## Glossary¶

Action

  A task that is scheduled by a system administrator using SUSE Manager to be performed on one or more client systems. For example, an action can be scheduled to update the kernel packages on all the systems within a selected group.

Activation Key

  SUSE Manager Management and Provisioning customers can generate activation keys through the SUSE Manager website. Each unique key can then be used to “activate” (register) a client system (either SLE or RHEL), entitle the system to SUSE Manager, subscribe the system to specific channels, and subscribe the system to SUSE Manager system groups through the command line utility rhnreg_ks from the bootstrap script.

Base Channel

  A base channel is a type of Channel that consists of a list of packages based on a specific architecture and SUSE release. For example, all the packages in SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP1 for the x86 architecture make a base channel.

Bug Fix Alert

  An Patch Alert that pertains to a bug fix.

Bugzilla

  Bugzilla is an online application (http://bugzilla.novell.com) that allows users to communicate directly with the developers. From Bugzilla, users can submit bug reports and feature requests for SUSE Linux Enterprise and related open source packages.

Certificate Authority

  A Certificate Authority distributes digital signatures to users as part of public key infrastructure for encrypted authentication and communication.

Channel

  A channel is a list of software packages. There are two types of channels: base channels and child channels. Channels are used to choose packages to be installed from client systems. Every client system must be subscribed to one Base Channel and can be subscribed to one or more Child Channel.

Channel Administrator

  A user role with full access to channel management capabilities. Users with this role are capable of creating channels, assigning packages to channels, cloning channels, and deleting channels. This role can be assigned by an organization administrator through the Users tab of the Web interface.

Child Channel

  A child channel is a Channel associated with a Base Channel but contains extra packages.

Client System

  See Registered System.

Digital Certificate

  A client component in XML format that is stored in the `/etc/sysconfig/rhn/systemid` file on registered systems. SUSE Manager verifies this certificate to authenticate the registered system before each connection. This certificate is issued by SUSE and passed to the system as part of the registration process. It includes unique information about the registered system to avoid fraudulent use.

Email Notification

  Similar to an Patch Alert , except the information is delivered via email. If the email notifications option is selected, notifications are sent for every Patch Alert. The email includes the type of patch alert, summary of the patches, description of the patch, and a list of which systems are affected by the report.

Enhancement Alert

  A Patch Alert that pertains to a package enhancement request.

Organization Administrator

  A user role with the highest level of control over an organization's SUSE Manager account. Members of this role can add other users, systems, and system groups to the organization as well as remove them.

Patches

  Information published by SUSE describing security fixes, bug fixes, and package enhancements for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server. The information includes the topics of the patch, Bugzilla bug IDs, relevant releases/architectures, solutions including required RPMs, and file checksums for verification. Each Novell Patch Alert is based on the SUSE Linux Enterprise patch list.

  Security issues and bug fixes are submitted by SUSE engineers as well as the Linux community through Bugzilla which generates a bug report for each issue. SUSE engineering evaluates the reports, resolves the bug, and generates new RPM packages. After the SUSE quality assurance team tests new packages they are placed on the SUSE public file server and a patch is generated.

Patch Alert

  Patch alert that updated packages based on SUSE patches are available for one or more systems within an organization. There are three types of patch alerts: security alerts, bug fix alerts, and enhancement alerts.

Management

  One of Novell's service level offerings. It has more features than the update service level, including user management, system groups, and enhanced system details.

Notification Method

  An email address to which SUSE Manager monitoring messages will be sent.

Package

  All software in SUSE Linux Enterprise is divided into software packages. Software updates are released in the form of RPM packages that can be installed on a SUSE Linux Enterprise system.

Probe

  A set of criteria that is either a template or a set of values assigned to a system that is used to measure the performance of a system.

Probe State

  The measure of a probe's adherence to its defined criteria. States include: OK, Warning, Critical, Pending, Unknown

Probe Suite

  collection or group of SUSE Manager monitoring probes.

Provisioning

  One of the Novell Customer Center service level offerings. It has more features than the Management service level, including autoinstalling, reconfiguring, tracking, and reverting systems.

Red Hat Update Agent

  A client application for Red Hat Enterprise Linux client systems that allows users to retrieve and install all updated packages for the client system on which the application is run. Use the Red Hat Update Agent Configuration Tool to configure its preferences, including whether to install the packages after they are downloaded. For Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 clients, use the yum command; for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 clients and lower, use the up2date command. For SUSE Linux Enterprise clients, the equivalent is the zypper up command.

Registered System

  A system that is registered with SUSE Manager. Also known as a client system.

RPM

  A software package manager that was developed by Red Hat Inc. It can be used to build, install, query, verify, update, and uninstall software packages. All software updates from SUSE Manager are delivered in RPM format.

RPM Database

  Each SUSE Linux Enterprise system has an RPM database that stores information about all the RPM packages installed on the system. This information includes the version of the package, which files were installed with the package, a brief description of the package, the installation date, and more.

RPM Update

  Deliver the RPM packages based on the Patch Alert list to a client system without user intervention. If this feature is selected, packages are delivered through the SUSE Manager Daemon running on the client system.

Security Alert

  An Patch Alert that pertains to system security.

Service Level

  A Novell subscription service. Different service levels offer different features of SUSE Manager. There are three paid service levels currently available: update, management, and provisioning.

Sibling

  Siblings are virtual guests running on the same host. Virtual guests that run on separate hosts are not siblings.

Software Manager

  The name of the first Service Level offering for SUSE Manager.

SUSE Manager Administrator

  SUSE Manager Administrator are sets of users that have the highest level of control over an organization's SUSE Manager account. Members of this group can add users, systems, and system groups to the organization as well as remove them. An SUSE Manager Administrator can also give users administrative privileges to system groups. An organization must have at least one member of the SUSE Manager Administrator group.

SUSE Manager Bootstrap Script

  The bootstrap script (bootstrap.sh) is a script on your SUSE Manager server which has to be enabled in Admin+SUSE Manager Configuration+Bootstrap Script first before its initial use. It is executed on clients and collects all information needed by the SUSE Manager server like System Profile and Digital Certificate. The script establishes a connection to your server and registers the clients.

SUSE Manager Daemon

  The SUSE Manager client daemon (rhnsd) that periodically polls for scheduled actions.

System Directory

  The System Directory section of SUSE Manager allows an organization to divide its client systems into system groups. Only members of the SUSE Manager Administrator group can add systems to the organization.

System ID

  A unique string of characters and numbers that identifies a registered system. It is stored in the system's Digital Certificate.

System Profile

  Hardware and software information about the client system. It is created during the registration process. The software information is a list of RPM packages and their versions installed on the client system. The system profile is used to determine every Patch Alert relevant to each client system.

System Set Manager

  Interface that allows users to perform actions on multiple systems. Actions include applying patch updates, upgrading packages, and adding/removing systems to/from system groups.

Update

  One of the Novell Customer Center service level offerings.

Traceback

  A traceback is a detailed description of “what went wrong” that is useful for troubleshooting SUSE Manager. Tracebacks are automatically generated when a critical error occurs and are mailed to the individual(s) designated in the SUSE Manager's configuration file.

Virtual Guest

  Any of the virtual instances running on the virtual host, under the control of the hypervisor. Also referred to as domain U or domU.

Virtual Host

  The physical system that supports the hypervisor and all guest systems. The virtual host may also be referred to as domain 0, or dom0.

Yellowdog Updater Modified (yum)

  The Yellowdog Updater Modified is the Red Hat Network client application (yum) that allows users to retrieve and install new or updated packages for the client system on which the application is run.

Zypper

  Zypper is a command line package manager for installing, updating and removing packages as well as for managing repositories.