How to debug why my preferred server config isn’t being used (Preferred server doesn't work)

Description

Sometimes you may wish to know if your preferred servers are being used during software deployment actions.

Cause

In some cases evidence shows that the preferred server isn’t being used. In others it is necessary to check the functionality of the preferred server configuration.

Solution

We will collect some additional logs and see how they can be filtered for the most common problems.

To do so we will perform the following steps, this will be explained a bit later in detail:

1. Check proxyhost.log if the agent downloads the preferred server list
2. Check the PreferredServer.[CoreName].dat for the preferred server the Agent will use
3. Activate XTrace log for the LD-Downloader to see if the agent really downloads via preferred server

Check the PreferredServer.[CoreName].dat

To check which preferred servers a client will use, open the PreferredServer.[CoreName].dat (C:\Program Files (x86)\LANDesk\LDClient\sdmcache) on your test machine with an text editor (e.g. notepad).

There should be – at least – one entry like this:

1353591310?1.1.1.1

The first number before the ‘?’-mark represents a time stamp in unix format. To decrypt such a time stamp see document http://community.landesk.com/support/docs/DOC-1881.

If there is no PreferredServer.[CoreName].dat see the next item on how to check the proxyhost.log.

Check proxyhost.log

The proxyhost.log (C:\Program Files (x86)\LANDesk\Shared Files) records all LANDesk initiated network activity started from the agent itself. Examples of this is the sending of the inventory scan, but also requests to the core server to get the prefrred server list.

If there is no PreferredServer.[CoreName].dat file the client will contact the core server for a list of the preferred servers when it first needs to download something like a software distribution package.

In the proxyhost.log there should be an entry like this:

"POST http://[NameOfCore]/LANDesk/ManagementSuite/Core/PreferredServer/preferredserver.asmx HTTP/1.1" 200 530 862

The first number (here 200) represent the HTTP error code. 200 stands for “Success”. A list of other possible error codes can be found in document http://community.landesk.com/support/docs/DOC-1086.

Common issues

1. The PreferredServer.[CoreName].dat doesn’t exist
   1. Check proxyhost.log if preferred server list got requested by the client
   2. Check directory permissions of “C:\Program Files (x86)\LANDesk\LDClient\sdmcache” to allow SYSTEM full control
   3. Push a software package to the client with a delivery method that uses download from source to cause a download, this will force the client to check for prferred servers.
2. PreferredServer.[CoreName].dat doesn’t get updated
   1. Check proxyhost.log if preferred server list got requested by the client
   2. Check if the “Date modified” attribute of the file is current
   3. Check if the unix time stamp inside of the dat-file is current
   4. Delete the preferred server dat file and initiate an action that will downoad files like deploying software.
3. PreferredServer.[CoreName].dat doesn’t contain my configured preferred server(s)
   1. Check if your client can ping the name/ip of your configured preferred server. The Client will only insert a preferred server if the server can be pinged.
   2. Check the IP address of client and compare to list configured on the core server in the preferred server setup.

Activate XTrace log for the LD-Downloader

Sadly it is sometimes not visible in the normal logs if the preferred server is being used or not. The most logs will always point to the core server as source and do not tell if the download had been redirected to the preferred server. The process responsible for downloading and redirecting the download paths is the LD-Downloader. This downloader usually doesn’t write any logs and has to be set into a debugging mode (XTrace-Logs).

To activate this log for the LD-Downloader the XTrace log for the lddwnld.dll. How to do so is descripted in document http://community.landesk.com/support/docs/DOC-1623.

Common issues

1. LDRedirectFilePathEx: serverList is empty
   1. The PreferredServer.[CoreName].dat is empty. Check explanations above
2. Hash error(s)
   1. Try resetting the hash of the package. See document http://community.landesk.com/support/docs/DOC-7334.
   2. Try copying the files by hand with “xcopy /E /V /H / Z” to make sure that the files are the same as on the main download site.
3. Error code 5 while creating the file
   1. Error code 5 is the standart Microsoft Error code for “Access is denied”. Check that the configured credentials in the preferred server config are still valid.
      1. If you download packages with additional files, there is a known issue with LD-Downloader omitting these credentials for the additional files. Check that “Domain Computers” do have read access to the share, source directory and file. LD-Downloader is running as local system on the device and can therefore not use them.