3.0 Terminology

The following table provides descriptions for the ZENworks 11 SP3 terms used in this overview.

Term

Description

bundle

A collection of software files and instructions to be applied to a device. ZENworks can distribute bundles to Windows, Macintosh, and Linux managed devices.

For more information, see the ZENworks 11 SP3 Software Distribution Reference.

content

The bundles, policies, system updates, and patches that are available for distribution to managed devices in the zone.

content repository

The directory structure on a Primary Server or Satellite Server that contains the content available to be distributed to managed devices. The content is compressed and encrypted. For more information, see Content in the ZENworks 11 SP3 Primary Server and Satellite Reference.

inventoried-only device

An unmanaged device (no ZENworks Adaptive Agent) that has been inventoried by the Inventory Only Module or the Portable Collector. For more information, see Adaptive Agent Versus Inventory-Only Module and Deploying the Inventory-Only Module in the ZENworks 11 SP3 Discovery, Deployment, and Retirement Reference.

Inventory Only Module

The software installed on a device that enables it to be inventoried. The module is normally installed on devices running operating systems that are not supported by the ZENworks Adaptive Agent.

managed device

A Windows, Macintosh, or Linux device that has the ZENworks Adaptive Agent installed and is registered in the Management Zone.

Management Zone

The group of Primary Servers, Satellite Servers, and managed devices that are supported by one ZENworks database and one ZENworks Audit database. A zone is managed via ZENworks Control Center.

policy

A set of rules and information that can define configuration or security settings for a managed device. For more information about policies, see the ZENworks 11 SP3 Configuration Policies Reference, the ZENworks 11 SP3 Endpoint Security Policies Reference, and the ZENworks 11 SP3 Full Disk Encryption Policy Reference.

Primary Server

A Windows or Linux server that contains the ZENworks services and content repository. Optionally, it might also contain the ZENworks databases, but on only one of the Primary Servers per zone. A Management Zone can have multiple Primary Servers.

Portable Collector

A software utility that can inventory any device and create a file that is accessible in ZENworks Control Center as if it were a device. This file is then used for obtaining inventory data about the device. For more information, see Using the Portable Collector in the ZENworks 11 SP3 Asset Inventory Reference.

Satellite Server

A Satellite Server is a managed device that can perform certain roles that a Primary Server normally performs. Any Windows, Linux, or Macintosh managed device can be configured as a Satellite Server. When you configure a Satellite Server, you specify which roles it performs (Authentication, Collection, Content, Imaging, and JoinProxy).

For more information, see Satellites in the ZENworks 11 SP3 Primary Server and Satellite Reference.

ZENworks Adaptive Agent

The software installed on a Windows, Macintosh, or Linux device that enables it to be managed by a Primary Server. The Adaptive Agent consists of modules that support software delivery, policy enforcement, imaging, remote management, inventory, and so forth. For more information, see the ZENworks 11 SP3 Discovery, Deployment, and Retirement Reference.

ZENworks Control Center

The web-based console used to administer a Management Zone. For more information, see the ZENworks 11 SP3 ZENworks Control Center Reference.

ZENworks databases

The Management Zone has two databases: the ZENworks database and the ZENworks Audit database.

The ZENworks database stores information about devices, users, software bundles, policies, hardware and software inventories, centralized system messages, license tracking and usage data, and other transactional data. It also stores information about the actions scheduled to take place within the zone.

The ZENworks Audit database stores information for audited events. This includes changes made to the zone configuration and actions that occur on managed devices.

Both databases reside on the same server, which can be a Primary Server or another server that is not a Primary Server. For the databases, you can use the embedded Sybase SQL Anywhere database software included with ZENworks, or you can use external Sybase SQL, Oracle, or Microsoft SQL database software. For detailed information about the supported database versions, see Database Requirements in the ZENworks 11 SP3 Server Installation Guide.

For information on supported databases, see Database Requirements in the ZENworks 11 SP3 Server Installation Guide.

For more information on the ZENworks database, see the ZENworks 11 Database Management Reference.

zman

A command line interface for managing your ZENworks system. The zman utility is useful for automating tasks (through scripts) and performing mass management tasks that might be tedious to perform in ZENworks Control Center. For example, configuring settings for a large number of devices, or adding an action to a large number of bundles.

The zman utility is available on all Primary Servers.

For more information, see ZENworks Command Line Utilities in the ZENworks 11 SP3 Command Line Utilities Reference.

zac

A command line interface for managing the ZENworks Adaptive Agent. The zac utility can be used to perform management tasks on the ZENworks managed device, including installing and removing software bundles, applying policies, and registering and unregistering the device.

For more information, see ZENworks Command Line Utilities in the ZENworks 11 SP3 Command Line Utilities Reference.