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Support Pack 1 has just been released, and we thought you'd like to see a quick list of the high points. The big story is that in Support Pack 1 we’ve more than doubled the scalability and performance of ZENworks 10 Configuration Management. Also the new role-based administration features in Support Pack 1 give you more control over the creation and assignment of administration rights, while making the process simpler than ever before. And don't miss the new imaging news: ZENworks 10 Configuration Management now includes full support for disk images you create and edit using ImageX.

This latest release includes the new ZENworks Satellite capability which allows content, applications and images to be sent once to a remote location and then distributed to all the devices at that site. Previously, customers managing systems in remote offices were constrained by network bandwidth. With the option to move distribution and collection management functions to a local device, ZENworks Configuration Management speeds distribution of updates and applications, ensuring all machines are properly managed regardless of location, without slowing down the business.

The first product to be performance tested in the Novell® Systems Management SuperLab, a new facility designed to simulate real world environments, ZENworks Configuration Management has demonstrated support for more than 30,000 devices within a single management zone. Additionally, this solution now offers optional support for Oracle Database 10g, enabling customers to leverage their existing IT investments for superior system scalability and back-end manageability.

For a lot more details about the enhancements in SP1, see this Connection Magazine article.

ZENworks Configuration Management with SP1 is available today. Pricing and additional information can be found at www.novell.com/zenworks/configurationmanagement.

Quick Look at what's in SP1

New Supported Platforms

• New managed devices include:
  Windows Server 2008
  Windows Vista SP1
  Windows XP SP3
• New supported server: Windows Server 2008
• Inventory management now available for:
  AIX
  Mac OS
  NetWare
  OES (NetWare)
  UP-UX
  Red Hat
  Solaris
  Windows NT, 95, 98, Me

Large Enterprise Scale and Performance

• Support for Oracle 10g
• Improved enterprise scale, tested up to:
  • 30,000 managed devices per zone
  • 3,000 managed devices per primary server (with 1,000 concurrently connected)
  • 1,000 managed devices per server class satellite node
  • 250 managed devices per workstation class satellite node
• Closest Server Rules:
  Support L4 Switching for load balancing.
  Satellite Groups: Randomized Satellite selected from group to service managed device request. Spreads load, faster response.
  Exclude Rule: Isolates key ZENworks servers to focus on specific task, ie database.
• ZENworks Satellites
• Increase system access & responsiveness
  • Specific roles to offload tasks from Primary server
  • Collect local data, consolidate & upload
  • Reduce bandwidth consumption
• Promote any managed device to Satellite
  • Windows desktop or server
  • Single click to promote/demote to Satellite

General Enhancements

• Role-based administration
• Retire devices from service but preserve inventory and device history
• Improved performance of ZENworks System Update

Migration

• Migrating from ZENworks 7:
  • Simple AppObjects translate to equivalent bundle tasks
  • Imaging workstation assignments
  • Configuration options – choose between UNC path or upload to Content system
  • New device personality migration for OS/HW upgrades
• Switch ZENworks user associations from an eDirectory source to Active Directory equivalent.

Discovery & Deployment

• Configure discovery methods and Windows Proxy per discovery task from a Linux Primary server
• Improved feedback on different discovery technologies used – better troubleshooting
• Edit & update discovered device information
• Install agents to different folders on the targeted device
• Scheduled reboot after agent deployment
• Deploy administrator created deployment packages through push deployment

Application Delivery & Policy Enforcement

• ZENworks Configuration Management Bundles
  • Include create/delete directory actions
  • Allow configurable success codes for Launch actions
• Plural group policies with inheritance now supported

Remote Management

• R/C clients with dual monitors
• Performance enhancements
• Remote Control Windows devices from Linux
• Dynamic bandwidth optimization
• Wake-on-LAN via proxy server

Imaging

• SidChanger support for Windows Vista
• Enable use of 3rd Party Imaging Solution (ImageX)

Reporting

• Oracle support for reporting
• Reporting on MS SQL DB from SLES 10 Primary Server
• Reporting to be installed from a separate media

Disclaimer: As with everything else at Cool Solutions, this content is definitely not supported by Novell (so don't even think of calling Support if you try something and it blows up).

It was contributed by a community member and is published "as is." It seems to have worked for at least one person, and might work for you. But please be sure to test, test, test before you do anything drastic with it.