Novell ZENWORKS 10 CONFIGURATION MANAGEMENT SP3 - SYSTEM PLANNING-DEPLOYMENT-BEST PRACTICES GUIDE 10.3 30-03-2010 System Planning Manual page 71

Assigning Bundles
A major feature in ZENworks Configuration Management is the ability to inherit assignments from
multiple places within the system. With this feature, it is very easy to assign a bundle or bundle
group to many devices in seconds. You do not need to assign bundles to each device, which saves
time and money.
Based on your folder and group design, we recommend that you use folder or group assignments
instead of direct assignments. Use these indirect assignments wherever possible to increase speed
and reduce administration effort. If you utilize folders and groups for as many of your assignments
as possible, you can deliver updates to hundreds of devices when you need to get them there, even
immediately.
Best practices on how to leverage folders and groups include:
If you have a set of bundles that are required for all devices in a site, use the site folder to assign
these bundles or bundle groups.
If you have special bundles that are used in one or more departments, assign these bundles only
to the department folders.
If you have bundles that are used by several devices in different folders, set up groups for
assignments.
Only use direct assignments if a single device or a small number of devices need special
assignments.
For more information, see
Software Distribution Reference.
Importing and Exporting Bundles
Novell best practice dictates that a new application or change to an existing application in the
environment should use a testing phase that does not affect the production network. We recommend
that a development zone (DEV-ZONE) be created with its own ZENworks Configuration
Management structure that mirrors the production network. After an application has been approved
for production deployment, it should then be moved from the DEV-ZONE to the production zone
(PROD-ZONE). Currently there is no way to export MSI files from the Content Repository, so we
recommend that all source files are retained; otherwise, there will be no source to be imported into
production (see TID 3053696 (http://www.novell.com/support/)
To export bundles:
1 From the DEV-ZONE ZCM server, export the bundle to a specific export directory by using the
following command:
zman bundle-export-to-file /bundle_path/bundle_name bundle_filename.xml
If the application has no dependencies and is not a Windows MSI bundle, a single
bundle_filename.xml
into the Content Repository, two files will be created:
bundle_filename_ActionContentInfo.xml
For example, you can export the officeXP bundle to
bundle-export-to-file officeXP officeXP.xml
officeXP_ActionContentInfo.xml files are created.
"Managing Bundles" in the
is created. If there are dependencies or MSI content to be imported
ZENworks 10 Configuration Management
on the Novell Support page).
bundle_filename.xml
.
by using the
officeXP.xml
command. The
officeXP.xml
and
zman
and
Performing Design Activities 71