M100763: First steps to perform in troubleshooting distribution

Procedure

1. On the administration server, start ManageSoft.
2. In the console tree, expand the Distribution and Distribution Servers nodes.
3. In the console tree, right-click the Distribution Servers node and select Properties. 
   The Distribution Servers Properties dialog is displayed.
4. Verify that the protocol and server details are correct for your environment, and do one of the following:
   • Correct any settings that are in error, and click OK
   • Click Cancel if you did not change any settings.
5. In the console tree, select the parent distribution server or the administration server.
6. In the right hand pane, right-click the name of the reporting location, and select Properties. The Reporting Location Properties dialog is displayed.
7. Verify that the protocol and server name details are correct. These are the details that the distribution server will use when attempting to pass data back up the distribution hierarchy. Do one of the following:
   • Correct any settings that are in error, and click OK.
   • Click Cancel if you did not change any settings.
8. In the console tree, right-click the name of the distribution server exhibiting the problem, or its parent, and select Properties. The Properties dialog is displayed.
9. Ensure that the protocol and server details are correct. This is the location of the staging folder on the distribution folder. Do one of the following:
   • Correct any settings that are in error, and click OK.
   • Click Cancel if you did not change any settings.
10. In the console tree, select the name of the distribution server that is exhibiting the problem.
11. In the right-hand pane, right-click the distribution server's distribution location, and select Properties.
12. Verify that the protocol and server name details are correct. These are the details that child distribution servers or managed devices will use when attempting to retrieve data from this distribution server. Do one of the following:
    • Correct any settings that are in error, and click OK.
    • Click Cancel if you did not change any settings.
13. In the right-hand pane, right-click the distribution server's reporting location, and select Properties.
14. Verify that the protocol and server name details are correct. These are the details that child distribution servers or managed devices will use when attempting to upload data to this distribution server. Do one of the following:
    • Correct any settings that are in error, and click OK.
    • Click Cancel if you did not change any settings.
15. If you changed the configuration of any distribution server, right-click the Distribution Servers node and select Verify Distribution Servers configuration…
16. On the resulting dialog, click View Report to move to the Reporting page.
17. Wait until the verification has completed. (Refresh the reporting page occasionally to see the current status. The verification may take up to 10 minutes.)
18. Do one of the following:
    • If the report shows errors in verifying the distribution hierarchy, fix those issues, and reattempt the distribution operation that caused the error you are attempting to resolve.
    • If the report shows that the distribution hierarchy was successfully verified, proceed to the next step.
19. From the administration server, verify that you can ping the problem distribution server by both NetBIOS name and FQDN. Make sure you use the same details that are recorded in the distribution hierarchy. 
    Address the cause of any failures in the ping tests, making any corresponding changes to the distribution hierarchy configuration details. 
    If you change the distribution hierarchy configuration details, verify the hierarchy before re-attempting the distribution operation that failed previously.
20. Log on to the distribution server using the account name that runs the Process ManageSoft distribution jobs scheduled task. This is usually a service account. If your logon attempt failed, fix the cause of the problem.
21. If you were able to successfully log on, Attempt to ping the parent distribution server or the administration server, by both NetBIOS name and FQDN. Make sure you use the same details that are recorded in the distribution hierarchy. Address the cause of any failures in the ping tests, making any corresponding changes to the distribution hierarchy configuration details. If you change the distribution hierarchy configuration details, verify the hierarchy before re-attempting the distribution operation that failed previously.
22. On the parent distribution server or administration server, confirm that:
    • The Import ManageSoft distribution logs scheduled task is running every minute and the latest result is 0x0.
    • Confirm that the C:\ManageSoft\Incoming\Distributor directory is empty (if your ManageSoft installation is under C:\Warehouse, verify that C:\Warehouse\Incoming\Distributor is empty).
    • Determine if any of the files in C:\ManageSoft\Incoming\Distributor\BadLogs (orC:\Warehouse\Incoming\Distributor\BadLogs) are from recent distribution attempts. If they are:
      1. Open a command prompt (Start > Run > cmd).
      2. cd C:\Program Files\ManageSoft\Common.
      3. Run mgsmighier.exe.

         This tool imports data from .cfg files and uses it to update the distribution hierarchy data in the ManageSoft database. This is necessary if the .cfg files and the database are not synchronized, for example if the .cfg files have been edited, or if a fresh database has been installed over an existing database. Distribution hierarchy data .cfg files are stored inC:\ManageSoft\Repository\DeploymentLocations\Common where C:\ManageSoft is the location of your ManageSoft administration server.

      4. Turn on distribution event tracing to obtain further details about the problems that are occurring. Refer to the Tracing and logging chapter of the ManageSoft Reference: System for more details about tracing using . trace files.
      5. Move log files from C:\ManageSoft\Incoming\Distributor\BadLogs toC:\ManageSoft\Incoming\Distributor.
      6. From your command prompt, while still located in C:\Program Files\ManageSoft\Common, runndrap.exe.
      7. Check for errors in the output from the tracing performed at step d, and the ndrap.exe command in the previous step. Address the cause of any errors.
23. On the distribution server that is exhibiting the problem, confirm that the following three scheduled tasks are configured to run, and that their most recent return codes are all 0x0. (Process ManageSoft Distribution jobs can also return 0xc000013a.):
    • Process ManageSoft Distribution jobs
    • Process ManageSoft Remote Execution Actions
    • Upload ManageSoft logs and inventories
    If these scheduled tasks are not running, check the password for the account under which they are configured to run. The password may have been mistyped or have changed since the scheduled tasks were configured.

    If these scheduled tasks do not exist, reinstall ManageSoft on this distribution server, following the instructions in the ManageSoft Implementation Guide.

24. Again on the distribution server that is exhibiting the problem, check that there is no backlog of files in either:
• C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\ManageSoft Corp\ManageSoft\Replication Agent\JobQueue 
  If there are files in this directory, check the replag.log file to identify why these files are not being correctly processed.
• C:\ManageSoft\Incoming\Distributor or C:\Warehouse\Incoming\Distributor 
  If there are files in this directory, return to step 22.

Further Troubleshooting

From the administration server:

• An export of registry keys from HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\ManageSoft Corp
• A copy of the hierarchy.cfg and groups.cfg files from C:\ManageSoft\Repository\DeploymentLocations\Common (or C:\Warehouse\Repository\DeploymentLocations\Common)
• A copy of the log file from performing distribution event tracing.

• A copy of the replag.log and replag.old.log files. These are located in the local temp directory, %temp%\ManageSoft, for the account that is running the Process ManageSoft distribution jobs scheduled task.

• An export of registry keys from HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ManageSoft Corp
• A copy of all the log files (old and current). These will be in the local temp directory for the account that is running the Process ManageSoft distribution jobs scheduled task.