Zenworks 6.5 licensing

[torledo]

We're looking to purchase the entire Zenworks suite 6.5 from one of our suppliers at very good educational discount per single user e-license.

I understand that there are additional costs for patch mgmt subscriptions and upgrade protection - but does the e-per user suite price allow us to implement all products fully? On the novell website there is a price for a zen serv mgmt server license at 3000 dollars, would this be required in addition to our suite e-user license or is EVERYTHING bundled with the e-user license.

Should i go for 6.5 suite now or wait till Zenworks suite 7 comes out - what is the expected release date ?

 

[Provogeek]

Buy the upgrade protection, it will ensure your ZFD will continue to function as M$ releases new OS's. You can start with the 6.5, 7 will be released in the summer I think. There will be a lot of changes in the 7 version, I like they got rid of the mid-tier server.

When you license Zen 6.5, it is for everything from what I understand, but not 100% sure, your questions falls more into sales than technical.

If no one esle replies to this with the info you want, I'll send an email to one of my sales reps and ask him (or an email to your sales rep woud get the same info).

Be sure you get the training if you don't have any experience with the zen product line, the manual does have many places that assume you already know a few things, like how you need sysprep to really utilize imaging and how you need to know how to write a bash script to really make the image engine to what you actually want it to do. If you don't have experience, and no time or budget for taining, be sure you vendor is a Novell Partner. If they are just Gold, then ask for references so you may ask other customers of theirs how they did on a zen deployment. Doesn't take much to be a Gold partner, so you can get the cream-dela-cream like Marvin (seen around these forums also) who knows what he's talking about and can do the job, it's just a small company. Or you can get stuck with nuckle head that took a test, passed, got his Gold partnership, but still doesn't know what he is doing. Then there are Platinum partners that MUST have 5 on staff CNE's and some CDE and CNS and I think now MCNE requirments, plus phat sales in both software and service to qualify for Platinum. If your var is Platinum, then you can be sure they will have the knowledge you need to do your depoyment and will have direct access to almost any Novell resource, and that includes the developers (if you gripe up the chain of command when you have serious issues).

Maybe one fo these days I'll move to the desert and help Marv turn his Gold partnership to Platinum, cause god knows I have no desire to start my own company .... but had a lot of fun helpping my current employer build up to platinum.

=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+
Brent Schmidt Certified nut case
Senior Network Engineer

http://www.kiscc.com

 

[marvhuffaker]

Here's my guess. You buy the Suite and get the Server licenses for as many servers as you have.. No additional cost. Just like with NetWare 6.5.. You just pay for the users license and it's really unlimited as far as how many servers you actually have. I believe that the number of users you have is directly related to the number of servers. ie: more users = more servers, so they factor that into the per user cost.

However, I've had that on my to-do list for a while to find out, so I put a call into Novell. Unfortunately they were all going home for the evening and couldn't answer my question. I will call back tomorrow and find out.. You could also call their Presales hotline

http://www.novell.com/company/contact.html

When you're ready to purchase, or if you need any help planning or implementing, I know a Gold Partner that lives out in the desert and treats his customers right.. <wink, wink>



Marvin Huffaker MCNE
Marvin Huffaker Consulting

Home of the BLUEGUNK Punk

http://www.bluegunk.com

 

[marvhuffaker]

I verified with Novell that the with the Zenworks 6.5 Suite, you buy it per user and there is no restriction on the server licenses.. You can install it on as many as you want assuming you've purchased the correct user count.



Marvin Huffaker MCNE
Marvin Huffaker Consulting

Home of the BLUEGUNK Punk

http://www.bluegunk.com