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A big part of customizing a SUSE Linux server install is to use post-install scripts, for example, to disable IPV6, correct Postfix null client settings, install third-party RPMS, and automatically register the device within a ZLM system. After a frustrating trial and error session, I learned that these scripts are ran in alphabetical order and not in the order that the scripts are defined in the AutoYaST XML file.

To enforce my will upon the install process, I now name the scripts with a numeric prefix, i.e. 001_disable_ipv6.sh, 002_fix_postfix.sh, etc.

I've spent the past week developing an automated printer discovery and configuration solution that took me deep into the world of CUPS. This involved extensive use of the CUPS CLI, Perl, and raw socket programming.

I recently had the opportunity to deploy another Novell ZENWorks Linux Management (ZLM) system that manages 7000 (yes, seven thousand) Linux servers and workstations. Here are some lessons that I learned: