Aexpluginmanager is crashing on MAC devices
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Aexpluginmanager is crashing on MAC devices

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Article ID: 241073

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Updated On:

Products

IT Management Suite Client Management Suite

Issue/Introduction

The Aexpluginmanager plugin crashes on MAC PCs and in the agent log three crashes are seen. Each time this happens after the CTA-registrator > GetServerList(): request from the NS in the list of Task Servers.

Environment

ITMS 8.x

Cause

Known issue. Our Dev team found what was causing the crash on Aexpluginmanager:

Thread 10 Crashed:
0   libsystem_kernel.dylib         0x00007fff2032f91e __pthread_kill + 10
1   libsystem_pthread.dylib       0x00007fff2035e5bd pthread_kill + 263
2   libsystem_c.dylib             0x00007fff202b3406 abort + 125
3   libsystem_c.dylib             0x00007fff202b27d8 __assert_rtn + 314
4   libaexmetering.so.1.0         0x00000001083798c4 MeteringSDK::InventoryMetering::OnNext(MeteringSDK::ProcessStateEvent const&) + 2660
5   libaexmetering.so.1.0         0x000000010836983c 0x108360000 + 38972
6   libaexmetering.so.1.0         0x0000000108369afe MeteringSDK::ProcessMonitor::OnNext(MeteringSDK::ProcessStateEvent const&) + 302
7   libaexmetering.so.1.0         0x000000010836983c 0x108360000 + 38972
8   libaexmetering.so.1.0         0x000000010836d14b MeteringSDK::ProcessMonitorThread::Run() + 843
9   libaps.so.1.0                 0x000000010775e3dc BaseSDK::AThreadImpl::AThreadFunc(void*) + 76
10  libsystem_pthread.dylib       0x00007fff2035e8fc _pthread_start + 224
11  libsystem_pthread.dylib       0x00007fff2035a443 thread_start + 15

It was found that crashes are triggered by an abort signal which is sent (most probably) by assertion macros in the code. 

Resolution

A fix is available in the following KB:

249427 CUMULATIVE POST ITMS 8.6 RU3 POINT FIXES

For troubleshooting purposes in order to validate if it is the same issue with the Application Metering plug-in been the one causing the crash, please try the following:

1. Collect next evidences from one of the affected MAC machines:

Verbose logs.

To enable Devnote logging run this in Terminal:

aex-helper agent -s "Configuration" debug_level DEVNOTE
aex-helper agent -s "Configuration" debug_file_size 0

To Disable devnote logging run this in Terminal:

aex-helper agent -s "Configuration" debug_level ERROR
aex-helper agent -s "Configuration" debug_file_size 1024

Collect agent logs from: /opt/altiris/notification/nsagent/var/

Crash dump (if exist) from directory: "/opt/altiris/notification/nsagent/var/crashreport".

Data from database table "Evt_AeX_Client_Crash_Detection" for this machine.

select * from Evt_AeX_Client_Crash_Detection
where _resourceguid ='GUIDofthatMACmachine'

Also you can check:

  • "Applications->Utilities->Console" in macOS UI and choose "Crash Reports" if any for aex-pluginmanager. 
    It should look like something like this:
    "/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/aex-pluginmanager-bin_2022-04-21-143403_rn-macos11.crash"
  • Root folder "/cores/" could contain core dumps if allowed.

Workaround:

It is not possible to disable the 'mac only' metering policy. It is generated based on Software products that have enabled "Usage Tracking" and this setting is common for Mac and Windows product metering. If you do not need to track usage of software products on both (Mac and Windows), you just need to disable this setting in Software products listed under Manage > Software > Metered Software > Usage Tracking.

Alternatively you may try just to uninstall Application Metering Plugin from Mac devices using Settings > Agents/Plug-ins > Discovery and Inventory > Windows/UNIX/Linux/Mac > Application Metering Plug-in Uninstall policy. 

Also you may need to update target for Application Metering Plug-in Install policies  to prevent installing plugin to new Mac devices.

Additional Information

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