ZCM components (loader, server, logging, etc) do not start or function correctly

• ZCM does not start
• Error:  java.lang.NoSuchMethodError
  
• ZCM components do not start
• zenloader
• zenserver
• Nothing being logged
• loader-messages.log
• server-messages.log
• Firewall is off
• Sufficient memory
• System memory
• Java heap size
• Latest patches applied
• ZDC confirms no errors
  

Ensure that there are no additional .jar or .dll files anywhere in the path.

.jar and .dll files can be loaded from anywhere in the path.  If there are multiple copies of the same module, it is possible that an older, or renamed (even to .old), version will be loaded.

An enhancement request has been logged so that the Zenworks Diagnostic Centre (ZDC) identifies superfluous modules.

Case Study

In one specific case, zenloader would not start and loader-messages.log was not being updated.  All the standard troubleshooting methods were followed but did not identify where the fault originated.  Being a Windows system, additional logging was enabled as follows

• Run C:\Program Files (x86)\Novell\ZENworks\bin\zenloaderw.exe
• Select the Logging tab
• Change Level to Debug
• Specify the Log path as %ZENWORKS_HOME%\logs
• Specify Redirect Stdout as %ZENWORKS_HOME%\logs\zenloader-out.log
• Specify Redirect Stderror as %ZENWORKS_HOME%\logs\zenloader-error.log
• Restart the Novell ZENworks Loader Service

The zenloader-out.log showed the following error

dd/mm/yy hh:mm DEBUG [Loader] Module com.novell.zenworks.loader.modules.LoggerModule failed to initialize

dd/mm/yy hh:mm DEBUG [Loader] java.lang.NoSuchMethodError: com.novell.zenworks.logger.MessageLogger.setProcessName(Ljava/lang/String;)V

    at com.novell.zenworks.loader.modules.LoggerModule.initialize(LoggerModule.java:62)

    at com.novell.zenworks.loader.ZENModuleThread.run(ZENModuleThread.java:69)

dd/mm/yy hh:mm DEBUG [Loader] Module com.novell.zenworks.loader.modules.DataModelModule cannot be started because of a failed dependency: com.novell.zenworks.loader.modules.LoggerModule

dd/mm/yy hh:mm DEBUG [Loader] Module com.novell.zenworks.loader.modules.queue.runner.QueueRunner cannot be started because of a failed dependency: com.novell.zenworks.loader.modules.LoggerModule

dd/mm/yy hh:mm DEBUG [Loader] Module com.novell.zenworks.loader.modules.EnabledComponentsModule cannot be started because of a failed dependency: com.novell.zenworks.loader.modules.DataModelModule

...etc

This strongly suggested an incorrect .jar file or classpath, environment, etc, but these all checked out as correct.

Eventually an old FTF from ZCM 11.0 (logger-11.0.0.jar) was found in the C:\Program Files (x86)\Novell\ZENworks\lib\java directory.  This was being loaded instead of the current 11.3 version of logger.jar.