Hi folks - please excuse the long post. When I originally installed Altiris NS 7.1 on my server, I checked the innocuous checkbox during installation to default to SSL. Once I had DS 7.1 up and running, I soon found out that DS at the time didn't support SSL. I ended up turning SSL off in the SMC and in various places throughout Altiris (it was a real pain).
To turn off SSL For PXE automation environments, I had to change 3 files, one for each of the 3 preboot environments (Linux, WinPE x86, and WinPE x64)
For WinPEs I had to modify the PECTAgent.ini files located here
\\sbsserver\deployment\Task Handler\bootwiz\oem\DS\winpe2\x86\Base\Program Files\Altiris\Altiris Agent
and here
\\sbsserver\deployment\Task Handler\bootwiz\oem\DS\winpe2\x64\Base\Program Files\Altiris\Altiris Agent
and then for the Linux environment, I had to change the file
\\sbsserver\deployment\Task Handler\bootwiz\oem\DS\Linux\x86\Base\tmp\.aex-agent-install-config.xml
After modifying these files, I also of course had to recreate each preboot configuration in the SMC. Okay, fair enough. I made these changes, and everything was working great for months.
When DS 7.1 Service Pack 1a came out, I immediately installed it. Afterward, I began to have preboot driver problems, and consequently had to recreate my preboot environments again. Lo and behold, I began to receive SSL errors in automation again. The specific errors received were like such:
<![CDATA[Post to 'http://sbsserver:443/Altiris/Deployment/Services/GetResourceGuid.aspx' failed: HTTP error: (-2147209951)]]>
and also
<![CDATA[Malformed HTTP response]]>
What had happened here is that the service pack overwrote my preboot “templates” to their original installation values. I then had to modify my two PECTAgent.ini files and the .aex-agent-install-config.xml file to change the port from 443 to 80, and once again recreate all of my preboot configurations.
Okay, so far so good. Last week, I installed DS 7.1 SP1a Maintenance Release 1. Guess what? My “Malformed HTTP Response” issue came back up! I have to go through and edit those files again and then recreate my preboot configurations. Okay, well at least I see the pattern here, but how can I fix it permanently?
Where is DS 7.1 getting the idea that it ought to use port 443 in these three files? Has anyone else experienced this, and if so do they know how to fix it permanently? This is obviously a question for Symantec support, and I’ll ask them as well, but I’ll put this out here in case anyone else has also experienced this maddening issue. Thanks!