Client Task Agent for Unix, Linux and Mac leaves ports in Close_Wait State

Products

• Notification Server Agent for Macintosh (Altiris)
• Notification Server Agent for Unix/Linux (Altiris)

Issue/Introduction

The Client Task Agent may leave ports on Unix, Linux and Mac clients in Close_Wait state. (These ports can be closed and released by restarting the agent: "aex-helper agent restart".)

 

 Multiple, sometimes hundreds, of ports are shown in a Close_Wait state as seen by commands such as: netstat | grep 50124. 

 

Cause

 Handling of socket descriptor.

 

Resolution

The point fix installation file is attached to this kb article. Using this version of the agent will immediately release ports. 

 

To install the point fix on the Notification Server:

1. On the NS, Download the point fix and unzip it, preferably into a new directory.
2. Change to the new point fix directory.
3. As administrator, run PfInstaller2.exe. This will install the agent files from the pointfix to the NSCap directory for each OS platform, add/update version registry keys, etc.
4. Previous versions of the agent binaries will be backed up to the "<current directory>ULMBackup" directory.
5. Enable the upgrade policy for the ULM Agent, which is found in the console at: Settings, All Settings, Agents/Plug-ins, Symantec Management Agent, UNIX/Linux/Mac, Symantec Management Agent for UNIX/Linux/Mac - Upgrade.
6. The clients should eventually download and install the new agent per the policy settings.
7. Verify that clients can communicate with the NS.  

 

 

If it becomes necessary to uninstall this point fix, do the following:

1. Make sure that Backup subfolder is located in PFinstaller directory
2. Execute PFInstaller.exe with administrative privileges (right-click > Run as administrator).
3. Accept UAC (User Account Control) prompt,
4. select Uninstall Files.

 

Note that the new agent version will be 7.1.8288. 

 

 

 

 

Applies To

 

 SMP 7.1 SP1 MP1 rollup v6.