Ghost Solution Suite Axengine Performance and Dagent Connection Troubleshooting Guide
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Ghost Solution Suite Axengine Performance and Dagent Connection Troubleshooting Guide

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Article ID: 181575

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Updated On:

Products

Ghost Solution Suite

Issue/Introduction

How do I troubleshoot Ghost Solution Suite aXengine performance and Dagent connection issues?

 

Environment

GSS 3.x

Resolution

A VBscript (HowTo9089.vbs) has been created to aid in the troubleshooting process, and is attached to this article. The script must be run on the Ghost Solution Server with same credentials used to install the product.  This script was designed to be ran with GSS 3.x products.

 

Check Database (p. 2)

Prior to running the attached .vbs file it is necessary to edit the file and modify the conn string:

conn = "DRIVER={SQL Server};SERVER=<SQLSeverName>;DATABASE=<DatabaseName>;Trusted_connection=yes;"

Replace <SQLSeverName> with the correct SQL server name

Replace <DatabaseName> with the correct database name (default database name is eXpress)

The running of the howto9089.vbs, VBScript it will output the following files

  1. 4214.txt - results
  2. 4214_OLD_Aclients.txt - list of clients running an old client version
  3. 4214.rci - can be used with Remote Agent Installer to push new clients

 

How to truncate the SQL Transaction Log when it becomes too large (p. 3)

  1. Make sure you have a recent backup of your Deployment Server database.
  2. Stop the Ghost Solution Suite services: Located on the Ghost Solution Server: Start > Programs > Administrator Tools > Services.
    1. Open Services.
    2. Stop Altiris PXE Config Helper.
    3. Stop Altiris PXE Manager.
    4. Stop Altiris Deployment Server Console Manager.
    5. Stop Altiris eXpress Server.
    6. Stop Altiris Deployment Server DB Management.
  3. Truncate the Transaction Log. Run the following SQL query (Run from Query Analyzer) against your Ghost Solution Suite database:

       /*If necessary replace "eXpress" with the Ghost Solution Suite database name and run this script to attempt to truncate the transaction log*/

       DECLARE @DB VARCHAR(255) SET @DB='eXpress'
       BACKUP LOG @DB
       DBCC SHRINKDATABASE (@DB, TRUNCATEONLY)   
  4. If step 2 doesn’t successfully truncate the transaction log, do the following. Otherwise, skip to step 5. 
    1. Detach the Ghost Solution Suite database:
      1. Open Microsoft SQL Server Enterprise Manager.
      2. Browse to Microsoft SQL Servers\SQL Server Group\(Your SQL Server)\Databases.

        Note: If your SQL server does not appear in the list, you will need to create a new SQL Server Registration.
      3. Right-click the name of your Deployment Server database (default is eXpress).
      4. Choose All Tasks > Detach Database.
      5. If the Clear button is not grayed out, click Clear, then OK and No. 
      6. Click OK, and then OK again. 
    2. Delete the transaction log file:
      1. Browse to the directory that has the database files (default is C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL\Data).
      2. Delete the Deployment Server database transaction log (.ldf) files (default is eXpress_log.ldf).
    3. Attach the Deployment Server database:
      1. Open Microsoft SQL Server Enterprise Manager.
      2. Browse to Microsoft SQL Servers\SQL Server Group\(Your SQL Server).
      3. Choose All Tasks > Attach Database.
      4. Select the Ghost Solution Suite database (.mdf) file (default is eXpress.mdf in the database files directory).
      5. Under “Specify Database Owner,” choose the account that the Deployment Server services are running as.
      6. Click OK, Yes, and then OK.
  5. Change the Database Recovery Model to Simple:
    1. Right-click the Deployment Server database.
    2. Choose Properties.
    3. Select the Options tab.
    4. For the Recovery Model, select Simple.
  6. Start the Ghost Solution Suite services.
    1. Open Services.
    2. Start Altiris Deployment Server DB Management.
    3. Start Altiris eXpress Server.
    4. Start Altiris Deployment Server Console Manager.
    5. Start Altiris PXE Manager.
    6. Start Altiris PXE Config Helper.
       
  7. Ensure that regular backups are being made via SQL Server Enterprise Manager.

How to clear the MMSettings (p. 4)

  1. Stop the Ghost Solution Suite services:
    1. Open Services.
    2. Stop Altiris PXE Config Helper.
    3. Stop Altiris PXE Manager.
    4. Stop Altiris Deployment Server Console Manager.
    5. Stop Altiris eXpress Server.
    6. Stop Altiris Deployment Server DB Management.
  2. Clear the MMSettings table:
    1. Open SQL Query Analyzer. 
    2. Connect to SQL Server and run the following SQL Query (replace eXpress with the Database name).
              USE eXpress
              DELETE FROM mmsettings       
  3. Start the Ghost Solution Suite services: 
    1. Open Services. 
    2. Start Altiris Deployment Server DB Management. 
    3. Start Altiris eXpress Server. 
    4. Start Altiris Deployment Server Console Manager. 
    5. Start Altiris PXE Manager. 
    6. Start Altiris PXE Config Helper.

How to set the AClient/DAgent properties (p. 5)

Step 1

  1. In the Ghost Solution Suite Console, go to Tools > Options > Agent Settings.
  2. Enable Force new agent to take these default settings.
  3. Click Change Default Settings. 
  4. Set Connect Directly to this Ghost Solution Suite server.
  5. Disable Refresh connection after idle.
  6. Enable Save log information to a text file.
  7. Enable Log errors.
  8. Enable Log informational messages.
  9. Enable Log debugging information.
  10. Set maximum log file size to 500 KB.
  11. Disable Forward Wake on LAN packets.
  12. Disable Forward Deployment Server discovery multicast packets.
  13. Configure all other settings the way you want them. 
  14. Click OK.

Step 2

  1. Run the Remote Agent Installer (from the GSS console under Tools > Remote Agent Installer).
  2. Go through the Remote Agent Installer wizard and configure the same Dagent settings that you did in Step 1.
  3. When you reach the last step, click Add, enter “temp” as the computer name, and click OK.
  4. Click Export, browse to the Desktop, and click Save, OK, and then Cancel.
  5. Now go to the Desktop, delete clients.rci, and rename clients_temp.inp to aclient.inp.
  6. Edit aclient.inp in Notepad and ensure that the following settings are specified. 

    ConnectionParadigm=0 
    UseRCDrivers=No
     
  7. Move aclient.inp to the eXpress share.
  8. In the Ghost Solution Suite Console, create a job called Dagent Configure.
  9. Add a Copy File To task to that job with a source of your new aclient.inp file and a destination of “settings:aclient.inp”.
  10. Schedule that job to run on all computers

Step 3

  1. Run the VBScript and see if the result is acceptable.
  2. If the result is still not acceptable, do the following: 
    1. Run the following query against the Ghost Solution Suite database: 

      SELECT '-c:' + n.ip FROM computer c, nic_interface n 
      WHERE n.ip != '0.0.0.0' AND c.computer_id = n.id       

       
    2. Right-click on the results and the click Select All.
    3. Right-click on the results again and click Save As.
    4. Save the file somewhere that you can find it, and call the file “clients.rci”. Make sure that the file is saved with an .RCI file extension.
    5. Run the Remote Agent Installer (from the DS console under Tools > Remote Agent Installer). Go through the Remote Agent Installer wizard and configure the same AClient/DAgent settings that you did in step 1.
    6. When you reach the last step right before you click Finish, click Import.
    7. Browse to the .RCI file that you created from the query.
    8. Click Open and then Finish.

How to upgrade Dagent (p. 6)

Option 1

Schedule the DAgent Update job on the machines that need it (Jobs > Samples > Misc Jobs > DAgent Upgrade)

Option 2

Run the Remote Agent Installer (from the DS console under Tools > Remote Agent Installer).

  1. Go through that wizard configure the AClient/DAgent properties as follows:
    1. Set Connect Directly to this Deployment Server.
    2. Disable Refresh connection after idle.
    3. Enable Save log information to a text file.
    4. Enable Log errors.
    5. Enable Log informational messages.
    6. Enable Log debugging information.
    7. Set Maximum log file size to 500 KB.
    8. Disable Forward Wake-On-LAN packets.
    9. Disable Forward Deployment Server discovery multicast packets.
    10. Configure all other settings the way you want them. 
    11. When you reach the last step right before you click Finish, click Import.
    12. Browse to the .RCI file that you created from the query.
    13. Click Open and then Finish.

Attachments

1662749604719__HowTo9089.vbs get_app
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