Monday, July 07, 2008

ZENworks Asset Management Collection Service

The following is an issue that I've been working on. It was finally resolved with an easy resolution.

Environment
==========
Novell
ZAM Zenworks Asset Management 7.5
ZENWorks 7 Suite


Issue
==========
Clients are not connecting correctly, Web Console is not working correctly in the reports area, and the collection server detailed status has a network error message.


Details:
==========
Upgraded to Zenworks Asset Manager 7.60.0026 IR 12
Now clients aren't connecting or not checking in. Clients are not getting scanned.

When using the ZENworks Asset Management Manager, click on ZAM to View Detailed Status ZAM Collection Server get following error message:

"ZENworks Asset Management Manager
[2.4.501] A netowrk error was encountered while communicating with a remote application.
ID:{70023C91-78FD-429D-A62C-483E8668D98C}
Name: zam
Port: 7460

Get Message Channel Failure within the Collection client event log
"message channel failure"


Troubleshooting
=============
1. Enabled logging on client
2. Check for open ports 7460 on collection server
3. Check for firewall - communications
4. Check registry for open ports
5. Check ColSvrCoreEvent log
6. ZIP collection server's BIN directory - send to Novell for analysis
7. Change location of File Store
8. Let collection server run "anonymous", change IP back to Valid IP or DNS, send collection server's logs back to Novell for analysis ColsvrCoreEvent.log
9. After analysis of collection server's logs All you need to do is turn off "Lost and Found" feature


Actions to Resolution:
=======
Analysis of ColSvrCoreEvent log showed that feature of ZAM called Lost and Found can cause problems with Collection Server
We turned off "Lost and Found" and now collection server is working properly.
Disable the check box for the Lost and Found setting within Tools, Enterprise Options.

Miscellaneous Details and supporting documents:
==================
TID 3856101
Reasons for Collection Server Core dump - Collection server crash: TID: 3856101


============
From Novell Documentation page 209 and 257
By default, Lost and Found tracking is turned on. If you are an administrator, you can specify whether your installation tracks Lost and Found. You can enable or disable the tracking of Hardware and Software independently.

To change enterprise options
Click on the Tools menu and click on Enterprise Options.
In the Track Lost and Found box, select or clear the check boxes to track hardware or software that cannot be found.
The Lost and Found is a special kind of stockroom that is created and maintained by ZENworks Asset Management.