Confuse about rpm and software
 

hi there
i a little bit confuse here bout rpm and software
what is the different between rpm and software
from i had read from book and jurnal, it look like the same thing
but after i had install rpm for NMS but there nothing different bout that.. it seem like no change at all
.. i had search the package (NMS) but could not found it...
the question is that do i need the rpm packege 1st before i could install and run the software or i juz install the rpm and configure then run the package

i hope someone could give me an explanation and perhaps some example

An rpm file is a software package used to install software. It will contain precompiled binaries, libraries, readme files and scripts. The scripts are run copying the files where they need to go, and possibly adding entries to the kde or gnome menus. Some packages will have configuration files somewhere in /etc. You may still need to configure something. For example, if you install the samba package, you need to configure it in a GUI program your distro supplies, or using swat or manually in an editor. There may be an RPM book on the Red Hat web site.

Using the rpm command manually can be handy. For example you can verify the files that a package supplied. You can find out which package supplied a file on your system.

ok
let say i wanna used a service such as NMS
i had try install the package by CLI but the installation seem not complete so i had try to install by GUI. After the installation had complete i try to search the NMS service at the application and program but i cant find the service.
so what i had to do next. do i had to install the software or juz config the package to used the service.

OpenNMS isn't something you would be able to casually install and use. It is something you would have to plan for.

Taking something even more common such as Apache 2 or a Postfix server, these packages supply daemons that run in the background. You need to configure them. For mysql, there is a manual in /usr/share/doc/packages/mysql/. The manual is hundreds of pages long and details the installation and use of the mysql database, including an important section on securing it. Most packages have some documentation located in /usr/share/doc/packages/. Make it a habit of looking there for information on newly installed packages. Sometimes there will also be a package of just documentation, such as blender-doc or samba-doc. If you look in /usr/share/doc/packages/samba for example, you may even find three Samba 3 books.

If you have an interest in OpenNMS, you may find this FLOSS podcast interesting:
http://www.twit.tv/floss15