Planning the provisioning jobs
When planning provisioning jobs, there are several categories of information you need to obtain.
Operating systems and architecture
First, determine what operating systems and computer architectures you are supporting. For example, if you plan to provision Linux, are you acting on 32- or 64-bit platform? Are there other types of platforms you need to support, such as Linux P series or Z series?
Agent installation defaults
Typically, you install an RSCD agent on every server you provision. An RSCD agent is required to manage the server using TrueSight Server Automation. Agents can be installed using a default set of installation values, but you can configure a provisioning job to override those values. For example, do you want to change the location for installing agents? Do you want to allow for keystroke logging? How do you want to boot up the agent program when the provisioning job completes?
Post-installation Batch Jobs
After the provisioning process deploys the operating system, you have the option to run a post-installation Batch Job. (You must install an RSCD agent to run Batch Jobs.) Batch Jobs can run a series of concatenated TrueSight Server Automation jobs. These jobs can build out the server stack beyond the operating system or perform other tasks using the TrueSight Server Automation system. For example, you can run a Batch Job consisting of multiple sub-jobs that configure a web server. One sub-job might install Apache and another might add web content to the server.
The tasks you can perform using Batch Jobs are nearly unlimited, but here are some typical types of actions:
- OS hardening
- Middleware installation
- Content installation (such as Compliance content for TrueSight Server Automation)
- Patching
- Configuration to meet organizational or regulatory standards
Use TrueSight Server Automation to define the Batch Jobs you want to run as well as the underlying jobs that the Batch Job references.
Where to go from here