Environment
Novell ZENworks 7
Server Management - ZSM7 Tiered Electronic Distribution (TED)
Novell ZENworks 6.5 Server Management - ZSM6.5 Tiered Electronic Distribution (TED)
Novell ZENworks for Servers 3.0.2 - ZfS3.0.2 Tiered Electronic Distribution (TED)
Novell ZENworks 6.5 Server Management - ZSM6.5 Tiered Electronic Distribution (TED)
Novell ZENworks for Servers 3.0.2 - ZfS3.0.2 Tiered Electronic Distribution (TED)
Situation
IP Address
or DNS errors on TED screen
ERROR:"This host is only known by an IP address. It is highly recommended that a DNS name be used."
ERROR:"The primary address could not be changed to the address found in our certificate"
ERROR:"
SERVERNAME is an invalid DNS name and can't be used by TED.
Exception: java.lang.Exception: There are no valid DNS names or IP address by which TED can be known by.
Resolution
That brings
up the following 3 questions:
1. What TED host (distributors and subscribers) needs to
be able to do a reverse /forward DNS look up for what TED host?
(Does the subscriber need to be able to do a reverse and /or
forward DNS look up of a distributor server? and /or
visa-versa?)
2. Do subscriber/distributor servers need to be able to
do a reverse / forward DNS lookup for themselves?
3. Some companies are doing a distribution from one dual
NIC server across the WAN to another dual NIC server (one NIC is
private, the other NIC is public on both servers). What if each
server resolves their public/private DNS names differently from
different DNS servers?
Answer:
ZfS 3.0x Documentation states that each distributor
and/or subscriber host needs to be able to do a forward DNS look up
from itself of itself (from the distributor or subscriber server,
PING its own FQDN and get its own IP address back from the DNS
server). We also know that we're supposed to do a reverse DNS
lookup from any administrative workstation of the IP address of the
distributor or subscriber server (ping -a 137.65.85.135 should
return the FQDN of the server)
Ideally, all TED hosts (distributors and subscribers) should have both a single "A" and a single "in-addr-arpa" record in DNS (commonly called forward and reverse lookup records). Every TED host needs to be able to resolve the forward and reverse DNS records of every other TED host in their environment. If multiple DNS Zones are involved, it is wise to configure regularly scheduled DNS Zone Transfers between them to replicate the "A" and"in-addr-arpa" records for the TED hosts.
Verifying "A" and "in-addr-arpa" DNS records for TED hosts
You can use the NSLOOKUP utility from either a NetWare
Server Console or a Windows server CMD prompt to see verify if your
DNS server(s) have valid "A" (forward lookup) and "in-addr-arpa"
(reverse lookup) records for the TED host servers. Just
type NSLOOKUP and you'll get a > prompt. Then type in the FQDN
of another server to see if your DNS server will do forward
lookups. Then you can type the IP address of another server to see
if your DNS server will do reverse lookups on that server.
CONFIGURING MULTIHOMED OR MULTIPLE DNS ENTRY TED HOST SERVERS
Once the DNS forward and reverse lookup records are in
place correctly, you may still get one of the DNS errors if you
have multiple IP Addresses bound (i.e. multi-homed or multiple NICs
with IP bound) or if DNS entries for a server contains multiple
entries (i.e. in-addr-arpa with 2 or more DNS names or an "A"
record with more than 1 IP address registered).
FOR ZSM 6.5 and
7:
In these cases you can modify the "Hosts" or"PrimaryHost" parameter in the SYS:\ZENworks\zfs-startup.xml
file
Case 1 - Single
DNS name, multiple IP Addresses
If you have a server that has multiple IP
addresses bound, but only a single DNS entry, you need to set the
Hosts parameter in the ZFS-STARTUP.XML file. This is true even if
there is no "A" or "in-addr-arpa" records for the other IP
address(es) or have the SET NCP EXCLUDE IP ADDRESSES parameter
configured to exclude the unwanted address(es) or have ensured that
the desired IP address is being loaded/bound first. Simply put, if
you have multiple IP addresses bound no the server, you need to set
this parameter to ensure which IP address is used when the
Distributor/Subscriber attempts to do a reverse lookup on it's own
IP address in DNS.
The Hosts line reads by default:
You change it to:
dnsname.domain.com
NOTE: This setting can contain either an IP address or a
DNS name. If it contains a DNS name, it will resolve the name to an
address, and then look this up in DNS as an in-addr-arpa record. So
if you do opt to use a DNS entry here, it must have only a SINGLE
IP address entry for the "A" record in DNS.
Case 2
- Single IP Address, multiple DNS names
If you
have servers that have multiple DNS entries for the same address
(i.e. the in-addr-arpa DNS record for your server's IP Address has
links to multiple "A" DNS records), you need to set the PrimaryHost
parameter in the ZFS-STARTUP.XML fle.
The PrimaryHost line reads by default:
You change it to:
dnsname.domain.com
NOTE: In most cases you
will not need to change both parameters as they have different
purposes. The Hosts parameter is for a server with dual NICs/IP
addresses and the PrimaryHost parameter is for a server that is
known by DNS as multiple DNS names.
Answer:
Ideally, all TED hosts (distributors and subscribers) should have both a single "A" and a single "in-addr-arpa" record in DNS (commonly called forward and reverse lookup records). Every TED host needs to be able to resolve the forward and reverse DNS records of every other TED host in their environment. If multiple DNS Zones are involved, it is wise to configure regularly scheduled DNS Zone Transfers between them to replicate the "A" and"in-addr-arpa" records for the TED hosts.
Verifying "A" and "in-addr-arpa" DNS records for TED hosts
CONFIGURING MULTIHOMED OR MULTIPLE DNS ENTRY TED HOST SERVERS
BAD
hosts file
Although nslookup returns the correct
dns name, a host file may be taking prescedence over this.
Check that the host file on the subscriber contains the correct
information to resolve the dns name of the ted
subscriber.
FOR ZFS 3.0.2:
Additional Information
The two parameters"Hosts" and "Primaryhost" within the zfs-startup.xml file are used to properly configure the DNS configuration used for ZENworks Server Management, these setting's aren't used to specify the IP address that will be used to send the actual data, as such ZSM will just use the default interface on the server and doesn't force the usage of a specific address.
Formerly known as TID# 10076292