CEM Clients Unable to Connect After Upgrading SMP Platform and Gateway to 8.8.1 version

Products

IT Management Suite

Issue/Introduction

After upgrading the Symantec Management Platform (SMP) and Internet Gateway (IG) to version 8.8.1, Cloud-enabled Management (CEM) clients are unable to connect.

This issue was observed across multiple environments. Even newly generated CEM clients fail to establish connectivity after the upgrade.

The following log entry can be found on the Internet Gateway logs:

[8] 12/02/2026 07:54:30 (InternetGateway)

Exception during receive from [ip:192.168.xx.xx:xxxxx, id:89a84aba-24bf-4827-bc56-b302cdf3b3d2, type: Client, disposed: False] and sending to []: System.InvalidOperationException: The requested Performance Counter is not a custom counter, it has to be initialized as ReadOnly.
at System.Diagnostics.PerformanceCounter.InitializeImpl()
at System.Diagnostics.PerformanceCounter..ctor(String categoryName, String counterName, String instanceName, Boolean readOnly)
at InternetGateway.Statistic.ServerSocketStatistic.GetStatistic(String hostname)
at InternetGateway.ForwardSocket.Init(Socket socket)
at InternetGateway.ForwardSocket.Init(Socket socket, Task`1 forward)
at InternetGateway.ServerSocket.Create(String host, Int32 port, ForwardSocket client, RegisteredServer server, ESocketConnectionFlags flags)
at InternetGateway.GatewaySslSocket.CreateForwardSocket(ForwardSocket s2)
at InternetGateway.SslSocket.SafeRead(IAsyncResult res)

Date: 12/02/2026 07:54:30, Tick Count: 0 (00:00:00), Size: 1.17 KB
Process: InternetGateway (62256), Thread ID: 137, Module: InternetGateway.exe
Priority: 5

Symptoms

CEM clients fail to connect after upgrade.
Newly generated CEM client also fails.
No obvious service crash.
IG service running under Local System.
No visible upgrade errors.

Possible error behavior observed:

IG service unable to access performance counters.
Performance counter group missing in registry.

Environment

ITMS 8.8.1

Cause

Following upgrade to ITMS 8.8.1, CEM clients may fail to connect due to missing or improperly registered Performance Counter entries for the SMP Internet Gateway service.

Although the registry key may appear present, the required counter group:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Symantec SMP Internet Gateway Servers

may not exist or may not be properly created during upgrade.

 
Even when the parent key appeared present, the required “Servers” counter group was missing.

Because the IG service relies on these performance counters, failure to access them prevents proper CEM communication.

Resolution

The issue has been addressed in ITMS 8.8.2 release, where counter remediation logic was extended.

In the meantime, do the following steps:

Step 1 – Verify Performance Counter Registry Key

Open Registry Editor (regedit.exe).
Navigate to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\

Confirm the presence of:

Symantec SMP Internet Gateway Servers

Expected Result:

Key exists and contains counter configuration entries.

If Missing:

Proceed to Step 2.

Step 2 – Recreate Performance Counters

Log in using the same administrative account used during the upgrade.
Open Command Prompt as Administrator.
Navigate to the Internet Gateway installation directory:

C:\Program Files\Symantec\SMP Internet Gateway\

Run:

InternetGtwMngrCmd.exe -counters

Expected Result:

Command completes successfully.
Registry key “Symantec SMP Internet Gateway Servers” is created.
CEM clients begin connecting.
In most reported cases, no service restart was required.

Validation Steps

After running the command:

Validation Item	Expected Result
Registry key exists	“Symantec SMP Internet Gateway Servers” present
IG Service	Running
CEM Client	Successfully connects
New CEM client test	Connects successfully

Important Notes

Registry may appear “fine” but still missing the specific “Servers” counter group.
Running -counters resolves both missing and corrupted counter registrations.