Open Enterprise Server 11

Novell-Cifs CASA Repair Tool @ Coolsolutions

I published my Novell-Cifs CASA Repair Tool to Novell Coolsolutions.

The tool will validate CASA keys are present and the the proxy user can login.  If there is a problem, it will fix it.  Great tool to fix the following errors:

ERROR: ENTRY: DDCLogin() failed Error: -223
ERROR: ENTRY: DDCLogin() failed Error: -222
ERROR: ENTRY: DDCLogin() failed Error: -197

The tool works with OES2.x and OES11.x.  I expect it to work with OES2015 unless there are big changes in that version.

If you are running Novell Cifs this tool is a must.  Download it and have it ready, or run it as a preventative measure.

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

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.

 

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.

Install error: ndsconfig error 74

Installs can be tricky especially when installing into an existing tree that has been around since NetWare 4.11, has multiple partitions, several locations, and dozens of servers.  If the tree is not healthy the install of DSfW has a greater chance of failure.  If communication with all servers is good, the tree is healthy, and the Preparing for Domain Services for Windows Install TID is followed then usually the install goes through with out any issues.

If there is a failure a common error is ndsconfig error 74.   This video goes over the error.  The troubleshooting of this error can be applied to a similar error “ndsconfig error 80”.

Windows 8 and DSfW

I am still in the process of using Windows 8 with Domain Services for Windows.  From what I have seen so far it behaves similar to Windows 7 as a workstation joined to the domain.  Logging in, mapping drives, running GPOs, executing login script from a GPO, all seem to work as in Windows 7.  The biggest challenge for me is getting used to the Start menu in Windows 8 and that  isn’t DSfW related.

Windows 8 with VMWare View 5.1.1 and DSfW OES11SP1 all appear to play well with each other.  Making templates and linked clones do not seem to have any gotchyas to look out for.  Let me know or the Novell Forums know if you discover a bug with DSfW and Windows 8.

VMWare and best practices for Timekeeping

Lately I’ve been getting a lot of requests for timekeeping best practices for VMWare

VMWare has a great support article on this.  Below are the SLES recommendations.  The article can be found here

 

SLES 11 (All updates) No additional kernel parameters required.
SLES 10 SP4 on ESX 5.0 and later clock=pmtmr
hpet=disable
SLES 10 SP4 on ESX 4.x Use a VMI enabled kernel.
SLES 10 SP3 on ESXi 5.0 clock=pmtmr
hpet=disable
SLES 10 SP3 on ESX 3.5 and 4.x Use a VMI enabled kernel.
SLES 10 SP3 on ESX 3.0.x and earlier clock=pmtmr
hpet=disable
SLES 10 SP2 on ESXi 5.0 clock=pmtmr
hpet=disable
SLES 10 SP2 on ESX 3.5 and 4.x Use a VMI enabled kernel.
SLES 10 SP2 on ESX 3.0.x and earlier clock=pmtmr
hpet=disable
SLES 10 SP1 clock=pmtmr
hpet=disable
SLES 10 clock=pmtmr
hpet=disable
SLES 9 (All updates) clock=pmtmr
hpet=disable
SLES 8 No additional kernel parameters required.… Continue reading

Script to check if ports are listening

If you are concerned about a DSfW service going down and or the port is not accessible, this script will help keep the services up or notify you of a service going down.  The script will check if each DSfW service is listening, then telnet to each port.  If it can not telnet, the script will log which port is not accessable in the /var/opt/novell/xad/log/dsfw_portchk.log.

The dsfw_portchk.sh script can be ran on PDC or ADC, running Novell DNS or not running Novell DNS.

The script can also e-mail and restart the services if desired.

It will detect if the server has IPv6 enabled so to properly detect the correct port Samba and NetBios is listening on.

The script detects if Novell DNS is configured to start.  Some times on ADC servers DNS is not configured or is not set to run.  The original script… Continue reading

Delete an attribute on all users with a script

Here is the bases of a script to delete an attribute on a user.

I come across issues where an attribute was populated on several users that shouldn’t be there or you want to create new objectsids or just remove the existing objectsids and replace them with a back up.

Most DSfW installs are a name mapped install meaning the install is mapped to an existing container in the tree.  If this is the case the domain name most likely will not patch to context in the tree and most likely the objectclass wit not be domain.  An example of a domain with the name of  novell.com mapped to a container with an objectclass of Organization (o=novell) and not domain (dc=novell).  Even it if is a dc most likely the fdn does not match the domain name.  Continuing with our example of novell.com that would… Continue reading

June 2012 OES11 Hot Patch for NCP 6385 x86-64

TID 5144803

Files Included
novell-libncputil-1.1.0-5.1.x86_64.rpm 12.4 KB (12735)
novell-libncputil-32bit-1.1.0-5.1.x86_64.rpm 12.5 KB (12834)
novell-ncpenc-5.2.0-29.5.x86_64.rpm 488.8 KB (500550)
novell-ncpns-5.4-6.1.x86_64.rpm 50.2 KB (51500)
novell-ncpserv-2.1.0-14.3.x86_64.rpm 234.2 KB (239847)
novell-ncpserv-nrm-2.0.4-11.2.i586.rpm 282.4 KB (289183)

June 2012 OES11 Hot Patch for NCP

  • 612452: Restore of NSS metadata fails via xattr when there are no local replica on the server
  • 745847: AFP core for MapGUIDToID function call
  • 747903: NSS: NSSMU throws error 23388 during volume creation
  • 748802: Viewing user quotas from iManager give CIMOM error after deleting the user having quota
  • 749428: SMS Backup Performance degradation after OES2 SP2 to SP3 upgrade
  • 755875: zERR_USER_ABORTED when trying to update eDirectory for pool object
  • 756027: Segfault in adminusd

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