Error: "The RPC server is unavailable" when attempting to browse for users or groups in the Visual Policy Manager

Products

• ProxySG Software - SGOS

Issue/Introduction

 When browsing for users or groups in the Visual Policy Manager, the following error is seen after a short delay:

The RPC server is unavailable.
The RPC server is unavailable.
Windows reported error during search.
 

Resolution

 The error above is caused by a communication error between two domains within a two-way trust. When the member server or domain controller where BCAAA is installed attempts to access the other (trusted) domain, but communication fails, the error is seen.

One possible cause for this error is DNS imputing.

BCAAA uses an NTLM query to find the domain controller in question. When the NTLM query result comes back from the local domain, it is in the form of a UNC path such as \\DOMAINNAME. If that server does not have a DNS imputing value of, say, internal.example.com it will not be able to map "DOMAINNAME" to the fully qualified domain name of "DOMAINNAME.internal.example.com".

To resolve this, add the fully qualified domain to the imputing value. In the example above, add "internal.example.com" to the DNS imputing values. This can typically be found in the interface properties under TCP/IP, Advanced, DNS tab, and "Append these DNS suffixes".

If the problem persist even if the resolution above has been applied, enable the Debug log for BCAAA (000010313). Restart the BCAAA service and replicate the case. Now the popup message display more detailed information like, for example:

Access Denied.

Windows reported error during search.

In this case, please check if the BCAAA service is running using a Domain account and if this user has rights to access to the Domain.

At the end, restore initial BCAAA settings removing the Debug log as suggested by 000010313.