3.12 Troubleshooting the Storer

The .str files are not being stored in the Inventory database

Source: ZENworks Server Management; Server Inventory; Storer
Action: Verify whether the Storer is processing .str files.
Action: If the problem persists, contact Novell Support.

The Storer running on a Windows Inventory server randomly stops updating the scan data in the Inventory database

Source: ZENworks Server Management; Server Inventory; Storer
Explanation: The Storer running on a Windows Inventory server randomly stops updating the scan data in the Inventory database. The Inventory server screen displays a message such as “Logout Exception: [Root exception is com.novell.service.jncp.ClientException: code = 34921 (0x8869)] com.novell.java.security.LogoutException: Logout failed.”

Also, the scandir directory contains .str and .zip files that need to be processed.

Possible Cause: The Storer encountered errors while updating the inventoried server scan data in eDirectory. Consequently, the Selector and the Storer stop processing .str files.
Action: Restart the Inventory services. For more information, see Starting and Stopping the Inventory Service in Server Inventory in the Novell ZENworks 7 Server Management Administration Guide.

The CPU utilization of the Inventory server is 100% when the Storer is active

Source: ZENworks Server Management; Server Inventory; Storer
Explanation: The CPU utilization of the Inventory server might be 100% when the Storer is storing the scan data (typically, full scans) into the Inventory database.

This error occurs if the memory of the Inventory server is low, or one or more high CPU-utilization applications are running on the Inventory server.

Ignore this problem if you can run any other application on the server. If you cannot run any other application at normal speed, try the actions below.

Action: Dedicate a server to host the Inventory database.
Action: Do the following:

  1. Stop the Storer by entering stopser storer at the server console prompt.

  2. Configure the following Storer parameters in the Inventory_server_installation_path\zenworks\inv\ server\wminv\properties\storerdebug.properties file to slow down the processing of .str files:

    • fileyield: Specify a value greater than or equal to 300 but less than 600
    • parseyield: Specify a value greater than or equal to 100 but less than 500
    • wsdelyield: Specify a value greater than or equal to 100 but less than 500

  3. Start the Storer by entering startser storer at the server console prompt.

If the problem persists, send a copy of storerdebug.properties to Novell Support.

Action: If your Inventory database runs on Sybase, you can improve the Storer performance by also running the Sybindex utility. For more information on how to run Sybindex, see Database Parameter Tuning Tips in Server Inventory in the Novell ZENworks 7 Server Management Administration Guide.

How do I back up the .str file?

Source: ZENworks Server Management; Server Inventory; Storer
Action: Do the following:

  1. Stop the Storer by entering stopser storer at the server console prompt.

  2. Edit the Inventory_server_installation_path\zenworks\inv\ server\wminv\ properties\storerdebug.properties file to set the value of strfiledelete=path__where_you_want_to_back_up_.str_file.

    IMPORTANT:If your Inventory server is a Windows server, make sure that the path is separated by a double slash (\\). For example, c:\\windows\\temp.

    Ensure that the backup directory already exists on the Inventory server before editing the storerdebug.properties file.

  3. Start the Storer by entering startser storer at the server console prompt.

How do I change to another Inventory database after the scan data has been stored in the Inventory database?

Source: ZENworks Server Management; Server Inventory; Storer
Explanation: After the scan data has been stored, you might want to change your existing Inventory database to a different database. For example, you could change the existing Sybase Inventory database to an Oracle Inventory database.
Action: Do the following:

  1. Stop the Inventory service of the Inventory server connected to the existing database that you want to change. For more information, see Starting and Stopping the Inventory Service in Server Inventory in the Novell ZENworks 7 Server Management Administration Guide.

  2. Set up the desired Inventory database. For more information, see Setting Up the Inventory Database in Server Inventory in the Novell ZENworks 7 Server Management Administration Guide.

  3. Ensure that the Inventory server is attached to the new Inventory database. For more information, see Configuring the Database Location Policy in Server Inventory in the Novell ZENworks 7 Server Management Administration Guide.

  4. Select the Start Full Scan option in the Inventory Service object's property page of the Inventory server that is directly connected to this database and also in the lower-level Inventory servers that roll up scan data to this Inventory server.

  5. Start the Inventory services of the Inventory server to which the new Inventory database is attached. For more information, see Starting and Stopping the Inventory Service in Server Inventory in the Novell ZENworks 7 Server Management Administration Guide.

The Storer takes too much time to store the .str files

Source: ZENworks Server Management; Server Inventory; Storer
Action: You must tune the performance of the Inventory database. For more information, see Database Parameter Tuning Tips in Server Inventory in the Novell ZENworks 7 Server Management Administration Guide.
Action: If your Inventory database runs on Sybase, you can improve the performance the Storer performance by also running the Sybindex utility. For more information on how to run Sybindex, see Performance Tips for the Inventory Server (Support Pack 1) in Server Inventory in the Novell ZENworks 7 Server Management Administration Guide.

The Inventory Storer is unable to store the str files having non-ASCII characters into the Sybase or Oracle Inventory database

Source: ZENworks Server Management; Server Inventory; Storer
Explanation: The Inventory Storer freezes while storing the str files having non-ASCII characters such as Japanese and Chinese into the Sybase or Oracle 9i Inventory database.
Possible Cause: The length of few entries such as Product Name and Description in the str file exceeds the corresponding database column length.
Action: If your Inventory database is running on Sybase:

  1. Stop the Inventory service. For more information, see Starting and Stopping the Inventory Service in Server Inventory in the Novell ZENworks 7 Server Management Administration Guide.

  2. Edit zenworks\inv\server\wminv\properties\ storerdebug.properties to set the value of jconn2 to True.

  3. Start the Inventory service. For more information, see Starting and Stopping the Inventory Service in Server Inventory in the Novell ZENworks 7 Server Management Administration Guide.

Title: If your Inventory database is running on Oracle 9i

  1. Stop the Inventory service. For more information, see Starting and Stopping the Inventory Service in Server Inventory in the Novell ZENworks 7 Server Management Administration Guide.

  2. Stop the Inventory database.

  3. Add the following parameter in Database server Drive:\zenworks\inventory\oracle\ database\init.ora :

    NLS_LENGTH_SEMANTICS=CHAR

  4. Start the Inventory database.

  5. Start sqlplus or isqlplus, and connect to the inventory database as mw_dba.

  6. At the sqlplus prompt, run the length_semantics.sql script that is located in zenworks\inv\server\wminv\properties\ sql.zip.

  7. Start the Inventory service. For more information, see Starting and Stopping the Inventory Service in Server Inventory in the Novell ZENworks 7 Server Management Administration Guide.