Software Distributor Administration Guide (March 2009)

man 4 swpackage for packaging file layouts
1.2 SD-UX Concepts
Understanding SD-UX concepts, terms, and model of software management will help
you use the commands and programs most effectively. For additional definitions, see
the Glossary.
1.2.1 Important Terminology
Host refers to any system on which software is to be installed or managed using the
SD-UX commands. A local host is the system on which you invoke SD-UX commands.
When you have enabled remote operations, you can use SD-UX to operate on one or
more remote hosts—a host other than the system on which the SD-UX command has
been invoked. (See Chapter 7: “Remote Operations Overview” (page 151) for more
information on remote operations.)
A controller is the SD-UX program or command (swinstall, swcopy, etc.) that you
invoke on your system. The controller may work with data or start processes on other
systems.
A depot is a repository of software products that can be managed by SD-UX. A depot
consists of either a (specially formatted) directory, or physical media such as tapes,
CD-ROMs or DVDs. (CD-ROM and DVD depots are really just special instances of
directory depots). Directory depots are useful because you can access them via a
network. They are often used to store collections of software copied from other depots.
In general, the term target refers to either a host (specifically, the host’s file system) or
a depot that resides on a host. The term source refers to a depot from which software
is being installed or copied (sometimes referred to as a source depot).
For example, a basic install operation with the swinstall command involves installing
software from a source depot to a target location on the host itself. The source depot
might be physical media accessible from the target, or a directory depot on some server
on the network. The target host might be the same host on which the command was
invoked (i.e., the local host) or, if remote operation is enabled, some other host on the
network.
A basic copy operation (using the swcopy command) is very similar, except that the
target is a depot on the host, rather than the host itself.
For most operations, controller programs access hosts and depots using an agent called
swagent, which performs the basic software management tasks. The agent is accessed
via a daemon called swagentd. When SD-UX operates on the local host, both controller
and agent run on the local host. For remote operations, the agent runs on a remote host.
Figure 1-1: “SD-UX Systems”, shows how software can be developed and then packaged
into SD-formatted media, which can either be accessed directly or copied to a depot
directory on a server and accessed via the network.
26 Introduction to Software Distributor