Bundles stop launching

  • 7009315
  • 08-Sep-2011
  • 27-Apr-2012

Environment

Novell ZENworks 11 Configuration Management Bundles
ZCM 11 cumulative agent patch 2a

Situation

Depending on the number of assigned/scheduled bundles, manual bundle launch through bundle icon stops working after a while.

Utilizing the Authentication Hook as documented in  https://www.novell.com/documentation/zenworks11/zen11_cm_software_distribution/data/bfwtxps.html, no further bundle might get launched after first bundle got blocked by the Authentication Hook.

Resolution

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

Workaround: if it is not possible to upgrade to 11.1 at this time, in the interim, Novell has made a Patch available for testing, in the form of a Field Test File (FTF): it can be obtained at https://download.novell.com/Download?buildid=JMF_ucHev-M~ as "ZCM 11.0 - NAL fixes post-Cumulative Agent Patch 2a". This Patch should only be applied if the symptoms above are being experienced, and are causing problems.

This Patch has had limited testing, and should not be used in a production system without first being checked in a test environment. Some Patches have specific requirements for deployment, it is very important to follow any instructions in the readme at the download site. Please report any problems encountered when using this Patch, by using the feedback link on this TID.

Cause

The issue is that bundle operations gets managed through a threaded model within the ZCM agent and the agent can handle up to 50 simultaneous threads. There have been cases where the thread pool has been used up and no further thread was available to allow any additional bundle launch.

The fix was to introduce an additional queue so not all threads are being used up on higher number of assigned bundles.