Upgrading ZENworks Linux Management from Previous Versions

ZENworks 7 Linux Management has a very different architecture than previous releases. For example, ZENworks 7 Linux Management has introduced an object store to manage the system. Consequently there is a migration process involved in moving to this version.

You can use two techniques to move information from your existing ZENworks Linux Management system to the new ZENworks 7 Linux Management installation: synchronization or migration.

The synchronization method copies the RPM files and brings them into the new system, whereas the migration method imports the database along with the RPM files. Both methods require that the new agent be installed on the device for it to be managed by the new system.

Because of the information length of time to migrate the database, and because the migration brings over only the package information, it is preferable to use the synchronization method to bring your packages over from your ZENworks Linux Management 6.6 system. After that synchronization is complete, redirect your new ZENworks 7 to the Novell corporate update site.

Synchronization Method

The synchronization method requires that you retrieve channels from your existing ZENworks Linux Management 6.6 installation just as you would synchronizing other Linux sources into ZENworks 7 Linux Management. See Chapter 12, "Keeping ZENworks Linux Management Servers Synchronized," for more detailed information.

Channels in the existing system will become bundles in the new system. They are placed in a catalog that is assigned to all the devices, allowing them to retrieve all the updated RPMs.

When the agent is installed on the device, the device registers with the new ZENworks 7 system and then begins receiving its updates from there. To install the agent you can place the ZENworks 7 agent RPMs into a channel and then have the device perform a transaction to run the setup. Be sure to modify the configuration files to point your devices to the new ZENworks 7 system.

The synchronization method gets all the RPMs and channels over to your new system. The inventory is regenerated by the new system. Transactions are not available in the new system and have to be re-created with a Remote Execute policy.

Migration Method

The migration method delivers all the database information that is relevant along with the files for the RPMs. This step, however, requires some manual administration.

Complete the following steps to migrate your system to the new ZENworks 7:

1.	Log in to the existing ZENworks 6.6.x system as root.
2.	Dump the existing ZENworks database by executing the following command: pg_dump -R -c -f rcserver.dump rcserver U rcadmin This creates a dump of the database.
3.	Copy the resulting dumped database and all the packages from the/ximian directory over to the new ZENworks 7 system using the secure copy command: scp r rcserver.dump /ximian root@<server> This copies the files to the home directory of root on the target server.
4.	The next step is to create a new database on the new ZENworks 7 Linux Management server and load the dumped information into this new database. Log in to the ZENworks 7 server as root and execute the following:: a. Verify zlm-upgrade is in your path. It should be located at /opt/novell/zenworks/bin/zlm-upgrade. b. Retrieve the password to the ZENworks database by doing a cat /etc/opt/novell/zenworks/secretserver and capturing the output. c. Switch to postgres user with the su postgres command. d. Create the database you need by entering the following command: postgres@server:/# createdb U zenadmin zlm661 e. Type Ctrl+D to return to root user. f. Now that the database is created, you need to configure postgres to use it. Do this by editing the /var/lib/pqsql/data/pq_hba.conf file and add the following entries: local zlm661 zenadmin md5 host zlm661 zenadmin 0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0 md5 Save the file. g. Enter the command /etc/init.d/postgresql restart and wait for the database to finish coming up. h. Enter the following to import the dumped data into the zlm661 database: psql U zenadmin zlm661 <rcserver.dump When prompted for a password, enter the key from the secretserver file.
5.	Run the following command to migrate the data from the database and the file system packages into ZENworks 7: [View full width] /opt/novell/zenworks/bin/zlm-upgrade zlm661 zenadmin ximian/red-carpet-server <password from secretserver file>
6.	When these steps are completed, the temporary database may be removed. Now all the package information, channels, and so on have been brought into ZENworks 7. Additionally, the administrators have been created in the new system and the RPM files have been copied into the proper locations.