The ZENworks Linux Management capabilities are divided as follows:
ZENworks Linux Management lets you install, remove, and roll back software on your Linux devices. This is done through the use of bundles, a bundle being a collection of one or more software (RPM) packages. ZENworks automatically resolves dependencies for any software packages it is installing.
When you assign a bundle to a device, it is automatically installed on the device. If you want to give the device's user the choice of whether or not to install a software package, you can use catalogs. A catalog is simply a group of bundles that appears in the ZENworks Linux Management Software Update client on the device; the user must initiate installation of any of the bundles in the catalog.
ZENworks provides a number of policies to help you manage the Novell Linux Desktop, the EvolutionTM e-mail client, Firefox* Web browser, Epiphany Web browser, and several other software applications.
Policies enable you to provide consistent operating system and application configuration settings for your devices. You can lock the configuration settings so that users cannot change them.
ZENworks Linux Management includes a service called Preboot Services which enables you to perform tasks on devices before their operating systems boot up. Using Preboot Services you can automatically or manually do the following to a Linux device when it boots up:
To accomplish these tasks automatically, you simply need to have PXE (Preboot Execution Environment) enabled on your devices, and have prebootable tasks configured and assigned to the devices (configuration is done through the using the ZENworks Control Center, discussed later). Then, the devices can automatically implement these tasks when they boot. Or, to manually implement the tasks, you can configure devices to require user intervention during bootup.