F.1 The Linux Distribution for Imaging

ZENworks Imaging uses a small Linux distribution on the client device to perform imaging operations. The distribution shipping with ZENworks 11 is based on the SUSE installation system, where SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) boots 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.

The PXE (Preboot Execution Environment) environment is an internally-developed PXE solution from Novell.

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.