7.6 Troubleshooting the Server Management Agent

On a Windows NT/2000 server that does not have a name for primary partition or logical drive, enabling the physical and logical disk trending through using the ’diskperf -yv’ command will abnormally terminates the SNMP service

Severity: ZENworks 7 Server Management; Management and Monitoring Services; Server Management Agent
Explanation: On Windows NT or Windows 2000 server that does not have a name for primary partition or logical drive, if you enable the physical and logical disk trending using the diskperf - yv command, and then you restart the server, the SNMP service abnormally terminates.
Action: On a Windows NT server:

  1. From the desktop console, click Start > Programs > Administrative Tools > Disk Administrator.

  2. Right-click an unnamed primary partition or an unnamed logical drive, then click Assign Drive Letter.

  3. Select the Assign Drive Letter option.

  4. Select a drive letter from the drop-down list.

  5. Click OK.

  6. Repeat Step 2 through Step 5 for all unnamed primary partitions or logical drives.

On a Windows 2000 server:

  1. From the desktop console, click Start > Settings > Control Panel.

  2. Double-click Administrative Tools > Computer Management.

  3. Click Storage > Disk Management.

  4. Right-click an unnamed primary partition or an unnamed logical drive, then click Change Drive Letter and Paths.

  5. Add a drive letter.

  6. Click OK.

  7. Repeat Step 4 through Step 6 for all unnamed primary partitions or logical drives.

When I install the Server Management Agent for Windows, the performance monitor counter failure messages are continually logged into the Windows Event log file

Severity: ZENworks 7 Server Management; Management and Monitoring Services; Server Management Agent
Explanation: When you install the Server Management for Windows, several performance monitor counter failure messages are repeatedly logged into the Windows Event log file (event IDs such as 1008, 1009, 2001, 2002). For example, The Open Procedure for service “Remote Access” in “c:\winnt\system32\rasctrs.dll” failed. The performance data for this service is not available. Status code returned is data DWORD 0 event.

Sometimes the SNMP service crashes when these events are posted in the Events Viewer. For example, on a Windows 2000 machine with the AppleTalk* protocol installed and with the performance enabled, the following events are posted in the Events Viewer and the SNMP service crashes:

  1. Unable to open the ATK device for R access. Returning IO status Block in Data.

  2. The open procedure for the “Apple Talk” in DLL “c:\winnt\system32\atkctrs.dll” has taken longer than the estimated time to complete. There may be a problem with this extensible counter or the service it is collecting data from or from s/m may have been very busy when this call was completed.

  3. The open procedure for service “Apple Talk” in DLL “c:\winnt\system32\atkctrs.dll” failed. Performance code data for this will not be available. Status code returned in data DWORD 0.

Possible Cause: The Trending Agent (NTREND) of the Server Management Agent uses performance counters to obtain performance data. The performance monitor checks the availability of all the counters listed in the registry. Either a service is installed, but the performance counters are disabled or vice versa. These events are logged into the Windows Event Log.

When the performance counters are queried, the extension performance counters DLLs are loaded in the SNMP address space. If there is a problem in the extension performance counters DLLs, the SNMP service will crashes.

The following links provide more information:

  • http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=178887
  • http://www.jsiinc.com/SUBM/tip6200/rh6218.htm
  • http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=811066
  • http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;226494
  • http://www.eventid.net/display.asp?eventid=1008&eventno=70
Action: To avoid SNMP service crashes:

  1. Disable the performance counters for the problematic DLL or Enable the service so that the performance counter DLL works correctly In the AppleTalk Protocol example, disabling the performance counters for the service solves the problem.

Action: Do the following:

  1. Install the latest support version for the specific Windows platform.

  2. Note the performance counter events that are logged in the Windows Event Log.

  3. Download and install the appropriate exctrlst_setup.exe file for your Windows version:

    • For Windows 2000 or later, download install the exctrlst_setup.exe file from the Microsoft Web site.

    • For Windows NT, download and install the resource kit that contains the exctrlst_setup.exe file from the Microsoft Web site.

  4. Run exctrlst_setup.exe from the installed location.

  5. Enable the necessary performance counters and services, using the event information that you noted in step 2.

    For example, if the event information message says “The Open Procedure for service “Remote Access” in DLL “c:\winnt\system32\rasctrs.dll” failed. The performance data for this service is not available. Status code returned is data DWORD 0”, this means that the performance counters are enabled, and the RAS is installed but might be disabled. Use the exctrlst_setup.exe to enable the RAS service to function correctly, and disable the performance counters.To do this:

    1. Select the service in the exctrlst window.

    2. Select Remote Access.

    3. Deselect the Performance Counters Enabled check box.

      If the event information message says “The Collect Procedure for the TCPIP service in DLL “c:\winnt\system32\perfctrs.dll” generated an exception or returned an invalid status”, this means that the performance counters for the TCPIP services might be disabled. Use the exctrlst_setup.exe to enable the performance counters.

      1. Select the service in the exctrlst window.

      2. Select TCPIP.

      3. Select the Performance Counters Enabled check box.

  6. Shut down and restart the machine.