What Is the Purpose of ZENworks for Servers 3?

ZENworks for Servers 3 is a server management system. ZENworks stands for zero-effort networks; the name reflects the minimal effort required for you to manage the servers in your network. The goal is to reduce the total cost of ownership (TCO) of dealing with the network by reducing the effort necessary to manage servers. ZENworks for Servers 3 focuses on several areas of server management, which are discussed in the following sections.

Server Management Through Policies

A problem that many server administrators have to deal with is ensuring that all the parameters on a server are appropriate and that no one has been messing around with those server's parameters. Additionally, they may need to change a server parameter on each of hundreds of servers. With ZENworks for Servers 3, the administrator can change that one parameter on all the servers in your network with a single mouse click.

In ZENworks for Servers 3, you can manage selected servers or all the servers in the network through policies that are stored in your directory. These policies enable you to specify such items as server parameters and how a server should shut down (called a downing policy). As ZENworks for Servers 3 continues to mature, many policies that describe server behavior and response will be implemented into the product.

By placing these policies in Novell eDirectory, ZENworks for Servers 3 allows you to enforce a common set of values and behaviors for the servers in the tree. You can associate these policies to any individual server, a group of servers, or to a container higher in the tree and affect all servers below that container. Changing a single value in the policy automatically effects change on all the servers that are associated with that policy either by direct association or by containment.

Tiered Electronic Distribution

In many environments, files and systems need to reside on many servers across a diverse network. Often an administrator must spend many hours or write many tools to transmit files across the network to many different servers. You may, for example, have several application servers in your network many in different parts of the world and you need to make sure that the application files on each of these servers are identical to the golden image that you have in the network. Today, you have to manually copy these files or write some homemade tool to do the work for you. With ZENworks for Servers 3, and, more specifically, Tiered Electronic Distribution (TED), these files can be easily transmitted across the world to all the required servers.

In ZENworks for Servers 3, the administrator goes into eDirectory and administers a set of agents called distributors and subscribers. These agents, through the directory, discover the files that need to be transmitted across the network and efficiently transmit them across to the specified servers in your network. All administration of these agents is stored in eDirectory objects, allowing you to effect change efficiently and completely through the directory.

After these files are received on the target server, the system invokes a local agent to unpack the bundle and deliver it to the specified file directories. TED can move any type of file through the network. TED can distribute files to NetWare, Windows NT/2000, Linux, and Solaris environments.

Server Software Packages

TED, described in the preceding section, is a terrific way to move files through your network to be placed on your servers in or outside your tree. One type of file group that TED can move is called a Server Software Package. These Server Software Packages are sets of files and scripts that describe how the server files are to be automatically installed on a server. Can you imagine the savings if you could move a support pack for your servers through your network with TED and have it automatically installed on all your servers? It's going to save a tremendous amount of time having the system automatically upgrade all your servers with a few commands in the directory.

You, as the administrator, simply go into ConsoleOne. After you're there, you administer a server package. This includes generating a script to load or unload NLMs, services, or Java components; logging out users; and so forth, before and after exercising the installation of the files. You can describe when the Server Software Packages should be installed, on what versions of the server, and so forth. With all this control, you can install the package with confidence.

SNMP Services

The management services that you have become accustomed to in ManageWise are in the ZENworks for Servers 3 product. Additionally, the SNMP services that enable you to receive SNMP alerts and then act on them are also included in the ZENworks for Servers product.

From within ConsoleOne, you can navigate through an updated map of your network, browsing for alerts and looking at the current status of any server or router in your network. This physical view of the world is seamlessly merged with the logical view presented in eDirectory, enabling you to move effortlessly between the two to quickly make any administration changes that require your attention.

Alarm Management Services

ZENworks for Servers 3 continues to provide the alarm management services that were provided in the ManageWise product. ZENworks for Servers 3 enables you to continue to set alarm thresholds on each of the measured attributes for your network or individual server. When these alarm thresholds are hit, the console in ConsoleOne displays the information and follows the procedures that you have outlined with regard to notifying the proper personnel.

Server Inventory and Trending

ZENworks for Servers 3 also performs inventory for each of the NetWare and NT/2000 servers that are in your network. This inventory is stored in a ZENworks database stored on your designated server in the network. From this inventory information you can generate reports, with various options to help you get a handle on the hardware that you have in your network.

Additionally, the trending information is stored in ZENworks for Servers 3, enabling you to get some longer-term information on the performance and behavior of your servers. This enables you to anticipate problems before they happen and get the changes into your network before you see the effects of the problem.

iManage Interface

You have access to a majority of the functionality of ZENworks for Servers 3, particularly in dealing with a specific server, in the iManage interface that is supplied in the NetWare 6 product. iManage is a Web-based interface that runs on NetWare 6 and Windows NT/2000 servers and enables the administrator to manage many aspects of Novell's eDirectory via a browser on any desktop. This can prove extremely useful when you need to make changes to your network quickly while you are on vacation. ZENworks for Servers 3 delivers the plug-ins necessary for the NetWare server that enable you to manage your ZENworks for Servers environment from the iManage interface.

Common Management Console

ConsoleOne is the common administration tool that Novell is using to manage all its products. This allows you to have only a single tool to use and understand to manage all Novell products. Also, with all the administration functionality in a single place, there can be some synergy between the server management and eDirectory management, enabling you to move seamlessly between the logical and physical views of your network.