3.1 General Troubleshooting Strategies

The new policy is not enforced on the device after multiple refreshes

Source: ZENworks 7.3 Linux Management; Policy Handlers
Possible Cause: The policy does not display in the effective policies list of the device.
Action: In the policy Summary page, assign the policy to the device by using Assignment section.
Possible Cause: The minimum system requirements for the policy to be enforced on the device are not met.
Action: Ensure that the minimum system requirement for the policy to be enforced on the managed device are met.
Possible Cause: The policy enforcement schedule is not set.
Action: For the Text File and Remote Execute policies, verify that the schedule to enforce a policy has been set.
Action: For GNOME-based policies, verify that the User Login event has occurred by viewing the /var/opt/novell/log/zenworks/zmd-messages.log file.
Possible Cause: For policies other than Remote Execute and Text File, there might be more than one policy of the same type associated with the device.
Action: Define all your settings only in one policy and associate it to the device.
Possible Cause: The policy was not refreshed on the device.
Action: Perform the following:

  1. If you have recently assigned the policy to the managed device, wait for a few minutes to see if the policy is simply slow in being enforced.

  2. If it is not enforced within a few minutes, on the ZENworks Control Center, go to the Devices page and select the device where you have assigned a policy.

  3. In the Action menu, select Refresh Device.

  4. On the managed device, open the file /var/opt/novell/zenworks/cache/zmd/PolicyManager/Policies.xml.

  5. Search for the policy you have defined by using its name as the search string.

  6. Refresh the device multiple times.

Possible Cause: You have not logged in through the user interface login on the device.
Explanation: If the policy is set to run on User Login, a user for whom the policy has not applied should log in by using the user interface on the device.
Action: Make sure that you log in through the user interface and verify the policy status again.
Possible Cause: The window manager is not GDM and KDM.
Action: By default, GConf-based policies support GDM, KDM, or XDM display managers. If you want your existing Display Manager to change to GDM, KDM, or XDM:

If you are using the Novell Linux Desktop or SUSE Linux and you want to change to GDM, KDM, or XDM:

  1. Edit the /etc/sysconfig/displaymanager file as follows:

    DISPLAYMANAGER=<<GDM, KDM, or XDM>>

    For more details, refer to the GNOME Documentation

  2. Edit the /usr/X11R6/bin/gnome file and add the following to the beginning of the file:

    /opt/novell/zenworks/bin/checkEnforcement

If you are using Red Hat* and you want to change to GDM, KDM, or XDM:

  1. Edit the /etc/sysconfig/desktop file as follows:

    DISPLAYMANAGER=<<GDM, KDM, or XDM>>

  2. Edit the /etc/X11/xdm/Xsession file and add the following to the beginning of the file:

    /opt/novell/zenworks/bin/checkEnforcement

NOTE:If you do not want to use the GDM, KDM, or XDM Display Manager, you must manually make changes in the configuration file. This delays the start of the desktop session and allows the enforcement of Gconf-based policies to be completed. To do this, you must create a file similar to /usr/X11R6/bin/gnome (on SuSE/NLD) or /etc/X11/xdm/Xsession (on Red Hat). These files must satisfy the following conditions:

  • A user without the administrator privilege should not be able to edit the file.

  • The file should be invoked every time a user logs in using the GUI

Add the following to the beginning of the file:

/opt/novell/zenworks/bin/checkEnforcement

The updated policy is not being enforced on the device after multiple refreshes

Source: ZENworks 7.3 Linux Management; Policy Handlers
Possible Cause: The Revision number of the policy was not incremented.
Action: To increment the revision number:

  1. In ZENworks Control Center, click Policies.

  2. Click the policy for which you want to increment the revision number.

  3. On the Summary page, increment the revision number and refresh the device.

To check the version of the policy available in the Cache:

  1. Open the /var/opt/novell/zenworks/cache/zmd/PolicyManager/Policies.xml file.

  2. Search for the policy name. The version should be listed in between <Version> </Version>.

A new policy is not enforced following an immediate manual refresh after policy assignment

Source: ZENworks 7.3 Linux Management; Policy Handlers
Possible Cause: The synchronization between a policy and the managed device might have been delayed.
Action: Wait for 5 minutes before manually refreshing after you update or assign a policy to the managed device.

The assigned policies are enforced but applications do not reflect the specified behavior

Source: ZENworks 7.3 Linux Management; Policy Handlers
Possible Cause: The desktop session has started before enforcement was complete.
Action: Log out and log in from the managed device where the policy has been enforced.

The policy is not displayed in the Effective Policies list

Source: ZENworks 7.3 Linux Management; Policy Handlers
Possible Cause: A schedule is not specified on the Policy Schedule page.
Action: Define a schedule:

  1. In the ZENworks Control Center, click Policies.

  2. Click the policy for which you want to define a schedule.

  3. On the Summary page, click Advanced in the Assignments section.

  4. In the Edit Schedule dialog box, specify an appropriate schedule, then click OK.

    The schedule is defined for the policy you have selected.