Sun Management Center Change Manager 1.0 Administration Guide

Chapter 1 Sun Management Center Change Manager (Overview)

The Sun^TM Management Center Change Manager, henceforth referred to as Change Manager, is a system management application that enables system administrators to quickly and efficiently install and manage Solaris^TM Flash archives across a large number of managed hosts. System administrators can create consistent software configurations that are easier to manage. System administrators can also improve their ability to know exactly what is running on their managed hosts by using the Change Manager.

Change Manager is based on the Sun Management Center service and agent infrastructure. In this release, a single instance of the Sun Management Center service and agent layers support both the Sun Management Center console and Change Manager. Plans for a future release of Sun Management Center include a shared web-based user interface. Then, Change Manager functionality should be available from the Sun Management Center console. Sun Management Center features, such as system monitoring, should also be available from the Change Manager console.

The following topics are covered in this chapter:

Change Manager Features

Change Manager enables system administrators to quickly and easily install, configure, update, and audit software running on large groups of replicated systems.

Key to accomplishing these tasks is the software stack, a set of one or more software elements installed as a Solaris Flash archive on a managed host. The stack is a well-defined set of files, which must include, at a minimum, the Solaris operating environment. For example, a software stack might include the Solaris 9 operating environment, with the Apache web server, and the Oracle® database.

Following are the main features of Change Manager:

Quick and easy deployment of integrated software stacks, which are in the form of Solaris Flash archives, to managed hosts
Rapid reprovisioning of systems to adapt to changes in the computing needs of your business
Installation of software on a cloned set of managed hosts while they continue to run, by using the Solaris Live Upgrade feature
Easy creation of reference software configurations for the managed hosts
Easy maintenance of reference software configurations for the managed hosts
Scheduling and automation of software installations or reprovisioning of services
Audit of software stacks that are running on any managed host or groups of managed hosts
Easy-to-use browser-based interface (see Appendix A, Navigating Through the Change Manager Browser Interface (Reference)) as well as a command-line interface for scripting and for use by expert users (see changemgr(1MCM))

Change Manager Overview (Task Map)

The following task map shows what you need to do to install managed hosts by using Change Manager.

Task	Description	For Instructions
If you want, install the Sun Management Center 3.0 Performance Reporting Manager.	Install and configure the Sun Management Center 3.0 Performance Reporting Manager before installing Change Manager.	See Sun Management Center 3.0 Performance Reporting Manager User's Guide.
Install the Change Manager server.	Install and configure the Change Manager server with Sun Management Center 3.0 and Change Manager 1.0 software.	See Chapter 3, Installing, Configuring, and Accessing the Change Manager Server (Tasks).
Create a customizable Solaris Flash archive.	Create a customizable Solaris Flash archive on a master system. Install and configure software on a master system Determine which software parameters the deployment user should be able to set at deployment time Write deployment finish scripts to process the user-supplied values at deployment time. These scripts customize the software for its operational environment (Optional) Create a baseline manifest of the software stack Create a Solaris Flash archive	See Chapter 4, Creating a Deployable Solaris Flash Archive (Tasks).
Populate the Change Manager repository and topology.	Populate the Change Manager repository with files needed to run deployment and audit jobs. You can create some files by using the user interface and you can import existing files to the repository. Populate the Change Manager topology with managed hosts on which to run the deployment and audit jobs.	See Chapter 5, Installing Solaris Flash Archives on Managed Hosts (Tasks) if you are preparing to perform software installations by using Change Manager. See Chapter 6, Auditing Software Configurations (Tasks) if you are preparing to audit managed hosts that are already installed by Change Manager.
Run deployment jobs.	Run deployment jobs on managed hosts or groups of managed hosts. Set up installation profiles Install managed hosts Update managed hosts Reinstall managed hosts Fall back to the previous boot environment Reboot managed hosts Halt managed hosts	See Chapter 5, Installing Solaris Flash Archives on Managed Hosts (Tasks).
Run audit jobs and view audit reports.	Run audit jobs on managed hosts or groups of managed hosts. Build manifests for managed hosts Audit managed hosts Get the software status of managed hosts Also, view the output of audit jobs.	See Chapter 6, Auditing Software Configurations (Tasks).
Monitor jobs.	Monitor jobs by examining the job queue and logs.	See Chapter 7, Monitoring Jobs (Tasks).
Maintain the Change Manager repository and topology.	Maintain deployment and audit files in the Change Manager repository. Also maintain managed hosts in the Change Manager topology. Repository Create folders Rename files and folders Import files Export files Create copies of shared profiles and audit rules files Move files and folders to other folders Delete files and folders Topology Create host groups Rename managed hosts and host groups Copy managed hosts and host groups to other host groups Move managed hosts and host groups to other host groups Remove managed hosts and host groups	See Chapter 8, Maintaining the Change Manager Repository (Tasks) if you are maintaining the Change Manager repository. See Chapter 9, Maintaining the Change Manager Topology (Tasks) if you are maintaining the Change Manager topology.

User Overview

Typically, Change Manager operations can be performed by three classes of administrator: server administrator, deployment user, and software stack creator. Sometimes the duties performed by each user might overlap. These users perform the following functions:

Server administrator - Installs and administers the Change Manager software on the Change Manager server
Deployment user - Uses the Change Manager server to manage hosts
- Manages the Change Manager repository of file objects, such as Solaris Flash archives and associated installation boot images
- Gathers objects required for deployment tasks, such as Solaris boot images
- Creates objects required for audit tasks, such as audit rules files
- Adds systems to be managed by the Change Manager
- Creates host groups, which are collections of managed hosts
- Schedules deployment operations
- Schedules audit operations
- Installs Solaris Flash archives on managed hosts
- Audits the software contents of managed hosts
- Manages manifests and audit rules files
- Monitors the status of long-running management operations
- Views the reports, such as manifest comparison reports or software status reports
- Views the job log to diagnose failed operations
Software stack creator - Creates the software stacks to be deployed by the Change Manager, but this function is optional if you plan to install existing Solaris Flash archives