are always installed.
|
GROUPWISE AGENT INSTALLATION WORKSHEET |
|---|
|
Under Item 5: Language, list the languages you want to install the agents for. |
By default, the agents start in the language selected for the domain. If that language has not been installed, the agents start in the language used by the operating system. If that language has not been installed, the agents start in English.
For more information, see Multilingual GroupWise Systems
in the GroupWise 7 Administration Guide.
When you install the NetWare GroupWise agents, the following options specific to NetWare are available in the Agent Installation program:
You can have the Agent Installation program add a reference to the grpwise.ncf file in the NetWare server’s autoexec.ncf file so that the GroupWise agents are automatically loaded whenever the server is started.
|
GROUPWISE AGENT INSTALLATION WORKSHEET |
|---|
|
Under Item 10: Update AUTOEXEC File, mark whether or not you want to configure the NetWare server to start the GroupWise agents automatically. |
Novell Cluster Services is a server clustering system that ensures high availability and manageability of critical network resources including volumes (where GroupWise domains and post offices reside) and applications (such as the GroupWise agents). Novell Cluster Services supports failover, failback, and migration of individually managed cluster resources.
The NetWare GroupWise agents can be configured to take advantage of the fault‑tolerant environment provided by Novell Cluster Services if the following requirements are met:
The domains and post offices to be serviced by the NetWare agents have already been created on shared NSS volumes in the cluster.
The NetWare agents are being installed to a server that is part of the same cluster.
When the agents are configured for clustering, their startup files are configured with shared volume names rather than specific server names. In addition, the POA is configured to more effectively re-establish logins with GroupWise clients when a failover or migration situation arises.
|
GROUPWISE AGENT INSTALLATION WORKSHEET |
|---|
|
Under Item 4: Configure GroupWise Agents for Clustering, mark whether or not you want to configure the NetWare agents for clustering. If you do, follow the installation instructions in |
On Linux, you can install the GroupWise agents in three different clustering environments, as described in the GroupWise 7 Interoperability Guide:
If you are using Novell Cluster Services™, the Linux GroupWise Installation program provides a Configure GroupWise for Clustering option that simplifies the process of installing the Linux GroupWise agents on multiple nodes in the cluster.
|
GROUPWISE AGENT INSTALLATION WORKSHEET |
|---|
|
Under Item 4: Configure GroupWise Agents for Clustering, mark whether or not you want to configure the Linux GroupWise agents for clustering using Novell Cluster Services. If you do, follow the installation instructions provided in |
If you are installing the Linux GroupWise agents on PolyServe Matrix Server, the Linux GroupWise Installation program does not assist you with the setup. See the GroupWise 7 Interoperability Guide for installation instructions.
When you install the Windows agents, you have choices about how the agents interact with the Windows operating system.
When you run the GroupWise Windows agents as services, they can start automatically and run without a user interface.
|
GROUPWISE AGENT INSTALLATION WORKSHEET |
|---|
|
Under Item 8: Installation Options, mark if you want to run the agents as services. |
When you run the Windows agents as services, they must run under a specific Windows user account.
When domains and post offices are located on the same server where you are installing the agents, the agents can run under the local system account. You can also display the agent server consoles when the agent software, directories, and databases are local.
When domains and post offices are located on a remote server, you must specify a user with rights to access the domain and post office directories.
|
Remote Windows Server: |
If the Windows agents need to log in to a another Windows server, provide a Windows username and password. |
|
Remote NetWare Server: |
If the Windows agents need to log in to a NetWare server, provide an existing eDirectory username and password, or create a new account for the agents, as described in Creating a NetWare Account for Agent Access (Optional). |
|
GROUPWISE AGENT INSTALLATION WORKSHEET |
|---|
|
Under Item 9: Windows Service Information, record the account the agents will run under, and if necessary, the password for the account. |
As with all Windows services, the Windows agents can be started automatically or manually as services each time the Windows server restarts.
|
GROUPWISE AGENT INSTALLATION WORKSHEET |
|---|
|
Under Item 9: Windows Service Information, mark how you want the Windows agents to start each time the server is restarted. |
If you want to use an SNMP manager program, such as the Management and Monitoring Services component of Novell ZENworks® Server Management, to monitor the agents, you must install some SNMP components along with the Windows agent software.
|
GROUPWISE AGENT INSTALLATION WORKSHEET |
|---|
|
Under Item 8: Installation Options, mark if you want to use an SNMP manager program. If this option is dimmed during installation, the SNMP service has not been enabled on the Windows server where you are installing the agents. If you want to monitor the agents from an SNMP management program, the SNMP service must be enabled so you can select this option. |
NOTE:The NetWare and Linux agents rely on operating system components for SNMP functionality and do not require this installation option.