Computer Provisioning via Zivios
As we approach our launch date, much work is being done to tidy up various Zivios processes. The default module for Zivios, which is responsible for directory management and various directory elements like users, groups and computers, is under heavy development and subject to constant changes. This however doesn’t highlight a haphazard thought process inasmuch as it highlights constant research being done to make the end user experience as pain-free as possible.
When we started out with the “computer addition” model, we had decided that the Zivios agent had to be configured and running on the remote machine being added — this is quite similar to how Novell Zenworks does it. However, this makes adding a single machine a slightly more complex task than it should be. For example, the user has to:
- Configure the Zivios Agent manually.
- Generate digital certificates as Zivios communication must be secure.
- Ensure that LDAP integration is in place for the NIS service.
- Generate and propagate Kerberos keytabs (at a later stage as required).
- Configure DNS manually on the remote machine so it recognizes the master DNS service.
- Make entries in the DNS service either prior to, or after the machine has been added.
The current process however has changed all this. Zivios no longer requires you to do any of the aforementioned tasks. Instead, the only requirements are:
- SSHd should be running on the remote machine.
- The Zivios agent daemon simply has to be installed (not configured).
Zivios will take care of all tasks (as specified via options from the web panel) and generate digital certificates, do remote agent configuration and initialization, as well as DNS, Kerberos and NTP configuration as per the machine architecture and system distribution.
A separate transaction window has also been added to the system which will handle rollbacks and detailed debug on the object level of all actions performed. Administrators can actually step through every single Zivios action (by switching transactional debug on) and not only view, but rollback operations in case of failure.
Our current todo list now includes the addtional user-controlled rollback implementation for the most common tasks.
sweet!