AClient Troubleshooting Guide
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AClient Troubleshooting Guide

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Article ID: 177089

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Updated On:

Products

Deployment Solution

Issue/Introduction

What are some general AClient troubleshooting techniques?

Resolution

Here are some symptoms you may see:
  • The AClient never shows up in the Deployment Solution server.
  • The AClient reports "Connected to Server, waiting for reply".
  • The AClient shows up blue, but in the console shows up gray or the opposite.
  • The AClient are not able to connect to Deployment Solution or login failed.

 

  1. Are there other AClients that are not connecting to the Deployment Solution server? Same subnet vs different subnets.
  2. Can the computer Remote Control? What are the results?
  3. Are the AClients the same version and build as the Deployment Server? Run the SQL query below to verify. Change the build to the previous build.

    DECLARE @version VARCHAR(10)
    SET @version = '6.8.206'
    USE eXpress
    SELECT c.computer_name, '-c:' + n.ip FROM computer c, nic_interface n
    WHERE c.aclient_ver = @version AND  n.ip != '0.0.0.0' AND c.computer_id
    = n.id

    If results show, if they are not updated and clients are still not connected, use article 4214, "Deployment Server Axengine, AClient Connection, and Remote Control Troubleshooting Guide" to troubleshoot AClient settings. If the answer is yes, then try to Remote Control to them.
  4. Are there any firewalls on client or server blocking communication?

    If the answer is yes, then the problem is most likely not with the Deployment Server but is with the client computer itself. If this is the case then continue below. If not, see the section below Problem lies with server.

    If the problem lies with the physical computer then, is it possible to get physically in front of that particular client computer? If so, then double-click on the AClient down in the system tray.

    Always capture the error message that comes up in the AClient status. Capture a screenshot if possible (Ctrl + Print Screen and then paste the screenshot into Microsoft Paint).

    Note: Try to save it as a .jpg as the other types of files can be very large.

    If the AClient icon does not show up in the system tray then do one of the following:
    1. Remove the AClient completely.
    2. Force the AClient to show up in the system tray.
    3.  To remove the AClient you need to put the AClient.exe into a command parameter with the  -remove switch
  5. Can you manage the client remote serivces from the Deployment Server?
  6. At the Deployment Server Windows Serivces connect to the remote client. Action> Connect to a remote machine.

 

You may need to navigate to the directory where AClient was installed or put the AClient into the Run dialogue by dragging and dropping the AClient.exe into the Run dialogue. The command is:

Aclient -remove

To remove an AClient that has a password, please contact Altiris Support Services.

B. You can also do run the following command in the Run prompt:

Aclient -admin

This command will bring up the administrative properties of the AClient. It is possible to unhide the AClient with this switch as well. The user will be prompted for the password if one is enabled. While in the AClient properties check the Transport tab. Verify that the correct TCP/IP address of the Deployment Solution server is in there. Try changing it to the NetBIOS name of the Deployment Solution server instead. Try using multicasting as a last resort if the customer has DHCP enabled.(Typically not recommended using multicasting vs. a specific IP address.)
Problem lies with server

If all AClients are disconnected then most likely the problem lies with the server. Usually the problem is with the Altiris DB Management Service and/or the Altiris eXpress Server. These services are located under the services area in the operating system.

You need to be able to stop and then restart the services easily. This means that if you stop either services and it takes 60 seconds to simply stop the service then this is a problem. It should normally not take over 10 seconds to stop and another 10 seconds to restart the either service.

Problem is with the services

Try using a different account to run the service under. Usually a Domain Admin account is sufficient to run the Altiris DB Management Service and a local admin account is sufficient for the Altiris Express server.

Article 1107, "Unable to connect to the Deployment Server DB Management Service" will help with the Altiris Express DB Management Service troubleshooting.

Enabling logging in the 6.x AClient

This is a simple task. Double-click on the AClient in the system tray and then click on the Log File tab and then enable logging. Aclients build 6.X

Usually you will want to increase the amount of space that the log can take up, as the default amount is very small. A good amount would be 1 MB (1000 KB) to get a complete detail of any issue that might happen. Enabling logging in 5.x clients is a little tougher, as we need to modify the registry to enable logging.

The name of the registry and the key are both case sensitive. Ensure they are named exactly as listed above. If you have multiple computers, then it is usually best to create a RIP of this registry key. The name of the log file is C:\Trace.log and will always be at the root of C drive. This log file will grow until the registry debug value is changed to 0 or deleted and the machine rebooted, so only use during the trouble shooting process.

  1. Enable Agent communication log file.
  2. Start > Settings > Control Panel > Altiris eXpress (6.1) Deployment (6.5-6.8) Server Select options > Debug.
  3. Enable "Log Agent communication with engine."
  4. These logs are saved in the eXpress share > Temp > MSGS folder ComputerID.log.

It is a generally good practice to make sure that the AClient connects to the Deployment Solution Server by MAC address vs. asset tag, serial number, and so on.

Important: Verify the AClient and Deployment Solution have open port communication. Connection Closed Status on AClient.
  
DOS prompt from Deployment Solution server to client and vice versa

  1. Start > Run > Ping <Ip Adress> /402
  2. Telnet <computername> 402. If the results are no connection then the issue is with the DNS server. It is most apparent that there is old data within the DNS server. Then flush out old DNS entries. For more information, see article 22374, "How to flush out old DNS entries on your computer."

Verifying that the TCP port 402 is established and listening:

Netstat -an

The AClient is not able to connect to DS\Login Failed.

Reset the "Log On As" to Admin login account instead of Local System account.

To send a Run Scripts to reconnect the AClients, see article 19806, "Computer icons grayed out in Deployment Solution Console after reboot of Deployment Server."

For information on how to use a login script to install AClient, see article 1680.

Article ID: 41040 Best practice for Aclients to refresh their connection with the Deployment Server

Article # 43374 To troubleshoot the Axengine/aclient communication, what is the best way to capture the communication.

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