Symantec Management Platform (Notification Server)

I am having two issues, one which may be solved by another.  My organization currently cannot force the push of the Altiris Agents on computers that do not already have it installed.  What I mean by that, is that we are unable to enable the policy to do so.  Whenever we try to enable the policy and save changes, the screen refreshes successfully but the policy is still disabled.  Here is a screenshot:

Because of this, I am trying to update patches on the SMP server, but I am not able to do so.  Certain products are not compatible with other products, which are dependent on others.  I am stuck right now due to this. 

Has anyone seen either of these issues?  Any and all advice/help is appreciated.  Thank you.

Dell Client Manager 3.1 is not compatible with SMP 7.0 SP5, but it will be in Q1 2011 when they release DCM 3.2:

http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=TECH141793

Regarding the push policy, try right-clicking on the policy in the left pane and choosing Enable, and then making your changes, rather than trying to turn the policy On in the right pane and saving your changes.  This has worked before, and also seems to be a known issue:

http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=TECH41797

Does this help?

Thank you for the DCM information.

On the other note, I am not able to right-click and enable the "Scheduled Push to Computers" as it appears to be a webpart on the Altiris Agent Install Setting page versus a policy listed in the left pane.  I tried the workaround suggested by the KB article which did not work either.

Actually, the KB seems to only apply if the policy is Off.  The KB says that with the policy Off, you may not be able to save changes unless you turn the policy On at the same time you make the changes and attempt to Save Changes.

What happens if you go to the policy now, turn it to On, attempt to Save Changes, and then check the Altiris Log Viewer on the server for errors within a minute or so of you attempting this change?  Do the logs provide any insight?

I seem to have a good number of errors occuring in the logs, most of them regarding patch management and task management.  Do you have any idea what source I would be looking for? e.g. Altiris.NS.ResourceManagement.DataClassImporter.ProcessData.

Remove the checkboxes for Verbose, Informational, and Logging to leave only Error and Warning remaining.  Do you still see many entries in the logs?

After trying a few times on errors I was not able to narrow down anything specific, but I may have a specific Warning or 3:

Log File Name: E:\Altiris\Notification Server\Logs\a41.log
Priority: 2
Date: 1/5/2011 4:50:51 PM
Tick Count: 714541500
Host Name: CLE1ALT10
Process: AeXSvc (1500)
Thread ID: 39
Module: AeXSVC.exe
Source: Altiris.NS.ResourceManagement.MessagingResource.Save_Impl
Description: Attempt to save messaging resource with guid JMEEKS (bda554e5-f720-492e-988e-240d17bcd5e5) has been blocked by the Host Resource Blacklist.
 

Log File Name: E:\Altiris\Notification Server\Logs\a41.log
Priority: 2
Date: 1/5/2011 4:51:02 PM
Tick Count: 714552515
Host Name: CLE1ALT10
Process: AeXSvc (1500)
Thread ID: 41
Module: AeXSVC.exe
Source: DataClassRowCollection.InternalTableInserter
Description: Failed on first attempt to commit fast insert for data class : Software Component (Software Component (61219b84-11d7-4002-8bc0-cd2e0202eb55)) . Trying again.
 

Log File Name: E:\Altiris\Notification Server\Logs\a41.log
Priority: 2
Date: 1/5/2011 4:51:02 PM
Tick Count: 714552515
Host Name: CLE1ALT10
Process: AeXSvc (1500)
Thread ID: 41
Module: AeXSVC.exe
Source: DataClassRowCollection.InternalTableInserter
Description: Failed on second and final attempt to commit fast insert for data class : Software Component (Software Component (61219b84-11d7-4002-8bc0-cd2e0202eb55)) .    at System.Data.DataColumn.set_Item(Int32 record, Object value)
   at System.Data.DataRow.set_Item(DataColumn column, Object value)
   at System.Data.DataRow.set_Item(String columnName, Object value)
   at Altiris.NS.ResourceManagement.Database.DataLoaderSqlClientInserter.SetColumn(String Name, String Value)
   at Altiris.NS.ResourceManagement.Database.SetColumnCommand.Execute(IDataLoaderInserter inserter)
   at Altiris.NS.ResourceManagement.Database.SqlClientInserter.CommitAll()
   at Altiris.NS.ResourceManagement.Database.SqlClientInserter.CommitBatch()
   at Altiris.NS.ResourceManagement.DataClassRowCollection.InternalTableInserterImpl(IDataLoaderConnection connection, Hashtable resourceDLInfoHT, TargetTable targetTable, String strInserterTable, DataClass dataClass, DataClassRows dataClassRows)
 

Could be a few issues.

First, search your filters for the word 'Blacklist' and pull up the Blacklist filter.  If any computers are found, and you didn't put them there, remove them.

Second, confirm that .NSE's are processing normally.  It seems that it's having trouble committing data, and that could be one reason.  .NSE's are found within \\yourservername\NSCap within the Evt folders.  I'd search this whole area for .NSE and move any you find into the EvtInbox folder.  If there are only a few hundred, they should disappear immediately.  If there are very many, it could take a minute or two -- but they should disappear rapidly, indicating that the NS is processing .NSE's.

If it appears that NSE's dumped into EvtInbox are not processing correctly, confirm Altiris services are Started and your NS isn't paused.  You can do that by going to Settings > All Settings, expand Notification Server and select Notification Server Settings, confirm Server Processing is On.

This suspicion is partly based on this KB:

http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=TECH44041

Hope this helps.

Thank you.  I will try this today and get back to you.

If you're having a lot of unrelated errors, it might be worth a call just to clear the big / bad ones out.  We've seen one issue be the cause of another - frequently - and it can be hard to sort out from a typing forum.  Obviously, it can be done, but if you're struggling to find KB's and such to help, you might just want to call in.

Just a thought.  Waiting on hold sux, so I understand being hesitant.  :S

There were no computers in the blacklist filters.  I did find many .nse files in the bad RVT directories.  Most of them I was able to move successfully into the EvtInbox as suggested.  I was however, unsuccessful at moving the 33,586 files in the EvtQueue\Bad\AeXException directory and am still unable to save the policy as on.

I have called and been back and forth playing phone tag and answering simple questions, but not able to get to the root of the issue yet.

Try deleting the Bad directory.  If it fills up, the SMP can have trouble processing the NSE's -- though I suppose they should be called SMPE's now.

As Thomas said, this may not resolve the issue -- I'm suspecting something grander is going on.

I deleted the Bad Directory.  I have also corrected some policies that were adding noise to my log viewer.  I did searching on other non-interfering warnings as well and think I have narrowed the issue down to one Warning that happens every time I click save changes:

Log File Name: E:\Altiris\Notification Server\Logs\a.log

Priority: 2

Date: 1/7/2011 9:13:52 AM

Tick Count: 859914250

Host Name: CLE1ALT10

Process: w3wp (9092)

Thread ID: 216

Module: w3wp.exe

Source: Altiris.NS.UI.AltirisWebApplication.Application_PreRequestHandlerExecute

Description: provided fallback culture(en-US) for non supported languages. Maximum request length exceeded

Have you seen this before?  If not, I will provide this information to support.  I appreciate the help you have already attempted to provide.

Please review TECH136480 here:

http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=TECH136480

Aparently there are a number of issues that can cause this.  I found several in our internal DB.  So, even if the description of the issue in that KB doesn't match what you're doing, try adding that anyway to see if that warning goes away.

And of course, let us know if that works.  :D

Thanks!

SUCCESS!! My Scheduled Push to Computers policy is now enabled thanks to this change.  Thank you very much.  I have marked your post as the solution.

Thanks to both of you for helping me figure out this extreme annoyance.