Altiris Software Delivery Solution for Windows 6.1.1049 - Failed in Populating the status grid

[Migration User]

Hi,

We are running the aforementiond SWD Solution on NS 6.0 SP3 R9.
A Sequentila Software Delivery Task, which includes 3 tasks  (Tasks\Software Management\Software Delivery\Windows\Sequential Software Delivery Tasks\) hangs when trying to open it. It causes the sql process on the server to reach more than 90%.  After several minutes of trying to open this task the console times out withfolloing error message:  the folowing error ocurred on the page 'edSequentialSWDTask.aspx':
Unknown or unspecified error.
On the Server log file I see the following severity 1 error:
===
Log File Name: C:\Program Files\Altiris\Altiris Agent\Logs\a.log
Priority: 1
Date: 16.06.2009 12:32:11
Tick Count: 352721641
Host Name: XXXXXXX
Process: w3wp.exe (11000)
Thread ID: 8980
Module: AltirisNativeHelper.dll
Source: SWDWin32
Description: Failed in populating the status grid
===

There is no issues with openning other SWD tasks. The NS Console is also working fine.

Does anybody know why this happens and how to remedy this issue?

Thank you in advance on your help.

[KSchroeder]

Hi Arfag,
The Status tab of Software Delivery tasks have been notorious for slow performance and/or timeouts.  There are other reports you can use to view the task status as it seems Altiris/Symantec just can't fix a fundamental flaw in the way that tab works, particularly when looking at large deployments.

I posted a report I run to look at "normal" software delivery jobs; we don't use Sequential tasks much so can't provide much feedback on that.
https://www-secure.symantec.com/connect/articles/handy-software-delivery-report-collection-filter

[Migration User]

Hello,

We use Sequential Tasks regularly and have just recently encountered this problem with one task. It worked fine when it was initially created, and it is very similar to other tasks that open just fine. Viewing the item xml, I don't see any notable differences between this task and others. Opening it in a new window also causes the error. We are on R11.

For clarity, this is not when trying to display status, it happens just trying to view the task. The logs display the same "Failed in populating the status grid" error you describe. There is no information on this error in the Altiris KB. They do list a similar error encountered when saving a sequential task, but that is due to a SQL timeout. I don't believe that is the scenario here since the other tasks open without issue.

Did you ever resolve this issue?

Thanks.

[Migration User]

however the post is quite old, and the current version of software delivery solution (for v6 anyway) is 6.1.1058.

I am curious if this was an older task, that may have been corrupted during an upgrade of either NS (not likely) or Software Delivery (more likely).

Can you recreate the task?

[Migration User]

Hi Jim,

Sorry, this was the only reference that I came across to this problem and I didn't think it necessary to create a new topic since there wasn't any resolution here, it is evidently still a problem in 6.1.1058 since that's the version we are on, and the post is only a few months old.

The task was created fairly recently (a couple weeks ago). There have not been any upgrades in a few months. I'm sure that I could recreate the task, but it is currently functioning and active for many computers and is set to "Run as soon as computer is notified".

I'd rather try to understand why it is not allowing me to view the task and repair it if possible. If I clone it, the clone loads correctly. If I export it and then import it, the problem remains. If I can't correct the problem, I'll probably just leave it until all of the computers have run the task, remove the members from the target collection, and then delete the task.

If you have any insights or suggestions, I welcome them.

Thanks,
-Matt

[Migration User]

and details. The only things I've seen have been issues on the client side (that required new Task Sync agents). These were jobs running out of order or stopping.

Since it's a new task, I'm curious if it worked the first time. Or is this something that happens after a period of time. Is it all sequential tasks, or just one?

Are there any other log entries other than the Sev 1 error mentioned above?

[Migration User]

I was able to load the task after I created it. I renamed it a few days after it was created, though I did that by right-clicking so I can't be sure I actually let it load then.

Upon investigation there are a few other sequential tasks now doing this, some of which were working as recently as yesterday after I noticed this one wasn't. There are no other messages in the log that accompany this one.

[Migration User]

are all the tasks that are having the issue been renamed? It could be a correlation between that and all the guids associated with various packages in the sequential task. That is purely a guess. It might be worth contacting support on. I haven't seen this, and the lack of log entries doesn't really help troubleshoot.

[KSchroeder]

I would guess that the table or view that the Status tab is using (I believe Evt_AeX_SWD_Execution) is too large and causing a timeout, or possibly has some corrupt data in it.  Can you check the # rows in that table (SELECT COUNT(*) FROM Evt_AeX_SWD_Execution from within Query Analyzer)?  Can you try running my Software Delivery Execution Report and see if that works, as it uses the Summary tables to pull the same data?  You might be able to get around it by increasing the db timeout value in the "Database Settings" section of the NS console under NS Settings, but that may lead to other issues and really just "band-aid" the issue.

[Migration User]

Despite the message in the log, it isn't a problem when viewing task status, it's when you try to display the sequential task itself (i.e. the General tab). When you click on the sequential task within the console tree, after the timeout period (e.g. 90 seconds) it displays "The following error occurred on the page 'edSequentialSWDTask.aspx' Unknown or unspecified error"  and it logs the "Failed in populating the status grid" message. It never loads to the point where you can see the task tabs or navigate to any of them, status included.

In addition, I don't think it has to do with the size of evt_aex_swd_execution because other sequential tasks and regular software delivery tasks work fine. The sequential tasks that do load contain the same number of tasks and load within 15 seconds. Since this times out after 90 seconds (or 120 if I change it), I don't believe it is heavy load. I think it is likely some type of corruption, but everything I've looked at appears fine.

I've check item state and references, I can view as xml or export it, and I can view the properties. All of the security settings look fine and are unmodified. The audit history shows no unexpected entries. "Open in New Window" behaves the same way, timing out and then displaying the error.