Virtualization Management - Oracle Solaris 10 System Virtualization Essentials - page 316

The EC and Proxies can run on Oracle Solaris 10, on x86 or SPARC hardware,
and in a Logical Domain. Also, the EC can run in a Solaris Container or on an
Oracle Enterprise Linux 5 system (OEL) or on a Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5
system (RHEL5). Supported BUIs include Firefox 3. x and Internet Explorer 7.
Ops Center must be able to determine the existence of OS packages and patches.
Oracle maintains a knowledge base (KB) of this information, specifically for this
purpose. For most configurations, the EC needs Internet access to use the KB.
With that access, it periodically downloads KB updates, including patches, new
package versions, and information about the dependencies between them. It uses
this information, including dependencies, to coordinate provisioning and updates.
The first instance of a Proxy Controller will be co-located on the same system
as the EC, but the EC also configures and installs remote Proxy Controllers as
scale and geography demand. The Proxies perform provisioning, updates, and
management and monitoring of assets. In a small localized environment with just
a few managed assets, only a single Proxy is needed; it can be cohosted with the
EC. Larger environments with many assets, and multiple-site environments, will
benefit greatly from one or more Proxies per site. This removes the need to per-
form provisioning over WAN links, which would consume too much of the WAN
bandwidth. Proxies are the key to the scalability of Ops Center.
Figure 9.3 shows the relationship between the two types of the controllers and
the agents. You should have at least one Proxy Controller per site. A computer
that will be provisioned by Ops Center must have a Proxy on its subnet.
Knowledge Base (KB)
Internet access required
Enterprise Controller
Proxy Controller
Agent
Figure 9.3 Architecture of Enterprise Controller, Proxy Controller, and Agents
Ops Center agents are software modules that run on the managed assets. They
perform operations within an operating system, such as installing packages and
patches. They also perform monitoring tasks, sending the gathered information
to the Proxy Controller. This information is aggregated by the EC and presented
in user-friendly formats. Agents automatically discover CPU type and quantity,
memory quantity, and information about the OS, including the packages installed.