Troubleshooting discovery by disconnected scanner (disconnected scenario)

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9.2.5 Available from 9.2.5.

To troubleshoot issues with software discovery on computers where the disconnected scanner is installed, review the most common issues that you might encounter.

Log files

Disconnected scanner log files are in the following directories.
  • IBM i UNIX <installation_directory>/logs
  • Windows <installation_directory\logs

Checking the import log

When you import a package with scan results to License Metric Tool, the import log that is available under Management > Data Imports displays information and warning messages that are related to the imported package. If the package or its content does not meet the requirements, it might be skipped during the import. In such case, scan results are not displayed in License Metric Tool. After the import finishes, check the log for warning and error messages to verify whether results packages were successfully imported.

Providing failing packages to IBM Support

  • Import of the whole package failed
    If the following errors are written in the import log, import of the whole results package failed. 
    2015-11-06 08:31:07 INFO: Processing scan package: 201511041200-9.128.0.223.zip from: /disconnected/.
2015-11-06 08:31:08 INFO: ETL from FileSystem - SAM::DisconnectedScan 
(0x00000000563C63FF - 0x00000000563C6514): Failed
    Provide the package and its full path to IBM Support. To determine the full path, complete the following steps.
    1. On the computer where the License Metric Tool server is installed, go to the disconnected data source directory.
    2. To search for the file that failed, run the following command.
      find -name "<package_name>"
    3. Provide the output of the command to IBM Support. For example:
      /disconnected/<package_name>
  • Import of a single file failed
    If the following error is written in the import log, import of a single file from the results package failed.
    2015-11-06 10:48:07 WARN: An error occurred parsing XML file 2 in file isotagsearch_0_375.zip. 
Install path value was not found.
    Provide the file and its full path to IBM Support. To determine the full path, complete the following steps.
    1. On the computer where the License Metric Tool server is installed, go to the following directory <SERVER_INSTALL_DIR>/wlp/usr/servers/server1/tmp/datasources.
    2. To search for the file that failed, run the following command.
      find -name "<package_name>"
    3. Provide the output of the command to IBM Support. For example:
      ./wlp/usr/servers/server1/tmp/datasources/2/UploadManager/sha1/75/375/<package_name>

Common problems

IBM i The software or ISO tags scan fails and no results are created.
To solve the problem, run the following command in QSH. Then, repeat the scan.
export QIBM_MULTI_THREADED=Y
The software is discovered and bundled, but there are no PVU calculations
The problem might be caused by an incorrect epoch, which points to the date in the future. The epoch is included in file names of the capacity scan results, for example, tlm_hw_201603030148_1456969683.xml. Open the capacity.zip archive, and check whether the epochs are correct. You will have to convert the epoch into a normal date. On Linux, you can do it by running the date -d @<epoch> command. For example, date -d @1456969683.
The host name of a computer that is provided by the disconnected scanner is different than expected
The host name that is provided by the disconnected scanner and a regular scanner can be different. The regular scanner uses the host name that is provided by BigFix®, while the disconnected scanner checks the host name by running the hostname command or, if not available, through the scanner check.
The detected software is duplicated in License Metric Tool after reinstalling disconnected scanner
If you uninstall the disconnected scanner and remove its directory from a computer, and then reinstall the disconnected scanner, the endpoint ID of this computer is changed. As a result, the software inventory is duplicated in License Metric Tool. To avoid the problem, perform the following steps.
  1. Go to the config directory, and substitute the endpoint_id.txt file with the backup file that you created before uninstalling the scanner. For more information, see: Uninstalling the disconnected scanner (disconnected scenario). By changing the endpoint ID, you can keep the historical data, and collect the new data for this computer.
  2. Check the DNS and IP address of the computer.
  3. Log in to License Metric Tool, and go to Reports > Computers.
  4. To identify the duplicated computer, add the following columns to the report: DNS Name, IP Address, and Computer First Seen.
  5. Compare the two computers with the same DNS Name and IP Address, and find the one that was first seen more recently.
  6. Decommission this computer. For more information, see: Decommissioning computers with disconnected scanners (disconnected scenario).
  7. Wait for the scheduled import or run it manually.
AIX Installation of the disconnected scanner and the capacity scan are slow on AIX
It happens when the host name cannot be resolved. To solve the problem, add the host name to DNS or to the /etc/hosts file. The default configuration of the name resolver on AIX first looks for the host name in the DNS, and then in the /etc/hosts file. If you add the host name to the hosts file, you might also need to make changes in the /etc/netsvc.conf file and restart the system.

IBM i Transferring files from IBM i systems

The internal file structure of IBM i systems that is displayed when connecting over FTP is very complex. However, you can use the following command to make it more UNIX-like. After you connect over FTP, run the following command. For more information, see: Using the FTP Subcommand: NAMEFMT. 
cd /
site NAMEFMT 1
Next, set the appropriate mode for transferring files, either binary or text. Use the binary mode for transferring scan results, and use the text mode to obtain the scanner log files.

Opening a case

If none of the above solutions works for you, open a case and provide the following files to IBM Support.
IBM i For IBM i, provide the following files.
  • Package with scan results
    • /<Installation_directory>/run_hw_std.log
    • /<Installation_directory>/run_sw_and_pack_std.log (the file is generated in application update 9.2.20 and lower)
    • /<Installation_directory>/run_sw_console_std.log (the file is generated in application update 9.2.21 and higher)
    • /<Installation_directory>/pack_results_std.log (the file is generated in application update 9.2.21 and higher)
  • /<Installation_directory>/warning*.xml file
  • Scanner logs from /etc/cit/logs
  • Console output of a failed step in the debug mode, if possible. The following example generates the /cit/failure.log file with the output.
    export QIBM_MULTI_THREADED=Y
/qsys.lib/qtivcit.lib/wscansw.pgm -s -c /cit/sw_config.xml -i /cit/CIT_catalog_I5OS.xml
-o /cit/catalog_scan_man.xml -e /cit/warning_man.xml -debug
>/cit/failure.log 2>&1
UNIX Windows For UNIX and Windows, provide the following files.
  • <Installation_directory>/logs
  • <Installation_directory>/work
  • <Installation_directory>/output
  • <Installation_directory>/config

Providing packages with support data

When you are requested by IBM Support to provide support data for a particular computer, perform the following steps.
  1. Go to the directory where the disconnected scanner is installed.
  2. Run the following script.
    • IBM i UNIX collect_support_data.sh
    • Windows collect_support_data.bat
    Support data package is created in the support_data subfolder of the directory where the disconnected scanner is installed.
  3. Provide the support data package to IBM Support.