Review the following sections to meet the prerequisites for the external database you plan to use:
To use the PostgreSQL database, ensure that the following prerequisites are met:
Install and set up the PostgreSQL database so that it can be updated during ZENworks installation. For more information, see Installing PostgreSQL.
During ZENworks installation, you must specify a database user. Ensure that the database user has read/write permissions to create and modify the tables on the database server.
NOTE:For this database, ZENworks support provides problem determination, provision of compatibility information, installation assistance, usage support, ongoing maintenance, and basic troubleshooting. For additional support, including extended troubleshooting and error resolution, see the PostgreSQL Support web site.
To use the Microsoft SQL Server database for ZENworks, ensure that the Microsoft SQL Server software is installed on the database server so that the ZENworks installation program can create the new Microsoft SQL database. For instructions on installing the Microsoft SQL Server software, refer to the Microsoft documentation.
For MS SQL, set the READ_COMMITTED_SNAPSHOT setting to ON so that it allows read access to information in the database while data is being written or modified.
To set the READ_COMMITTED_SNAPSHOT setting to ON, execute the following command at the database server prompt:
ALTER DATABASE database_name SET READ_COMMITTED_SNAPSHOT ON;
During the installation of the ZENworks database on Oracle, you can choose to create a new user schema or specify an existing one that resides on a server in your network.
Create a new user schema: Ensure that the following requirements are met:
You must have the database administrator credentials. Ensure that the administrator has Data Definition Language (DDL) and Redefinition rights with the Grant option (DBMS_LOCK, DBMS_REDEFINITION, and DBMS_DDL) enabled.
NOTE:Execute the following sql commands to provide the required rights to the administrator user:
GRANT ALL on DBMS_REDEFINITION TO system GRANT option;
GRANT ALL on DBMS_DDL TO system GRANT option;
GRANT ALL ON DBMS_LOCK TO system WITH GRANT OPTION;
A tablespace is needed for the Oracle access user. A tablespace is a storage location where the actual data underlying database objects can be kept. It provides a layer of abstraction between physical and logical data, and serves to allocate storage for all DBMS managed segments. (A database segment is a database object which occupies physical space such as table data and indexes.) Once created, a tablespace can be referred to by name when creating database segments.
The tablespace can be created by ZENworks or can be created by the Database Administrator.
The tablespace should have minimum 10 GB size for storing the ZENworks database schema. Ensure that the database server has the sufficient space.
The requirement of tablespace varies based on the number of devices in the Zone. For more information, see ZENworks Database Sizing and Performance Considerations.
Use an existing user schema: You can install to an existing Oracle user schema in the following scenarios:
The database administrator creates a user schema with the necessary rights, and you receive the credentials for that user schema from the database administrator. Database administrator credentials are not required to install to an existing Oracle user schema.
You create a user in the Oracle database and choose to use it during ZENworks installation.
If you choose to use an existing user schema, ensure that the following requirements are met:
The tablespace should have minimum 10 GB space for storing the ZENworks database schema. Ensure that the database server has the sufficient space.
The requirement of tablespace varies based on the number of devices in the Zone. For more information, see ZENworks Database Sizing and Performance Considerations.
The quota for the user schema is set to Unlimited on the tablespace that is required during installation.
Rights to create the database: Ensure that the user schema has the following rights to create the database:
IMPORTANT:The above privileges are used to modify tables only in ZENworks schema and not in any other schema. The DBMS_DDL and DBMS_REDEFINITION packages are used to restructure some of the tables, such as partitioning tables, during fresh installation of ZENworks.You can give the DBMS_DDL and DBMS_REDEFINITION rights to the user at the time of installation or upgrade. After the installation or upgrade is successful, you can revoke the DBMS_DDL and DBMS_REDEFINITION rights and also those privileges with ANY option.
For more details, see the Oracle database documentation.
You should grant the DBMS_LOCK execute rights to the ZENworks/ audit schema users to enable them to execute the privileges on DBMS_LOCK package.
For Oracle databases, performance can be affected by whether you configure your database to use a shared server or dedicated server processes. Each ZENworks Primary Server is configured with a database connection pool whose size fluctuates with the ZENworks system load. This pool can grow at peak loads to a maximum of 300 concurrent database connections per Primary Server. If your Oracle database is configured to use dedicated server processes, it is possible that your database server resource usage can reach undesirable levels that affect performance when there are multiple Primary Servers in your zone. If you encounter this problem, consider changing your ZENworks database to use shared server processes.
Day-to-Day Operations for Databases: Ensure that the ZENworks and Audit users have the minimum rights to function during database operations.
CREATE TRIGGER
CREATE SESSION
CREATE SEQUENCE
CREATE TYPE
CREATE PROCEDURE
CREATE VIEW
CREATE TABLE
DBMS_LOCK (Execute & Debug)
Oracle database and Real Application Clusters (RAC) version must be 12c R1 or above.
Tablespaces must be created by your database administrator manually (do not use ZENworks to create the tablespaces).
Shut down ZENworks services on all Primary Servers and Reporting Server before upgrading ZENworks.