configure the running system

With the AutoYaST UI of 11.1 you can write the settings of the profile you are working on to the currently running system. Of course only second stage configuration can be written so partitioning for example can't be done.
You can write the config of each single module (like only the sysconfig module for example) with the new "write to system" button or ...
... you can apply the complete profile to the running system with the "Apply profile to this system" option in the file menu.

if you want to do that on command line instead of using the UI, you can use the ayast_setup client.