Environment
Novell Open Enterprise Server (Linux based)
Novell NetStorage or Novell ZENworks
Situation
Logging into NetStorage gives "The Page Cannot be Displayed" (Internet Explorer) or "Error 500" (other web browsers) at seemingly random intervals. Refreshing the page or reloading the window with the "Error 500" might load the page properly.
Resolution
This is due to high load on servers authenticating with the NetIdentity or Middle-Tier (XTier) authentication systems. By default, the novell-xsrvd process only starts with 10 processes - meaning it can only handle 10 authentications at any given point. This can be altered by editing the file :
and locating the line that states :
Change this to a higher number (e.g. 20) and save the file. Restart the process using :
And test the system for the occurrence of the error. Increase the number as needed in limited fashion (e.g. 10 at a time) until the problem no longer occurs during peak usage of the service.
/etc/opt/novell/xtier/xsrvd/xsrvd.conf
and locating the line that states :
NumberOfServers = 10
Change this to a higher number (e.g. 20) and save the file. Restart the process using :
rcnovell-xsrvd stop && rcnovell-xsrvd start
And test the system for the occurrence of the error. Increase the number as needed in limited fashion (e.g. 10 at a time) until the problem no longer occurs during peak usage of the service.
Additional Information
10 is a one-size-fits-all recommendation, and these types of recommendations do not cover all situations. The final number for the NumberOfServers should be high enough to cover the load and the access rate of the XTier system (NetStorage or ZenWorks authentications), and at the same time not so high that it causes the server load to increase dramatically. That number can only be determined in these situations by trial and error - increase the number a little bit at a time until the error is no longer occurring during peak usage times.
