Using Group Policies to manage the ProjectWise Network Control Panel.
Configuring the ProjectWise Network Control Panel in an environment with a large number of systems, especially when they are spread out over a number of sites with roaming users can be very problematic. To make things easier these settings have been placed in to Group Policy template files allowing you to centrally manage the settings. The link to download the ADM / ADMX templates can be found at the end of this document.
Notes
Novell networks; This document is targeted at Group Policies in Active Directory however these templates should work with eDirectory using ZENWorks. It has been sometime since I’ve done configuration work in ZENWorks so I can’t really tell you how to do it.
Domain rights; Setting up, adding to, and changing Group Policies require Domain Level admin rights which is different than having admin rights to the ProjectWise servers. If you are not a domain admin, more than likely you will need to work with your Active Directory team to implement these settings.
About the templates.
The template files are basically text files that describe to Group Policies, what options can be set and where in the registry these settings should be stored. These templates are setup to create 4 entries in the ProjectWise network control panel, server 1 ~ 4. You do not have to use all 4 available settings, you can fill in only server 1 if that’s all you need, however if you need more than 4 you will need to extend the file yourself. Also these templates are set for XM and V8i. If you wanted to use them for ProjectWise 2004 or older you would need to extend the files.
The way the registry keys are structured in the system makes it unlikely these policies will overwrite any currently deployed settings, unless you happened to called your server “server 1”. If you are moving an existing deployment to these settings the best option would be to remove / change the settings for your clients so the policy can take over without overlap. Overlap can cause problem in some versions of ProjectWise and can create confusion when troubleshooting an issue.
These templates store keys outside the “policy” folder in the registry so they are considered “preferences” which cannot be fully managed by Group Policies, this is also sometimes called ‘tattooing the registry’. Basically that means if the Policy ever stops being applied to the system (they are deleted, moved, or the client is removed from the domain, etc) the registry entries will not be removed automatically, they will persist until someone deletes them.
How to deploy if you are editing the Group Policy on Pre-Vista / 2008 systems
NOTE* the Pre-Vista / 2008 template is no longer being updated and will stay at version 1. However information in this document will be updated for the 2008 and beyond templates, some discrepancies may be found.
On a Pre-Vista / 2008 system you will need the BentleyPWNCP.adm template on the system where you want to set up the policy. Start by opening the Group Policy Object for editing (exact steps will depend on whether or not you are using GPMC), expand the Computer Configuration and right click on “Administrative Templates” and select “Add/Remove Templates”. Click Add and browse to the BentleyPWNCP.adm and click Open then Close. You will notice this added a “Bentley Systems” category under “Administrative Templates” but it is empty. To view the content (while “Administrative Templates” or something under it is selected) click View, Filtering. Clear the bottom checkbox, “Only show policy Settings that can be fully managed”, click OK, you will now be able to see 4 policies that can be configured. Note you will need to turn off this filter each time you edit the policy.
How to deploy if you are editing the Group Policy Vista / 2008 and beyond systems
With Vista / 2008 and later Microsoft moved to the ADMX file format and a Central Store for managing the file. For more information about how to setup a ADMX Central Store see http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc748955%28WS.10%29.aspx. Once you have the store setup copy the admx file to the root of the store and the adml file to the EN-US folder. Now you should be able to open GPMC on any Vista / 2008 system, expand Computer Configuration, Policies, Administrative Templates, and see the Bentley Policies.
Configuring the Policies
There are two policies in each sub-folder, one for V8i and one for XM. The 32bit policies add settings in the correct location for 32bit version of windows, and the 64bit policies add settings in the correct location for 64 bit version of windows. There is no harm in having the 32bit settings on 64bit systems and the 64bit settings on 32bit systems; they are broken up for manageability. There is also no harm in having XM and V8i settings on the same system, the appropriate version will only read the settings that apply to its version. The different policies are needed because of changes to the registry structure between the versions and windows bitness.
When you open the individual policy you can select to disable UDP, set your DNS and DS listing servers and for V8i Disable or Prefer IPv6. Fill in the host names for 1 or more ProjectWise servers in the DataSource and/or DNS as needed for your configuration. You do not need to add entries in all the server lines provided, just fill out what you need. If you need more than 4 servers you will need to extend the group policy template to the number you require.
Where to apply the policies
While these policies can be applied anywhere in your domain that makes sense, there are several advantages to apply them at the site level. In Active Directory sites are basically a way to tell active directory what ip address ranges are local to each other and what are remote. By assigning these settings at a site level your users can receive dynamic network settings no matter where they go ensuring they are always pointing at the local caching server.
Template Download
The Templates can be downloaded at the bottom of this post
Enjoy.