If your workstations don't support the Preboot Execution Environment, you'll need a small Linux-based boot partition on each workstation so you can use ZENworks for Desktops' workstation imaging feature. PXE lets a workstation boot off the network before the OS initializes.
One big advantage of version 4 is that you can use it for managing Windows workstations even if you don't have NetWare. You will, however, need Novell's eDirectory, which comes with version 4, as well as DirXML to keep eDirectory in sync with your Active Directory installation. ZENworks for Desktops 4 comes with the same number of eDirectory licenses as its own licenses.
The inventory component is one of the product's more complex pieces because it offers several options for inventory storage. In large or distributed environments, you can capture inventory data on a local copy of the inventory database and then replicate it on a central database. A smaller site instead could configure ZENworks for Desktops' inventory tool for a single database server. You can store your inventory data on the Sybase database that comes with all versions of ZENworks for Desktops--on NetWare or Windows NT/2000 platforms--or on Oracle 8i server on NetWare, NT, Linux or Solaris servers. ZENworks for Desktops also supports SQL 2000.
The product's middle-tier component lets desktops without a NetWare client get access to eDirectory information, such as the application objects and ZENworks for Desktops policies. If you don't need NetWare Client32, remove it and use the ZENworks management agent.
The middle-tier server can run on NetWare 5.1, NetWare 6 and Windows 2000 with Microsoft Internet Information Server. Beware, however, that running the middle-tier server on NetWare might entail additional configuration because NetWare 5.1 and above require an Apache Web server. If you don't have Apache running, you'll need to install it. If you run both Apache and Netscape's Web server, Netscape by default will use Port 80 and you can put Apache on any other port.
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