Micro Focus Consulting Germany in cooperation with SUSE Consulting Germany has developed a methodology to configure and manage SUSE Linux Enterprise Servers (SLES) as well as Micro Focus Open Enterprise Servers (OES) using ZENworks Configuration Management (ZCM).
This section describes the guiding principles for the ZCM part of our solution. It first introduces the folder structures that we recommend you use in your ZCM zone to accommodate your server objects and your server group objects.
We then explain the registration keys used to put the server objects into the desired folder during device registration and how to use additional registration keys to establish server group memberships.
Next we cover the folder structures for bundle objects and bundle group objects and the naming scheme for Configuration Bundle Groups.
This is followed by a discussion of the Subscriptions used to replicate Pool channels and Update channels from the Customer Centers.
The creation of frozen patch levels, how to assign the resulting update bundles to your devices, and the use of YUM repositories as add-on repositories for updates during the installation are covered next.
We also explain how to use ZCM to deploy Field Test Files and we discuss how the assignment of update bundles needs to be modified once a system has been upgraded to the next support pack.
The remainder of this section discusses some examples of configuration bundles used in Consulting projects and how they are assigned to devices.
The most frequently used agent commands and some debugging hints complete this section.
A scripts to create the recommended folder structure, the configuration bundles discussed in Managing Configuration Bundles and Configuration Bundle Groups as well as a script to make theses bundles members of the bundle groups used to assign them are available at the CIF download site. Refer to Configuring Your Own ZENworks Management Zone to learn how to use these downloads to build your own ZCM zone. However, before you do so please carefully read this part of the guide to understand how ZCM is used as part of our solution.