Site Server RMS process crash reported on Monitor service shutdown. Error reported: PAL::Initialize - Error in parsing PPAInit.xml

Products

• Server Management Suite

Issue/Introduction

The Altiris Monitor Agent (MetricProvider) on my Remote Monitor Server (RMS) server crashes quite often.  

In collecting PPA logs, we see:

06/09/21 16:16:19 [2812] [Info] DLL_PROCESS_ATTACH - beginning of PPA dll log
06/09/21 16:16:19 [2812] [Debug] PAL::Initialize - Starting up
06/09/21 16:16:19 [2812] [Debug] PAL::Initialize - Reference Count - 1
06/09/21 16:16:19 [2812] [Debug] PAL::Initialize - Initializing XML Platform Utilities.
06/09/21 16:16:19 [2812] [Debug] PAL::Initialize - Loading PPA Serializable Type Factory.
06/09/21 16:16:19 [2812] [Error] Exception thrown while parsing C:\Program Files\Altiris\Pluggable Protocols Agent\Bin
Config/PPAInit.xml
06/09/21 16:16:19 [2812] [Error] PAL::Initialize - Error in parsing PPAInit.xml06/09/21

In the Windows Event Logs (application), we see:

Faulting application name: AeXMetricProv.exe, version: 8.6.1020.0, time stamp: 0x60192d77
Faulting module name: AeXMetricProv.exe, version: 8.6.1020.0, time stamp: 0x60192d77
Exception code: 0xc0000409
Fault offset: 0x00000000002c8c34
Faulting process id: 0x1494
Faulting application start time: 0x01d75bd92ad18b42
Faulting application path: C:\Program Files\Altiris\Altiris Agent\Agents\Monitor Agent\AeXMetricProv.exe
Faulting module path: C:\Program Files\Altiris\Altiris Agent\Agents\Monitor Agent\AeXMetricProv.exe
Report Id: 3547a88e-3a2f-4999-9ea4-2cb61eb7769b
Faulting package full name: 
Faulting package-relative application ID: 

Environment

Release: 8.6

Cause

Defect

Resolution

This issue is fixed in 8.6 RU2. After upgrading, run the following steps:

Note: Backup the Symantec_CMDB database before running the below steps.

1. ---/// Disable 'Pluggable Protocols Agent Configuration' policy
UPDATE ItemActive
SET Enabled=0 WHERE Guid= '8115a7ba-ef71-41a1-8527-ef5fca714cab'

2. Run "Complete Update Membership" task on NS
3. Refresh policy on RMS machines
4. Restart SMA & Monitor Agent on RMS machines
5. Check real-time performance viewer for agentless metrics

 

After this, enable back PPA configuration policy

1. ---/// Enable 'Pluggable Protocols Agent Configuration' policy
UPDATE ItemActive
SET Enabled=1 WHERE Guid= '8115a7ba-ef71-41a1-8527-ef5fca714cab'

2. Run "Complete Update Membership" task on NS
3. Refresh policy on RMS machines
4. Restart SMA & Monitor Agent on RMS machines
5. Check real-time performance viewer for agentless metrics