1.1 Introduction

The following sections contain information to help introduce you to ZENworks Orchestrator:

1.1.1 What Is ZENworks Orchestrator?

ZENworks Orchestrator 1.3 uses its functional components to:

  • Perform high-performance-computing-style task breakdown across multiple machines (resources) in a data center

  • Provide distributed, CRON-style job scheduling

  • Provide a messaging system between the ZENworks Orchestrator Server and the managed machines

The Orchestrator system consists of a central server (the Orchestrator Server), agents capable of executing work on each managed resource, and an optional client application (the ZENworks Orchestrator Console) that can be used to drive and monitor the Orchestrator system. Work is described to the system in the form of a “job.” A job is written in an embedded Python* script and deployed to and managed by the server. When a job is run, constraint-based placement (a kind of rules engine) directs the work to suitable and available resources. The job might partially execute on the managed systems and can further execute any process as the desired user on the managed system.

The following figure illustrates how ZENworks Orchestrator is used as the basic building block for the ZENworks Virtual Machine Management Pack (VM Management), which is available as a separate product, and future management packs to be developed and released by Novell.

Figure 1-1 ZENworks Orchestrator and Management Packs

ZENworks VM Management adds increased functionality to Novell ZENworks Orchestrator. If you purchase this management pack, you will be able to deploy predefined jobs to manage the life cycle of various virtual machine technologies, including the ability to move files around in both unicast and multicast distribution modes. This Orchestrator capability helps administrators, IT operators, and job developers improve and expand the performance of the data center by automating provisioning and by using Virtual Machines (VMs) as resources in the data center computing environment. Better managed VMs can help control associated data center costs by addressing several data center issues, including cooling, space, power usage, and efficient hardware usage. For more information about ZENworks Virtual Machine Management, see the Novell ZENworks Orchestrator 1.3 Virtual Machine Management Guide.

Key Product Features

ZENworks Orchestrator includes these core features:

  • Resource Discovery

  • Workload Management

  • Policy Management for SLA

  • Auditing/Accounting

  • Software Compliance

  • Heterogeneous Virtual Machine (VM) Life Cycle Management (available with a VM Management license only)

New in This Release

Some of the new features in ZENworks Orchestrator 1.3 include:

  • High Availability

    • Server failover (if a server in a configured cluster goes down, another server goes online to take its place)

    • Virtual Machine restart after failure

  • Support for VM Builder/Warehouse installed on a server separate from the Orchestrator Server

  • Upgradability (from version 1.2 to 1.3 and later)

  • New Provisioning Adapters:

    • VMWare* Virtual Center 2 (support for new versions of VMWare infrastructure)

    • SUSE® Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) 10 SP2 with Xen* 3.2

  • Enhancements to the VMM Graphical Console:

    • VM Warehouse features a hierarchical view of the VM collection

    • Improvements to the VM Management Welcome Page

    • Addition of a new dialog to display the version number of all back-end services

    • Enhancements to the VM Creation Wizard (for example, the persistence of recent user selections)

  • New man page documentation for command line utilities

  • Improvements applied to server-agent communication

  • Support for Orchestrator Agent installed on SLES 10 SP2

  • Improvements in the Job Scheduler

1.1.2 How Do I Obtain and License ZENworks Orchestrator?

To download the product for evaluation or purchased install of ZENworks Orchestrator, contact an authorized Novell Sales representative or a Certified Novell Partner.

You can evaluate the product before purchase by downloading a trial key, which controls the number of users and managed nodes you can configure. The trial key also sets an expiration date. The trial key is available on the product download site.

For fully-supported functionality, ZENworks Orchestrator requires a purchased license key. Contact your Novell Sales Representativeor a Certified Novell Partner for purchase information.

Upgrading the Server from a Purchased License to a Trial License

If you you are operating ZENworks Orchestrator with a Trial License Key, use the following steps to upgrade to a license key you purchased from Novell:

  1. Stop the ZENworks Orchestrator Server.

  2. Rename the purchased license file to key.txt.

  3. Copy the purchased license file (key.txt) to the /opt/novell/zenworks/zos/server/license directory, overwriting the old license key.

  4. Restart the Orchestrator Server.

1.1.3 The Purpose of This Guide

The purpose of this guide is to introduce you to the basic Orchestrator components (that is, the Orchestrator components that provide high performance computing functions and are basic to Orchestrator Management Packs that can be purchased separately), to help you plan the installation of these components, to install them, and to help you understand how to use them in basic usage scenarios.

For information about installing and using the Virtual Machine Management capabilities of ZENworks Orchestrator, see the Novell ZENworks Orchestrator 1.3 Virtual Machine Management Guide.

1.1.4 The Audience for This Guide

The contents of this guide are of interest to the following individuals:

Administrator: An Orchestrator administrator deploys applications, manages users, and monitors distributed computing resources. Administrators can also create and set policies for automating the usage of these computing resources. For more information about the tasks and tools used by the Administrator, see the Novell ZENworks Orchestrator 1.3 Administration Guide.

User: The end user of ZENworks Orchestrator, also called a “Job Manager,” runs and manages jobs that have been created by a Job Developer and deployed by the administrator. It is also possible that the end user could be a developer who has created applications to run on distributed computing resources. For more information about the tasks and tools used by the Job Manager, see the Novell ZENworks Orchestrator 1.3 Job Management Guide.

Developer: The developer has control of a self-contained development system where he or she creates jobs and policies and tests them in a laboratory environment. When the jobs are tested and proven to function as intended, the developer delivers them to the Orchestrator administrator. For more information about the tasks and tools used by the Job Developer, see the Novell ZENworks Orchestrator 1.3 Developer Guide and Reference.