After a Standby server switches to become the new Background server, attachments cannot be opened. When the original Background server is switched back as the current Background server, the attachments are available again. What could cause this?

Products

• SUPPORT AUTOMATION- SERVER
• CA Service Desk Manager - Unified Self Service
• CA Service Desk Manager
• CA Service Management - Asset Portfolio Management
• CA Service Management - Service Desk Manager

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

In an Advanced Availability configuration, after following the instructions for setting up the Attachments Library, files can be attached to Incidents. 

In the particular case study, the Upload Path is set to a UNC path on a server which is not any of the Advanced Availability servers; the corresponding UNC credentials and folder permissions enable access to the files from the Advanced Availability servers.

After a Standby server switches to becomes the new Background server, attachments cannot be opened. When the original Background server is switched back as the current Background server, the attachments are available again.   The requirement, of course, is that after the first switch, the attachments must be available.

Environment:

CA Service Desk Manager 12.9 and above.
Advanced Availability configuration.
Files uploaded to the repository reside at a UNC path.
Background Services are configured for Servlet and Daemon, both Server values specify Background Server.

Cause:

The Attachment Servlet Path for the Background (BG) Server or the Attachment Servlet Path for the Standby (SB) Server(s) have not specified correctly.

For each server, the out-of-the-box value for the Attachment Servlet Path appears as empty when the Server Detail record of a server is displayed in View mode; when in Edit mode, it appears as http://<host>:<port/CAisd/UploadServlet.

 

Resolution:

Explicitly set the Attachment Servlet Path for both the Background Server and the Standby Server(s).

For the Background and Standby Servers, the <host> and <port> designators must be replaced with the actual values that specify the server.  To verify, ensure that the Attachment Servlet Path does NOT display as either empty or as http://<host>:<port>/CAisd/UploadServlet.

For example, in a test environment, the Background Services are configured as in the following screenshot:

<Please see attached file for image>

In the previous screenshot, a UNC path is specified for the Upload Path (in this case, one of the Advanced Availability servers was used but this is not recommended).

And the Servers are defined according to the following screenshot:

<Please see attached file for image>

The Attachment Servlet Path would be set on the Background server as shown in the Description field:

 

<Please see attached file for image>

 

And, the Attachment Servlet Path is set on the Standby server like:

<Please see attached file for image>

 

 

Additional Information:

You may search for the section in the Service Management Wiki that is titled: "How to Set Up the Attachments Library".  A direct link to that page at the time of writing this document is: How to Set Up the Attachments Library

Environment

Release: SDMU0M99000-14.1-Service Desk Manager-Full License
Component: