Workstation associated application icons do not show when disconnected

  • Document ID:3267462
  • Creation Date:08-Jun-2007
  • Modified Date:30-Apr-2012
    • Micro Focus Products:
      ZENworks Desktop Management

Environment

Novell ZENworks 6.5 Desktop Management - ZfD6.5
Novell ZENworks for Desktops 4 - ZFD4 SP1 (4.0.1)
Novell Application Launcher (NAL)
Workstation Associated Applications

***NOTE: These settings do not work with ZENworks 7 Desktop Management. In this version Workstation Manager tries to reconnect the workstation object using the workstation helper every 60 seconds. Currently there is no automatic way for Novell Application Launcher to refresh onces the workstation object connects to eDirectory. Subsequently, if users are using vpn connections and do not get their workstation associated applications, once the workstation object is connected they will have to manually refresh NAL.

Situation

Workstation associated application icons do not show when disconnected

After a workstation only login, NAL shows only the user associated icons when in disconnected mode

Resolution

Since ZfD 4.0.1, Workstation Manager will allow you to control the timing of the launch of the NAL Workstation Helper (ZENAPPWS.DLL). If you need to change the amount of time before the Workstation Helper is called, you can specify three DWORD registry values under HKLM\Software\Novell\Workstation Manager (the value data below is in decimal):

AuthenticateRetryCount [32] - This is the number of retries before WM assumes the workstation object is lost and schedules the registration agent to re-register.

AuthenticateInterval [15] - This is the delay in seconds between authentication retries in order to give the workstation, network, or client time to settle down and allow a successful login. There is a fixed initial retry count of 5 seconds (to ensure we do a fast retry) if the default values are used.

AuthenticateStartHelperCount [9] - This is the number of retries that have to fail before Workstation Manager will attempt to start the NAL Workstation Association agent. Set this value to 1 in order to get the cached workstation associated apps to show up when NAL starts. Setting this value to 1 will instruct Workstation Manager to wait 20 seconds before starting the helper. Setting this to 2 will cause Workstation Manager to wait 35 seconds (3=50s, 4=65s, etc).

Here's how it works: If the initial WM request to resolve the WSO fails, then it will retry after 5 seconds. All subsequent retries are delayed for the value in seconds specified in the AuthenticateInterval setting. If the number of retries is equal to (or greater than) the value specified in AuthenticateStartHelperCount, then the NAL Workstation helper is started. Workstation Manager will then continue to try authenticating until the number of retries is greater than the number specified in the AuthenticateRetryCount.

To delay the start of the NAL Workstsation Helper for 35 seconds, you would set the AuthenticateStartHelperCount to 3 and set the other parameters at their default values. So, to calculate what affect this has, you would take the specified 3, subtract 1 (for the built in retry), multiply it by 15 (the default AuthenticateInterval value) and then add 5 seconds (built-in initial retry delay). This is the formula you can use:

Delay NAL WS Helper = 5s + ((AuthenticateStartHelperCount - 1) * AuthenticateInterval)

Please note that you have to use caution when adjusting these parameters, because by mis-configuring these values, you can get unexpected and undesired results.


Additional Information

Workstation Manager is the service that starts the NAL Workstation Helper. For the first 2.5 minutes after the Workstation Manager service starts, the helper will only be started if the workstation object has logged into eDirectory. The reason for this is because if the workstation helper is started BEFORE the workstation object has logged into eDirectory, then it will have been started in Disconnected mode and would have to be restarted before having a chance to go online. By waiting up to 2.5 minutes, the Workstation Manager service has given ample time for the workstation object authentication process to complete.

This logic has solved the problems where the helper was starting in disconnected mode because it was called to quickly. However, this behavior has an adverse affect on those users who intend to be disconnected; they have to wait 2.5 minutes before the workstation helper gets started in disconnected mode. This means that when a user logs in workstation only (without being on the wire), NAL starts in disconnected mode and only the user associated apps appear. After 2.5 minutes, the workstation helper is started (which means cached force run workstation associated apps would run at this point), but the workstation associated icons still do not display until a refresh of NAL occurs. After the refresh of NAL, both user and workstation associated apps appear.

Formerly known as TID# 10086332