How to Monitor the System Update Process on a Linux Device

  • 7014156
  • 20-Nov-2013
  • 26-Jul-2015

Environment

Novell ZENworks Configuration Management System Update

Situation

Need to follow or monitor the progress of a system update on a Linux device in any of the following scenarios:
  • On the first or only Linux primary server to be upgraded (while ZCC is down)
  • On any other Linux satellite server or managed device

This is primarily used while troubleshooting a system update issue. It can also be used to watch the progress of the update while the ZENworks services are down for the update.


Resolution

Make note of the GUID of the system update being deployed:
ZCC > Configuration > System Updates > Available System Updates > [system update name] > Update GUID

For the first primary to be updated in the zone, the schema update is run. Run the following command to watch that process:
tail -0f /var/opt/novell/log/zenworks/pre-global-actions.log

Look for the GUID of the system update in the output of the following command. If it is there, the update has at least started on this device. Skip to the step below for if GUID folder is present. If it isn't there continue from here.
ls /var/opt/novell/log/zenworks/system-update/

Run the following command to watch the beginning of the system update progress in the zmd-messages.log:
tail -0f /var/opt/novell/zenworks/logs/LocalStore/zmd-messages.log | grep -i "systemupdatemodule\|content"

Then in another terminal, run this command to refresh the agent:
zac ref bypasscache

At this point, the terminal tailing zmd-messages.log should show some activity with what is assigned. After the agent sees the system update assignment, there should be a lot of messages about content downloading. If this is the case, the update has started and can be followed in the next step.

If the GUID folder is present, run the following command to see the status based on the system-update.log:
tail -f /var/opt/novell/log/zenworks/system-update/<system-update-guid>/system-update.log

If the following is seen at the end of the log, the status should be visible in ZCC > Configuration > System Updates
INSTALLING;INSTALLING_PERCENTAGE;100;null
DEBUG;;;Verifying if SELinux is installed.
FINISHED;FINISHED;;null

Additional Information

The following is a list of the resources/commands mentioned in the Solution in the order in which they would be used:

ZCC > Configuration > System Updates > Available System Updates > [system update name] > Update GUID

tail -0f /var/opt/novell/log/zenworks/pre-global-actions.log

ls /var/opt/novell/log/zenworks/system-update/

tail -0f /var/opt/novell/zenworks/logs/LocalStore/zmd-messages.log | grep -i "systemupdatemodule\|content"

tail -f /var/opt/novell/log/zenworks/system-update/<system-update-guid>/system-update.log

ZCC > Configuration > System Updates

INSTALLING;INSTALLING_PERCENTAGE;100;null
DEBUG;;;Verifying if SELinux is installed.
FINISHED;FINISHED;;null