Novell ZENworks 7.2 Linux Management with Interim Release 1a

December 10, 2007

1.0 Overview

The issues included in this document were identified in Novell® ZENworks® 7.2 Linux Management with Interim Release 1a (IR1a).

For installation instructions, see the Novell ZENworks 7.2 Linux Management Installation Guide.

For administration concepts and tasks, see the Novell ZENworks 7.2 Linux Management Administration Guide.

2.0 Known Issues

This section contains information about the issues that might occur when you install and use ZENworks 7.2 Linux Management with IR1a.

2.1 Upgrade

This section contains information about the issues that might occur when you upgrade ZENworks 7.2 Linux Management from a previous release.

2.1.1 Upgrading the Novell Linux Desktop 9 managed device from ZENworks 7 Linux Management with IR1 to ZENworks 7.2 Linux Management with IR1a by using upgrade bundles might fail

If you try to upgrade the Novell Linux Desktop 9 (NLD 9) managed device from ZENworks 7 Linux Management with IR1 to ZENworks 7.2 Linux Management with IR1a by using upgrade bundles, the upgrade might hang.

Workaround: Manually upgrade the NLD 9 managed device from ZENworks 7 Linux Management with IR1 to ZENworks 7.2 Linux Management with IR1a by using the ISO image of ZENworks 7.2 Linux Management with IR1a, which is available at the Novell Downloads Web site. For detailed information on how to manually upgrade the managed device, see the Novell ZENworks 7.2 Linux Management Installation Guide.

2.2 Package Management

This section contains information about the issues that might occur when you use the Package Management features of ZENworks Linux Management.

2.2.1 Wildcard characters do not work when executing a bundle-list command from zlman

The use of wildcard characters using the bundle-list (bl) command to list bundles is not currently supported.

2.2.2 A bundle is installed even when the post-distribution script fails

Currently, a bundle is successfully installed even though a post-distribution script fails.

2.2.3 After a specific version of the bundle is installed on a device, changes to the deployment or installation schedule of the bundle are ignored for subsequent versions

When a new bundle is associated to a device on a particular schedule, the bundle is deployed or installed based on the schedule configured. However, when the bundle is modified and a newer version is deployed, any changes to the schedule do not take effect. The newer version of the bundle is installed on the next refresh.

Workaround: None.

2.2.4 Some pattern, patch, and product rug commands are not supported

A few pattern, patch, and product rug commands are not supported on SLES 9, RHEL, and Novell Linux Desktop.

2.2.5 Package Update shows an incorrect status when a bundle is assigned to a server or workstation group

Workaround: None.

2.2.6 An incorrect message is displayed on the secondary server on bundle creation as well as content replication

The following message is displayed on the secondary server on successful creation of the bundle as well as content replication: “Cannot deploy this version because one or more packages have been deleted”.

Workaround: Ignore the message.

2.2.7 Unable to remove a bundle installed on a managed device if zmd goes to sleep or is restarted

Workaround: Do one of the following on the managed device:

  • Manually remove each package from the bundle using the rug rm package_namecommand.

  • Stop zmd, delete /var/opt/novell/zenworks/lib/zmd/system-catalog, and restart zmd.

2.2.8 Bundles are deployed and installed immediately when the managed device is refreshed, even though they are scheduled to be deployed and installed at a later time

Even though you can schedule to deploy and install bundles on the managed device at a specific time, date, or event through ZENworks Control Center, the bundles are deployed and installed immediately when the managed device is refreshed.

Workaround: None.

2.3 Policy Management

This section contains information about the issues that might occur when you use the Policy Management features of ZENworks Linux Management.

2.3.1 SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop policy issues

If you configure the SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop policy for a SLED 10 managed device, you might encounter the following issues:

  • The Disable Launcher Creation option does not work.

  • If you try to remove an option that is selected in the Show drop-down list of the main menu file area, the main menu fails to appear. Also, if you try to unassign the policy from the managed device, the main menu still fails to appear.

    Workaround: If the main menu fails to appear on unassigning the policy:

    1. Ensure that the policy is removed from the device by refreshing the managed device, and relogging into the device.

    2. On the managed device, right-click the panel, click Add to Panel, select Main Menu from the Add to Panel list, then click Add.

2.3.2 The previous background settings of the SLED 10 managed device are not restored after the SLED policy is unenforced

On a SLED 10 managed device, if you unenforce the SLED policy in which the background image filename is configured, the previous background settings of the device are not restored.

Workaround: Log in to the managed device again.

2.3.3 The system area of the SLED 10 SP1 managed device disappears when you try to remove the system menus by using the SLED policy

If you enforce the SLED policy that is configured to remove the system menus from the system area, the system area on the SLED 10 SP1 managed device disappears.

Workaround: Remove the settings from the SLED policy and reassign the policy to the SLED 10 SP1 managed device.

2.4 Imaging

This section contains information about the issues that might occur when you use the Imaging features of ZENworks Linux Management.

2.4.1 After installing ZENworks Linux Management on a server, some image safe data is missing or incorrect

If you take an image of a server just after installing ZENworks Linux Management (that is, before zislnx-start has a chance to run again at boot), the image is restored with an incorrect network configuration and hostname.

Workaround: After completing the server installation, execute /etc/init.d/novell-zislnx start.

This issue does not affect installation of the ZENworks Agent on a managed device.

2.4.2 The imaging server does not support double-byte characters in the name of the image file

The Imaging engine does not support double-byte characters in image filenames. The ZENworks Control Center allows you to enter a double-byte character, but the Imaging Server does not recognize it. Therefore, do not use double-byte characters in the names of image files.

2.4.3 zislnx fails to shut down on RHEL 3 devices

On Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 (RHEL 3) devices, using the /etc/init.d/novell-zislnx stop command fails to shut the service down. At some later time, the device then fails to respond to a soft reboot, and must be cold-booted.

The error message displayed when running /etc/init.d/novell-zislnx stop is incorrect, because RHEL 3 does not follow LSB standards.

Workaround: Do not use the /etc/init.d/novell-zislnx stop command. Normally, you would not run this command, because when /etc/init.d/novell-zislnx is run from either a bash prompt or at boot-up, it runs once then stops itself.

2.4.4 “Error: Could not create linux symbolic link" when restoring extracted add-on image

The use of a symbolic link is not supported in add-on images if the link’s location does not exist on the device where the add-on image is extracted.

2.4.5 Not able to get into the utility partition after applying a configuration bundle on a Dell PE700 device

The Dell* utility partition relies on its version of the MBR (master boot record) to function correctly. Grub also uses the MBR for its boot loader. If you install the Dell utility partition, then install the Linux* operating system, the Dell version of the MBR is overwritten by the grub version. Instructions to remedy this problem are found in Creating Dell Configuration Bundles in the Novell ZENworks 7.2 Linux Management Administration Guide.

However, the instructions do not work for Dell PE700 devices. For Dell PE700 devices, there is not workaround.

2.4.6 ZENworks Linux Management Imaging fails on a VMware server

If you try boot a VMware server from the CD or DVD, or a ZENworks partition, the preboot services fail with the following message:

Can't find ZEN install channel, invoking manual install

Workaround: Use a USB device to boot a VMware server.

2.4.7 ZENworks Linux Management Imaging fails to start on RHEL 5 64-bit managed device

Workaround: None.

2.5 Inventory

This section contains information about the issues that might occur when you use the Inventory features of ZENworks Linux Management.

2.5.1 Hardware Inventory fails to report some information

  • A hardware inventory currently does not report some items, such as power supply for any type of device. For Red Hat machines, items such as floppy and monitor are not recognized.

  • On SLES 9, Novell Linux Desktop, and Open Enterprise Server managed devices, the hardware probe using the hwinfo utility might unload the lp module and consequently remove the printer device.

    Workaround: Download and install the updates for the hwinfo utility. For detailed information on how to obtain the updates, see the Novell Support Web site.

2.5.2 CPU-based registration rules might fail for a few Intel Pentium processors

If you create a CPU-based registration rule to filter Intel* Pentium* processors for registering the managed device to the server, the Inventory Scanner utility (hwinfo) captures the CPU model name as "Pentium(R) 4 processor 2800 MHz" instead of "Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 2.80GHz" for some machines; the prefix Intel is omitted. Consequently, the registration of the device to the server might fail.

Workaround: None.

2.6 Remote Management

This section contains information about the issues that might occur when you use the Remote Management features of ZENworks 7.2 Linux Management.

2.6.1 A grey screen is displayed when you start the Remote Login operation

When you start the Remote Login operation on a managed device, the launched session shows only a grey screen with an X cursor because XDMCP is not enabled on the managed device.

Workaround: On the managed device, do the following:

  1. Manually enable XDMCP by executing the novell-rm-fixrl.sh script from a console session as mentioned below:

    • On SLES 10 and SLED 10: Execute /usr/bin/novell-rm-fixrl.sh -dm xdm -cf /etc/opt/gnome/xdm/xdm.conf enable.

    • On SLES 9 and Novell Linux Desktop: Execute /opt/novell/zenworks/bin/novell-rm-fixrl.sh -dm xdm -cf /etc/opt/gnome/xdm/xdm.conf enable.

    • On RHEL: Execute /opt/novell/zenworks/bin/novell-rm-fixrl.sh - dm gdm -cf /etc/X11/gdm/gdm.conf enable.

  2. Start the Remote Login operation.

2.6.2 The Remote Management -VNC applet sometimes hangs when starting a remote management session

When starting a remote management session, the Remote Management -VNC applet randomly hangs.

Workaround: Stop and restart all running browser sessions, then retry the remote management session.

2.7 Software Updater, Installer, and Remover

This section contains information about the issues that might occur when you use zen-installer, zen-remover, or zen-updater of ZENworks 7.2 Linux Management.

2.7.1 zen-installer, zen-remover and zen-updater fails with a mono-lib exception on a RHEL5 64-bit managed device

If you start zen-installer, zen-remover, and zen-updater from the command line on a RHEL5 64-bit managed device, it throws a traceback error with mono-lib exception.

Workaround: On a RHEL5 64-bit managed device, do the following:

  1. Edit /etc/selinux/config to set the value of SELINUX to disabled.

  2. Reboot the device.

3.0 Documentation Conventions

In this documentation, a greater-than symbol (>) is used to separate actions within a step and items in a cross-reference path.

A trademark symbol (®, TM, etc.) denotes a Novell trademark; an asterisk (*) denotes a third-party trademark.

4.0 Legal Notices

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Further, Novell, Inc. makes no representations or warranties with respect to any software, and specifically disclaims any express or implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for any particular purpose. Further, Novell, Inc. reserves the right to make changes to any and all parts of Novell software, at any time, without any obligation to notify any person or entity of such changes.

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