Protocom Development Systems, Ltd. is a specialist in the development of NetWare and eDirectory solutions that serves the world from its base in Canberra, Australia. Over the last decade Protocom has developed many applications that improve security, efficiency and productivity for users of Novell networks. ProSchedule* for NetWare is an eDirectory-enabled console scheduling application that lets administrators automate the execution of server operations at specified times. In addition, the company offers SecureConsole* for NetWare—a file server security application, DSAlert*—for monitoring and reporting eDirectory error conditions, and the new Secure Trustee*—which leverages eDirectory administration capabilities to apply file system rules on a network-wide basis, reducing LAN support overheads by up to 60 percent.

"Many types of network operations need to be run periodically by NetWare customers, such as running backups and mounting or dismounting volumes," explained Broderick Harris, System Development Manager for Protocom. "There is no inherent reason why these operations have to be manually tended, but in the past there were few alternatives to human initiation. We wanted to enable NetWare users to have these tasks run automatically, and to schedule their execution at fixed times of the day or week or when certain conditions occur."

The problem was exemplified by Mark Lacefield, Manager of Distributed Technical Support for Provident Bank, a full-service bank headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio. "Our Novell network has grown over a period of years to encompass about 2000 users and 25 NetWare servers," he said. "We have developed a set of maintenance operations for these servers that we perform periodically. To minimize interference with the bank's business, we always perform this maintenance during the early morning hours on weekends. This required that one of our people get up in the middle of the night and drive into work, a considerable inconvenience."

"Now, at the end of every week, we use ProSchedule to automatically perform maintenance on all of the servers that are scheduled for it," said Lacefield. "The product works flawlessly, which means we can just load it up and forget it. The result is peace of mind that the job is going to get done, and that it won't entail inconvenience for any of our employees."

"We took full advantage of all the features of eDirectory in ProSchedule's development," said Harris. "It uses the single-point administration and graphical features of eDirectory to allow the scheduling of console task execution at specified times, dates, days of the week—or whenever a specified server-based condition occurs. All required information is stored in the distributed eDirectory database, which allows a single command or change at a centralized location to apply even to hundreds of servers scattered around the world."

With the ability to schedule and execute server tasks days, weeks or even months into the future, ProSchedule enables customers such as Provident Bank to focus on their core business, and not the technology behind it. Provident Bank leverages its corporate directory and ProSchedule to achieve lower administration overhead and a well-defined, pre-scheduled maintenance solution for their mission-critical NetWare servers. The newly released version 4 provides a snap-in to NWAdmin so all of ProSchedule's powers are available at the click of a button.

Customers are also discovering Protocom's ProScript* product to be a powerful scripting tool for building custom solutions whose execution is controlled by ProSchedule. "This combined capability is increasingly important now that NetWare is being used quite extensively for application servers—no longer just for file and print," said Harris.

Protocom takes advantage of Novell's DeveloperNet program to facilitate fast, profitable product development. "Frankly, eDirectory is so stable that we don't need a lot of support, said Harris. "When we do have questions, however, the answers are readily available from DeveloperNet personnel or WebAction Developer Forums." But the value of DeveloperNet goes well beyond technical support and resources. "DeveloperNet membership is equally important to our marketing and sales," added Maureen Holton, Protocom's Director of Marketing. "We participate in BrainShareSM and advertise frequently in NetWare Connection Magazine. Partnering with Novell brings us instant credibility with potential customers—it's an important part of our success."

ProSchedule is one of many efficiency-improving products being delivered by Protocom and other leading Novell development partners. With organizations such as Provident Bank increasing their reliance on Novell networks and the Internet, developers such as Protocom are delivering the directory-powered network solutions that allow customers to lower costs and greatly improve their overall ease of doing business. Thanks to Protocom's skilled use of eDirectory, ProSchedule's performance and reliability enables both.

Built using Novell Developer Kit resources, Microsoft Visual C* and Sourcesafe*, ProSchedule runs on any eDirectory-supported platform and is available for all Windows* platforms.

*All other third-party trademarks are the property of their respective owners.