NALalyse v1.0.0 BETA - Frequently Asked Questions - 8/7/2004
This document provides answers or guidance relating to questions that are frequently asked about NALalyse.
General Information
Is there anything critical I should know before using NALalyse?
Yes; NALalyse is pre-production Beta quality software and is a work in progress - it's unfinished and expected to contain more than its fair share of bugs.
Because of this, it is strongly recommended that you only use NALalyse in a test or Proof of Concept environment until you're happy enough to risk using it within your live environment - even then, I will not accept ANY responsibility - under ANY circumstances - for problems caused as a result of using NALalyse within your environment. If you're not happy with these conditions, then please don't install / use NALalyse.
Now that the obligatory disclaimer is out of the way, it's worth mentioning that NALalyse has always been designed to operate in a 'read-only' fashion - when working as designed, it should never ever attempt to alter any information within your eDirectory Tree.
The bottom line is that your use of NALalyse implies that YOU accept any and all risks associated with using it.
What are the minimum Hardware system requirements?
NALalyse has only basic hardware needs, anything capable of running Windows 98 or XP should be easily capable of running NALalyse.
What are the minimum Software requirements?
NALalyse relies upon NetWare API sub-system exposed by the Novell NetWare Client and will not run without the NetWare Client being installed. Also, being written in VB6, it requires the VB6 run time modules to be installed on the host PC - links to both of these freely available pre-requisites are available on the NALalyse web site (http://www.johnnyfoster.com)
As it is intended to analyse ZENWorks NAL applications, your workstation will also need to be authenticated to an eDirectory Tree with ZENWorks extensions to perform any NALalysis of NAL objects - however, you can produce reports on any existing NALalyse database without being authenticated to the network (NALalyse will simply warn that it can't find any Trees to connect to on startup when off the network)
Do I need to have administrator rights to the Tree to perform a NALalysis?
Preferably, yes. In order to read all the eDirectory attributes of an application, you'll need administrator rights or equivalent - if you don't have the appropriate rights, NALalyse will read as much as it can, but the data collected will probably be of little use. NALalyse will usually warn you if it thinks you don't have administrator rights.
What systems has NALalyse been developed on / tested with?
NALalyse is currently developed on Windows XP SP1a with version 4.90SP1a of the Novell NetWare Client (the latest at the time of writing) running against NetWare 6, ZENWorks 3.2SP1 and eDirectory 8.6.2. Testing has taken place with the following client side software combinations:
Windows XP SP1a with Novell NetWare Client 4.83SP1
Windows XP SP1a with Novell NetWare Client 4.83SP2
Windows XP SP1a with Novell NetWare Client 4.90
Windows XP SP1a with Novell NetWare Client 4.90SP1a
Windows 98SE with Novell NetWare Client 3.40
It is strongly recommended that the latest version of the Novell NetWare Client is installed and correctly configured prior to using NALalyse. While older versions, such as 4.70, will work, they are generally considered to be rather buggy.
Why is it free?
Because I need your help to develop it - it's an early Beta at the moment and although I consider it to currently have some functionality that others may find useful, there's still a lot more it could do. It's also only been tested on a small number of software/hardware combinations, and the more testing it gets, and feedback I get, the more resilient and useful it will become.
Also, being pre-production software it's got more than its fair quota of bugs - it will crash and it will do things incorrectly - that's the only thing I will guarantee if you're using this revision of NALalyse. Personally, I wouldn't be prepared to pay for any piece of pre-production software - and I don't expect you to either.
The intention is that it remains free, particularly for personal use - if you find it very useful and want to encourage me to develop it further, please feel free to donate something - preferably cash! - via my website (http://www.johnnyfoster.com)
NALalyse is rubbish! - why doesn't it install / work properly?
Sorry to hear that - first, have you read 'Why is it free' above?
Although NALalyse is pre-production Beta software, and doesn't come with any warranties of any kind, I'd still like to help solve the problems you're having - please send me some information about your setup - in particular: Your OS version, Novell NetWare Client version and what fails and when (does it occur consistently?)
Also, if NALalyse has installed fine, and it's having problems during running, please forward me the trace log it generates (<Install Dir>\NALalyse.log) and any .dmp files in the NALalyse temp directory (<Install Dir>\TempData\NALalyse_YYMMDD.dmp) - this may give me some idea as to exactly what problem it's running into. My mail address is johnny@johnnyfoster.com
Although I can't guarantee that I'll be able to resolve the problems you're having, I'll try my best to respond to all requests for help.
NALalyse is great and has saved me loads of time - how can I ever thank you?!
Drop me a quick mail with your comments and suggestions to improve it - those I include in future releases of NALalyse, will also be credited to you on the 'About..' screen.
If you really want to show your appreciation - especially if you're a corporate user - please donate a token amount via the website (http://www.johnnyfoster.com), this will encourage me to spend a reasonable amount of time developing and improving NALalyse for everyone’s benefit.
How many applications is NALalyse capable of NALalysing?
I'm not aware of an specific limitation, NALalyse has successfully analyzed OU's containing several hundred applications of varying complexity. Obviously, the more applications NALalysed, the longer it will take and the longer the import process.
As well as finding flaws in ZENWorks applications, does NALalyse do anything else?
Yes; it can also be used to quickly find specific text within applications - this could be the name of a DLL or other file, a registry entry, an INI entry or similar. One classic use of this functionality is to identify all the applications distributing specific files or registry entries to aid trouble-shooting in situations where a PC is being updated incorrectly - for instance applications distributing system DLLs on XP and causing "Windows File Protection" events (where XP 'fixes' the changes made by the NAL object)
Installation Issues
Most NALalyse installation errors can be avoided by ensuring that your O/S is fully patched with the latest appropriate Service Packs and updates, however there are several specific issues below:
The setup.exe updates my system files and then reboots the computer – however, on re-running setup.exe, exactly the same thing happens,
NALalyse is written in Visual Basic 6, and uses its Package & Deployment Wizard tool to generate the installation files - the setup.exe created by the P&DW will attempt to update out of date system files and reboot your PC if necessary.
The reboot is only generally needed to replace any of those system files that your PC is currently using and it is likely that this particular step is failing to complete correctly due to something within your environment.
The most common reasons are:
a) Your temporary folder is cleaned out during the login process by your login scripts – the setup.exe places files within your temporary directory that are used by Windows to replace any previously ‘in-use’ system files on the next reboot.
b) Your TMP and TEMP environment variables are either not set or are pointing to a location somewhere other than the drive on which your Windows installation is installed to.
More information on the likely causes and resolutions are presented in this Microsoft support document http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;191096
The NALalyse setup errors almost immediately with a message that “a required DLL file, MSVBVM60.DLL was not found”
Being written in Visual Basic 6, NALalyse requires that the VB run-time modules are already installed on your PC – they can be obtained at http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=7B9BA261-7A9C-43E7-9117-F673077FFB3C&displaylang=en – after updating your system, please try to install NALalyse again.
The NALalyse setup reaches 100%, and then when “updating your system” fails to register MSJRO.DLL or MSADOMD.DLL
This indicates that MDAC (the Microsoft Data Access Controls) may not be installed or be incorrectly installed on your system – the latest currently available version is MDAC 2.8, which can be obtained at http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=6c050fe3-c795-4b7d-b037-185d0506396c&DisplayLang=en – after updating and rebooting your system, please try to install NALalyse again.