Novell ZENworks 7.3 Linux Management with Interim Release 3

June 02, 2010

1.0 Overview

The issues included in this document were identified in Novell ZENworks 7.3 Linux Management with Interim Release 3 (IR3).

For installation instructions, see the Novell ZENworks 7.3 Linux Management Installation Guide.

For administration concepts and tasks, see the Novell ZENworks 7.3 Linux Management Administration Guide.

This product contains undocumented utilities that Novell Support might use to diagnose or correct problems.

2.0 Issues Resolved by Version 7.3 IR3

Some of the issues identified in the initial version of ZENworks Linux Management 7.3 have been resolved with this release. For a list of the resolved issues, see TID 7003346 in the Novell Support Knowledgebase.

3.0 Known Issues

This section contains information about the issues that might occur when you install and use ZENworks 7.3 Linux Management with IR3:

3.1 Installation

This section contains information about the issues that might occur when you install ZENworks 7.3 Linux Management with IR3.

3.1.1 An incorrect message is displayed on a SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 device while configuring the ZENworks Server

The following incorrect error message is displayed on a SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) 11 device while configuring the ZENworks Server:

Failed to activate service https://srm-test-srv.labs.blr.novell.com: [] 

Workaround: Ignore the message. However, you can confirm the ZENworks Service status of the device by using the rug sl command.

3.1.2 ZENworks 7.3 Linux Management with IR2 installation might fail on RHEL 5.3 (64-bit) and RHEL 5.4 (64-bit) platforms

The ZENworks Linux Management server installation might fail while installing components. The following is one of the error messages that is displayed:

Installing Component 9 of 10: ZENworks Agent
Installing ZENworks Agent         |                              |  
0%Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/mnt/zlm73ir2/Server/data/zlminstall.py", line 568, in ?
main()
File "/mnt/zlm73ir2/Server/data/zlminstall.py", line 441, in main
downloadID, transactID = zmd.transact(packages, None)

Workaround: Do the following on the device where you want to install ZENworks Linux Management:

  1. Ensure that the ISO image to install ZENworks Linux Management server is locally available on the device.

  2. Restart the ZENworks Linux Management installation program by running the ./zlm-install command.

3.1.3 Unable to launch ZENworks Control Center after successfully configuring the ZENworks Linux Management Server on a SLES 11 device

The following error occurs when you launch ZENworks Control Center after configuring the ZENworks Linux Management Server on a SLES 11 device:

Error : LifecycleException:  Exception opening directory server connection:  javax.naming.CommunicationException: localhost:389 [Root exception is java.net.ConnectException: Connection refused]

This issue occurs because the loopback IP address 127.0.0.2 in the /etc/hosts file precedes the network IP address that was configured during the SLES 11 installation. Because of this, the ZENworks Linux Management Server tries to communicate with eDirectory by using the default port 389 instead of the actual port 10389.

Workaround:

  1. In the /etc/hosts file, do one of the following:

    • Comment or remove the loopback IP address 127.0.0.2

    • Move the Loopback IP address 127.0.0.2 to come after the configured IP address.

      If you select the Write hostname to etc/host option in YaST, the loopback IP address 127.0.0.2 is added after the configured IP address.

  2. Restart the ZENworks Linux Management services by using the zlm-config --restart command.

  3. Run the zlm-config command again on the device where the ZENworks Linux Management Server is installed.

3.2 Upgrade

This section contains information about the issues that might occur when you upgrade to ZENworks 7.3 Linux Management with IR3 from a previous release:

3.2.1 Upgrading from SLES 10 to SLES 11 or SLED 10 to SLED 11 by using ZENworks 7.3 Linux Management is not supported

An online upgrade from SLES 10 to SLES 11 or from SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop (SLED) 10 to SLED 11 is currently not supported by SUSE Linux Enterprise. Therefore, upgrading SLES 10 or SLED 10 by using ZENworks Linux Management to SLES 11 or SLED 11 is also not supported. To upgrade SLES 10 or SLED 10 that has ZENworks Linux Management installed to SLES 11 or SLED 11, see the TID 7002790 at Novell Support.

3.2.2 Upgrading to ZENworks 7.3 Linux Management fails if the system language is French or German

Workaround: Before upgrading to ZENworks 7.3 Linux Management, change the system language to either English, Spanish, or Portugal. For more information on how to upgrade to ZENworks 7.3 Linux Management, see Upgrading to ZENworks 7.3 Linux Management in the Novell ZENworks 7.3 Linux Management Installation Guide.

3.2.3 Unable to manually upgrade from ZENworks 7.3 Linux Management or ZENworks 7.3 Linux Management with Hot Patch 1 to ZENworks 7.3 Linux Management with IR2

When you try to manually upgrade a ZENworks 7.3 Linux Management or ZENworks 7.3 Linux Management with Hot Patch 1 server to ZENworks 7.3 Linux Management with IR2, the upgrade fails with the following error message if the server was originally upgraded from ZENworks 7.2 Linux Management:

IOError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: '/etc/nds.conf' 

The failure occurs because the default path of the eDirectory 8.8 configuration file, nds.conf, is changed from /etc to /etc/opt/novell/eDirectory/conf when you upgrade from ZENworks 7.2 Linux Management to ZENworks 7.3 Linux Management.

Workaround: Do the following on the ZENworks 7.3 Linux Management server:

  1. Run the following as a bash script:

    /etc/init.d/ndsd stop
    
    mv /etc/opt/novell/eDirectory/conf/nds.conf /etc
    
    sed -i "s~/etc/opt/novell/eDirectory/conf~/etc~g" /etc/opt/novell/eDirectory/conf/.edir/instances.0 
    
    /etc/init.d/ndsd start 
    
  2. Run the ./zlm-upgrade command to manually upgrade to ZENworks 7.3 Linux Management with IR2.

3.2.4 The Event based schedule for bundles becomes uneditable after upgrading from an earlier version of ZENworks Linux Management to ZENworks 7.3 Linux Management

The Event based schedule is not supported in ZENworks 7.3 Linux Management.

Workaround: After upgrading to ZENworks 7.3 Linux Management, manually change the schedule to Date Specific or Relative to Refresh. For more information on how to edit the schedule, see Editing Bundles in the Novell ZENworks 7.3 Linux Management Administration Guide.

3.2.5 Unable to patch the RHEL devices if you assign the bundles that are mirrored from the RHN repository or from the RES catalogs in the NU repository

The following error message is displayed during the installation of bundles that are mirrored from the RHN repository or from the RES catalogs in the NU repository:

error: %postun(rhnsd-4.6.1-1.el5.i386) scriptlet failed, exit status 

During the bundle install, the existing version of the rhnsd package cannot be removed because the RPM uninstall script fails. Therefore the rhnsd package cannot update to the newer version that is available in the bundle.

Workaround: Do the following to successfully patch the RHEL devices:

  1. From ZENworks Control Center, manually remove the new version of the rhnsd package from the assigned bundle.

  2. Deploy the newer version of the bundle. This skips the installation of the newer version of the rhnsd package on the device.

    For more information on how to upgrade the rhnsd package on the device to the new version, see the Red Hat Knowledgebase.

3.3 Package Management

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

3.3.1 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.

3.3.2 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.

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

This might occur because the bundle is assigned to a device group and not directly to the device.

Workaround: None.

3.4 Policy Management

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

3.4.1 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 logging in to the device again.

    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.

3.4.2 The system area of the SLED 10 SP1 / SP3 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 / SP3 managed device disappears.

Workaround: Delete the /.local/share/gnome-main-menu/system-items.xbel file from the home directory of the user who has logged in to the device.

3.4.3 The previous settings of a SLED policy are not restored on SLED devices after reenforcing the policy

If you deselect the Favorite Applications Configuration check box in the SLED policy on SLED 10 and SLED 11 devices, then reenforce the policy, the previous settings are not restored.

Workaround: After reenforcing the policy on the managed device, delete the .local/share/gnome-main-menu/applications.xbel file from the home directory of the user who has logged in to the device.

3.5 Imaging

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

3.5.1 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.

3.5.2 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.

3.5.3 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.

3.5.4 “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.

3.5.5 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 7.3 Linux Management Administration Guide.

However, the instructions do not work for Dell PE700 devices. For Dell PE700 devices, there is no workaround.

3.5.6 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.

3.6 Inventory

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

3.6.1 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.

  • The hardware Inventory Scanner fails to capture the network adapter information for managed devices on S390X hardware.

    Workaround: None

3.6.2 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.

3.6.3 A ZENworks Linux Management agent running on VMware might report an incorrect processor family description on some hardware models such as Dell Optiplex 755

Workaround: None: The VMware system BIOS stores incorrect information about the processor family, which is retrieved by the hwinfo utility used in the ZENworks Linux Management hardware inventory.

3.7 Remote Management

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

3.7.1 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.

3.7.2 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.

3.8 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 in ZENworks 7.3 Linux Management.

3.8.1 zen-installer, zen-remover and zen-updater fail 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 a 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.

4.0 Legal Notices

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