Troubleshooting the Severity Propagation Service (SevProp)

Products

• CA Unicenter NSM

Issue/Introduction

Description:

The Windows Event Viewer or the Management Command Center reports errors related to the Severity Propagation service. During restart, the CA Severity Propagation service fails to start, as indicated in the Windows Services Manager, or runs for only an hour before failing.

Solution:

During installation, a local user called SeverityPropagation is created on the server. This user is granted the rights needed to run the sevpropcom DCOM object. Some IPSEC policies revoke the necessary rights from this SeverityPropagation user.

Note: Many Severity Propagation problems can be avoided by not using the visualization tools like the MCC or the 2D Map directly on the WorldView computer.

To resolve the situation

1. Ensure that you are logged in with an Administrative account (either Local or Domain Admin.)
   
   
2. Check the local SeverityPropagation user:
   
   
   • Local user account setup
     
     
     In Computer Management ? System Tools ? Local Users and Groups
     
     
     • Does the SeverityPropagation User exist?
       
       
     • Is it locked out?
       
       
     • Is it member of the "Administrators" group?
       
       
   • DCOM Object Permission
     
     
     From the command prompt, run the command dcomcnfg and navigate to:
     
     
     • Component Services ? Computers ? My Computer ? DCOM Config ? CA Unicenter
       severity propagation -> right-click and choose properties.
       
       
     • In the identity tab make sure that "This user" is selected and that the <LocalSystem>\SeverityPropagation user is listed
       
   • Local Security Policy
     
     
     Start ? Programs ? Administrative Tools ? Local Security Policy?
     User rights Assignment? Log on as a batch job
     
     
     • Is the SeverityPropagation user listed?
       
       
     Note: No changes are necessary here; a baseline is being set so that we can identify changes that need to be made in the environment.
     
     
3. Check the Application log in the Windows Event Log, looking for error messages about "Severity Propagation", WV, or WorldView. Go back to the last time that you tried to restart sevprop.
   
   
4. Stop everything so that you can reregister the sevpropcom DCOM object.
   
   From the command prompt:
   
   
   • awservices stop
     
     
   • rmi_monitor

     > stop server force

   • close
     
     
   • camclose
     
     
   • sevprop stop
     
     Check the Task Manager, and if any of the following processes are running, stop them.
     
     
   • aws* (like aws_dsm.exe, awservices.exe, aws_snmp.exe?)
     
     
   • cai* (like caiWinA3.exe, caiLogA2.exe, and so forth)
     
     
   • sevprop.exe
     
     
   • sevpropcom.exe
     
     
   • StartBPV.exe
     
     
5. Reregister the sevpropcom dcom object to remove and recreate the SeverityPropagation user with appropriate permissions:
   
   From the command prompt:
   
   
   • sevpropcom /unregserver
     
     Check the Task Manager, wait for the sevpropcom process to finish.
     
     
   • sevpropcom /regserver
     
     Check the Task Manager, wait for the sevpropcom process to finish.
     
     
6. Restart Sevprop:
   
   From the command prompt, run the command:
   
   
   • sevprop start
     
     Check the Task Manager and wait until the sevprop, sevprop and StartBPV processes are listed.
     (This can take several minutes, so please be patient.),
     
     
7. Restart the stopped services:
   
   From the command prompt, run the commands:
   
   
   • cam start (wait for a moment...)
     
     
   • awservices start
     
     
8. If any WV or WorldView errors were noticed in Step 3, please reselect the WorldView Repository:
   
   From the command prompt, run the command:
   
   
   • wvrepsel
     
     
     • Select the repository
       
       
     • For the user, enter: nsmadmin
       
       
     • For the password, enter the nsmadmin user's password.
       
       
9. Review the Application log in the Windows Event Log, and look for error messages about "Severity Propagation", WV, or WorldView. If any of these errors have reoccurred since the last step was run, export the log and be prepared to send it to Technical Support.
   
   
10. Perform the same checks as documented in Step 2.
    If there are any differences, have the people who handle the Active Directory Policies make changes so that the current settings are not lost again.
    
    Note: The command "sevpropcom /regserver" is what recreated the Severity Propagation user.

Environment

Release: TNGEXO05500-11.1-Management-for Microsoft Exchange
Component: