ZENworks OS imaging has always been based on the Linux kernel – it’s fast, efficient, has a great networking stack and is also extensible. None of the problems of DOS and getting NDIS drivers etc.

Earlier versions of ZENworks – (ZfD 3.x, ZfD 4.0, ZENworks 6, ZENworks 6.5) – spawned a slew of sites dedicated to tweaking this Linux environment. Notable is the Novell Forge Project zfdimgdrv. The imaging environment has also been extended by the likes of ENGL.

ZENworks 7 changed to a SLES 9 SP2-based kernel; this provides extensive hardware support (and real support; things that have been tested).

For unsupported hardware – or to add updated drivers – life is now a lot simpler.

Matt Misbach – one of the ZENworks engineers – passed on this tip:

1. Obtain the binary driver file, it has the extension of “.ko”, (If no binary driver is available, then the source needs to be obtained and built on a sles9 sp2 machine.)
2. On your ZENworks server mount the /srv/tftp/boot/initrd file using a similar command:
   mount -o loop /srv/tftp/boot/initrd /mnt
3. copy the new .ko file into the /mnt/lib/modules/2.6.5-override-default/initrd
4. umount /mnt