Task status not being posted back by client

[Vishay Krishan]

Hi,

I have an issue where my platform is not posting task status back in a prompt manner (it inevitably does). I know the task is being delivered to the clients in a timely manner, as i have tested this on my machine. The agent task history shows it completing the job several seconds after execution. The task status does inveitably come back, however the main screen shows the task as "running" despite completing. Here are some of the troubleshooting steps i have done:

Restarted the NS and task servers.
Checked the services are all running.
Checked the message dispatcher queue is clear.
Ran a task, waited for the task to complete, checked the DB to see if its been written to, which it has not.

It seems as though the agent does not post the task status to the NS, is there somewhere under agent settings on the NS where you configure how often it sends back task statuses and output?

[Vishay Krishan]

Upon further investigation i am getting this:

 

NotificationServerWebConnection.PostToNotificationServer()
The remote server returned an error: (404) Not Found.
   [System.Net.WebException @ System]
   at System.Net.HttpWebRequest.GetResponse()
   at Altiris.ClientTask.Server.Communication.NotificationServerWebConnection.GetResponse(HttpWebRequest req, NSWebConnectionBuildRequestStreamDelegate requestStreamDelegate)
   at Altiris.DotNetLib.Helpers.AtrsHttpOps.Execute[T](Func`2 action, String url, ICredentials credentials, Boolean isPost, Int32 timeout)
   at Altiris.ClientTask.Server.Communication.NotificationServerWebConnection.PostToNotificationServer(String url, ICredentials nsCredentials, NSWebConnectionBuildRequestStreamDelegate requestStreamDelegate, Int32 nMaxAttempts, Int32 nTimeout)

Exception logged from: 
   at Altiris.DotNetLib.Logging.AtrsLog.ExceptionMessage(String message, Exception exception)
   at Altiris.ClientTask.Server.Logging.NSAgentLog.ReportMessage(Severity severity, String moduleName, String source, Exception exception, String message, Object[] arguments)
   at Altiris.ClientTask.Server.Communication.NotificationServerWebConnection.PostToNotificationServer(String url, ICredentials nsCredentials, NSWebConnectionBuildRequestStreamDelegate requestStreamDelegate, Int32 nMaxAttempts, Int32 nTimeout)
   at Altiris.ClientTask.Server.Communication.NotificationServerWebConnection.PostToNotificationServer(String url, NSWebConnectionBuildRequestStreamDelegate requestStreamDelegate)
   at Altiris.ClientTask.Server.Data.RemoteClientTaskReporting.SendPendingEvents()
   at Altiris.ClientTask.Server.Data.RemoteClientTaskReporting.RetrySendEvents(WaitHandle[] stoppers)
   at Altiris.ClientTask.Server.Data.RemoteClientTaskReporting.RunSendEventsLoop(WaitHandle[] stoppers, WaitHandle[] waiters)
   at Altiris.ClientTask.Server.Data.RemoteClientTaskReporting.WorkingThreadProc()
   at System.Threading.ExecutionContext.RunInternal(ExecutionContext executionContext, ContextCallback callback, Object state, Boolean preserveSyncCtx)
   at System.Threading.ExecutionContext.Run(ExecutionContext executionContext, ContextCallback callback, Object state, Boolean preserveSyncCtx)
   at System.Threading.ExecutionContext.Run(ExecutionContext executionContext, ContextCallback callback, Object state)
   at System.Threading.ThreadHelper.ThreadStart()

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 24/01/2019 16:20:33, Tick Count: 61708296 (17:08:28.2960000), Host Name: xxxxxx, Size: 2.60 KB
Process: AtrsHost.exe (2800), Thread ID: 3220, Module: AtrsHost.exe
Priority: 1, Source: Altiris.ClientTask.Server.Communication.NotificationServerWebConnection.PostToNotificationServer
File: C:\ProgramData\Symantec\Symantec Agent\Logs\Agent.log


Does anyone know which ports need to be open? If i go to http://NSNAME.DOMAIN.COM/Altiris/TaskManagement/ClientTask/Authenticate.aspx" with the account details on the site server it gives a response result of success, so unsure why its timing out.

[Sam Pace]

Hi Vishay,

Symantec has an article that lists the ports used for ITMS: https://support.symantec.com/en_US/article.DOC6770.html

Is it possible some of the ports listed under the Task Management section are blocked between the client and Site Server, or Client and Notification Server?

When you tested this, did you test it from the Site Server to the Notification Server and it worked fine? Is it possible you could also test this on a Client? 

Thanks

[Sam Pace]

Hi Vishay,

Another thought, could it be the Tickle Port? 50123? 

Running "netstat -aon" shows that 50123 is listening in my lab, what does it show in your environment?

Thanks

[Vishay Krishan]

Hi Sam,

Sorry should of updated to say i have checked the port configuration on inbound and outbound, all set correctly as stipulated here:
https://support.symantec.com/en_US/article.DOC6770.html

It is listening on the NS and the site server states ESTABLISHED with the NS server name:50123

Do you know if there are TLS equirements or anything else that would cause credential failure?

[Vishay Krishan]

Turns out it was an issue at NS level. After my colleague turned on IIS advanced logging, We found the 404 sub status code. this indicated the XML post string was too long, causing it to be rejected and blaming authentication. This led to the following solution:

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/36477130/http-error-404-13-not-found

[Sam Pace]

Great, glad your issue is resolved Vishay.

Cheers