Deployment Solution

altiris 7.1

We have a job that combines a sequence of software delivery tasks.

after a pc is imaged and has all its symantec agents, we run this job for that pc.

almost every time this job runs it will stop somewhere halfway.  it stops at different tasks in different times.

The messags you find in SMP is always "waiting for the agent to get the task".  after 30 minutes the package times out and the job fails.

if you look in the client logging, it seems that ip address is lost from the task server, maybe because the symantec agent restarted during this job.

Not sure. I find it hard to analyse the client log.

When we run the job sequence a second time for the same PC it completely finishes.

anybody any idea?

Are all of your agents and sub-agents installed AND current in your image?  If the agent tries to update in the middle of your task sequence you can get the result that you're describing.

Good point.     Not sure it thats the case.

Do you think i can make sure these agents don't update if i DISABLE following option on each task ; "allow other tasks to run while this task runs"

DISABLING "allow other tasks to run while this task runs" does not help.

Anyway.  I did go into the logs this time.  I believe if found the reason.  I see all my client agents and sub-agents restarting.  after this is done the job is not being continued. (off course)

it all starts from this line down in the log  (C:\Programdata\Symantec\Symantec Agent\Logs):

<event date='Mar 11 12:36:09' severity='4' hostName='PW21-0075' source='Altiris Agent' module='AeXNSAgent.exe' process='AeXNSAgent.exe' pid='1720' thread='1724' tickCount='4070331' >
  <![CDATA[Received 'SERVICE_CONTROL_PRESHUTDOWN' request [0]]]>

Now i just need to find what causes this command to restart.

Attachment(s)

Agent2_0.txt   100 KB 1 version

Agent3.txt   100 KB 1 version

Well, you know where I'd look first :)

Did you find anything yet?

There is a known issue we're chasing right now that has to do with tasks running while MiniSetup is completing.  IF MiniSetup forces a reboot that interrupts a task, you'll get this behavior.  You'll see the same thing if a time-zone changes during the tasks.  And yes, it'll be moderately random.

http://www.symantec.com/docs/HOWTO55859

That article highlights both issue that are found in TECH203390 found here:

http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH203390

See if that fits the bill.

If so, we're pretty close to a solution, but there are some hints that might start you on the way.

ok, ill check it now,

in the meanwhile we raised a timeout setting regarding the job sequence,

the next 4 times of testing it did not occur anymore.

i ll update my findings about the technote.

thanks