When you install ZENworks Configuration Management on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES), Novell Consulting recommends that you use the newest SLES version and patch level, which is currently SLES 11 SP2. Other supported SLES versions are SLES 10 SP3/SP4 and SLES 11 SP1.
Installing on 64-bit architecture is highly recommended to gain all the advantages of that architecture.
The ZCM server must not host Novell eDirectory or a Novell Client.
The disk capacity required for the content repository can vary, depending on the life span of the server and the number of distributions to be managed.
Every patch level of any package must be retained on the server from initial release up to the present date. Over time, 10–20 different kernel versions can be managed by a ZCM server.
As a general rule, multiple architectures (such as i586, x86_64, and ia64) must be managed per distribution, which in turn implies doubling or tripling disk space requirements
An online catalog with all packages for the distribution media must be made available for resolution of package dependencies (2–4 GB per architecture and distribution)
New service packs or new distribution versions should be expected every 1–2 years
For simple environments, 30–50 GB of disk space are required. For larger environments, a minimum of 100 GB should be reserved.
Novell Consulting recommends the use of an LVM volume group that contains LVM volumes for all system file systems except /boot. A capacity of 10 GB is usually sufficient for the / partition of a SLES server. 4 GB is sufficient for the /swap partition. The /opt directory should be partitioned separately with a capacity of at least 8 GB because 6 GB is temporarily required by the installation engine (ZEROConf).
When partitioning, the /var/opt/novell/zenworks directory should be located on its own LVM logical volume zenworks in the LVM volume group zenworks with a size of 100 GB. The database (if it is embedded) and content repository are stored below this directory.
The partition and file system layout recommended by Novell Consulting are summarized in the following table:
Table 9-1 Partition Layout
|
Partition |
Type |
Volume Group |
Volume |
Mount Point |
File System |
Size (GB) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
1 |
Linux |
n/a |
n/a |
/boot |
ext3 |
0.2 |
|
2 |
LVM |
system |
swap |
swap |
swap |
4 |
|
2 |
LVM |
system |
root |
/ |
ext3 |
10 |
|
2 |
LVM |
system |
opt |
/opt |
ext3 |
8 |
|
3 |
LVM |
zenworks |
zenworks |
/var/opt/novell/zenworks |
ext3 |
100 |
The ZENworks Configuration Management components are largely based on programs written in Java and, in part, in Mono. This means that the more memory you have, the better the performance will be. A minimum of 4 GB RAM must be available. An installation on servers with less than 2 GB memory is declined. Novell Consulting recommends that you provide at least 8 GB RAM.
At a minimum, a server-class CPU such as an AMD Opteron or Intel Xeon processor is required. If the Primary Server is running on a virtual machine, you should use a dual-core processor.
Depending on the number of distributions and catalogs to be managed, a lengthy initial download time can be expected. After that, only the latest patches are retrieved from the mirror server at the interval you prefer.
The amount of LAN traffic depends on the number of managed devices and how patch deployment takes place. Manual distributions of patches typically configured in small and medium-sized environments do not impact network load. Automatic patch deployments to many devices can heavily influence network load in large environments.
The server must have a static IP address or permanent lease DHCP IP address.
The following ports must be open on the server for inbound connections:
80 - HTTP
443 - HTTPS
The following ports must be open on the server for outbound connections:
80 - HTTP
443 - HTTPS
2645 - CASA
Opening this port allows ZENworks to manage devices outside of the firewall
5550 - Remote Management Listener
5750 - Used by the Remote Management Proxy
5950 - Used by the Remote Management Service
7628 - Used by the Adaptive Agent for quick tasks
8009 - Used by the Tomcat AJP connector
The following ports should be opened optionally:
9971 - Used by the AMT Hello Listener to discover AMT devices
The following ports must be opened if the services are used:
67 - Used by DHCP Proxy if the server is not a DHCP server
69 - Used by the Imaging TFTP
997 - Used by the Imaging Server for multicasting
1761 - Used to forward subnet-oriented broadcast magic packets for Wake-on-LAN.
4011 - Used for Proxy DHCP
13331 - Used by the zmgpreboot policy
Before installing ZENworks Configuration Management, the functionality of DNS and /etc/hosts must be checked. We highly recommend that both services are configured.
NTP must always be configured with at least one additional failover time source.
When you are installing on x86_64 systems, the pam-32bit package must be installed because of a dependency with the CASA packages. In addition, libgdiplus0 and mono-core are needed at the Primary Server.
ZENworks Configuration Management 11 SP2 can be downloaded from the Novell Downloads Web site
ZENworks Configuration Management supports various versions of Sybase SQL Anywhere, Oracle 11g, and Microsoft SQL Server as database back ends. More details about the supported databases can be found in “Database Requirements” in the ZENworks 11 SP2 Server Installation Guide. The decision to use a certain database to use depends on several factors:
Number of managed devices:
The Sybase database delivered with ZENworks Configuration Management fulfills performance requirements for up to 1500 managed devices (Windows + Linux)
If more than 1500 devices must be managed, an external Oracle or MS-SQL database must be used
Available database know-how. If in-house know-how for one of these databases is already available, it should be taken into account when choosing the database
Existing database environments. If the company is already managing large Oracle or MS-SQL database instances, you might want to use the advantage of existing management processes such as database backup and database optimization procedures.
An internal Sybase database is preferred in following environments:
The number of manageable devices is not expected to exceed 3000 devices in the future
Devices that must be managed are preferably Linux devices
The ZENworks Configuration Management zone consists of only one Primary Server. No further Primary or Satellite servers are planned to be installed in future
An external Sybase database should be considered under the following conditions:
A growing number of manageable devices are expected in the future
Devices with Windows operating systems must be managed from the same ZENworks Configuration Management zone
Load balancing, higher availability, and separate management is a requirement
Although virtualization of the ZENworks Configuration Management components is supported (see “Primary Server Requirements”in the ZENworks 11 SP2 Server Installation Guide, Novell Consulting recommends that you install the primary ZCM server that hosts the database on physical hardware if you plan to manage more than 500 devices. Servers hosting the management interface or acting as content servers can be running on virtualized machines.
The following table summarizes requirements for the installation of a Primary Server.
|
Component |
Value |
|---|---|
|
Prerequisites |
Software:
Hardware:
|
|
Partitioning/File system configuration |
|
|
DNS |
All ZCM back-end servers must have valid DNS entries for forward and reverse lookup. |
|
NTP |
NTP must be configured for all back-end systems. |
|
ZENworks Configuration Management Zone Name (new zone) |
The ZENworks Configuration Management Zone name is limited to 20 characters. No special characters are allowed for except dashes and underscores. Digits count as normal characters. |
|
External Database |
|
|
License Key |
Optional |
The following table summarizes requirements for the installation of an external database server.
|
Component |
Value |
|---|---|
|
Prerequisites |
Software:
Hardware:
|
|
Database Port |
2638. Communication on the database port must be allowed between the Primary Server and the database server. |
|
WAN consideration |
Primary Servers and the ZENworks database must reside on the same network segment. |
|
Default Character Set |
For Sybase, the UTF-8 character set is required. |
|
Database properties |
The following properties must be configured during database setup:
Make note of these values, because they are needed during installation of the Primary Server. |