Roy,
There are two things that need to be managed on the client install.
1) Program install dir: The place where the dll's and other binary
files are put during the install process. Remedy actually started
putting stuff in the Windows dirs at some point. So you can only
partially control the places where things of this type are put.
2) User settings: AKA: client cache, user preferences, etc... These
are the "AR Home" directory stuff. This can be set per user name, per
client pc. I think that adding "-test" to everyones users name is a
cleaner solution. It forces the users to see that they are "not on
production" and gives you a real easy way to manage the Home dirs too.
... or ... drum role... clobbered by using a preference server setting. :)
The preference server option should store all needed client
preferences on the server. So set the pref server to the name of the
test server... or production ... and use that to let the users toggle
between the two. However there are a few rubs here...
1) Sometimes the user cache gets messed up/confused... Sorry, these are bugs..
2) Sometimes the users get confused... they used "bob" on both severs
and the client tools (all recent versions that I know of ) only
remember the last preference server the a user connected to. So if
they used the test server at 5PM last night before going home, and
come in the next AM and do not pay attention to the login process
(like maybe before AM coffee) they might end up on dev instead of prod
and enter real data on the wrong system. [Using a different user name
is not as easy to mess up. Unless you let your users cache there
authentication. Which is a "feature" of "negative security" IMHO.]
An option to try to get the users attention on dev is to use the
INIT-FORM processes to give them an annoying screen pop/message to
confirm that they connected to the DEV server. It might help some, but
you will likely also find people who connect to both prod and DEV from
the same client session and are confused by the message because they
did not really intend to connect to both. [Using alternate test names
prevents this problem too.]
Now on the other hand...
In test you may want to use "roles" for your user names... like...
"HelpDeskUser" or "GroupManager1". Keep in mind that if you plan on
having 20 concurrent "HelpDeskUser" testters that you will likely need
to build "HelpDeskUser1" through "HelpDeskUser20" accounts. And you
will need to configure those users with the basic profile stuff like
you would any other normal users in your application(s). However that
would let you have independent names that the users will likely not
confused with their existing "bob" accounts, and minimize the
management problems for you. (Just rotate who uses "HelpDeskUser1"
each week for testing to work through more than 20 testers. Think in
terms of "Alpha" testers week 1 and "Beta" testers week 2. etc..)
HTH.
--
Carey Matthew Black
Remedy Skilled Professional (RSP)
ARS = Action Request System(Remedy)
Solution = People + Process + Tools
Fast, Accurate, Cheap.... Pick two.
Never ascribe to malice, that which can be explained by incompetence.
http://www.fellowshipchurch.com
UNSUBSCRIBE or access ARSlist Archives at http://www.ARSLIST.org
(Support: mailto:support@arslist.org)
Previous Topic
Index