Openwbem error messages filling up the system log file

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Environment

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 Service Pack 4
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 Service Pack 3

Situation

The system log "/var/log/messages", are flooded with the following error messages;

openwbem:[xxxxx]Type: DOMException
openwbem:[xxxxx]File: OW_XMLParserDOM.cpp
openwbem:[xxxxx]Line:181
openwbem:[xxxxx]Msg: No document found
openwbem:[xxxxx]Exception caught in BinaryRequestHandler

Resolution

The error can be caused by a corrupt XML file in "/usr/share/omc/svcinfo.d/". Veriy all the XML files located in this directory have a valid size and proper information. Below is example output of this directory;

-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 3106 Feb 16 16:20 apache2.xml
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2934 Dec 14 18:48 namcd.xml
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1952 Dec 19 17:08 network.xml
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2910 Nov 3 2011 nfsserver.xml
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 330 Apr 11 13:08 nmb.xml
[....]
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2906 Dec 7 21:59 ntp.xml
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2850 Apr 17 2009 portmap.xml
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2469 May 4 2011 postfix.xml
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2828 Oct 6 2011 pure-ftpd.xml
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2815 Dec 17 11:20 slpd.xml
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 330 Apr 11 13:08 smb.xml
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 340 Apr 11 13:08 smbfs.xml
-rw------- 1 root root 2865 Mar 14 15:04 syslog.xml
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 3782 Jan 18 04:28 tomcat5.xml

Cause

If one of the files in the above directory has a 0 byte file size or if the file is corrupt and does not contain proper information openwbem can not read the file properly and will return an error.

Additional Information

If it is not immediately apparent which file is problematic, openwbem can be run via strace in an attempt to determine the problem file. To do this take the following steps;

1. Stop openwbem, "rcowcimomd stop"
2. Run openwbem in debug mode through strace, "strace -fTt -s1024 -o /tmp/cimom_strace.log /usr/sbin/owcimomd -d > /tmp/owcimomd.log 2>&1".

The above command generates two log files, "/tmp/cimom_strace.log" (the strace log file) and "/tmp/owcimomd.log" (the openwbem debug log file).

3. Wait until the error messages are seen then stop the above trace by pressing "CTRL+C". To monitor for the messages run "tailf /var/log/messages" from another console.
4. Start openwbem normally "rcowcimomd start".

Disclaimer

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