Novell® ZENworks® 11 SP4 is the next support pack release of the ZENworks Suite. This new version of the product is focused on addressing key usability and supportability issues that we’ve heard from you, our customers. In this article, we’re going to take a look at the additional value that we are providing in ZENworks Configuration Management, ZENworks Asset Management, ZENworks Patch Management, ZENworks Endpoint Security Management and ZENworks Full Disk Encryption.
The new features and benefits include:
- New and improved virtual appliances
- ZENworks Reporting 5.6.1
- ZENworks Update Service (ZeUS)
- Improved SSL certificate authority and server certificate management
- License entitlement support for GroupWise 2014 and Open Enterprise Server
- Remote Management updates and improvements
- Endpoint Security enhancements
In addition to the major changes described here, there are a handful of other capabilities that customers have requested through our enhancement request process. For information about these changes, see the “What’s New” section of the ZENworks 11 SP4 documentation. Also check out the article about the new and improved Novell Enhancement Request process.
New and Improved Virtual Appliances
Novell ZENworks has provided a virtual appliance since the release of ZENworks 10 SP3. However, over the years we’ve heard about a number of pain points, such as:
- “It feels like just another machine I have to manage.”
- “The upgrade process is too complex.”
- “Security patches aren’t being provided.”
With ZENworks 11 SP4, we have put a lot of effort into building new appliances for both the core ZENworks Primary Server and the ZENworks Reporting server, which now makes the appliance the best platform for hosting ZENworks. These appliances are available for hosting on VMware VSphere, Citrix XEN, SUSE XEN and Microsoft Hyper-V.
Let’s take a look at a few things we’ve done to address the issues.
This article was first published in OHM29, p25-29, June 2015. Please SUBSCRIBE if you wish to see the full article.