Unable to switch the Symantec Management Agent on the SMP Server to connect to itself using an Alias

Products

• IT Management Suite

Issue/Introduction

While trying to configure the main agent communication profile (All Settings > Agents/Plug-Ins > Symantec Management Agent > Symantec Agent Communication profiles) to use primarily an Alias for the SMP Server, you notice that all client machines switched to use it but the agent on the SMP Server itself can't switch to it.

The Agent communication profile is setup to use the SMP Server names in this format:
AliasName.external.example.com:443;SMPservername.internal.example.com:443

The agent logs shows that the switch call is made:

Agent will try switching to server 'https://AliasName.external.example.com:443/altiris'
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 9/18/2025 7:10:25 AM, Tick Count: 426749890 (4.22:32:29.8900000), Size: 312 B
Process: AeXNSAgent.exe (10880), Thread ID: 5264, Module: AeXNSAgent.exe
Priority: 4, Source: Agent

But it can't do it:

The agent installed on Notification Server machine cannot be switched to another server, ignoring switch request
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 9/18/2025 7:10:25 AM, Tick Count: 426749890 (4.22:32:29.8900000), Size: 341 B
Process: AeXNSAgent.exe (10880), Thread ID: 5264, Module: AeXNSAgent.exe
Priority: 2, Source: Agent

Environment

ITMS 8.x

Cause

By design, the SMP Server will always try to connect to itself via its real name first, even if you specified to use the alias in the agent communication profile.

In the case of client machines, they will always try to connect to the SMP Server and site servers via the order of names provided in the agent communication profile.

In this example, client machines will attempt to connect to AliasName.external.example.com:443 first:
AliasName.external.example.com:443;SMPservername.internal.example.com:443

Resolution

As the message says:

The agent installed on Notification Server machine cannot be switched to another server, ignoring switch request

The agent on the SMP Server will not switch to use an Alias since it considers the process as switching to another SMP Server, which is not allowed.