Course SMGR201v4

SUSE Manager Basic Operations

This three day course focuses on the types of day-to-day administrative tasks that SUSE Manager makes easy to complete and monitor. Generally, the major topics that are discussed in detail are:

  • Exploring the SUSE Manager (SUMA) Web UI Management Console
  • Implementing Channel Management
  • Delegating Management Authority in SUMA
  • Managing Minions using Salt commands
  • Performing common administrative activities.

Downloadable course description

Course Information

Delivery Method: Classroom or Virtual Classroom
Course Duration: 3 days
Course Level: Beginner
Cost: 990.00 USD (including all local taxes in the jurisdiction of Hong Kong)

Key Objectives

Attendees will be taught the following concepts and skills:

  • Review the SUMA Architectural Components (SUMA Server, SUMA Proxy Server, and Managed Clients)
  • Understand the parts of the SUMA Web UI and how to access it
  • Using the SUMA Web UI to:
    • Get an overview of your entire SUMA system via the Visualization feature
    • Locate desired managed clients by using the Web UI’s advanced search capabilities
    • View the system details of managed clients
  • Understand the Registration Process and what occurs during Registration
  • Create, configure, and manage Registration related object such as Activation Keys, Channels, System Groups, and Salt Keys
  • Plan for, and implement Registration using the Web UI and bootstrap scripts
  • Implement Channel Management:
    • Learn Channel related terminology and channel types
    • Clone Channel content
    • Implement Configuration Channels
    • Understand and implement Content Lifecycle Management (CLM)
  • Learn how to delegate management authority in SUMA:
    • Understand how and why additional SUMA Organizations may need to be created
    • Establishing trust between SUMA Organizations
    • Learn about the Administrative Roles and Permission Roles that can be created and assigned to manage SUMA resources
    • Creating new Web UI administrative users
  • Manage client servers using Salt:
    • Define Salt and understand its architecture
    • Understand Salt grains, pillars, and states
    • Learn how to leverage the salt, salt-run, salt-call, and salt-key commands
  • Perform common administrative tasks such as:
    • Using the Web UI to execute commands on remote client servers
    • Using the System Set Manager (SSM) to perform management activities on multiple client servers at one time
    • Creating and using Action Chains
    • Understand and use various methods for installing RPM packages on client servers

Audience Summary

This course is designed for:

  • Server System Administrators who are tasked with day-to-day server management and support.
  • Senior System Administrators who are typically 2nd or 3rd level support within their company and act as “team leads” for Server System Administrators.
  • Consultants that need to understand how SUSE Manager can significantly lessen the administrative burden of managing hundreds or even thousands of servers.

Course Outline

  • Section 1: Course Overview
  • Section 2: Review SUSE Manager (SUMA) 4 Architecture and Configuration
    • Review SUMA Architectural Components
    • Review the SUMA 4 Initial Setup process
  • Section 3: Using the Web UI to Explore your SUSE Manager Environment
    • Introduction to the SUMA Web UI
    • Visualizing your entire SUMA System at a glance
    • Locating and viewing information about managed clients
  • Section 4: Understanding the Registration Process
    • Understanding the importance of Registration
    • Managing Registration-related Objects
    • Planning for Registration
    • Introduction to Registration Methods
    • Using the Registration Methods to register target servers
  • Section 5: Implementing Channel Management
    • Understanding Channel Related Terminology
    • Cloning Channel Content
    • Implementing Custom Channels
    • Understanding Content Lifecycle Management
  • Section 6: Delegating Management Authority in SUSE Manager
    • Defining SUSE Manager “Organization”
    • Understanding the Administrative Roles in SUMA
    • Understanding Permission Roles and their capabilities
    • Using the Web UI to manage Users and Grant Permissions
  • Section 7: Managing Salt Minions in SUMA
    • Understanding Salt and its Architecture
    • Configuration Files used by Salt and SUMA
    • Understanding the types of Salt Commands
    • Using the salt command
    • Using the salt-run command
    • Using the salt-call command
    • Using the salt-key command
  • Section 8: Performing other Common Administrative Tasks in SUMA
    • Using the Web UI to execute Remote Commands
    • Leveraging the System Set Manager (SSM) to affect many managed servers at once
    • Implementing Action Chains
    • Using Configuration File Management in SUMA
    • Scheduling Highstate enforcement

Course Prerequisites

Attendees should have the following experience and skills before attending this class:

  • Installing and configuring SUMA Servers and Proxy Servers is only reviewed in this training. The attendee is assumed to be responsible day-to-day management. However, detailed information on installation and initial configuration of SUMA is presented in course SMGR211v4: SUSE Manager 4 Deployment and Initial Configuration. But attendance in SMGR211v4 is helpful, not required to be successful in this class
  • Have at least one year’s experience managing Linux operating systems
  • Be able to work at the Linux command-line and use the vi editor
  • Understand how to manually install packages on SUSE Linux Enterprise servers.

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