Distribution Rules

This property page lets you define the rules applied to a workstation to determine whether or not Novell^® Application Launcher^TM distributes the application to it.

For example, you can define a disk space rule that instructs Application Launcher to only distribute the application on a workstation if the available disk space is greater than 2 GB. Or, you can define a rule that requires at least a Pentium* III processor.

When creating rules, you can use AND/OR Boolean logic. For example, you can define a rule that instructs Application Launcher to only distribute the application if the available disk space is greater than 2 GB AND the processor is at least a Pentium III. You can also create groups of rules. For examples of distribution rules that use Boolean logic and groups, see Distribution Rules Examples.

The distribution rules are used only by the ZENworks^® 6.5(or later) versions of Application Launcher. Pre-ZENworks 6.5 versions of Application Launcher do not use distribution rules and require the use of legacy system requirements. If you have pre-ZENworks 6.5 versions of Application Launcher in your environment, see Legacy below for information about using legacy system requirements.

Add Rules to Control Availability of This Application
This list displays all the rules associated with the distribution of the application. For each rule, the following information is displayed:

Type
You can define different types of rules, such as operating system rules, memory rules, and disk space rules. This column shows the rule's type. The types are explained under Add below.

Subject
This column shows the subject of the rule. For example, if the type is OS Version, the subject could be Windows* 98 or Windows NT*/2000/XP.

Operator
This column shows if a condition (greater than, less than, equal to, etc.) must be met for the assigned value.

Value
This column shows if a value is associated with the subject. For example, if Windows NT/2000/XP is the subject, the rule might require that the version be greater than or equal to 4.00.950 in order for the application to be distributed.

Note: The Distribution Rules page does not show two of the keyboard shortcuts you can use to navigate the Add Rules to Control Availability of This Application list without a mouse. Use the Tab key to move focus to the Add Rules to Control Availability of This Application list. After using the Up Arrow and Down Arrow keys to select a line that has an AND/OR control or a Add to Group control, press Ctrl+Space to toggle between AND and OR, or press Alt+Space to display the Add to Group drop-down list. To change focus from the Add Rules to Control Availability of This Application list to the next control on the page, press Ctrl+Tab.

Always Show Icon
Select this option if you want Application Launcher to always display the Application object's icon regardless of whether or not the workstation meets the requirements defined by the distribution rules.

If you select this option and one or more rules is not met, the icon is displayed in a disabled state. Users can right-click the disabled icon, select Details, then select Requirements to view a list of all of the distribution requirements that were defined for the application.

Legacy
The Legacy options let you manage system requirements in a mixed environment consisting of ZENworks 6.5 (or later) versions of Application Launcher and pre-ZENworks 6.5 Application Launcher versions.

• Edit Legacy Settings: Only ZENworks 6.5 (or later) versions of Application Launcher have the ability to process the new grouping and operator (AND/OR) logic used with the distribution rules on this page. To maintain backwards compatibility with the pre-ZENworks 6.5 versions, you must define legacy system requirements.
  
  Click Legacy > Edit Legacy Settings to display the Legacy System Requirements dialog box. If you created the Application object in a pre-ZENworks 6.5 version, the dialog box displays any previously-defined system requirements. If you created the Application object in ZENworks 7, the dialog box will be empty. You can add, modify, or remove requirements using the options in the dialog box.
  
• Import Legacy Settings: This option copies the legacy system requirements into the Add Rules to Control Availability of This Application list. If you've already added rules to the list, the legacy settings will replace any rules you've added. To import legacy system requirements, click Legacy > Import Legacy Settings.

In a mixed-version environment, you need to decide how you want to use the new distribution rules and legacy system requirements together. In general, you have the following options:

• Define distribution rules only. The ZENworks 6.5 (or later) version of Application Launcher can read the distribution rules. Pre-ZENworks 6.5 versions cannot read the distribution rules and therefore are unable to distribute the application.
• Define distribution rules and legacy system requirements. ZENworks 6.5 (or later) versions use the distribution rules and pre-ZENworks 6.5 versions use the legacy system requirements. This method enables you to maintain the legacy system requirements for pre-ZENworks 6.5 Application Launcher while using the grouping, operator logic, and new rules available beginning with ZENworks 6.5. If you use this method, you can define the legacy system requirements first and then use the Import Legacy Settings option to populate the distribution rules. After populating the distribution rules, you can modify them to meet your needs.
• Define legacy system requirements only. Both ZENworks 6.5 (or later) and pre-ZENworks 6.5 versions use the legacy system requirements. This solution reduces administrative maintenance of distribution rules and system requirements, but excludes you from using the new grouping, operators, and rules. Be aware that if you define any distribution rules, ZENworks 6.5 (or later) versions of Application Launcher use the distribution rules, not the legacy system requirements. The ZENworks 7 Application Launcher checks first for the existence of distribution rules; only if no distribution rules exist does it then check for legacy system requirements.

File
This option lets you search rules in the list and import rules from another Application object's .aot or .axt file.

• Find: Click File > Find to search for specific information in a rule. For example, you could search for rules that include "Windows," ">=," or "system memory."
• Find Next: Click File > Find Next to find the next occurrence of the specified information.
• Import: Click File > Import to import rules from another Application object's .aot or .axt file.

Add
Click Add, then select one of the following options:

• Applications: Lets you require a specific application to be present or not be present on the workstation. The application must have been distributed through an Application object.
• Client: Lets you require the workstation to be running (or not running) the Novell Client^TM.
• Connection Speed: Lets you require a specific network connection speed.
  
• Disk Space: Lets you require a specific amount of free disk space on the workstation.
  
• Environment Variables: Lets you require specific environment variables to be present or not present.
• File Date: Lets you require a file to be a specific date.
• File Existence: Lets you require a file to be present or not present.
• File Size: Lets you require a file to be a specific size.
• File Version: Lets you require a file to be a specific version.
• New Group: Lets you add a new rules group. For examples of how to use groups, see Distribution Rules Examples.
  
• Memory: Lets you require a specific amount of memory on the workstation.
• Operating System: Lets you require a specific operating system. Pre-ZENworks 6.5 versions of Application Launcher would not distribute the application unless an Operating System requirement was defined. ZENworks 6.5 (or later) versions of Application Launcher do not require an Operating System rule.
• Processor: Lets you require a specific processor type.
• Registry: Lets you require specific registry values to be present or not present.
• Remote Access: Lets you require that Application Launcher be running in a specific mode, either remote mode or local (LAN) mode.
• Terminal Server: Lets you require the computer to be (or not be) a terminal server.

Modify
Select a rule in the list, then click Modify to edit the information.

Delete
Select a rule in the list, then click Delete to remove the rule.

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