machines, then apply preventive administrative tasks when system properties go 

outside of established limits. 

Commercial tools are available for these tasks as well. For example, IBM 

provides Tivoli Configuration Manager and Tivoli Monitoring software for 

automation of monitoring and remote management tasks.

Red Hat distributions can use the Red Hat Network (RHN) to remotely manage 

individual systems or groups of systems. The RHN also offers automatic 

provisioning services as described in  Administration of Red Hat Desktop  on 

page 73.

Novell/SuSE distributions use Red Carpet software to remotely manage or 

provision systems. After Novell acquired Ximian software, the SuSE distributions 

adopted Ximian's Red Carpet product as the standard tool for their enterprise 

distributions. Before that SuSE used Yast online Update (YoU) as the tool to 

remotely manage systems.

2.1.4  Client customization

Sometimes it is useful to match the client to the role of the end user using it. If a 

standard client build contains every possible application provided the source 

distribution, then becomes not only large but also more difficult to maintain. 

Therefore client customization to task becomes an important goal in a Linux 

desktop deployment strategy.

In this section we look at the following features of the Linux client:

Flexibility to add or remove components of the Linux installation.

Prevent  bloating  of the client by maintaining package control.

Availability of task oriented distributions.

Desktop design and session manager flexibility.

Flexibility to add or remove components

Starting during the installation it is fairly simple to add or remove components to 

the installation. Most installers will supply a default installation, with the option to 

change which components to add or remove. This is again a result of the 

modular structure of the Linux operating system. This flexibility enables the 

construction of customized installations for the Linux client. 

Prevent bloating of the client

Using the flexibility to add or remove components it becomes possible to prevent 

the client from  bloating . Because customized Linux clients can be constructed 

for different end user roles, it is not necessary to put all applications in one client 

image. This ensures that the client size will not grow out of control.

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Linux Client Migration Cookbook   A Practical Planning and Implementation Guide for Migrating to Desktop Linux