6.2 Troubleshooting Hardware Inventory

inventory-scanner-option can be set to an invalid value on the managed device

Source: ZENworks Linux Management; Inventory
Explanation: The inventory-scanner-option is passed to the hardware scanner 'hwinfo' to control the probing of certain hardware component.typically used for problematic or unsupported hardware. The default value is -braille.

This option does not uniformly controls probing of all hardware components under hwinfo.The inventory-scanner-option can be set to an invalid value.

The ZENworks Linux Management resets wireless network configuration on SLES 10 and SLED 10

Source: ZENworks Linux Management; Inventory
Explanation: The default setting for the hwinfo zmd preferences is set to --nowpa for SLES 10 and SLED 10.If this zmd preference value is not set to --nowpa, then the hwinfo command resets the wireless configuration settings on SLES 10 and SLED 10.

On SLES 9 and NLD, hwinfo-option is set to null by default and should be null always.

Action: rug set hwinfo-options '--nowpa'

Hardware Inventory of the registered devices is not updated successfully to the server

Source: ZENworks Linux Management; Inventory
Action: Do the following:

  • Ensure that the Inventory module is loaded by executing the rug ping command. If the module is loaded, the zmd-messages.log file contains the following message:

    INFO ModuleLoader Loaded 'Inventory' - 'Software and Hardware inventory module for Linux'

  • Execute the hwinfo --all > hwinventory.log command, and check the log file to ensure that the Inventory Scanner runs successfully on the managed device.

  • Ensure that the hardware-inventory-enabled zmd setting is set to true.

  • Execute the rug sch command to verify the current Hardware Inventory refresh schedule.

    The Hardware inventory on the device is collected and updated based on this schedule. If a new refresh schedule is not added, do the following:

    1. Use rug sl to check if the managed device is successfully registered to the server, and is active.

    2. Stop and start the ZENworks agent service, /etc/init.d/novell-zmd, and verify that the new schedule is now added.

  • Ensure that the hardware inventory is collected and sent successfully from the managed device.

    • Set the following zmd options: log-soap-xml to true and log-level to debug to procure the logged SOAP messages when hardware inventory module service runs.

    • Examine the debug log messages, zmd-messages.log, and search for "HardwareInventoryCapability" as per timestamp. The following messages are logged when delay schedule for hardware inventory is triggered:

      DEBUG HardwareInventoryCapability Starting to send hardware inventory

      (SOAP packets here)

      DEBUG HardwareInventoryCapability Done sending hardware inventory

      This indicate that the hardware inventory of the managed device is now updated to the ZENworks server.

Hardware inventory of the RHEL 4.x/5.x managed devices is not updated successfully to the server

Source: ZENworks Linux Management; Inventory
Possible Cause: The hardware inventory of RHEL 4.x / 5.x managed devices is not successfully updated to the ZENworks Linux Management Server if the setting for the hwinfo zmd preference is set to --nowpa. This is because the --nowpa preference is not supported by the older version of the hwinfo package that is installed as part of the managed device installation.
Action: Set the hwinfo-options to null by running the rug set hwinfo-options "" command.

How do I control the interval of hardware inventory update to the server?

Source: ZENworks Linux Management; Inventory
Action: Do the following:

  • Change the refresh-interval-hardware zmd setting to the desired value in seconds.

    A new hardware inventory refresh schedule is created for the registered device.

  • (Optional) Reset the delay zmd setting to send hardware inventory within new ‘delay’ interval.

    The random delayed schedule "Hardware Inventory delay" is added when the refresh schedule triggers to update the Hardware Inventory. The default 'delay' value is 900. All inventory delayed schedules are affected by changing the zmd setting ‘delay’.

How do I control the probing of hardware information of specific component on managed device?

Source: ZENworks Linux Management; Inventory
Action: Change the inventory-scanner-options zmd setting to a particular hardware component. This option is passed to the hardware scanner, ‘hwinfo --all’, to control the probing of specific hardware components.

For example, hwprobe=inventory-scanner-options hwinfo --all.

For more information, see the hwinfo readme located in /usr/share/doc/packages/hwinfo.

How to control delayed schedules for updating inventory on the ZENworks Linux Management server?

Source: ZENworks Linux Management; Inventory
Action: The inventory delayed schedules for a registered device is affected when you change the zmd setting, delay. The default value is 900. The random delayed schedules to update inventory at the server are created using the delay setting. The new delay settings affect the next random delayed schedule only after the next refresh schedule.

All delayed schedules for inventory are added during the device registration and subsequently, when refresh schedules are triggered. The “Software Inventory delay” schedule is added to update inventory when packages are installed or removed on a client.