When it comes to a solid groupware alternative to Exchange, GroupWise has always been there. As Microsoft Exchange has evolved, Novell has kept improving GroupWise as well. Whether you’re currently running an earlier version of GroupWise or migrating away from Exchange, you need to know how to install GroupWise 6.5. Fortunately, Novell makes it reasonably easy for you as long as you know what’s in store.

Take your pick

Way back when, GroupWise could only be run on NetWare servers. With newer versions of the software, Novell has added the ability for GroupWise to run on Windows-only networks. Even so, a large percentage of GroupWise installations continue to run on the rock-solid NetWare platform. For the purposes of this Daily Drill Down, I’ll show you how to install GroupWise on NetWare.

Preparing to install GroupWise 6.5
GroupWise 6.5 is a very complicated piece of software. You just can’t grab the CD, run Setup, and go. GroupWise 6.5 requires some up-front planning and knowledge.

First, make sure your network is prepared to handle GroupWise. Here are the requirements:

  • NDS/eDirectory: Any version on any platform, although eDirectory 8.5 is required for full LDAP capability
  • NetWare 4.2 or later with the latest Support Pack or Windows NT/2000 with the latest Service Pack
  • ConsoleOne 1.3.4 or higher: If you aren’t already running ConsoleOne 1.3.4, you can install it when running the GroupWise Setup
  • Up to 500 MB of space on a server
  • Minimum of 7.5 MB free RAM for servers that will run agents

Going the NetWare route
Installing GroupWise 6.5 on a NetWare server requires the use of a Windows workstation to perform the actual operation. With the prerelease version of GroupWise 6.5 that I am using for this article, there are two CDs. The first one is marked Admin and the second, Client. To perform the initial installation, you must use the Admin CD. When it is inserted, the GroupWise system menu comes up.

Since this is a new GroupWise system, click Create Or Update A GroupWise System menu option. The first three screens in this option are the license agreement, a description of what will take place, and an option to view the Installation Guide. You can safely click Next through all of the screens.

The first screen of substance, the Administration Options screen shown in Figure A, asks what should take place. For a new system, you need to do all of the steps, including extending the eDirectory schema, installing the GroupWise administration files, and creating a software distribution directory. To make things easier, you can click the single check box, Create A New System Or Update An Existing System, which includes all of the sub-options. Click Next to continue.

Figure A
Start by selecting all options on the Administration Options screen.

After selecting your installation options, you’ll see the Select Tree screen. Here you need to select an NDS tree to extend and into which you will install GroupWise. Once you select a tree, you will be prompted for a username and password for a user that has rights to extend the NDS schema. Normally, you’ll use your NetWare admin account.

Next, you’ll see the Select Language screen. Here, you need to decide on language choices for the various components, such as the client and ConsoleOne snap-in. Select the language you want and click Next.

ConsoleOne is used to manage GroupWise 6.5. As such, you need to install the GroupWise 6.5 ConsoleOne snap-ins. If the version of ConsoleOne that you have on your server is earlier than 1.3.4, you must install the newer version. On the ConsoleOne Path screen, click the Install ConsoleOne button and follow the instructions.

GroupWise uses a software distribution directory to hold the client agent installation files, as well as files required by the administrator to do tasks such as creating post offices. This directory needs to be in a place accessible by both users and administrators. The default location of Z:\GRPWISE\SOFTWARE is perfect for this purpose, which you specify on the Software Distribution Directory screen.

Once you decide on a location, you’ll see the Select Software screen. Here, you decide on the contents of the software distribution directory. Unless you’re short of disk space or have some other reason not to install all of the files, click Select All to place all of the available software in this location.

Selecting all components causes Setup to run longer because you must copy more files to the server. During this process, you will also be asked to insert the client CD, as well as to decide whether you wish to overwrite any newer files found on your system. I recommend keeping the newer files. While this entire process is happening find something to do, as it takes a while to complete.

Creating the system
When Setup finishes the copying process, all of the appropriate files are installed and Setup will ask whether you wish to update an existing GroupWise system or to install a new one, as shown in Figure B. For the purposes of this Daily Drill Down, I’ll create a new GroupWise system.

Figure B
This is where you can choose to create a new GroupWise system.

When you make the choice to create a new GroupWise system, the installer launches ConsoleOne. The GroupWise System Setup advisor will be started automatically upon the opening of ConsoleOne, as shown in Figure C.

Figure C
The GroupWise System Setup advisor starts the first time you start GroupWise after Setup finishes.

The first step of the GroupWise System Setup advisor asks you to verify the location of the GroupWise software distribution directory. This is the directory you specified before, the default being Z:\GRPWISE\SOFTWARE. The GroupWise System Setup advisor will automatically change this to the appropriate naming convention. In my example, this is \\NW6-OLD\SYS\PUBLIC\GRPWISE\SOFTWARE.

You’ll then see the eDirectory Tree window. A GroupWise system has to be installed into a particular NDS tree. On this screen, you have to identify the tree.

The next step, the System Name screen, should be taken carefully. Once you set a name for your GroupWise server, you can’t change it. A system name is used to organize the domains in your system.

Naming is a big part of the GroupWise installation. In the next step, the Primary Domain screen, you have to name your first domain, which will serve as your primary domain. A domain can be used to represent departments in your organization.

As with any messaging software, the information has to be stored somewhere. You’ll tell the GroupWise System Setup advisor where to store files on the Domain Directory screen. For my first domain, I will store the files associated with it—the domain databases and directories used for message transfer—in \\NW6-OLD\SYS\GW.

Like the files related to GroupWise, the NDS objects also need a place to reside. The next step of the advisor, the Domain Context screen, asks you to decide in which NDS container you wish to place them. Naming the context is very important. If you don’t enter the name properly in the Domain Context field, then GroupWise won’t install. The easiest way to set the name is to click the browse button to the right of the Domain Context field shown in Figure D and navigate to the container where you want to store GroupWise.

Figure D
Choose a location for the NDS objects.

Next, you’re asked to choose a language. This determines how GroupWise displays numbers and sorts the address book. For this example, I will use US English. After choosing a language, you must select a time zone. The time zone is important to allow for the proper times on calendar events and other items with time requirements.

After that, you must set more names when the Post Office Name screen appears. A post office is a collection of users’ mailboxes. How you decide to name your post offices is completely up to you. Since my example uses a very small GroupWise system in my home lab, I’ll name my first post office HOME.

Like the domain, each post office needs a place in which to place files that belong to it. You’ll set this directory on the Post Office Directory screen. This directory cannot be the same directory as the domain. Since I like to keep things in a common place, I prefer to create a subdirectory named PO under my domain directory, then create a directory inside that one for each post office that I create. For this Daily Drill Down, the directory name for my first post office files will be \\NW6-OLD\SYS\GW\PO\HOME.

Next, you must choose an eDirectory context for the post office files. For simplicity in this example, I will use the same context as for the domain objects—gw.lab1.nds-lab. I will also use the same language and time zone choices—US English and GMT -5, respectively—as I did for the earlier objects.

After you set the context, you’ll see the Post Office Link screen. The GroupWise Message Transfer Agent (MTA) can communicate with the post office in a couple of different ways. The first is to use a direct link to the post office directory, and the second is via TCP/IP. On this screen, you’ll select the type of link that the GroupWise MTA uses. For the purposes of this Daily Drill Down, I’ll select TCP/IP.

On the next screen, the POA Network Address screen, you must enter the TCP/IP address of your GroupWise server, along with the ports that GroupWise uses.

When you click next, you’ll see the MTA Network Address screen. The Message Transfer Agent also needs to be assigned an IP address, since it will use this protocol to communicate with the Post Office Agent (POA). Since the POA and the MTA will be running on the same server in my example, they will both use the same IP address.

After you enter the TCP/IP address information, GroupWise Setup lets you add users to the system. You can either add them now or do so later. I will not do this right now, but will instead add users after I have finished setting up the system.

You’ll then see the Summary Information screen. This screen shows you all of the selections that you have made. If you proceed, Setup will create the NDS objects, create the POA and MTA directory structures, and create any users that you have defined.

The Select Platform screen appears next. It is at this point where you truly have to make the decision about which platform your system will run on—Windows or NetWare. If you choose Windows, the appropriate services will be installed, but if you choose NetWare, NLMs will be installed instead.

Once you choose a platform, the installer asks for the location of the agent installation files. These were copied to your software distribution directory earlier. For my example, the agent files are located at \\NW6-OLD\SYS\PUBLIC\GRPWISE\SOFTWARE\AGENTS. In addition to specifying a file location, you need to again answer the question of which language you wish to use. Again, I have chosen English for my example.

When the agents have been installed, you have the option to allow the installer to automatically update AUTOEXEC.NCF to launch them on startup and to start the agents now, as shown in Figure E. If you look over at the NetWare server console, you will see the POA and MTA processes start up.

Figure E
Setup launches the GroupWise agents.

Be a GroupWise wizard
With the wizards included in the software, getting a GroupWise 6.5 system up and running on NetWare is a breeze. There are a few gotchas you have to watch out for, but as long as you don’t panic, you’ll get GroupWise up and running in no time.