RU21 breaks SDM IIS Web Interface (exception in w3wp.exe)

Products

• CA Service Management - Service Desk Manager
• CA Service Desk Manager

Issue/Introduction

After the RU21 is installed, when accessed SDM via IIS, it shows HTTP Error 503 as per the following screenshot. It works fine to access SDM via Tomcat.

Also, the following popup message is displayed saying "An unhandled win32 exception occurred in w3wp.exe [9200]." 

The Windows OS Event logs show the following errors:

The DefaultAppPool has stopped working.

Environment

CA Service Desk Manager 17.3 RU21

All Supported Windows Operating Systems

Resolution

This issue with 17.3 RU21 and IIS is a known issue.

Please refer to the KNOWN ISSUES section of the 17.3 RU21 Release Notes for the resolution to the issue:

https://techdocs.broadcom.com/us/en/ca-enterprise-software/business-management/ca-service-management/17-3/Release-Information/CASM-17-3-0-21-Release-Notes.html#concept.dita_d3303fde-e786-4fd4-b0b6-e3a28fd60a82_knownissueCU20

[Resolution]

The patch T5UG515 fixes the problem. Please download and apply it from 99111722: launching the IIS configured URL of Service Desk Manager breaks with an exception.

NOTE: 

- The patch can be applied by using ApplyPTF tool, which is stored under (WIN_17_3_0_21)\filestore\utils\ApplyPTF folder. 

- After you apply the patch, please start "DefaultAppPool" manually in IIS.

[Workaround]

1.  Restore the PDMWEB.EXE file from the last RU patch applied prior to RU21 from the NX_ROOT\REPLACED folder.  Restoring the PDMWEB.EXE will not have impact on the RU21 functionality.

2.  Restart the SDM service to ensure that the restored file is being used

3.  Ensure that the "DefaultAppPool" is started in IIS.