novell-zenloader failing to load or reloading periodically due to port conflict

  • Document ID:3711457
  • Creation Date:16-Jan-2008
  • Modified Date:27-Apr-2012
    • Micro Focus Products:
      ZENworks Configuration Management

Environment

Novell ZENworks 10 Configuration Management

Situation

Symptoms include: Random managed agent login failures, deployment, discovery tasks stuck in pending mode, new applications not deploying.
NOTE: The solution provided in this document is only meaningful if the following error is found and you have verified that a second instance is indeed not running:
ERROR (from loader-messages.log):
[DEBUG] [1/8/08 5:49:16 PM] [] [Loader.RemoteEventModule] [Could not open port. Assuming another instance of zenloader is running. Shutting down this instance of zenloader.] [Could not open port. Assuming another instance of zenloader is running. Shutting down this instance of zenloader.] [] []

Resolution

Check the port that is used by RemoteEventModule in RemoteEvent.xml. When novell-zenloader service is stopped, this port should not be in use (netstat). If this port is in use by another service, it can be changed.
  1. Stop the novell-zenloader service.
  2. Back up the existing RemoteEvent.xml to a new location and name (not .xml) for safe keeping.
  3. Change the port parameter (5502) to an unused port.
  4. Restart the novell-zenloader service and see if the error in loader-messages continue to occur.

Additional Information

RemoteEvent.xml contains a port that the zenloader will try to open to so that it can be notified of events. If it can't open that port (in this case because the port is already being used by another application), then the zenloader won't start. If the zenloader is not running then the CASA configuration files will not be created or not persist. Also, other functionality will not work (content import, content distribution, quick tasks).

Also, if the zen monitor service was installed, it will periodically check to see if the zen server and zen loader services have shutdown unexpectedly. If they have, it attempts to restart them. This would show attempts to restart in the logs when the service was not manually restarted or the server rebooted:
[DEBUG] [1/8/08 5:44:26 PM] [] [Loader.DataModelModule] [Logging into the datamodel (try 1)] [Logging into the datamodel (try 1)] [] []
...
[DEBUG] [1/8/08 5:44:56 PM] [] [Loader.DataModelModule] [Logging into the datamodel (try 1)] [Logging into the datamodel (try 1)] [] []

etc.

Additionally, in the ZENworks install log the following error occurred:
Novell ZENworks Loader Installed, but not running
But the loader-messages.log has the actual information about the port conflict to determine the cause.