"Cannot set broker name" error when logging into Harvest .

Products

• CA Harvest Software Change Manager - OpenMake Meister

Issue/Introduction

This error can happen when trying to login to broker via Harvest Administrator/Workbench GUI or you can also receive this error message "Cannot set broker name" while running command line utilities or other functionality of Harvest. What could the problem be and how do I resolve this problem? There could be several reasons for why this problem happens. Mostly the problem is network related, when you are unable to reach the broker machine. A few things can be done to resolve the problem.

 

Environment

Release:Harvest-Software 13 and newer Change Manager-Concurrent User
Component:

Resolution

1. A few things to isolate the problem first:
   
   * Try to ping the broker machine from your client PC
   Example: ping m123
   where m123 is the short listed name of the machine where harvest server is running
   Result: The machine reply with ipaddress is displayed
   
   * Try to ping the broker machine with Fully Qualified DNS name
   Example: ping m123.company.com
   Where m123.company.com is the fully qualified DNS name of the machine where harvest server is running
   Result: The machine reply with ipaddress is displayed
   
   * Try to telnet the broker machine from your client PC
   Example: telnet m123 5101
   where m123 is the machine where harvest server is running
   And 5101 is the RTServer* port#
   Result: you will get a couple of characters and then a disconnect message "Connection to host lost" which means the connection was established (means port is open as well)
   
   NOTE: Contact your Harvest Admin to obtain the correct RTServer port.
   
   If you are unable to ping and/or telnet the machine, that means the machine is not reachable in your network.
   
   To resolve this problem:
   
   For Windows:
   

   i. Add the ipaddress and hostname of the broker machine in the file hosts that is located in C:\Windows\system32\drivers\etc directory.

   For Unix:
   

   ii. Add the ipaddress and hostname of the broker machine in the file hosts that is located in /etc directory.

   After adding the ipaddress and hostname in the hosts file, the broker machine should now be reachable in network and the problem will get resolved.
   
   A few other things to check:
   
   
   1. Check the Broker Name *
   2. Check broker * is up and running 
   3. Check the -RTServer value of  %HARVESTHOME%\HClient.arg  if any
   
   
   * Note: your broker name can be the shortlisted name m123 or the Fully Qualified DNS name -> m123.company.com
   
   
2. Creating HClient.arg file on the Harvest Client machine.
   
   a. Create file HClient.arg in  %HARVESTHOME%\HClient.arg
   
   b. Add -RTServer=broker_name in client PC
   Note: your broker name can be the shortlisted name m123 or the Fully Qualified DNS name -> m123.company.com

Additional Information

If telnet is disabled, the second option would be to try this with putty if you have that installed.  A third option would be to execute the following from powershell on the client machine:

$t = New-Object System.Net.Sockets.TcpClient 'brokername', 5101; if($t.Connected) {"OK"}

(change “brokername” to the actual broker name)