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Synchronizing Settings between Machines

ChangeMan ZDD provides facilities for synchronizing settings and configuration information between machines. There are two types of settings:

  • System settings: System-wide settings that apply to all users (e.g. server definitions, security)

  • User settings: User-specific settings that apply only to you (e.g. data set folders, package filters)

Both types of settings are stored in the Windows registry. We synchronize the settings by exporting and importing the registry keys using a shared folder. The synchronization for system settings works differently than that for user settings.

Synchronizing System Settings

In some environments, you may have multiple machines with identical system settings, including server configuration, and security controls. If there were many machines, it would be a laborious process to update the configuration and security controls on each machine separately.

ChangeMan ZDD allows you to define a shared system settings folder. This folder allows you to share system settings, server configuration, and security controls, between machines. The ZDD driver will automatically import the system settings from this folder each time the system is booted.

Using a system settings folder is optional. If you do not define a system settings folder, the driver will not import any settings when the system is booted, and the machine will retain its existing settings.

You can define a system settings folder on the Sync page of the ZDD Network properties. Use the Export button to export the system settings from one machine into the system settings folder. You will need to export the settings any time you make changes to the configuration. We do not export the settings automatically. This way, we only export settings from the system you choose, and only when you wish to export them.

We recommend that you export the system settings each time that you upgrade to a new version of ChangeMan ZDD. In a new product version, we sometimes change how settings are stored in the registry. Although the driver will automatically convert the old registry keys to the new format when the system is booted, you would not want to go through the registry conversion process every time you reboot the system.

Important

When you import system settings from a file, the settings in that file completely replace the existing settings. If you make changes to the settings without exporting them, those changes will be lost the next time you boot the system and the settings are imported. The settings that are imported include the name of system settings folder.

As such, most users will not use a system settings folder. This folder is primarily for environments where you want to force all machines to have a fixed configuration defined by an administrator.

If the system settings folder is on a network location, the folder must allow read access to all authenticated users (or else to everyone). The ZDD driver imports settings when you reboot the machine, and it occurs before any users log on. The driver runs under the credentials of the local system account, which belongs to no groups except Authenticated users and Everyone.

The system settings folder must not use a mapped network drive letter. Mapped drive letters are user-specific and they are not visible to the ZDD driver. If the system settings folder is on a network server, the path name must be in UNC format (\\server\share\).

If you specify a path name with a mapped network drive letter for the system settings folder, ZDD will automatically convert it to a UNC path name when you press the Apply button to save the folder setting.

Unlike the user settings folder, the system settings folder cannot include environment variables in the path name. Environment variables are not available to the ZDD driver, and cannot be expanded when importing the settings.

If the path name that you specify the system folder contains environment variables, ZDD will automatically expand those environment variables when you press the Apply button to save the folder setting.

Synchronizing User Settings Automatically

Some users use more than one machine and would like to have their settings synchronized between machines. Moreover, in some multiuser server environments, a user is dynamically assigned to a machine from a pool. He may get a different machine each time he logs on.

In these situations, you can maintain your user settings in a shared folder that ChangeMan ZDD can access from any machine. The user settings folder can be on a local drive or in a network location.

Unlike system settings, a user settings folder is not optional. User settings are only stored in the Windows registry temporarily, and they disappear when the machine is shut down. The user settings are imported each time you log on. ZDD saves the user settings when you log off from Windows or when the machine is shutdown.

When you make changes to your user settings, ZDD sets a five-minute timer. At the end of five minutes, ZDD will export your user settings. This way, if you make several changes to your settings within a short time span, we do not export the settings multiple times. Unlike the system settings, ZDD exports the settings automatically.

You define the user settings folder on the Sync page of the ZDD Network properties. The folder path name is a system-wide setting, but it can contain environment variables, such as %USERNAME% to make the folder name be user-specific.

Example: \\Server\Share\%USERNAME%

Default: %APPDATA%\Micro Focus\ChangeMan ZDD

The default folder includes the %APPDATA% environment variable, which is your user roaming application data folder.

%APPDATA% is usually C:\Users\%USERNAME%\AppData\Roaming.

The user must have read and write permissions to the user settings folder.

If you specify a mapped drive letter, ZDD will prompt you to ask if you would like to convert the path name to UNC format. If you press the Yes button, ZDD will convert the Synchronizing Settings between Machines path name to UNC format (\\server\share\). Otherwise, ZDD will accept the path name as is.

Mapped drive letters can vary from one machine to the next. Furthermore, ZDD may import the user settings before the mapped drive letters are available.

Please note that it is generally not a good idea to use a network folder for your user settings if it requires a VPN that is not connected until after you log on to Windows. ZosNet automatically starts when you log on to Windows, and the import of the user settings will fail if the network folder is unavailable. In that case, you would need to import your user settings manually using the Import user settings command.

Unless all users are storing their settings in the same folder, the user settings folder path name should contain an environment variable such as %USERNAME%, %USERPROFILE%, or %APPDATA%, which will make the folder user-specific.

If you specify a folder name with no environment variables, when you press the Apply button, ZDD will attempt to find an environment variable that matches part of the path name, and replace that part with the environment variable.

Importing and Exporting User Settings On Demand

ChangeMan ZDD automatically imports your user settings when you log on to Windows. However, in some cases, you may wish to import or export your user settings on demand:

  • You wish to import your user settings from a network folder, which was not available when you logged on to Windows. This may happen when you need to connect a VPN after logging on.

  • You wish to migrate your user settings to a new computer.

To import or export your user settings, right click on ZDD Network and select one of the following commands from the popup menu:

  • Export user settings

  • Import user settings

You can run these commands at any time to export your user settings to a file, or import your user settings from a file. ZDD will prompt you to choose a folder to hold the file.

The user settings file will have the following name: ZDD-User-<username>.regx.

You can also import and export user settings using the ZDD programming/scripting interfaces. There are two API functions in the ZosNetwork class: ExportUserSettings and ImportUserSettings.

User settings are those settings that are user-specific, such as DataSets, Jobs, or Unix folder definitions, as well as filters, such as Applications, Packages, or Releases filters. Server and ChangeMan instance definitions are system-wide and shared by all users on the machine.

These commands import and export user settings only. System settings can only be imported as part of the system boot process, and system settings use a different import/ export mechanism.

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