Policy-Enabled Server Management Services

Policy-enabled server management services enable you to manage the server via policies in eDirectory. Additionally, these services enable you to activate the electronic distribution capabilities of ZENworks for Servers. With TED, you can transmit files across the network and have them placed on any server in the network that has a TED subscriber agent loaded. The policy-enabled server management services are made from the following components.

Server Policies and Packages

This set of software from the system enables you to manage your NetWare, Windows NT/2000, Linux, and Solaris servers from eDirectory. These features include the capability to create policies in a server policy package and then have these policies applied to the servers that are associated with the policy package.

The server software packages represent a set of software files that are constructed into bundles of server software (NLMs, EXEs and so forth) that can be distributed with TED and then installed on the NetWare, Windows NT/2000, Linux, and Solaris servers. The package enables such controls as unloading and loading NLMs or services prior to installation.

For more information on server policies see Chapter 5. A more detailed discussion of server software packages is found in Chapter 7.

The following sections discuss the items that are installed on the identified servers when Server Policy and Packages services are installed.

Server Manager Engine

The Server Manager Engine is a Java program that receives policies through a policy package and applies these policies to the server where this engine is running. The files that are required for the Server Manager engine are stored on the SYS volume in the SManager directory.

The files in the SManager directory are a set of Java libraries and modules that, when run on the server, construct the engine. Additionally, several NLMs are also stored in this directory. These NLMs are helper programs that the Java applications call to perform actions on the server.

To be able to run the Server Manager Engine, each of the servers must be able to run the Java environment and load the several helper NLMs.

AUTOEXEC.NCF Modifications

In the process of the install, the AUTOEXEC.NCF file may be modified. The line SYS:\ZENWORKS\PDS\SMANAGER\ZFS.NCF is added to load the ZFS.NCF file.

The ZFS.NCF file, when executed, starts up the NLMs required for the server to communicate with other servers participating in the ZENworks for Servers system. The file also starts up the Java system with the programs to perform the management functions that control policies being set on servers and software packages being extracted on the subscribers.

Remote Web Console

Remote Web Console is an HTTP service that enables you as an administrator to connect with a browser and receive HTML screens with information from the various distributors and subscribers in your network. You can have as many remote Web consoles in the network as you want, but you do not need a remote Web console on every server that you are managing. You need only one in each geographical location, and from there you can manage all the servers in the system. The Remote Web Console is started on the server with the sys\rwc\rwc.ncf file. If you chose to allow the installer to modify AUTOEXEC.NCF, this command is also added to start the RWC process each time the system restarts.

ConsoleOne Snap-ins

ConsoleOne snap-ins for administration of policy and distribution services are installed on the server or local workstation based on the installation choices. The various snap-ins for policy services are stored in the snapins\zen directory (ZENworks for Desktops 4 also stores some snap-ins in this same directory), whereas the Distribution Services snap-ins are stored in the snapins\ted directory of ConsoleOne.

Policies Database

When you request that a database be placed on the server, the install checks whether the proper Sybase engine has been installed on the server and whether the ZENworks for Servers database is present.

The system makes sure that the Sybase database engine is installed on the server. This database engine is stored in the \zenworks\dbengine directory of the volume you chose during installation. Additionally, the system installs the ZENworks for Servers database called zfslog.db, located in the \zenworks\pds\db\. Although several different databases are stored for the ZENworks for Servers product, this one is the repository for logging the events and activities of the server management engine that enforces and applies policies and for the TED distributors and subscribers. This database, unlike the site management database file, can coexist on a server that has ZENworks for Desktops 3 inventory database. The site management database uses a different version of the Sybase engine to load it.

During the install, the file SYS:\SYSTEM\MGMTDBS.NCF is created or modified to launch the Sybase database with the zfslog.db database files. Several databases may be open on the server at the same time to enable the various aspects of ZENworks for Servers to access their separate databases at the same time. There is only one instance of the actual Sybase NLM, but the several different databases are simultaneously accessible.

Tiered Electronic Distribution

Tiered Electronic Distribution, also referred to as TED, is the system that enables the network to transfer bundles of files, called distributions, across the network to several server destinations. TED has been designed and implemented to be efficient in the network and to handle the scalability needed for the enterprise networks.

The behavior of the TED system is managed via eDirectory objects in the tree. From there, you can identify the sets of files to move and the destinations where the files should arrive. More details concerning the functionality of TED can be found in Chapter 6, "Setting Up Tiered Electronic Distribution."

The TED system is made up of several Java components and some NLMs and DLLs that help in providing direct file support. TED is composed of a distributor that sends distributions to entities called subscribers. The subscribers, when completed with the reception of the distributions, verify their contents and then activate software modules called agents, which are responsible for the unpacking and installation of the distributions. The distributor and subscribers need to be active on the server at all times, whereas the agents are launched only when needed and are terminated when their work is complete. In ZENworks for Servers 3, the distributor and subscriber are combined into a single Java component.

Distributor

The distributor is responsible for sending files to subscribers throughout the network. The distributor is launched on the server by loading the SYS:\ZENWORKS\PDS\TED\TED.NCF file. The TED.NCF file determines whether the server is a distributor and then starts up the Java system, if it is not already running, and starts up threads for the distributor process. The distributor then authenticates into eDirectory and collects the configuration information for itself and all the subscribers to which it sends distributions. If you chose to allow the installer to modify AUTOEXEC.NCF, this command is also added to start the distributor process each time the system restarts.

Subscriber

The subscriber is responsible for receiving files from distributors or "parent" subscribers, which are subscribers who are told to forward files on to another subscriber. The subscriber is launched on a NetWare server by loading the SYS:\ZENWORKS\PDS\TED\TED.NCF file and is a service on Windows NT/2000, Linux, and Solaris servers that can be configured to launch automatically when the system is started. If you chose to allow the installer to modify AUTOEXEC.NCF, this command is also added to start the subscriber process each time the system restarts.

Database

The TED system logs information into the logging database to enable you to run reports against the system. The TED system shares the zfslog.db database with the policy services.