ZENworks Configuration Management and LiveTime

The LiveTime Asset Management Integration Engine (AMIE) enables enterprises to quickly and easily synchronize with third party asset management and discovery systems. Using XML descriptor files embedded within the LiveTime application, AMIE is able to connect to the foreign host and transfer any type of Asset Management data into LiveTimes’ Configuration Management Database (CMDB).

AMIE can also recognize schema changes on the foreign host, and dynamically adapt to these modifications in real time. Many of the built-in connectors require some knowledge of the data base connection parameters of the asset management system you are using. This article focuses specifically on Novell ZENworks 10 integration when using the embedded Sybase Anywhere database.

Connecting to Sybase Anywhere

ZENworks 10 comes pre-bundled with SQL Anywhere as default. While for large scale installations this has limited usefulness, LiveTime still provides support for extracting information from this repository automatically. However it will require the extraction of the correct passwords and other database parameters, which vary slightly from the SQL Server edition.

First, change the database type from SQL Server (the default), to Sybase Anywhere. Add the host IP or domain name and then discover the correct database name from:

shell> C:\Program Files\Novell\Zenworks\database

Next open a command window and execute the following command using your username and password. This is normally Administrator and the password you selected at install time.

shell> zman dgc

It will return with the appropriate username and and password for the database.

Next, include the schema name, which will be zenadmin for this database and leave the Catalog set to zenworks. You should now be able to click Test and get a successful message back from the system. At this point you can set the synchronization interval and ownership assignment.

It is also important to map the associated CMDB category attributes to the appropriate CI information if you have multiple datasources. Now it is a simple matter to import the data directly into LiveTime’s Federated staging area.

The first time assets are brought into LiveTime they are automatically placed within the staging area for review. Any objects selected and promoted into the CMDB from this area are subsequently updated and managed by LiveTime. This includes full change management and audit details of the CI.