D.0 Troubleshooting Discovery, Deployment, and Retirement

The following sections provide solutions to the problems you might encounter while discovering devices, deploying the ZENworks Agent to devices, and retiring devices:

Delay while retrieving ZENworks Agent status

Explanation: At times there is a considerable delay while retrieving the ZENworks Agent Status in the Device Summary page.
Possible Cause: As the server has to contact both the ZENworks Updater Service (ZeUS) as well as the ZENworks Agent, there is a delay in retrieving the status.
Action: In ZCC, navigate to Configuration > Device Management > System Variable, add the system variable PING_DEVICE_TO_SEND_QUICKTASK and set the value as True. This system variable will bypass ZeUS and directly obtain the status from the ZENworks Agent.

NOTE:If the system variable is set to True, quick tasks from ZCC are also sent to the agent instead of through ZeUS.

SNMP discovery detects the latest Windows operating system as Windows 8.1

Explanation: Microsoft has deprecated SNMP, so when you perform SNMP discovery from ZENworks it might detect the latest Windows operating system as Windows 8.1.
Action: None

Device reconciliation fails with invalid authentication

Explanation: While updating an older version of the ZENworks Agent to ZENworks 2020, using the Standalone Agent Updater, when you reboot the device, the device is registered as a new device in ZCC.
Action: Manually unregister the device from the zone and add it again to the zone.

If ZENworks Agent is installed on SLE12 after running the SuSEfirewall start command then ZENworks Agent fails to communicate with the ZENworks Server

Source: ZENworks; Discovery, Deployment, and Retirement..
Explanation: The SuSEfirewall start command does not start the firewall. So, during agent installation the check assumes that the firewall is disabled and it will not open the port (expected behavior). But the SuSEfirewall start command changes the iptables and causes the server and agent communication failure.
Action: Stop the firewall using the rcSuSEfirwall stop command.

IMPORTANT:To manage the firewall services on SLE12 devices use the rcSuSEfirwall stop or rcSuSEfirwall start command instead of SuSEfirewall start or SuSEfirewall stop.

An error occurs while installing the ZENworks Agent through a deployment task

Source: ZENworks; Discovery, Deployment, and Retirement.
Explanation: If the ZENworks Agent is installed through a deployment task on a managed device that has .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 installed, you might encounter the following error message: 
An unhandled exception (System.Security.SecurityException) occurred in
micasad.exe.
Additional Information: Ecall methods must be packaged into a system module.
Action: On the managed device, uninstall .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 and reinstall it. For more information on how to uninstall .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 and reinstall it, see the Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 Solution Center Web site.

Manual installation of the ZENworks Agent hangs with the status as starting

Source: ZENworks; Discovery, Deployment, and Retirement.
Explanation: The manual installation of ZENworks Agent abruptly stops on the managed device after the MSI packages are downloaded. Following are the symptoms:

  • The ZENworks icon icon displays the installation status as “Starting...” for a considerable amount of time.

  • The status of Novell ZENworks PreAgent service is not Started in the Windows Service Control Manager.

  • The %SystemRoot%\novell\zenworks\bin\zenpreagent.installerr file contains the following error message:

    Exception during start: Cannot start service ZENPreAgent on computer.
Possible Cause: The Novell ZENworks PreAgent service was terminated by the Windows Service Manager because it failed to respond to the start request in a timely fashion. This issue is likely to occur if the device is slow and heavily loaded.
Action: Do the following:

  1. Start the Novell ZENworks PreAgent service:

    1. From the Windows desktop Start menu, click Settings > Control Panel.

    2. Double-click Administrative Tools > Services.

    3. Start the Novell ZENworks PreAgent service.

      This automatically resumes the ZENworks Agent installation.

  2. (Conditional) If the problem persists, do the following:

    1. Kill the zenpreagent.exe and zpa_iface.exe processes.

    2. Start the ZENworks Agent installation. For more information, see Manually Deploying the Agent on Windows.

NMAP discovery does not run from a Windows Primary Server that has NMAP installed

Source: ZENworks; Discovery, Deployment, and Retirement.
Possible Cause: On a Windows Primary Server, the NMAP (nmap.exe) is installed in the %ProgramFiles%\nmap directory and added to the PATH variable of the user who installs it. Consequently, the ZENworks user is unable to locate nmap.exe by using the PATH variable.
Action: Append the location of the NMAP installation directory (%ProgramFiles%\nmap) to the system environment variable PATH of Windows.

How do I enable debug logging?

Source: ZENworks; Discovery, Deployment, and Retirement.
Action: To enable the logs, see TID 3418069 in the Novell Support Knowledgebase.

Where do I find the PreAgent log files?

Source: ZENworks; Discovery, Deployment, and Retirement.
Action: Following are the PreAgent log files located in %SystemRoot% \novell\zenworks\bin\
  • zenpreagent.installerr
  • zenpreagent.installlog
  • zenpreagent.installstate
  • ZPA.status
  • cmdline.txt (The command line executed when the managed agent package was launched.)

After the PreAgent service is installed, all logging information is available in the system application event log.

Refreshing the Deployment page causes the discovery tasks to be repeated

Source: ZENworks; Discovery, Deployment, and Retirement.
Possible Cause: It is normal for a Web browser to resend information in order to refresh a page. ZENworks auto-updates the data on a Deployment page every 5 seconds, so you should not need to refresh the Deployment page after running a discovery task. If you refresh the Deployment page in ZENworks Control Center after running a discovery task, you are asked to confirm the resend in order to refresh the page. If you do so, the discovery task runs again.
Action: Do not refresh the Deployment page after running a discovery task. Instead, exit the page and return to see any changes.

Orphaned and deleted files are not cleaned up from a deployment task that uses a proxy

Source: ZENworks; Discovery, Deployment, and Retirement.
Explanation: Orphaned or to-be-deleted files from a pre-task or post-task action during a deployment task that uses a proxy are not cleaned up.

For example, if you run the deployment task from a Linux server through a Windows Proxy, there is a folder created in the zenworks_installation_directory\novell\zenworks\bin\_rfu_cache directory on the Windows device that contains the pre-task or post-task command file. If you delete the task in ZENworks Control Center, the command file is left on the Windows Proxy device. However, all command files older than five days are removed when another deployment task is run by using the same Windows Proxy.

Action: To immediately delete the orphaned files from the zenworks_installation_directory\novell\zenworks\bin\_rfu_cache directory, you must manually delete it.

Discovery task remains in a pending state if it has a large IP address range

Source: ZENworks; Discovery, Deployment, and Retirement.
Explanation: If a discovery task has an IP address range with more than 50,000 devices, the task is not started. The status of the task remains as Pending. If any other discovery or loader task is running simultaneously, it might take a considerable time to complete.
Possible Cause: The ZENworks Loader has insufficient memory to run a task that has a large IP address range.
Action: Do the following:

  1. Stop the discovery task that has a large IP address range:

    1. In the Discovery Tasks panel, select the discovery task that has a large IP address range.

    2. Click Action > Abort Discovery Task.

  2. Create multiple tasks with the IP address ranges that have fewer than 50,000 devices.

  3. (Conditional) If any other discovery or loader task takes a considerable time to complete, restart the ZENworks Loader.

    • On Windows: Do the following:

      1. From the Windows desktop Start menu, click Settings > Control Panel.

      2. Double-click Administrative Tools > Services.

      3. Restart the Novell ZENworks Loader Service.

    • On Linux: At the console prompt, enter /etc/init.d/novell-zenloader restart.

  4. Restart the ZENworks Loader.

The device that has the ZENworks Agent installed is not registered in the Management Zone

Source: ZENworks; Registration.
Possible Cause: The device has more than one DNS suffix configured.
Action: Do the following on the device that is not registered in the Management Zone:

  1. Reconfigure the device with only one DNS suffix.

  2. Manually register the device to the Management Zone.

    For more information on how to manually register the device, see Manually Registering a Device.

Windows XP devices on which ZENworks 11.x Agents are installed cannot be registered to a ZENworks Management Zone

Source: ZENworks; Registration.
Possible Cause: The required cipher suites are not enabled on ZENworks
Action: On the Primary Server, perform the following steps:

  1. Add the following ciphers to the /opt/novell/zenworks/share/tomcat/conf/server.xml file:

    TLS_ECDH_RSA_WITH_3DES_EDE_CBC_SHA ,T LS_ECDH_ECDSA_WITH_3DES_EDE_CBC_SHA ,TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_3DES_EDE_CBC_SHA,TLS_ECDHE_ECDSA_WITH_3DES_EDE_CBC_SHA,SSL_RSA_WITH_3DES_EDE_CBC_SHA

  2. Remove the 3DES_EDE_CBC cipher from the /opt/novell/zenworks/share/jdk/jre/lib/security/java.security file, by changing the following line:

    From

    jdk.tls.disabledAlgorithms=SSLv3, RC4, MD5withRSA, DH keySize < 1024, \ EC keySize < 224, DES40_CBC, RC4_40, 3DES_EDE_CBC

    To

    jdk.tls.disabledAlgorithms=SSLv3, RC4, MD5withRSA, DH keySize < 1024, \ EC keySize < 224, DES40_CBC, RC4_40

  3. Restart all the ZENworks services.

Unable to remove or uninstall a registered Macintosh device from the Management Zone

Source: ZENworks; Discovery, Deployment, and Retirement.
Explanation: Uninstalling or removing a previously registered Macintosh agent from the Management Zone gives the following errors: 
Permission denied.

or

Not enough privileges to perform the operation.
Action: A user needs to have root privileges before running the uninstall script.

  1. Log in as root or use the sudo -i command.

  2. Run the uninstall script.

ZENworks Agent installation fails because of a ZENPreAgent and ZPA_Ifacetype initialization exception

Source: ZENworks; Discovery, Deployment, and Retirement
Explanation: When you download and install the pre-agent package, installation fails because of a ZENPreAgent and ZPA_Iface type initialization exception.

You might get the following error message in the ZENPreAgent.exe-Common Language Runtime Debugging Services window:

Application has generated an exception that could not be handled

You might get the following error message in the Visual Studio Just-In-Time Debugger window:

An unhandled exception(System.TypeInitializationException)occurred in ZPA_Iface.exe
Possible Cause: A corrupted .NET framework.
Action: To successfully install the pre- agent on the device:

  1. Use the .NET clean up utility to uninstall the .NET framework.

  2. Re-install the .NET framework.

After installing the ZENworks Agent, you cannot find the /opt directory in the Mac OS X Finder

Source: ZENworks; Discovery, Deployment, and Retirement
Explanation: After installing the ZENworks Agent on a Mac OS X Lion device, you cannot find the /opt directory in the Mac OS X Finder.
Action: To make the /opt directory visible in the Mac OS X Finder, run the following command:

/usr/bin/chflags nohidden /opt

ZENworks Agent installation fails on a Mac OS X Lion (version 10.7) device or later

Source: ZENworks; Discovery, Deployment, and Retirement
Explanation: If you install the ZENworks Agent on a Mac OS X Lion (version 10.7) device or later, the installation fails.
Possible Cause: Java 1.6 might not have been installed on the machine.
Action: To install Java 1.6, run the following command:

java -version

Push deployment fails on a WinXP device with a generic error message

Source: ZENworks; Discovery, Deployment, and Retirement
Explanation: The push deployment fails on a WinXP device, with the following error message:

Error: Credentials invalid. Please ensure that Classic file sharing is enabled on the target device

Possible Cause: The failure could be because of one of the following:

  • You might have entered wrong credentials and have not enabled the classic file sharing option on the target device.

  • A Microsoft issue. For more information, see the CAUSE section in .

Action: Do the following:

  • Enter correct credentials and ensure that you have enabled classic file sharing on the target device.

  • If the generic error message is displayed even after the above conditions are met, you need to add a registry key. For more information, see.

Agent Installation is incomplete

Source: ZENworks; Discovery, Deployment, and Retirement.
Explanation: Agent installation fails to complete when you have selected the Manual and the Do not prompt for reboot option.
Possible Cause: .NET or Windows Installer requires a reboot.
Action: Reboot the device to resume the agent installation.

ZENworks Agent does not work if Macintosh device is upgraded from 10.8 to 10.9

Source: ZENworks; Discovery, Deployment, and Retirement.
Explanation: If ZENworks Agent is installed on Macintosh 10.8 device and Macintosh device is upgraded from 10.8 to 10.9, then ZENworks Agent does not work. Since, Apple's jdk 1.6 have been removed after upgrade.
Action: On Macintosh 10.9 device install Apple's jdk 1.6 and log in again.

ZENworks Agent installation fails when the Windows Imaging Component is not installed on the device

Source: ZENworks; Discovery, Deployment, and Retirement
Explanation: ZENworks agent installation fails with the following error message:

Windows Imaging Component, a prerequisite for.NET 4.0 should be installed manually before the ZENworks Agent installation.

Possible Cause: The Windows Imaging Component which is a prerequisite for .NET 4.0 is not installed on the device.
Action: Install Windows Imaging Component on your device manually and restart the ZENworks agent installation.

Unable to install ZENworks Agent on Windows 2012 Server R2

Source: ZENworks; Discovery, Deployment, and Retirement
Explanation: When you install the ZENworks Agent on a Windows 2012 Server R2 machine, the installation fails with the following error messages:

ZENPreAgent.exe has stopped working.

ZPA_Iface.exe - Application Error.

Action: To install the ZENworks Agent, do the following:

  1. On the Windows desktop, click Start > Control Panel > System and Security > System > Advanced system settings.

  2. In the System Properties dialog box, click Advanced > Performance Settings.

  3. In the Performance Options dialog box, click Data Execution Prevention > Turn on DEP for essential Windows programs and services only.

  4. Click OK, then Apply.

Duplicate Device Objects are created when Device Authentication fails during Reconciliation

Source: ZENworks; Discovery, Deployment, and Retirement
Explanation: During device registration if a device is not reconciled due to device authentication failure, duplicate device objects are created for the device in the management zone.
Action: Prevent creation of duplicate device objects for the managed device:

  • Ensure that the network adapters of the managed device are connected and have a valid IP address.

  • Execute the following zac command on the managed device:

    zac reregister <GUID of original device object>

When a Mac patch policy bundle fails, the xauth messages that are launched are not terminated

Source: ZENworks; Discovery, Deployment, and Retirement
Explanation: If you launch a Mac patch policy bundle several times, the policy fails each time with a pop-up message to install xauth. These xauth messages are not terminated even after the bundle error messages disappear. This is because X11 is no longer included as a default install, starting with OS X Mountain Lion 10.8.3.
Action: Before upgrading a ZENworks agent to an OS X Mountain Lion 10.8.3 (or later) device, or before installing ZENworks agent on an OS X Mountain Lion 10.8.3 (or later) device, you need to install the X11 application.

Effective location settings on the managed devices do not work after clearing the cache and refreshing the managed devices

Source: ZENworks; Discovery, Deployment, and Retirement
Explanation: When you clear the cache by using the zac cc command and refresh the managed devices by using the zac ref command, the effective location settings on the managed devices might not work.
Action: Restart the ZENworks Agent on the managed devices.

Rebuilding deployment fails while adding packages

Explanation: During system update, the rebuilding deployment packages fails with an error while adding packages.
Action: Check the log file, if the Handler registered for action exception is registered, then restart the loader service.

To rerun the rebuilding deployment packages, run the zman SURP command.

Device Serial Number not getting updated on the Device Summary Page

Explanation: After correcting the serial numbers on the managed device, the updated values are not getting updated on the Device Summary page in ZENworks Control Center.
Action: Modify the setting below on all configuration servers in the zone to allow the Serial Number update through a refresh of the managed devices:

  1. In the config.xml file, modify the value of the setting "AllowSerialNumberUpdate" from "false" to "true". The config.xml file can be accessed from the following location:

    • On Windows Servers: %ZENWORKS_HOME%\share\tomcat\webapps\zenworks-registration\WEB-INF\

    • On Linux Servers: /opt/novell/zenworks/share/tomcat/webapps/zenworks-registration/WEB-INF

  2. Restart the ZENServer service for the changes to take effect.

NOTE:After the device serial numbers are updated in ZCC, it is recommended to reset the value of the AllowSerialNumberUpdate setting to false. This ensures that the database is not updated during every device refresh, thereby improving the performance of ZENworks.

ZCC displays lost and retired devices in the Devices Logged Into list

Explanation: Devices that are lost or have been retired, are listed in the Devices Logged Into panel in ZENworks Control Center, even though users have not logged into these devices for a considerable time period.
Action: To ignore missing and retired devices from the Devices Logged Into list in ZCC, add the following Opaque Data Entry in the database:

INSERT INTO ZOPAQUEDATA VALUES ((SELECT zuid FROM zzone),'IGNORE_LOST_AND_RETIRED_DEVICES','true')