Symantec Management Agent Communication overview

Products

• IT Management Suite
• Client Management Suite

Issue/Introduction

What happens when the Symantec Management Agent tries to communicate back to the Symantec Management Platform (SPM) for the first time?

Environment

ITMS 8.5, 8.6

Resolution

The following is a high level of what happens when the Symantec Management Agent tries to communicate for the first time:

1.  Symantec Management Agent is installed on a client machine (Workstation or Server)
2. The  Symantec Management Agent sends in a basic inventory to the SMP server
   1. Once this information is sent, the agent will wait up to 15 minutes before checking in to the server
3. On the server there is a scheduled task called NS.Delta Resource Membership Update which runs periodically (it runs every 5 minutes)
   1. When this task runs, it processes the basic inventory sent in by the agent and creates a computer record in the database
   2. The list of Filters/collections are updated to reflect the addition of the new client
      ... The new client will only show up in the collections that have a definition to encompass it.
4. On the server there is another task called NS.Policy Filter Update.
   1. This task keeps track of which policies are applied to what Filters/collections
5. Once the agent checks in again, it receives a GUID and a set of policies based off of what Filters it is a member of
6. Depending on what those policies indicate, actions will be taken
   1. Software installation / uninstallation
   2. Install a new plugin
   3. Gather inventory
   4. Shutdown the computer

Additional Information

"Information on how Symantec Management Agent (Altiris Agent) installs to computers works" (KB 161474) 

"Symantec Management Agent (Altiris Agent) Download Logic" (KB 181098)