ZENworks Imaging uses a small Linux distribution on the client device to perform imaging operations. The distribution shipping with ZENworks 7 is based on the SUSE® installation system, where SUSE Linux or SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) boot to a small distribution to perform a YaST installation. ZENworks Imaging uses the same installation system found in SLES, but instead of starting a YaST installation, it starts a ZENworks Imaging session.
In ZENworks 6.5 SP1 and earlier, Linux kernel 2.4.x is used in the customized distribution; in ZENworks 6.5 SP2 the kernel is updated to 2.6 and is a SLES-based distribution.
Using a stable Linux distribution based on SLES gives customers a distribution with the broadest range of stable drivers available. The hardware industry is continually introducing new and updated network and disk drivers, so it’s not always possible to provide the latest drivers in its software releases.
This section covers how to update Linux drivers using the new distribution. It deals with the Imaging resource files that are based on the SLES distribution and ZENworks Preboot Services processing.
NOTE:The PXE (Preboot Execution Environment) environment provided by PreWorX, used in ZENworks 6.5 SP1 and earlier for Windows and NetWare® servers, has been modified for ZENworks 7 to support the SLES-based ZENworks Imaging distribution. Linux servers use Novell’s internally-developed PXE solution.
The PXE process based on PreWorX files differs from Novell’s solution. For example, PreWorX uses a combination of Caldera DOS, the linld Linux loader program, and .cmd configuration files for passing parameters to the Linux kernel. Novell’s PXE solution is based on the pxelinux boot loader and .cfg configuration files. PreWorX-specific information is not included in this imaging resource files section.