Novell Service Desk v6.5 is available in two formats; the traditional installer ( which has been available since day one ) and, new for this release, a virtual appliance. The virtual appliance is built on top of a cut down version of SLES known as as Just Enough OS or JeOS and includes an embedded database. From the initial deployment onto a ESX / ESXi host to being ready to use takes around 5 minutes. Please remember before starting any work with Novell Service Desk Appliance Edition that we are currently unable to migrate between different database platforms. If you want to use a different database with appliance, it is vital that you do so immediately as soon as the appliance complets its first boot process. You can change to another database by using the appliance management menu system.
Novell Service Desk v6.5 delivers a number of new features including:-
Integration into ZCM 11 SP1 for bundle management
Users can now deliver any bundle to a device or customer from within Novell Service Desk web console using ZCM 11 SP1. This is designed to address situations when an incident or request requires a configuration change to take place , for example a software installation
Built in report writer
New report builder let’s you design your own reports and share them amongst colleagues. No messing about with third party tools or other report writers. Simply design your own report and save it into the report menus. Once designed, all you need to do is select it from the menu just like any other report. You can even edit the report at any time to tweak the parameters.
OpenID AuthenicationOpenID authentication to enable customers or even LiveTime users to login seamlessly using their existing Google or Yahoo accounts. You may use any OpenID provider you choose, significantly simplifying the login process.
Improved localization
Customers and users to navigate the service desk in their language of choice. The latest version extends this to include the communication with customers, by both email and sms. These messages which are sent to customers can now be localized and the communication will be sent in the language of choice to the recipient.
Change look and feel
We have introduced a built-in CSS editor in the latest version to allow administrators total control over the look and feel of the application. Any CSS property can be overloaded and restyled to your needs. Any changes are applied in real time so you can immediately see the results of your work. If you make a mistake you can always revert to the system defaults with a single click. In addition, these changes are automatically preserved across upgrades.
Team and user management
Team and User management has been streamlined in this release, across all ITIL processes. Supervisors can now define job function templates based around job descriptions and allocate these to users of Novell Service Desk, allowing instant assignment to all relevant teams and escalations for the job function they are performing.
Read about all of the new features here: Novell Service Desk 6.5
