Persistent Server Connections - enable or disable?

[James Auman]

I am noticing in our Symantec Management Agent installation logs the following:

<event date='02/11/2020 11:59:52.0270000 -05:00' severity='4' hostName='jima' source='Agent' module='AeXNSAgent.exe' process='AeXNSAgent.exe' pid='20612' thread='22000' tickCount='8830984' >
  <![CDATA[Failed to establish main persistent server connection, error: Persistent connection is disabled (0x8FA50007)]]>
</event>
<event date='02/11/2020 11:59:52.0270000 -05:00' severity='4' hostName='jima' source='Agent' module='AeXNSAgent.exe' process='AeXNSAgent.exe' pid='20612' thread='22000' tickCount='8830984' >
  <![CDATA[Failed to establish persistent server connection to 'HTTP://<severname>:80/Altiris/WebSockets' using 'Matching' connection profile, error: Persistent connection is disabled (0x8FA50007)]]>
</event>
 

So evidently we have persistent connections disabled.  Should we enable this feature? What are the pros/cons?  What are the questions we should ask before turning it on?  What is the downstream impact of turning it on?  What might break? :)

 

Thanks
Jim

[Sergei Zjaikin]

Jim, I would recommend looking at these slides first

https://community.broadcom.com/symantecenterprise/viewdocument/real-time-endpoint-management-using?CommunityKey=bf23126f-6eab-4bbe-965d-e26838c079e0&tab=librarydocuments

Persistent connection is a prerequisite for Time Critical Management (TCM) feature of SMP but the connection itself can give you some benefits.
Persistent connection is established by an agent to NS  or Task Server and allows server talk back to the agent, eliminating the need in tickle connections and port openings.
Internally it uses the standard WebSocket protocol, it is encrypted by TLS and uses the same HTTP/S port agent uses for regular HTTP requests.
You will need the new CEM gateway, the old Apache-based does not support persistent connections.

I think there should be more documents available somewhere ihere, you can look for TCM, WebSocket keywords