ConfigMgr: Software Update Point - The server name or address could not be resolved

The first thing I recommend costumers who are using SCCM is: Install the ConfigMgr Admin Console on a management server and keep your hands off the site server. This way when you accidentally fire up a script that contains a reboot, it'll restart your management server and not your site server. Also, when using it like this it'll keep your site server cleaned up and tidy, which is always something you'd want.

However, when this is the case and you're using a proxy server this also brings along some issues. When trying to download the updates you can run into the following error:

The server name or address could not be resolved

It took me a while to figure this one out, but it's quite easily fixed. Open up internet explorer and go to Internet Options. Now, go to Connections and choose Lan Settings. Fill in the same proxy server, so you can resolve internet addresses without issues. Close and re-open the ConfigMgr Admin Console and try to download the updates again. As you can see, the error is gone.

Hope this helps.

Regards,

Stefan Hazenbroek

ConfigMgr: The process is not in background processing mode.

When trying to provision updates using the ConfigMgr Console of System Center Configuration Manager 2007 (R2 SP2 in my case, but it also applies to earlier versions) you can get the following error in the process screen of the Update List Wizard.

The process is not in background processing mode

Now what? Background processing mode makes you think it's because of BITS being used. Well, you're right. This is the way you can resolve this issue.

1. Login to your WSUS Server.
2. Stop the BITS Service (through Services.msc or net stop bits at a commandline)
3. Stop the Automatic Updates Service (through Services.msc or net stop wuauserv at a commandline)
4. Browse to: Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Microsoft\Network\Downloader

Note: If you're using Windows Server 2008 or Server 2008 R2 the Application Data folder is a junction point which has deny list permissions set to Everyone. If you need to be able to browse this folder you need to remove these NTFS permissions.

5. In the \Downloader folder delete the files qmgr0.dat and qmgr1.dat. These files will be recreated once you start the BITS service.
6. In the C:\Windows\ directory delete the folder SoftwareDistribution This folder will be recreated once you start the Automatic Updates service.
7. Start the Automatic Updates service using services.msc or by using net start wuauserv
8. Start the BITS service using services.msc or by using net start bits
9. Go into the ConfigMgr Console and go to Software Updates and right click on Software Repository. Choose Run Synchronisation.

Now you're able to download the updates again. I hope this helps.

Regards,

Stefan Hazenbroek

Exchange 2010: Certification achieved!

I just recieved the following email from Microsoft Learning:

Congratulations on earning your Enterprise Messaging Administrator 2010 certification! We hope you enjoy the benefits of your certification and of membership in the Microsoft Certified Professional community.

Now that's a message you like to hear in the early morning!

ConfigMgr 2007 R2 SP2: Windows Server 2008 R2, WSUS 3.0 SP2 on Site Server

And we have another one!

In my testlab I have WSUS setup on the same server as the SCCM Site Server. However, when trying to setup the Active SUP I got the following error in the WSYNCMGR.log

SMS WSUS Synchronization failed. Message: WSUS server not configured. Source: CWSyncMgr::DoSync. The operating system reported error 2147500037: Unspecified error

From this message it looks as if WSUS could not be contacted, but the WSUSCtrl.log states that all connections to the WSUS server are succesful. After searching around it seemed that this issue was due to the fact of WSUS and the SCCM Site Server being on the same machine. The fix is as follows (also check out http://support.microsoft.com/kb/896861 for more information (choose Method 1)):

1) Fire up regedit.
2) Go to HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\LSA
3) Create a new DWORD value called DisableLoopbackCheck
4) Edit the value and in the Value Data box type 1
5) Close regedit
6) In the SCCM Console right-click on Update Repository and check the WSYNCMgr.log for any issues.

In my case this fixed my issues.

ConfigMgr 2007 R2 SP2: Windows Server 2008 R2 and Management Point

I've been reinstalling my testenvironment to support Windows Server 2008 R2 instead of Windows Server 2008, but while installing SCCM 2007 R2 SP2 I ran into the following problem:

SMS Site Component Manager failed to install component SMS_MP_CONTROL_MANAGER on server.

The WebDAV server extension is either not installed or not configured properly.
Solution: Make sure WebDAV is installed and enabled. Make sure there is an authoring rule that allow “All users” read access to “All content”. Make sure the WebDAV settings “Allow anonymous property queries” and “Allow property queries with infinite depth” are set to “true” and “Allow Custom Properties” is set to false.

Now what? I am 100% sure I have the correct settings in WebDAV (according to the log also) but it doesn't seem to recognize it. After doing some searching on the internet I found the location of the configuration file of Webdav. This file is located in: C:\Windows\System32\inetsrv\config\schema\WebDAV_schema.xml. After opening this file up I noticed that the settings in this file were different from the settings I changed in the IIS Manager.

The settings were configured as:

<attribute name=”allowAnonymousPropfind” type=”bool” defaultValue=”false” />
<attribute name=”allowInfinitePropfindDepth” type=”bool” defaultValue=”false” />
<attribute name=”allowCustomProperties” type=”bool” defaultValue=”true” />

However they should be:

<attribute name=”allowAnonymousPropfind” type=”bool” defaultValue=”true” />
<attribute name=”allowInfinitePropfindDepth” type=”bool” defaultValue=”true” />
<attribute name=”allowCustomProperties” type=”bool” defaultValue=”false” />

After correcting these settings (remember you have to take ownership of the file to be able to change it) and restarting the World Wide Web Publishing Service and the SMS_SITE_COMPONENT_MANAGER the Management Point gets installed correctly. You can check if the installation is succesful in the logfile MPSetup.log in your SCCM\Logs directory. If succesful the log looks like this:

<01-16-2010 22:08:36> ======== Completed Installation of Pre Reqs for Role SMSMP ========
<01-16-2010 22:08:36> Installing the SMSMP
<01-16-2010 22:08:36> Passed OS version check.
<01-16-2010 22:08:36> IIS Service is installed.
<01-16-2010 22:08:36> checking WebDAV configuraitons
<01-16-2010 22:08:37> WebDAV is configured
<01-16-2010 22:08:37> No versions of SMSMP are installed. Installing new SMSMP.
<01-16-2010 22:08:37> Enabling MSI logging. mp.msi will log to C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Configuration Manager\logs\mpMSI.log
<01-16-2010 22:08:37> Installing C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Configuration Manager\bin\i386\mp.msi CCMINSTALLDIR="C:\Program Files (x86)\SMS_CCM" CCMSERVERDATAROOT="C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Configuration Manager" USESMSPORTS=TRUE SMSPORTS=80 USESMSSSLPORTS=TRUE SMSSSLPORTS=443 USESMSSSL=TRUE SMSSSLSTATE=0 CCMENABLELOGGING=TRUE CCMLOGLEVEL=1 CCMLOGMAXSIZE=1000000 CCMLOGMAXHISTORY=1
<01-16-2010 22:08:57> mp.msi exited with return code: 0
<01-16-2010 22:08:57> Verifying CCM_CLIENT virtual directory.
<01-16-2010 22:08:57> Website path is IIS://LocalHost/W3SVC/1.
<01-16-2010 22:08:57> Connecting to IIS.
<01-16-2010 22:08:57> CCM_CLIENT is currently C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Configuration Manager\Client.
<01-16-2010 22:08:57> Installation was successful.

One last thing. When creating a backup of the WebDav_schema.xml, do not create the backup in the same directory as the original file. All .xml files put in this directory will be read by IIS so your settings will not seem changed afterwards.

Good luck, I hope this helps.