NAL fails to start if Middle Tier Server address is not reachable

  • 7007669
  • 25-Jan-2011
  • 30-Apr-2012

Environment

Novell ZENworks 7 Desktop Management Support Pack 1 - ZDM7 SP1 Application Launcher (NAL)
Novell ZENworks 7 Desktop Management on Linux Support Pack 1 - ZDML7 SP1 Application Launcher (NAL)

Situation

The ZENworks Desktop Management agent is configured with a Middle Tier Server address while Novell Client installed.

Novell Application Launcher hangs at startup if Middle Tier Server address is not reachable.

Resolution

Fixed in ZENworks 7 Desktop Management Service Pack 1 Interim Release 4 Hot Patch 4, see KB 3484245 "Updates to Novell ZENworks 7 Desktop Management" which can be found at https://www.novell.com/support

Workaround:
Remove the Middle Tier Server address from the ZENworks Desktop Management agent configuration by deleting the registry value:
HKLM\Software\Novell\ZENworks\MiddleTierAddress

or disable the usage of the configured Middle Tier Server address by adding the registry value:
HKLM\Software\Novell\Zenworks\SkipMiddleTier (DWORD)
0 - Read and use MiddleTierAddress value
1 - Skip Middle Tier Server

Additional Information

Moving from ZENworks Desktop Management 7 SP1 IR3 to IR4 the amount of retries (4 to 50) and the sleep time between the retries while trying to connect to a Middle Tier Server got increased in the agent zenlite.dll. This has been done to possibly increase agent stability on a connectivity related issue. Undoing those changes in ZDM 7 IR4HP4 solved this Application Launcher startup issue.

The ZENworks Desktop Management workstation manager always goes through Novell Client if installed to communicate to eDirectory but the Application Launcher first tries to connect to the Middle Tier Server if a Middle Tier Server address is configured in the agent configuration despite having Novell Client installed.