10.0 Registration Overview

Novell® ZENworks® Linux Management provides simplified, hands-off management of devices (servers and workstations). Before you can configure application settings through the use of policies, install packages using bundles or catalogs, use preboot services to image devices, collect hardware and software inventory, remotely manage devices, and report on events, you need to install the ZENworks Linux Management Agent on devices and register them against a ZENworks Server.

The ZENworks Management Zone is the top level of the ZENworks management hierarchy. The Management Zone provides an autonomous administrative unit of ZENworks Servers and managed devices (workstations and servers). You use the ZENworks Control Center (the Web-based administrative tool) to manage devices. The ZENworks Servers and managed devices work together to apply the management tasks.

Any device that you want to manage must be registered in the Management Zone. Registering the device adds the device to the ZENworks Object Store and allows you to manage it through the ZENworks Control Center.

For Novell ZENworks to manage a device, you must install the ZENworks Agent software on the device. During installation of the ZENworks Agent software, the device is automatically registered as long as you (or whoever is installing the software) supplies the DNS name or IP address of a ZENworks Server in your Management Zone. You can also register devices at a later time. For more information, see Section 11.0, Registering Devices.

You can also create registration keys or registration rules to register devices in the Management Zone.

Using registration keys lets you define the keys that are used to register devices in the Management Zone. A registration key specifies a set of assignments that are applied to devices that register using that key. The key must be applied during installation of the ZENworks Agent on a device, either manually or by using a script. For more information, see Section 12.1, Managing Registration Keys

If you do not want to use registration keys, you can create registration rules to determine a device's assignments when it registers without using a key. The major difference between using the default registration rules versus using a registration key is that the default registration rules use a filter to determine which set of device assignments to apply, but a key corresponds directly to a specific set of assignments to apply. For more information, see Section 12.2, Managing Registration Rules.