How to use PreferredNSHost with Symantec Management Platform 7 (NS7)?

Products

• IT Management Suite

Issue/Introduction

 

Resolution

Question
How can I use the PreferredNSHost setting with Notification Server 7 ?

Answer
The setting called PreferredNSHost lets you specify a preferred Notification Server hostname for SWD codebase and snapshot URLs that point to the Notification Server (Package Server URLs are unaffected).

With Symantec Management Platform 7 (NS 7) has changed the way you implement this setting. In the past you had to change the coreSettings.config file to add the value for the preferred Notification Server hostname (See Article ID: 20719 "Usage of the PreferredNSHost coresettings.config option"). With NS 7 there is a registry key that controls that information. The CoreSettings.config file has the record for the registry key but it is just as a reference of this regkey. If you modify the regvalue in the coreSettings.config you will break its functionality.

The entry in the coreSettings.config for NS 7 looks like this:

<customSetting key="PreferredNSHost" type="registry" regkey="Notification Server" regvalue="PreferredNSHost" />

By default, during the installation of the Notification Server, SIM (Symantec Installation Manager) seems to populate this regkey with whatever server name you selected during the configuration page during the initial installation, which usually is the Full Qualified Domain Name (FQDN). So, in order to  modify the preferred Notification Server hostname for SWD codebase and snapshot URLs, you need to do the following:

1. Open the Registry Editor (Open the RUN prompt and type regedit and click OK)
2. Go to HKLM>Software>Altiris>eXpress>Notification Server and open the PreferredNSHost regkey.
3. Modify the PreferredNSHost regkey by adding the NetBIOS, FQDN, or IP Address that you want to use for SWD codebases and snapshot URLs.
4. Restart the Altiris Service
5. Then go to Control Panel>Scheduled Tasks and run the NS.Package Refresh schedule (by default it runs everyday at 3:30am). By running this schedule, the SWD codebases and snapshot URLs should be updated.

Note: If for some reason the PreferredNSHost regkey is not present but there is the reference of it on the coreSettings.config, just recreate the regkey. Create a String Value and call it 'PreferredNSHost'.

 

 

Additional Note: Do not add ports to the PreferredNSHost setting (such as nsServer:5814 or 10.x.x.x:5484). Adding a port will cause the NS.PackageRefresh to FAIL.