Novell

Updated NDSD Health Check Script for OES2018/SLES12

People have e-mailed me about how much they use the ndsd health check script all the time.  I haven’t modified it for OES 2018, but Thomas Mueller has and it looks great.  He shared his updated script with me so that I can post it for every one.

Here is the newest version with OES 2018 updates

ndsd_healthchk.sh_oes2018

Thank you Thomas!

DSfW 2008 R2 Schema Update

DSfW is in the process of being updated to 2008 R2 schema and needs your help.  If you are interested in beta testing the next version of DSfW please send an e-mail to pmadhan@microfocus.com and Chitradevi.Kumaraswamy@microfocus.com with a subject line ‘Interested in Domain Services for Windows Beta Program’

The final version will support 2012 schema, aes encryption, and fine grained password policies.  This is exciting and would be a great project to be part of.  This is your chance see and be a major contributor for the coming versions of DSfW.

For more information on this project please go to the coolsolution page below.

Updating DSfW Environment to AD2008 R2 Level – Beta Planned

Logon-Logoff / Power-on-Shutdown Scripts Execution for Windows Clients of DSfW

A new coolsolution has been released allowing the login and logoff tasks on a workstation.  The script can also power down or power on workstations.  Administrators and end users can automate these tasks.  The scripts can be stored in the netlogon or sysvol on the primary domain controller which will sync it out to the other DCs.  The profile tab of user properties, or Logon GPO can be used for integrating these scripts into startups and shutdown cases.

Go to novell.coolsolutions.com to download the script and read more about what you can do with this script.

March 2015 OES 11 SP2 Scheduled Maintenance Update 10332

March 2015 OES 11 SP2 Scheduled Maintenance Update 10332

 

How to apply the patch with zypper.  YaST Online Update can also be used.

1) List repositories to ensure the update the server is registerd and the updated repository is present
zypper lr
Should see the following:
nu_novell_com:OES11-SP2-Updates | OES11-SP2-Updates | Yes | Yes

2) List the Updates
zypper pch OES11-SP2-Updates
Should see the following:
OES11-SP2-Updates | oes11sp2-March-2015-Scheduled-Maintenance | 10332 | security | Needed

3) Install the maintenance patch
OES11SP2
zypper up -t patch oes11sp2-March-2015-Scheduled-Maintenance

4) Then list the patches again to verify the patch is listed as Installed
OES11SP2
zypper pch OES11-SP2-Updates

Should see the following:
OES11-SP2-Updates | oes11sp2-March-2015-Scheduled-Maintenance   | 10332 | Installed

5) To apply all OES11 SP2 updates run the following command
zypper up -t patch -r OES11-SP2-Updates

6) To apply all SLES 11 SP3 updates run the following command
zypper up… Continue reading

January 2015 Scheduled Maintenance Update

January 2015 Scheduled Maintenance has been released

How to apply the patch with zypper.  YaST Online Update can also be used.

1) List repositories to ensure the update the server is registerd and the updated repository is present
zypper lr
Should see the following:
nu_novell_com:OES11-SP2-Updates | OES11-SP2-Updates | Yes | Yes

2) List the Updates
zypper pch OES11-SP2-Updates
Should see the following:
OES11-SP2-Updates | oes11sp2-January-2015-Scheduled-Maintenance | 10105 | security | Needed

3) Install the maintenance patch
OES11SP2
zypper up -t patch oes11sp2-January-2015-Scheduled-Maintenance

4) Then list the patches again to verify the patch is listed as Installed
OES11SP2
zypper pch OES11-SP2-Updates

Should see the following:
OES11-SP2-Updates | oes11sp2-January-2015-Scheduled-Maintenance   | 10105

5) To apply all OES11 SP2 updates run the following command
zypper up -t patch -r OES11-SP2-Updates

6) To apply all SLES 11 SP3 updates run the following command
zypper up -t patch -r… Continue reading

December 2014 Scheduled Maintenance Update

December 2014 Scheduled Maintenance has been released

How to apply the patch with zypper.  YaST Online Update can also be used.

List repositories to ensure the update the server is registerd and the updated repository is present
zypper lr
Should see the following:
nu_novell_com:OES11-SP2-Updates | OES11-SP2-Updates | Yes | Yes

zypper pch OES11-SP2-Updates
Should see the following:
OES11-SP2-Updates | oes11sp2-December-2014-Scheduled-Maintenance | 9879 | security | Needed

[clear-line]Install the maintenance patch
OES11SP2
zypper up -t patch oes11sp2-December-2014-Scheduled-Maintenance

Then list the patches again to verify the patch is listed as Installed
OES11SP2
zypper pch OES11-SP2-Updates

Should see the following:
OES11-SP2-Updates | oes11sp2-December-2014-Scheduled-Maintenance   | 9879

To apply all OES11 SP2 updates run the following command
zypper up -t patch -r OES11-SP2-Updates

To apply all SLES 11 SP3 updates run the following command
zypper up -t patch -r SLES11-SP3-Updates

Key DSfW specific bugs fixed with this maintenance… Continue reading

May 2014 OES11SP2 Scheduled Maintenance for eDirectory 8.8 SP8 patch 2

May 2014 OES11SP2 Scheduled Maintenance for eDirectory 8.8 SP8 patch 2 (9156)

How to apply the patch with zypper.  YaST Online Update can also be used.

List repositories to ensure the update the server is registerd and the updated repository is present
zypper lr
Should see the following:
nu_novell_com:OES11-SP2-Updates | OES11-SP2-Updates | Yes | Yes

List patches in the Updates repository
zypper pch OES11-SP1-Updates
Should see the following:
OES11-SP2-Updates | oes11sp2-edirectory-888-patch2 | 9156 | security| Needed

Install the maintenance patch
zypper up -t patch oes11sp1-edirectory-887-patch2

Then list the patches again to verify the patch is listed as Installed
zypper pch OES11-SP2-Updates
Should see the following:
OES11-SP2-Updates | oes11sp1-edirectory-888-patch2 | 9156 | security| Installed

To apply all OES11 SPa updates run the following command
zypper up -t patch -r OES11-SP2-Updates

Bugs: 627162653702782375795332, … Continue reading

May 2014 OES11SP1 Scheduled Maintenance for eDirectory 8.8 SP7

May 2014 OES11SP1 Scheduled Maintenance for eDirectory 8.8 SP7

How to apply the patch with zypper.  YaST Online Update can also be used.

List repositories to ensure the update the server is registerd and the updated repository is present
zypper lr
Should see the following:
nu_novell_com:OES11-SP1-Updates | OES11-SP1-Updates | Yes | Yes

List patches in the Updates repository
zypper pch OES11-SP1-Updates
Should see the following:
OES11-SP1-Updates | oes11sp1-edirectory-887-patch2 | 6989| security| Needed

Install the maintenance patch
zypper up -t patch oes11sp1-edirectory-887-patch2

Then list the patches again to verify the patch is listed as Installed
zypper pch OES11-SP1-Updates
Should see the following:
OES11-SP1-Updates | oes11sp1-edirectory-887-patch2 | 6989| security| Installed

To apply all OES11 SPa updates run the following command
zypper up -t patch -r OES11-SP1-Updates

Patch: oes11sp1-edirectory-887-patch6-9149
Bugs: 612236799046812295812707825235,… Continue reading

May 2014 Scheduled Maintenance Patch

May 2014 Scheduled Maintenance Patch

May 2014 Scheduled Maintenance has been released

How to apply the patch with zypper.  YaST Online Update can also be used.

List repositories to ensure the update the server is registerd and the updated repository is present
zypper lr
Should see the following:
nu_novell_com:OES11-SP1-Updates | OES11-SP1-Updates | Yes | Yes
nu_novell_com:OES11-SP2-Updates | OES11-SP2-Updates | Yes | Yes

List patches in the Updates repository
OES11SP1
zypper pch OES11-SP1-Updates
Should see the following:
OES11-SP1-Updates | oes11sp1-May-2014-Scheduled-Maintenance | 9151| recommended | Needed

OES11SP2
zypper pch OES11-SP2-Updates
Should see the following:
OES11-SP2-Updates | oes11sp2-May-2014-Scheduled-Maintenance | 9157| recommended | Needed

Install the maintenance patch
OES11SP1
zypper up -t patch oes11sp1-May-2014-Scheduled-Maintenance
OES11SP2
zypper up -t patch oes11sp2-May-2014-Scheduled-Maintenance

Then list the patches again to verify the patch is listed as Installed
OES11SP1
zypper pch OES11-SP1-Updates
Should see the following:
OES11-SP1-Updates | oes11sp1-May-2014-Scheduled-Maintenance   | 9151

OES11SP2
zypper… Continue reading

March 2014 Scheduled Maintenance Patch

March 2014 Scheduled Maintenance has been released

How to apply the patch with zypper.  YaST Online Update can also be used.

List repositories to ensure the update the server is registerd and the updated repository is present
zypper lr
Should see the following:
nu_novell_com:OES11-SP1-Updates | OES11-SP1-Updates | Yes | Yes

List patches in the Updates repository
zypper pch OES11-SP1-Updates
Should see the following:
OES11-SP1-Updates | oes11sp1-March-2014-Scheduled-Maintenance | 8935| recommended | Needed

Install the maintenance patch
zypper up -t patch oes11sp1-March-2014-Scheduled-Maintenance

Then list the patches again to verify the patch is listed as Installed
zypper pch OES11-SP1-Updates
Should see the following:
OES11-SP1-Updates | oes11sp1-March-2014-Scheduled-Maintenance   | 8935

To apply all OES11 SPa updates run the following command
zypper up -t patch -r OES11-SP1-Updates

To apply all SLES 11 SP2 updates run the following command
zypper up -t patch -r SLES11-SP2-Updates

Key DSfW specific bugs fixed with this… Continue reading

I/OTest script to check if the disk I/O is causing slow performance

Slow VM Performacne, use IOTest to see if the disk IO is the culprit

This script will test the disk IO by copying 500Mb of data using the same block size as eDir uses and with the same api eDir uses “fdatasync”.
This writes 500 Mb of data each iteration to the iotest.log in the dib directory, usually the /var/opt/novell/eDirectory/data/dib/
It will overwrite the previous data in the iotest.log each time it runs.  Anything under 100 MB/s is a concern and will cause slowness for eDirectory and possible memory build up.  IO causes a bottleneck for events to be written to disk.  A build up of memory by ndsd can cause a ndsd to take all available memory (both virtual and resident) causing ndsd to core.

If slow IO writes are seen with the iotest script begin the process of adding hard drives and reducing the… Continue reading

New Features in DSfW OES11SP2

There is a great article on Novell CoolSoltutions about the New Features in DSfW OES11SP2.

It gives great information on the new features with screenshots and explanations. Take a look and learn more about the new features of DSfW.

January 2014 Scheduled Maintenance Ptach

January 2014 Scheduled Maintenance has been released

How to apply the patch with zypper.  YaST Online Update can also be used.

List repositories to ensure the update the server is registerd and the updated repository is present
zypper lr
Should see the following:
nu_novell_com:OES11-SP1-Updates | OES11-SP1-Updates | Yes | Yes

List patches in the Updates repository
zypper pch OES11-SP1-Updates
Should see the following:
OES11-SP1-Updates | oes11sp1-January-2014-Scheduled-Maintenance | 8685| recommended | Needed

Install the maintenance patch
zypper up -t patch oes11sp1-January-2014-Scheduled-Maintenance

Then list the patches again to verify the patch is listed as Installed
zypper pch OES11-SP1-Updates
Should see the following:
OES11-SP1-Updates | oes11sp1-January-2014-Scheduled-Maintenance   | 8685

To apply all OES11 SPa updates run the following command
zypper up -t patch -r OES11-SP1-Updates

To apply all SLES 11 SP2 updates run the following command
zypper up -t patch -r SLES11-SP2-Updates

Key DSfW specific bugs fixed with this… Continue reading

SCA Appliance

Ever wonder what happens when you run a supportconfig -ur SR#?  The support config gets uploaded and analyzed by a Support Config Analysis server that runs potentially over 900 support patterns to analyze the support configs contents.  The report is then posted to the SR listing critical issues than when fixed have been found to fix roughly 50% of the issues an SR was created for.

The Support Config Analysis server is available for download as an appliance than can be ran on premises.  The appliance stores analysis results in a MariaDB database and uses PHP to read the database and generate the report.  It has a FTP server allowing for support configs to be uploaded, archived, processed, and analyzed.  With this it is possible to modify the supportconfig script to gather more information for other applications running on the server and… Continue reading

November 2013 Scheduled Maintenance

November 2013 Scheduled Maintenance has been released

How to apply the patch with zypper.  YaST Online Update can also be used.

List repositories to ensure the update the server is registerd and the updated repository is present
zypper lr
Should see the following:
nu_novell_com:OES11-SP1-Updates | OES11-SP1-Updates | Yes | Yes

List patches in the Updates repository
zypper pch OES11-SP1-Updates
Should see the following:
OES11-SP1-Updates | oes11sp1-November-2013-Scheduled-Maintenance | 8483| recommended | Needed

Install the maintenance patch
zypper up -t patch oes11sp1-November-2013-Scheduled-Maintenance

Then list the patches again to verify the patch is listed as Installed
zypper pch OES11-SP1-Updates
Should see the following:
OES11-SP1-Updates | oes11sp1-November-2013-Scheduled-Maintenance   | 8483

To apply all OES11 SPa updates run the following command
zypper up -t patch -r OES11-SP1-Updates

To apply all SLES 11 SP2 updates run the following command
zypper up -t patch -r SLES11-SP2-Updates

Key DSfW specific bugs fixed with this… Continue reading

September 2013 Scheduled Maintenance

July2013 Scheduled Maintenance has been released

How to apply the patch with zypper.  YaST Online Update can also be used.

List repositories to ensure the update the server is registerd and the updated repository is present
zypper lr
Should see the following:
nu_novell_com:OES11-SP1-Updates | OES11-SP1-Updates | Yes | Yes

List patches in the Updates repository
zypper pch OES11-SP1-Updates
Should see the following:
OES11-SP1-Updates | oes11sp1-September-2013-Scheduled-Maintenance | 8284| recommended | Needed

Install the maintenance patch
zypper up -t patch oes11sp1-September-2013-Scheduled-Maintenance

Then list the patches again to verify the patch is listed as Installed
zypper pch OES11-SP1-Updates
Should see the following:
OES11-SP1-Updates | oes11sp1-September-2013-Scheduled-Maintenance   | 8284| recommended | Installed

September 2013 Scheduled Maintenance for OES11SP1 (8284)

Key DSfW specific bugs fixed with this maintenance patch for OES11SP1

How To Register OES and SLES Servers Using Command Line and a Script

It is important to keep your servers at the current patch level.  Usually there are many bugs fixed and if you come across a new issue it helps Novell Support the the Developers.

I like to use the command line to register my servers.  It is easy and relatively fast compared to the GUI.  Even easier is to use a script.  Just copy the script to the server, modify the e-mail account and registration codes and run the script.  If something happens to the update services and repositories just run the script to clean up the old and re-register.

Below is a video demonstrating the register.sh script

TID 3030847 goes over the command line process.

Note: do not include < > for email or regcodes in the examples below

The command to register a OES server is
suse_register -a email=<user@email.com> -a regcode-sles=<your sles code>… Continue reading

July 2013 Scheduled Maintenance

July2013 Scheduled Maintenance has been released

How to apply the patch with zypperList repositories
zypper lr
Should see the following:
nu_novell_com:OES11-SP1-Updates | OES11-SP1-Updates | Yes | Yes

List patches in the Updates repository
zypper pch OES11-SP1-Updates
Should see the following:
OES11-SP1-Updates | oes11sp1-July-2013-Scheduled-Maintenance | 7889 | recommended | Needed

Install the maintenance patch
zypper up -t patch oes11sp1-July-2013-Scheduled-Maintenance

Then list the patches again to make sure it is installed
zypper pch OES11-SP1-Updates
Should see the following:
OES11-SP1-Updates | oes11sp1-July-2013-Scheduled-Maintenance       | 7889 | recommended | Installed

July 2013 Scheduled Maintenance for OES11SP1

Key DSfW specific bugs fixed with this maintenance patch for OES11SP1

  • 806538 – MS cluster support in DSfW
  • 816741 – DSFW: ldapsearch fails when the entryDN specified in search filter contains spaces before or after comma.
  • 818366 – xadsd crashes in rpc__naf_addr_free ()
  • 819547 – DSFW: No results for ldapsearch with… Continue reading

May 2013 Scheduled Maintenance

May 2013 Scheduled Maintenance has been released

How to apply the patch with zypperList repositories
zypper lr
Should see the following:
nu_novell_com:OES11-SP1-Updates | OES11-SP1-Updates | Yes | Yes

List patches in the Updates repository
zypper pch OES11-SP1-Updates
Should see the following:
OES11-SP1-Updates | oes11sp1-May-2013-Scheduled-Maintenance       | 7715    | security    | Needed

Install the maintenance patch
zypper up -t patch oes11sp1-May-2013-Scheduled-Maintenance

Then list the patches again to make sure it is installed
zypper pch OES11-SP1-Updates
Should see the following:
OES11-SP1-Updates | oes11sp1-May-2013-Scheduled-Maintenance       | 7715    | security    | Installed

May 2013 Scheduled Maintenance for OES11SP1 7715

Key DSfW specific bugs fixed with this maintenance patch for OES11SP1

  • – 769530: OES11SP1LH: DSfW provisioning task “Assign Rights” – rerun fails with error -614 (entry already exists)
  • – 783005: DSFW: AD Ping doesn’t… Continue reading

April 2013 Scheduled Maintenance

April2013 Scheduled Maintenance has been released

How to apply the patch with zypperList repositories
zypper lr
Should see the following:
nu_novell_com:OES11-SP1-Updates | OES11-SP1-Updates | Yes | Yes

List patches in the Updates repository
zypper pch OES11-SP1-Updates
Should see the following:
OES11-SP1-Updates | oes11sp1-April-2013-Scheduled-Maintenance | 7421 | security | Needed

Install the maintenance patch
zypper up -t patch oes11sp1-April-2013-Scheduled-Maintenance

Then list the patches again to make sure it is installed
zypper pch OES11-SP1-Updates
Should see the following:
OES11-SP1-Updates | oes11sp1-April-2013-Scheduled-Maintenance     | 7421    | security    | Installed

April 2013 Scheduled Maintenance for OES11SP1 (7421)

Key DSfW specific bugs fixed with this maintenance patch for OES11SP1

  • 770208: OES11SP1LH: DSfW provisioning of DNS generates duplicate forward and reverse lookup zones if they already exists
  • 785697: Provsioning pre healthCheck fails in ADC.
  • 791640: DSFW FTU1:During ADC Provosioning PreCheck, the… Continue reading

NDSD Health Check Script

I’ve received a great deal of feed back on the DSfW Health Check Script and applied some changes. One of the suggestions was to do only a ndsd (eDirectory) script. The DSfW Health Check Script works for both DSfW and eDirectory servers, but if all you want to do is check eDirectory health on a DSfW server or want a script only for ndsd that is smaller and simple this is an option.

I am always looking for suggestions. I’ve created a video for the ndsd_heaclthchk script. Watch to to learn about configuring it for your specific needs.

For for NDSD Health Check in the download section.

The configuration options are as follows

# Set emailsetting to 1 to send e-mail log when finished. Set to 0 or remove the 1 to disable
emailsetting=0

# Set emailonerror to 1 to send e-mail log if an error is returned. Set to… Continue reading

Latest DSfW Health Check Script

I’ve received a great deal of feed back on the DSfW Health Check Script and applied some changes.
I am always looking for suggestions. I’ve created an updated video with the latest script. Watch to to learn about configuring it for your specific needs.

 

OES 11 SP1 eDirectory Install

Looking to install  eDirectory on OES 11 SP1?  Here is a video going through the install and giving some tips on doing a successful install.

 

Script to modify grouptype – modify_grouptype.sh

I did a post in January on grouptype and their impact on DSfW performance in TID 7011498 DSfW Slow Performance/Group Types.  The post shows how to find grouptype settings, goes over a couple of TIDs discussing grouptypes and a video giving even more info on the subject.

I have since written a script that will easily search for and modify grouptypes.  Here is how the script works.  Executing the script will display the following menu:

This script can report grouptype information and change grouptypes

To run the script enter 1, 2, or 3

1. Display groups with grouptypes of Universal
2. Create a ldif to change grouptype to Domain Local
3. Create and apply ldif to change grouptype to Domain Local

Options                           … Continue reading

DSfW and eDirectory Health Check

It is a good idea to periodically check the health of DSfW and eDirectory servers.

This video concentrates on a script I wrote that can be ran on both eDirectory and DSfW servers.

The script demonstrated in this video is called dsfw_edir_healthchk.sh.  To get the latest version of the script click on the DSfW Health Check link in the download section on DSfWDude.com.

A great TID to start off with for a eDirectory health check is TID 3564075.
On a DSfW server start off with an eDirectory health check as well as TID 7001884 which has DSfW specific commands to check the health and overall operation of a DSfW server.

The script does most of the suggestions in both TIDs mentioned above plus a few more checks.

For eDirectory there are 8 checks the script does and… Continue reading

DSfW Express Install in OES11SP1

With OES11SP1 there are two install options.  Express and regular.

The difference between the two is the express install will not prompt for the server and dib location, SLP configuration, the OES proxy user, or the DNS configuration.  If there are no other Novell DNS servers in the tree this is a good option.  Otherwise do the regular install to use the same DNS Locator object as the existing Novell DNS server is using.

DSfW Slow Performance/Group Types

DSfW, like AD, has multiple group types.  This is found in the grouptype attribute.  TID 7004405 goes over the three group types.

Domain Local group: -2147483644
Global group: -2147483646
Universal group: -2147483640

The default group type is Universal group.   This group type can generate a lot of extra traffic causing the performance of the domain controller to suffer.

Global and Universal groups calculate a virtual attribute called tokenGroupsDomainLocal. This attribute is calculated for the group by the slapi layer. When a user is a member of several groups login times can increase. An increase in ndsd utilization can also result from the calculation of the tokenGroupsDomainLocal when a large number of groups reside within the domain.

If ndsd utilization is high or login times need to be reduced, change groups to Domain Local groups to avoid the calculation of the tokenGroupsDomainLocal virtual attribute.

Here is a… Continue reading

Diagnostic tool for DNS Records

The DSfW team has a great tool called check-dns.pl to help diagnose DNS issue with DSfW.

The tool validates essential records for forward and reverse lookups.  This tool can be found at Novell Coolsolutions.

The tool might incorrectly report PDC and DC records if there is more than one Domain Controller.  The Coolsolutions article will be updated with a new check-dns.pl to address this issue.

Until the Coolsolutions article is updated you can download it from dsfwdude.com.

Download

Open Enterprise Server 11 SP1 is released

Open Enterprise Server 11 SP1 has been released today

LearnEventually, hopefully in the next update or two to more about OES11SP1 here

The download links for OES11 SP1 are:

Download link: http://download.novell.com/SummaryFree.jsp?buildid=rmqoq2iehSQ~
Documentation: http://www.novell.com/documentation/oes11/

As far as Domain Services for Windows goes, the install will now allow you to choose between a simplified install or the standard.  The simplified install of DSfW reduces the number of screen, removing many of the screens that most people click next on with out any changes too.  The install is also more intuitive.  If follows along with the type of DSfW install you are doing instead of starting with the eDirectory configuration.

OES11SP1 has also improved gposync.  This should help reduce issues with gopsync not working correctly or properly syncing gpos out to the ADC DSfW servers.

OES11SP1 migrations for DSfW servers are now supported.  The supported migrations are:… Continue reading

Looking for DSfW Feedback

There is a new survey for Domain Services for Windows at https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/dsfwsurvey

Please provide any feedback on DSfW.  You can have direct impact as to the road map of DSfW plus enter a chance to win $50.  If your orginization is currently using DSfW, planning on using DSfW, or thinking about using DSfW please help out by taking the survey.

For more information on the survey itself go to coolsolutions.

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