Server Management Suite

Hello

Currently we are testing Windows Server 2016 and Altiris deployment and patch management.

Everything seems to run fine, with one exception, if i execute a task configured with a runas domain account, im getting a task failure. The error message is "An error occurred while loading data from XML."

Have anyone an idea what this error means?
 

Regards,

Daniel

I made some teste with local accounts and domain account, everytime with full administrytive right on the server.

Everytime i got this error, unless im using the "Local System Account". When im logged in and execute the task with "Current logged-on user" this seems to work fine. 

There are no errors in the eventlog. On the SMP is only this message:

Task instance is completed: 'Run TA_DomainAccountTest' (a5c0cdec-7d30-4794-8d73-cd349edc68ba, fc4be919-b44c-4203-804f-4f9f6d127429), started at 06.12.2016 12:22:30, status=Failed, total time=00:00:24.0622894
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 06.12.2016 12:22:54, Tick Count: 1619651187 (18.17:54:11.1870000), Host Name: <SMPName>, Size: 443 B
Process: AtrsHost (6784), Thread ID: 1381, Module: AtrsHost.exe
Priority: 4, Source: ServerTaskExecutionInstance
File: C:\ProgramData\Symantec\SMP\Logs\a.log

Have you tried these 2 TNs?

https://support.symantec.com/en_US/article.TECH40000.html

https://support.symantec.com/en_US/article.TECH195835.html

Hi

Thank you for your suggestions.

The Problem is persistent, recycling the application pool or reboot the server don't help in any way.

But this note " it might be necessary to uninstall the Task Server and then re-install it" catched my attention.

How can i uninstall/install only the task server components on the notification server?

As far as I see, you are using Windows Server 2016 for Notification Server 8.0 version, but this OS isn't supported for NS 8.0 release

• https://support.symantec.com/en_US/article.HOWTO9965.html

Please compare your already installed features on Windows 2016 with mentioned in this KB https://support.symantec.com/en_US/article.HOWTO98447.html

Sorry, my intial post is misleading. The notification server is a Windows Server 2012 R2, the target client for the task is a Windows Server 2016.

Windows Server 2016 is in the "Early support statements for client OS platforms"

https://www.symantec.com/connect/articles/it-management-suite-os-platform-support

Everything seems to be installed and activated.

The same task on a Windows Server 2012 R2 is running without any issues, but not on 2016

What contains failed 'Task Instance' output in SMP Console for this Windows 2016 client?

• Mouse double click on failed task and check output

On the client side i see this error in the agent.log

<event date='12/08/2016 15:23:11.2190000 +01:00' severity='1' hostName='<servername>' source='CryptHelper' module='BaseTaskHandlers.dll' process='AeXNSAgent.exe' pid='9152' thread='19352' tickCount='267327430' >
  <![CDATA[DecryptBase64String failed to decrypt data, error: Bad Data (0x80090005)]]>
</event>
<event date='12/08/2016 15:23:11.2230000 +01:00' severity='1' hostName='<servername>' source='CScriptTaskHandler' module='BaseTaskHandlers.dll' process='AeXNSAgent.exe' pid='9152' thread='19352' tickCount='267327430' >
  <![CDATA[Failed to run task as specific user, the credentails are invalid, error: Bad Data (0x80090005)]]>
</event> 

I checked the credentials twice, and as mentioned before, the same task is running on 2012 R2
The Task itself is a powershell script with write-host "Hello World"

Try to open your client task in SMP Console and re-enter credentials/password in this task and save changes ⇒ click "Schedule" and run this task again on Windows 2012 client.

If same problem occurs with credentials decrypt, then

Take 'AeXNSCHTTPs.exe' on your Notification Server machine from \\%Your NS Host Name%\NSCap\bin\Win32\X86\ ⇒ and download it on your Windows 2012 client machine ⇒ re-install "Symantec Management Agent" (Uninstall current SMA and install it again using 'AeXNSCHTTPs.exe') ⇒ Run client task with custom credentials.

That's maybe the solution for my problem. We never installed the agents from this package, i did it everytime with the \\NSCap\bin\Win32\X86\NS Client Package\AeXNSC.exe

Where is the difference from this two packages?
 

\NSCap\bin\Win32\X86\AeXNSCHTTPs.exe or \NSCap\bin\Win32\X86\AeXNSCHTTP.exe contains 'communication profile' with settings which you've specified there (SSL, NS URL(s), Proxy settings, TLS versions, etc) but \NSCap\bin\Win32\X86\NS Client Package\AeXNSC.exe doesn't have 'communication profile' in so otherwise its like an empty "Symantec Management Agent" which doesn't have any settings about required NS URL, proxy settings, SSL, etc.

Well i installed the AeXNSC.exe with parameters to define the ssl and all the other settings, and this is working fine for all the "old" 2012 R2 server, but not for the 2016 servers.

Good Morning

The bare metal os installation from yesterday went well, thank you for your input.

Regards,
Daniel