Circular reference detected in a filter during Delta Resource Update

Products

• IT Management Suite

Issue/Introduction

An error similar to the following may be seen in the a.log files:

Circular reference detected during delta filter membership update. Filter memberships may be not be updated correctly.
A filter contains a circular reference in a sub filter. Guid of filter where discovered = b57dfb8b-eb5a-450d-b52e-30d2611ce12c.
Parent list for this filter: b57dfb8b-eb5a-450d-b52e-30d2611ce12c 

Environment

ITMS 8.x

Cause

There is a circular reference in a filter or set of filters.

Scenario 1:
     A filter references it self as a filter to be based upon.

Scenario 2:
     A chain of filters has a reference back to one of its members.

Resolution

In the SMP log viewer make sure you have the database connectivity set up as follows:

• Options > Log Options > Database Settings
• This will ensure you are able to get the GUIDS listed in the log viewer to resolve to the resource they represent.
  
  

In the Log Viewer's detail pane click on the two GUIDS as described here:

• The Source filter is the Filter that is being referenced as creating the loop.
• The parent filter is the Filter that is calling on the source filter.
  
  

Scenario 1:
In this case they will be the same filter. To resolve it do the following:

1. Open the SMP console
2. Find the filter named and edit it to remove the reference to itself.

Scenario 2:
This may take some digging depending on how many filters are in the chain. To resolve this do the following:

1. Open the SMP console
2. Start with the source filter and working iteratively through each filter listed you will need to follow the chain until you find the point at which one of the filter points back to the source filter.
3. Based on what the desired result of the filter that was created a decision will need to be made where that chain or loop can be broken.
4. NOTE: If other policies or filters use the filter that is being edited, caution will need to be taken to ensure that the results of that external policy or filter are not effected by the change. This is a decision that is unique to each SMP environment and not something a member of Symantec Support will be able to assist with making.

NOTE: The follow KB contains a FIND GUID query that can also help identify the filter associated with the GUID:

Find all tables that contain a specific GUID