Unable to manage EVMS through EVMS administration tools

  • 3670562
  • 26-Jul-2006
  • 30-Apr-2012

Environment

Enterprise Volume Management System (EVMS)
Novell SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 9
Novell SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10
Novell Open Enterprise Server (Linux based)

Situation

Unable to manipulate EVMS object
Unable to create EVMS object
Unable to delete EVMS object
When saving, evmsgui appears to hang
Error: Unable to create task context. Invalid argument.

Resolution

Exit any EVMS utilities that may be running (evms, evmsn, evmsgui).
Search for any evmsd_worker processes. Run the following as root:
ps aux |grep evms

If this is a part of a cluster, you will need to search each node of the cluster. If a server / node is found with an evmsd_worker process running, you will need to reboot that server. When it comes back up, you should be able to continue as normal. The initial save after this takes place may take up to five minutes.

If this does not work, rebooting the entire cluster simultaneously will likely be needed. If this is not an option, call Novell Technical Support to see if we can find another solution.

Additional Information

  • If the evmsd_worker process is killed with the -9 option, the process goes defunct. If the parent process is then killed with the -9 option on the PPID for the remaining defunct process the evmsd_worker process is killed completely.   Then re-starting NCS with rcnovell-ncs restart will restart the evmsd process on the cluster node. No reboot needed.
  • There are several scenarios which lead up to this condition. Keeping EVMS administration tools open is one common occurance. Remember to only use EVMS administration tools when needed, and to exit them when your task is done.