Environment
Novell ZENworks Configuration Management 11.1
Novell ZENworks Configuration Management 11.2
Novell ZENworks Configuration Management 11.2
Situation
When viewing the System Updates tab in ZCC (Configuration > System Updates) the message
Warning: "You cannot receive new updates because System Update entitlement has expired"
is displayed
viewing the System Update Settings in ZCC (Configuration > Infrastructure Management > System Update Settings > System Update Entitlement) shows it has expired
However, the System Update Entitlement has not expired.
Warning: "You cannot receive new updates because System Update entitlement has expired"
is displayed
viewing the System Update Settings in ZCC (Configuration > Infrastructure Management > System Update Settings > System Update Entitlement) shows it has expired
However, the System Update Entitlement has not expired.
Resolution
This is fixed in version 11.2.1 - see KB 7010042 "ZENworks Configuration Management 11.21 - update information and list of fixes" which can be found at https://support.microfocus.com/kb/doc.php?id=7010042
What is "fixed": In 11.2.1 and later, if the NCC is unreachable the error should be as follows:
There was a failure when attempting to contact Novell Customer Center to retrieve available updates. Be sure that you have internet connectivity and that system update has been configured with the correct proxy
information: : The host did not accept the connection within timeout of 20000 ms
See the ZENworks Control Center log file (zcc.log) for the full stack trace.
And the license should not be removed so that when connectivity is established, it should become "valid" again.
What is "fixed": In 11.2.1 and later, if the NCC is unreachable the error should be as follows:
There was a failure when attempting to contact Novell Customer Center to retrieve available updates. Be sure that you have internet connectivity and that system update has been configured with the correct proxy
information: : The host did not accept the connection within timeout of 20000 ms
See the ZENworks Control Center log file (zcc.log) for the full stack trace.
And the license should not be removed so that when connectivity is established, it should become "valid" again.
Workaround: Novell has reinstated the previous connection method for checking ZCM licenses (see Cause section), so no new systems should be affected. Re-submit the System Update entitlement code in ZCC.
Cause
Problems with recent changes to the Novell infrastructure meant that "Access Denied" messages were sometimes being received by ZCM when trying to access license information. Previously, the only cause for this "error" was that the subscription had expired, which is why the message was displayed. Unfortunately, because ZCM thinks that the subscription has expired, it disables the System Update entitlement, and does not retry unless the code is re-entered. However, a subsequent check for the license information may also have failed with the "Access Denied" error, which would have once again disabled the entitlement.
Additional Information
Patches and PRU updates are available at https://download.novell.com/patch/finder and the main patches page https://support.novell.com/patches.html has a link to set up a subscription to patch notifications for particular products (or all of them!), which means that even if the automatic searching for updates via ZCC is disabled, it does not mean that patches are unavailable.
Manual updates and PRU files may be downloaded and imported to ZCM, even if System Update Entitlement is not active.
Manual updates and PRU files may be downloaded and imported to ZCM, even if System Update Entitlement is not active.