Snapshot alternatives?

Snapshot hasn't been updated for a couple years (the 6.5 version comes with ZEN
7) and it always seems to crash w/ a memory error on large applications w/ a lot
of registry entries.
We are having to resort to 3rd-party packaging utilities (like the "special
edition" AdminStudio) which do not seem to carry much support from Novell.
Those 3rd party packaging utilities don't even import into the old Distribution
Option tabs (Registry, Application Files, Icons/Shortcuts, INI settings, etc) in
Consoleone...
Looking for options, preferably free, and most preferably a fixed Snapshot
(otherwise why did we buy ZEN?)
-Eric

Let's put this simply.
Neither ZENworks nor any other leading Desktop Management Suite will
repackage software installs.
ZENworks does this better than any other product with the included tools
however.
Novell HAS gone on the record that snapshot should not be used for MSI based
installs.
MS has gone on the record that the software installs need to be MSI based to
be MS certified.
Often these MSI installs are encapsulated inside EXEs so you dont realize
they are really MSI installs.
So, as long as you are deploying uncertified Windows software that does not
update the Core Windows OS in any fashion, feel free to use snapshot.
No, Novell is not really parterned with Admin Studio, but they do get
"Starter Editions" with limited functionality to encourage you to buy the
full suite.
Do you require these products? No. Will they make managing huge
deployments easier? Yes.
I would expect snapshot and those types of apps to be 100% unsupported and
unusable come Vista.
You noted that you have not seen people changing?
Well some have and some have not.
Most will not go till forced.
Truth be told...........
Learn how MSI work.
Learn how to Modify and Tweak MSIs.
MSIs are not great nor gods gift to IT.
MSIs are the standard for managing Windows software and you need to learn it
to properly manage stuff.
Snapshot has its place, but that place is getting smaller each and every
day.
Soon that place will only be for companies many many years behind in
technology.
"tom" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>I know this is an old thread, I hope I can stir it back up, perhaps to get
>some fresh ideas????
>
> If I could address some of these comments, in hopes of better
> understanding ...
>
> RE: >>>
> > Most companies invest in packaging tools such the full version of
> > AdminStudio to create deployment packages. They then use their desktop
> > management suites to deploy those packages.
>
> Admin Studio is not cheap. I have yet to have a client buy it. After a
> client has spend thousands of dollars to implement ZENWorks, now I have to
> tell them to drop another couple thousand down for an application
> packager. I also don't fully understand Novell's relationship with the
> product, they don't seem to be partnering well together, I'd appreciate
> anyone else's read on this relationship.
>
> RE: >>
> > Novell has for over 5 years now been trying to steer people from
> > Snapshot
>
> I've heard that statement made verbally by many engineers, but I don't
> always see the practice following that.
>
> Has Novell ever gone on record to state they will no longer support snap
> shot???
>
>
> RE: >> > If your snapshots are failing with the latest versions of
> snapshot, then
> > most likely your software package falls outside the scope of what
> > snapshot should be trying to handle.
>
> Maybe I've just gotten lucky? I've have not had many issues with using
> snapshot, and I have been involved in a wide variety of applications.
>
> I have seen the statement made on the forum that ZEN Works is not really a
> "Packaging" suite. While that may be a true statement, because Snapshot
> has been packaged with the product for so long, the mind set of customers
> is that it is expected to work, and be supported.
>
> I look forward to additional comments on this matter.
>

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Alisa Tang
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Thanks for the valuable info Mimosa.
In our company, they call the snapshot: copy of the production box to the box on the SAN network. The copy is made to the disc. Here the snapshot disc is on RAID 0 and production disc is on RAID 5. They do this every night.
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Outlook Integration: unable to create snapshot templates.

Dear all,
I followed all the steps mentioned in note 861055
"You can easily repeat the step of template creation after running the server installation:
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Best Regards,
Vítor
Message was edited by:
        Vitor Vieira

Hello,
This issue is really interesting, I really desperate to install it. I read the note and find out that server installation must be run before initialisation of addon in the client workstation. Initialisation means addon registration. I just think the template will be created in the client workstation if the server installation has run. Both must be run. But here the explanation I've got from pdf file :
Template Layout Files for Microsoft Outlook Integration Snapshots
The SAP Business One Add-On Server Installer copies the template layout files for snapshots in the following subfolder in <B1DIR>: B1_SHR\AddOn\Microsoft Outlook Integration\Templates\Default. However, if the SAP Business One 2005 SP01 application is not a new installation but an upgrade, the name of the subfolder is the same as for SAP Business One 2004.
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Problems Implementing SnapShots Scenario for Stock Management

Hello All,
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OK, non cumulative are not stored in your provider but calculated on the fly:
NonCum = InFlow - OutFlow.
then you have to work with your good receipts and goods issue flow key figures....
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Usually a "snapshot" scenario means that you want to store your stock at the end of each month for example; in this case you need to use cumulatives with exception aggregation "LAST" on your time period so that the stocks aren't summarized over time. This way you update your cumulative Stk KF is updated with goods receipts - good issues. Also remind that in this scenario you'll have to load the previous month stock into the next
Stock July = Stock June + Receipts July - Issues July.
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Olivier.

How to Manually Restore SharePoint Content Database from DPM Backup to Alternative Farm

I have restored a content database of a site collection from a DPM backup, and the result is the MDF and LDF files of the database in a directory I specified in the restored wizard in DPM.
In my other SharePoint farm (a test environment) simply trying to attach these files in the target farm's SQL server produces an error as follows:
"Paths that begin with \\?\GlobalRoot are internal to the kernel and should not be opened by managed applications. (mscorlib) "
Given I have the DPM restored database, on an alternative farm, how can I manually restore this content database? What are the required steps?
Thanks,
Richard

Hi
Gr8 - don't ask me to explain, somehow SQL caches the backup location which is from a snapshot starting with
\\?\GlobalRoot and copying them discards that so they can me mounted.
Glad that resolved your issue.
Please remember to click “Mark as Answer” on the post that helps you, and to click “Unmark as Answer” if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread. Regards, Mike J. [MSFT]
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

Alternative table name on client side

Hi,
i'm using java api for my publication and i have to use an alternative table name on client side. For example the table name on database back-end is 'EMP', but, the statement for the snapshot is "SELECT * FROM EMP" but i would like using another name on client side, not 'EMP'. The API doc does'not help me.
Thanks

I do not believe this is possible. When publishing you get an error if the publication item name is not found in the schema database.
More complicated, but would work, would be to create a view in your main schema create view v_emp as select * from emp
you can then use v_emp as the name, and this is what will be created on the client. Depending on the view complexity, you may need to create instead of ionsert/update/delete triggers for it, and in the publication item define the base tabe and PK values

Where is the snapshot stored before it is copied somewhere, so that it can be retrieved as an image.

Where is the snapshot stored before it is copied somewhere, so that it can be retrieved as an image.
Alternative is to take snapshot and copy into a Powerpoint page and then save page as an image.

It's copied to the clipboard, as any other copy operation.
You can use any imaging program to paste it into, then save as an image.

Backup of 100+ Mac clients (10.4,10.5,10.6) ... alternatives please

We have been using Retrospect Workgroup 6.1 successfully for many years on OS X Server v10.4 & v10.5 to backup Mac OSX Clients on 10.4.
With OS X Server 10.4 was fine, no problems really.
With OS X Server 10.5 it was OK, but occassionally we would have to reinstall the latest Retrospect Client v6.2.234.
It's fine on PC's BTW :-O
Now with Mac OS X 10.6 clients, and Mac OS X 10.5 Clients w updates, the Retrospect Client reinstall is now down to bi-weekly and I'm totally feed-up.
I don't believe Retrospect 8.x wil be any better.
Retrospect Workgroup 6.1 should have been solved first, and quite honestly I'm not paying for 5-10 new versions and multiple client licenses, especially as their is NO upgrade path.
So I'm jumping ship and looking for alternatives.
As all my clients are Advertising Agencies, and we are looking at 10-30 Gig per Mac per day backup.
I do not feel that TimeMachine is any kind of option, as TimeMachine kicks off too often and I need to back within the 10pm to 8 am time window. And I don't want to have to wangle some weirdo TimeMachine utility setup on every Mac either.
Installing secondary drives on each Mac, for TimeMachine, is madness and expensive too.
Don't mention SuperDuper or Carbon Copy Cloner please, as I'm taking centralised network backups here... of specific folders (USERS) on each Mac.
So, what options or alternatives do I have please?
Maybe Retrospect 8.x is Good?
I do find it overly laborious to setup though! Especially if it inherits 6.1 issues...
Thank you.
Message was edited by: James Rothschild
Message was edited by: James Rothschild

We are currently using Retrospect 6.1 to backup laptops and Retrospect 8.2 to backup servers. We currently don't backup desktops because they are all configured to use Network Logins and Network Home Directories and as a (deliberate) result, all the user files are stored on a Mac server.
Retrospect has a great feature set, and Retrospect 8.2 is now mostly reliable. Unfortunately speed wise Retrospect has made little or no progress. A big problem is that all the various tasks Retrospect does are all written so they only take advantage of a single processor. It also only in 8.2 was finally made 64bit aware so it could (allegedly) take advantage of more than 2GB of RAM. I run it on an 8-core Mac pro with 10GB of RAM and hardly ever see it move much above 100% (i.e. one core) CPU usage. It can spend hours 'storing snapshot' and does not take advantage of the multiple CPU cores by doing a scan of the next computer at the same time.
So the features are ok, the reliability is mostly ok, but the speed ***** big time. (I will ignore the issue of SCSI reliability, we switched to using eSATA connected hard disks.)
Therefore Retrospect/Sonic Solutions now need to concentrate 100% of their efforts on a massive performance upgrade.
Tolis BRU has a lot of promise, but last I checked its 'support' for using hard disks as backup media was a sick joke. They also have an aversion to adding support for 'data de-duplication' a feature Retrospect and most serious backup solutions have. This is particularly useful for trimming down the amount of space taken by all the Microsoft Office font folders (grrr.).
For another company I advise on IT for, I switched them to using SuperDuper (also with eSATA disks) to back up their servers.

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