Version Control Agent connectivity to the VCRM

[Patrick Huck]

Hello,

I am having an issue on a newly installed test environment using Insight Manager. The CMS is installed on a VM. The VM host meets the necessary requirements for an HP SIM installation. Test servers are a variety of blades and stand alone servers.

Issue: When attempting to connect to the HP Version Control Agent -- either locally on the client servers or via the CMS -- I receive the following error in the agent web page:

"The Version Control Agent encountered an error while obtaining the software and firmware inventory. An error occurred while performing an operating system specific operation."

I also observe this error in the vcagent.log file on the target server:

VCA11927463217094SNMP: The request timed-out.An error occurred while performing an operating system specific operation.オペレーティング システム固有の処理を実行中にエラーが発生しました。VCA11927463217064An unknown exception occurred while processing a request.リクエストの処理中に不明なエラーが発生しました。

I have checked all IE and SNMP settings specified in the VCA, VCRM, HP SIM and CMS documentation. I have additionally ran the discovery, identification and agent repair tools without any change in the error. All settings seem to be accurate. Anyone have any ideas as to the cause of this issue?

Thanks.

Pat

[Rob Buxton]

I'd first check I can get at the VCRM itself. Click on the server name hosting the VCRM and under the Tools & Links tab there should be a link to the VCRM.
You should be able to follow this to the VCRM itself and see the catalogues etc.

For VCA Access I use a local account on the VCRM server, configured with server admin rights.

The other thing for the VCA to work properly is an established trust. Hovering over the VCA usually produces a message if the trust has not been set up.

[Patrick Huck]

Thank you for the response.

I am able to get into the VCRM via the link under Tools and Links in HPSIM. I can also connect via manually putting the VSRM URL in a web browser. Unfortunately though, choosing a different server and clicking the VCA link (under tools and Links) throws the error (listed at the start of the thread).

Here is some additional information:

1) I ran Wireshark on the target server and CMS server while clicking on the VCA link in HPSIM. I see TCP traffic (standard syn, syn ack, ack and psh packets) during the connection. However, I still receive an error in the browser.
2) I have uninstalled and reinstalled the VCA on the target systems, thereby re-registering the VCRM and username/password used to get into the repository. I still receive the error.
3) All servers have been rebooted just to ensure there wasn't anything odd going on. No luck.
4) The username/password is a domain service account that is in the target server's local Administrators group. The same account is used on the CMS and has full permissions in HPSIM. This is set this way only for testing purposes. The access will be reduced as much as possible when in production.

5) I normally see a good authentication:

" ... was authenticated and authorized with 'Administrator' rights"

...in the CMS smh.log file as well as see the POST request in the access log file:

[18/Oct/2007:22:25:22 +0000] "POST /cgi-bin/vcrepository/cgi HTTP/1.0" 200 109

Any additional assistance would be appreciated.

Pat

[Rob Buxton]

I've always used a local account on the VCRM Server for the VCA Access.
A domain account should also work, but in the earlier days of HPSIM, the local account worked better. So you could try that.

[Patrick Huck]

Thanks Rob. I added a local admin to the CMS server (the same server that the VCRM is on) named vcrmadmin. I uninstalled the VCRM, rebooted, reinstalled the VCRM and re-Discovered the systems. I then uninstalled, rebooted and reinstalled a VCA on one of the target systems. Unfortunately, I am seeing the same result.

If you have any additional suggestions or items I may check I would greatly appreciate it. In the interim, I am installing the HP SIM, and VCRM, software on a non Virtual Machine to see if I get the same results.

Pat

[Rob Buxton]

I cannot add much except to say I'm running HPSIM and the VCRM on a virtual server okay.

The other thing may be to delete and reimport the certificate and rerun identify systems to recheck the certificate.
The VCA / VCRM does rely on the Trust relationship. But I've not seen the error you're getting.

[Rob Buxton]

The other question with virtual machines is what virtualisation product are you using.
If it's one of the ones that sits on top of an OS, VMWare Server or MS Virtual server then it maybe something on the underlying OS? Not sure how it would get in the way.

[Patrick Huck]

Thanks Rob.

I am digging into the VCA configuration at this time. Hopefully that will shed some light into what is going on. A reinstall on a non-VM system has not altered the outcome.

[Patrick Huck]

I am going to close this thread as resolved. The issue basically came down to a domain policy that appears to be interfering with the VCA/SNMP relationship. Oddly enough, the VCRM/HPSIM/CMS server WAS listed as a valid host in the SNMP services on all problematic machines. That SNMP service configuration was pushed via Group Policy yet there continued to be an underlying issue with SNMP and the VCA. I confirmed as follows:

1) Built a new server but did not join it to the domain.
2) Ran all hardening scripts, etc., against the machine which includes the installation of the HP agents and SMH.
3) Tested connectivity to the VCA. Successful.
4) Compared all settings with the servers that were having issues. No difference.
5) Created an OU and blocked policy inheritance from the DC.
6) Moved a problematic server into the OU. Successfully connected to the VCA.

Pat

[Patrick Huck]

Please see previous reply for the solution.