Knowledge Base

SMS: Long Program Item Description May Cause NAD Corruption

Article ID: 188060

Article Last Modified on 6/14/2005

APPLIES TO

This article was previously published under Q188060

SYMPTOMS

When a program item description exceeds 40 characters in length, you receive the following error in the AppMan.log file of a child site that receives the package update:
NAD ##> Error setting program item 'I000003B' (package I000002E). (10)
After the error occurs, it is possible that a sequence of corruption can spread through the secondary site. This does not always occur, but when it does, it can result in some very strange behavior from Program Group Control (PGC) on Systems Management Server clients.

NOTE: It is only possible to create a program item description that exceeds 40 characters by importing a package definition file (PDF) where the description is greater than 40 characters.

WORKAROUND

To quickly locate any program item that can potentially cause a problem, run the following use ISQL/W against the SMS database to run the following query: 
   select * from ProgramItems where datalength(Description) > 40
For any items that are returned, make note of the package ID and then do the following:

  1. Use the Systems Management Server Administrator program to shorten any program item descriptions so that they do not exceed 40 characters.
  2. Stop and restart the SMS Executive service on each child site. This ensures that the SMS Application Manager service does not remain in an unstable state.
  3. Use either of the following commands to reset the network applications database (NAD) at each child site (the second command below targets specific sites that were affected):
          RSAPPCTL /ALL

    -or- 

          RSAPPCTL /SITE:xxx

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Systems Management Server version 1.2. We are researching this problem and will post new information here in the Microsoft Knowledge Base as it becomes available.

MORE INFORMATION

Sites that are affected by this problem can experience the following problems after the error occurs:

  • The Application Manager may corrupt the registry in the following registry keys: 
          HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\SMS\Components\Application Manager\Package
      Keys\<package_ID>\<program_item_ID>
    The program item IDs listed under each Package ID will all be set to the same value. In this example, each package that followed package ID "I000002E" would contain "I000003B" for the program item.
  • Subsequent work cycles by the Application Manager will incorrectly detect that the "server list has changed" for certain packages. When this occurs, the following text can be found in the Appman.log file:
          Server list has changed for package I0000049.  Updating program
      items.~
  • The Application Manager may then "corrupt" the program items (*.haf files) located in the SMS\Site.srv\Maincfg.box\Appctl.src\database directory.
  • The Application Manager may reach an unstable state where the Nadctrl.nad file is deleted from the \database directory and is not re-created. This will have serious effect on the Systems Management Server clients. When the Nadctrl.nad file does not exist in the NAD directory, Appctrl.exe does not access this NAD, but will try to find another NAD in the SMS hierarchy.

Additional query words: prodsms

Keywords: kbbug kbpending kbpgc kbsmsappman KB188060


Send feedback to Microsoft

© Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.