Environment
Novell ZENworks 10 Configuration Management
Novell ZENworks 11 Configuration Management
Situation
In some environments, after 10.3.1 update a slower login is seen. In these cases typically refresh is slow due to many bundle requirements processing.
Resolution
For ZCM 10.3.x: This is fixed in version 10.3.3 - see KB 7007641 "ZENworks Configuration Management 10.3.3 - update information and list of fixes" which can be found at https://www.novell.com/support
For ZCM 11.0: This is fixed in version 11.1 - see KB 7008746 "ZENworks Configuration Management 11.1 - update information and list of fixes" which can be found at https://www.novell.com/support
Once the update is applied, a new registry setting is available:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Novell\ZCM
PartialRefreshWaitTime
The value must be a String (REG_SZ) and is an integer representing the number of seconds a partial refresh wait for an in-progress general refresh that it has joined to complete.
If the general refresh does not complete in the specified amount of time, the partial refresh will begin.
If the general refresh does complete, the partial refresh will return. A
value of 0 (zero) for PartialRefreshWaitTime will cause the partial refresh to always execute without joining a generalrefresh. The default value (no registry setting) is 45 seconds.
Additional Information
Note for registry settings:
In some cases, users experience great benefit from setting the registry value to 0. In other cases no benefit is seen.
By default, partial refresh (for settings, policies etc.) waits for full refresh (same as partial with addition of bundle processing) on bootup. This can be a problem as full refresh may take a long time to evaluate system requirements on bundles, pull down content etc.
Setting the registry value to 0 can make login faster. But if it doesn't help slow login drastically, it is best to leave it at the default. Otherwise, this setting can create redundant actions where both partial and full refresh will overlap. This can put additional load on primary servers and agent as duplicate work is done. Duplicate work can mean getting and applying policies twice, for example.
Use this registry setting only after testing and determining whether it is correct for the environment.