Environment
Novell ZENworks 7 Desktop Management on Linux Support Pack 1 - ZDML7 SP1 Middle Tier
Situation
Periodic high CPU use by Middlie Tier (xtier) daemon and ZENworks clientless users can't login. Middle Tier is running on SLES in VIM. The problem is not episodic (only with high volume traffic or peak use periods) but periodic, showing high CPU trends throughout the day and night
Resolution
Running on virtual machines can cause time drift leading to timers getting triggered. This is a time synchronization problem. See TID 3858673, SLES and VIM documentation for more information on troubleshooting and correcting time drift on VMs.