9.8 Linux Management

Linux Management makes it easy to embrace and extend Linux within your existing environment. It uses policy-driven automation to deploy, manage, and maintain Linux resources. The automated and intelligent policies allow you to provide centralized control across the life cycle of Linux systems for desktop lockdown, imaging, remote management, inventory management and software management. The result is a comprehensive Linux management solution that eliminates IT effort by dramatically reducing the required overhead needed to manage Linux systems.

You can patch your Linux devices by using any of the following:

  • Patch Management

  • Linux Package Management

Patch Management

Patch Management is a fully integrated feature of ZENworks that provides agent-based patch, vulnerability patch, and compliance management solution.

Patch Management provides the following capabilities:

  • Uses signatures to determine the required patches and them back for easy reporting.

  • Implements mandatory baselines for certain patches to always be present on a device.

  • Patches only the SLES and RHEL distributions.

For more information, see the Section 12.0, Patch Management.

Linux Package Management

Linux Package Management is intended to handle the package management functionality of ZENworks Configuration Management for Linux devices (servers and desktops).

Linux Package Management provides the following capabilities:

  • Provides a single point management for patching, installing, and updating packages for large number of Linux devices in an enterprise level.

  • Mirrors updates and packages from the NU, RHN, RCE, and YUM repositories for patches and packages as ZENworks bundles. You can assign these bundles to Linux managed devices for package management.

  • Supports the download of delta RPMs on the managed devices whenever the delta RPMs are available and applicable, thereby reducing the bandwidth required when patching.

  • Allows you to choose the catalogs, packages, and bundles that you want to mirror.

  • Allows you to patch OES servers.