Guidelines for Client Software Administration

Managing software on a standalone system is fairly straightforward, after you're familiar with the package installation tools and conventions. You install the software package on a system's local disk and that software is then available for use. However, managing software on client systems can be more difficult--especially when the software resides partially on the server and partially on the client. (For example, a piece of software might have a package with files that are installed on the client's root file system and a package with files that are installed on the /usr file system, which the client typically mounts from a server.)