Creating a Channel

1. In the Channels list, click the Create New Channels link.

2. Provide a name, description, and alias of your channel and click Save.

   The alias is used when manipulating the channel with the command line tools. It should be unique and short, and cannot contain any spaces.

3. The new channel is created, and the Add/Edit channels page is displayed allowing you to provide information for the channel.

4. Modify the group using the Basic, Packages, Patches, and Permissions tabs. The options contained in each of these tabs are explained below:

   Tab	Description
   Basic	Set and view the channel name, description, and alias. Optionally, you can provide a channel icon and select a priority. Channel priority affects the choice of channels when a client is selecting software to fulfill dependencies. The higher the number, the more important the channel is considered. For the most part, you can leave this value at 0. The channel summary displays a list of all target platforms and the number of packages for each.
   Packages	Set and view the packages contained in this channel. See: Adding Packages to a Channel Deleting a Package from a Channel Creating a Package Set
   Patches	Set and view the SUSE patches contained in this channel. See: Deploying Patches
   Permissions	Set and view the permissions associated with the channel, including the administrators assigned to the channel, and the e-mail notifications for this channel.

Viewing Channels

1. Click the Channels link in the Novell ZENworks Linux Management Web interface.

2. The name, description, and alias of each channel you have created appears in the Channels list. To view details about any channel, click the channel name.

Adding Packages to a Channel

1. In the Channels list, click the channel to which you want to add a package.

2. Click the Add Package link.

3. Browse to and select the package file, usually in RPM format.

4. Select the target platforms by moving them from the All Platforms list to the Selected Platforms list.

5. Select an importance, and optionally, provide a description.

6. Click Save.

Changing Package Information

If you have already created a package and you want to include additional target platforms, you can change the package information.

1. In the Channels list, click the channel containing the package you want to modify.

2. Click the Packages tab, then click the package you want to modify.

3. Click the basic tab, and modify the package information.

4. Click Save.

Deleting a Package from a Channel

1. In the Channels list, click the channel containing the package you want to delete.

2. Click the Packages tab, then click the Delete checkbox corresponding the package you want to delete.

3. Click Delete.

Creating a Package Set

All packages you want to add to a package set must already exist in a channel.

1. In the Channels list, click the channel to which you want to add a package set.

2. Click the Add Package Set link.

3. Provide a name, summary, and version number for the package set, then click Next.

   If you are updating an existing package set, the version number must be higher than previous version numbers or it is not updated by clients.

   In the version number, the first number is the major version, the second is the minor version, and the third is the release number. You may choose any integer for each value.

   In the package frobulator-1.3-5.i386.rpm, the major version is 1, the minor version is 3, and the release is 5. Major versions override minor versions, and minor versions override releases. Version numbers are not normal decimal numbers: After version 1.9, expect 1.10, pronounced "one point ten."

4. Select the target platform by moving it from the All Platforms list to the Selected Platforms list, then click Next.

   NOTE:  Novell recommends that you to create package sets for individual targets rather than for multiple targets.

5. Select the packages for this package set by selecting a channel, and searching for packages, and selecting the Add checkbox. When you have finished, click Next.

6. Enter additional package set dependency and conflict information if necessary, then click Save. Your new Package Set is created.

   Conflict and dependency information for the package set supplements the information for the individual packages within it, so you do not necessarily need to add more information here.

   You may set the following dependency information:

   Obsoletes

   Packages or package sets replaced by this package set. If you do not specify a relation and version number (for example, "greater than or equal to 1.0.4"), your set will render obsolete all versions of the package you enter.

   Conflicts

   Packages which must be removed before the package set can be installed. If you do not specify a relation and version number (for example, "greater than or equal to 1.0.4"), your set will conflict with all versions of the package you enter.

   Provides

   Applications or libraries which are available in the package set.

Deploying Patches

1. In the Channels list, click the channel to which you want to add a patch.