Novell ZENworks 6.5, which adds Novell's ZENworks Linux Management, ZENworks Patch Management, and AdminStudio ZENworks Edition products, to the ZENworks suite, is available today, according to Novell.
ZENworks Linux Management (formerly Ximian Red Carpet Enterprise, purchased by Novell last summer) provides centralized management of Linux server and desktop systems. Thanks to the addition of Linux Management to the ZENworks suite, ZENworks 6.5 can now manage Windows, Novell and Linux systems.
Linux Management works with most of the leading Linux distributions, including SuSE and Red Hat, according to Alan Murray, Director of Product Management and Marketing for Novell Resource Management. "ZENworks Linux Management lets you deploy patches, fixes, apps, et cetera to serves, blades, desktops and laptops," said Murray.
Features of Linux Management include dependency and conflict resolution for software packages, and the ability to take updates from a broad range of public and private sources, including updates from Novell, SUSE LINUX, Red Hat and other third-party solutions.
"The first thing that Linux Management does is analyze the package state and determine the chain of dependencies, and then install it all seamlessly," Murray explained. "This helps avoid 'dependency hell' in updating a Linux system."