Release Notes for SUSE Linux Enterprise Point of Service 11 SP1

• Delta Image creating, managing and distribution

  Network bandwidth can be an issue for many customers. To solve that problem we included into SUSE Linux Enterprise Point of Service 11 SP1 the ability to use image deltas instead of full images once a base image has been transferred towards the client side (the shop).

  Our solution includes the creation of an image delta, the transport and the full image regeneration on the client. The old image stays intact so in case of problems you could do a roll back to the old application.

  The delta can be generated with new command registerImages on Admin Server. This command can be also used for copying images to the slepos directory and adding them to LDAP, see SLEPOS Guide.

• Role Based Image handling

  It is possible to define several possible configurations and switch between them from the terminal itself manually or from an application via the newly implemented API. For details see chapter "Using Terminals with Roles" in SLEPOS Guide.

• Terminals now support rollback. It is possible to temporarily go back to the last working configuration instead of the one from current LDAP. The rollback menu is available after pressing C during terminal boot.

• Branch Server LDAP supports disconnected mode - when the connection to Admin Server is down, all LDAP modification performed on Branch Server are stored locally and then synchronized with Admin Server when the connection is restored.

• posAdmin.pl can be now used also from Branch Server, large changes in LDAP structure are however not supported. Alternatively, there is a new high-level tool named pos.pl, which provides functionality for monitoring workstations and Role related configuration.

• All commands and tools have unified verbosity and syslog options. In case of posAdmin this means that by default it is less verbose than before. The verbosity can be specified with --verbose=level or -v level for console and --syslog=level for syslog. Level can be one of emerg, alert, crit, err, warn, notice, info, debug.

• New supplementary packages:

  • input-utils

  • kiwi-desc-oemboot

  • kiwi-desc-usbboot

  • sblim-cmpi-smbios

• Building client images based on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11

  To build images against SLES-11-GM, it is necessary to edit the SLES11 section in /usr/share/SLEPOS/poscdtool.conf and change line 'commonname :SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP1:' to 'commonname :SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11:': and line 'majorversion 11.1' to 'majorversion 11'. You can also simply aplly following patch:

  --- /usr/share/SLEPOS/poscdtool.conf.orig 2010-05-11 20:49:38.000000000 +0200
  +++ /usr/share/SLEPOS/poscdtool.conf	  2010-05-11 20:50:19.000000000 +0200
  @@ -36,9 +36,9 @@
         
  
   dist SLES-11
  -commonname :SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP1:
  +commonname :SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11:
   product SUSE_SLES
  -majorversion 11.1
  +majorversion 11
   arch i586
   basedir SLES-11-SP1-DVD-i586
   revision GM
  
  

• KIWI & YaST Image Creator (the GUI front-end to KIWI for image building) are updated and enhanced. All types of media handled by YaST-Software Repositories are now supported for Image building.

• Admin Server ACL :

  • when adding scLocation object the '--userPassword' option is now required by posAdmin.pl where Branch Server`s (represented by scLocation object) is specified

  • posAdmin.pl manages acls when adding or removing scLocation (for checking acls, cn=config database may be listed ( 'ldapsearch -x -h <hostname> -D cn=admin,cn=config -w <password> -b cn=config')

• Admin Server Offline installation :

  • The Offline installation file (OIF) is generated by the 'posAdmin.pl --generate' command. The only mandatory parameter (excluding default mandatory parameters) is '--base' specifying the 'scLocation' of the Branch Server. The OIF is gzipped tar consisting of Branch Server ldap subtree export, global ldab subtree export, certificates, preset settings for easy branch installation.

• Branch Server Offline installation: 'posInitBranchserver.sh' is completely redesigned and now supports two installation modes.

  • Online installation: 'posInitBranchserver.sh' now additionally creates a local ldap Branch Server which is initialized using ldap syncrepl protocol. This is necessary for the upcoming offline Branch Server funcionality.

  • Offline installation: takes the OIF file generated on the Admin Server and configures the Branch Server including the creation of a local ldap Branch Server. Also supports non interactive batch initialization.

• New options in 'posInitBranchserver.sh' :

  • -f OIFfile - specifies the OIF, the script will then automatically assume offline installation mode

  • -n --noninteractive - switch to non interactive batch installation. Only available with -f specified.

  • --reconfigure - when the Branch Server is already initialized the script will refuse to run unless this option is specified.

When no options are set the script asks for installation mode (Online/default or Offline).

• Online installation mode: When started the script asks if it should initialize a local ldap Branch Server. If 'NO' is selected the script assumes there is an already running branch ldap and asks for its address. If 'YES' is chosen the script will initialize a local ldap server.

• Offline installation mode: If '-f' parameter is not specified the script asks for the path to the OIF file. If '-n' (or '--noninteractive') is not specified the script asks for the required ldap settings (some defaults are predefined). After that the script asks whether to use a local branch ldap server or a remote one. When '-n' is specified the script asks for nothing and automatically initializes a local Branch Server.

• YaST Image Creator

  To build an image with YaST Image Creator, perform the following steps:

  1. In the YaST Control Center, click Miscellaneous -> YaST Image Creator. The YaST Image Creator window appears.

  2. Click Add to start creating an image configuration.

  3. Enter a name for the image configuration in the Kiwi Configuration.

  4. Select Base on Template and in the list box, select the image template that you want to use.

  5. Select the image type you want to create using the Image Type list box. The image type selected determines the type of booting and the files that KIWI will create.

  6. You can leave the Output Directory setting as it is, as a reasonable default directory is already selected.

  7. If necessary, modify the list of package repositories that will be used for creating the image. (see poscopytool)

  8. Click Next to proceed with creating the image configuration. YaST Image Creator now downloads the repository metadata. This action may take some time.

  9. After the Image Configuration window appears, click Finish to proceed with creating the image, using the default settings.

  10. Click Yes to save the image configuration and start building the image. (If you click No, only the image configuration is saved and no image is built.)

  11. KIWI now starts building the image.

• KIWI

  If the KIWI run within YaST Image Creator fails or you need special fine tuning you can try building the image from the command line. YaST Image Creator just creates a configuration for KIWI, and this configuration is stored as a directory path with the following form: '/var/lib/SLEPOS/system/<kiwi_configuration_name>'.

  'kiwi_configuration_name' is the name you entered in the Kiwi Configuration field in YaST Image Creator.

  To build a previously created image perform the following steps:

  1. Enter the following command:

                    kiwi -p /var/lib/SLEPOS/system/image-name
          

     This command creates the directory structure for the system inside the image, and in one of the last lines of its output, it informs you about the location of the log file (in the form of '/tmp/kiwi.random_identifier'). The other important information is the path to the directory structure that has been just built. Look for a line starting with Initializing image system on: and copy this path into the command at step 3.

  2. Create a directory for the resulting image and associated files. A good option is to store the resulting files into the same directory that YaST Image Creator would use:

  3. You can now build the image into this directory using the prepared directory structure with the following command:

                    kiwi -c kiwi-prepared_directory_structure -d directory_from_step_2
          

     Again, if KIWI fails, it reports where an error log is available. Please attach this log to the bug report. Also keep the following in mind:

     • YaST and YaST Image Creator must not be running when building images with KIWI, otherwise KIWI will fail. If KIWI seems to be stuck, try to open the screen log file using tail -f or tail -F. Look for the screen log file name in the line starting with Set root log:.

     • If you cannot build the image configured with YaST Image Creator even from the command line, copy the original template as it is from /usr/share/kiwi/image/SLEPOS) into another directory (/var/lib/SLEPOS/system/another_directory). This should always work. If not, please file a bug report.