Expired SMS Jobs Alter Detailed Job Status

• Microsoft Systems Management Server versions 1.0 and 1.1

SYMPTOMS

Displaying the detailed job status of an SMS job shows Retrying or Canceled for Workstation entries after a Package Command Manager (PCM) job has expired.

CAUSE

The SMS despooler incorrectly creates a detailed job status MIF as the result of a PCM job expiry notification received from an SMS client. Under SMS 1.0 the detailed job status for the Workstation entry is set to Retrying as the result of the job expiry. Under SMS 1.1 the detailed job status for the Workstation entry is set to Canceled.

The expected behavior is to maintain the last reported job status for the workstation.

MORE INFORMATION

An example situation is described below :

A job is created by the SMS Administrator to distribute a PCM Package to five clients. The package is only to be offered for two days, therefore the job expiration time is set to two days after the offer date. All five clients receive the package displayed in PCM, three succeed in executing the package successfully on day one, one client fails to execute the package successfully, and the fifth client is unoccupied and never executes the package.

Two days after the package offer date, the package expires. During each polling cycle, PCM on each client checks its Workstation Instruction (WINST) file on its SMS logon server. It checks for new packages arriving and for packages expiring. On job expiration, the package is removed from the client's PCM window and a despooler instruction is written to the despoolr.box on the logon server. Once the site's despooler processes this instruction, it creates a detailed job status MIF to update the Workstation entry in the job's detailed status. Depending on the version of SMS running on the site, this alters the results displayed for the job status.

For the example above, the following results will be displayed for the detailed job status under SMS 1.0.

End of day 1

• Workstations 1-3 (were successful) Workstation Job Status = Complete
• Workstation 4 (Failed package) Workstation Job Status = Retrying
• Workstation 5 (Job never executed) Workstation Job Status = None

• Workstations 1-3 (were successful) Workstation Job Status = Retrying

• Workstation 4 (Failed package) Workstation Job Status = Retrying
• Workstation 5 (Job never executed) Workstation Job Status = Retrying

End of day 1

• Workstations 1-3 (were successful) Workstation Job Status = Complete
• Workstation 4 (Failed package) Workstation Job Status = Retrying
• Workstation 5 (Job never executed) Workstation Job Status = None

• Workstations 1-3 (were successful) Workstation Job Status = Canceled

• Workstation 4 (Failed package) Workstation Job Status = Canceled
• Workstation 5 (Job never executed) Workstation Job Status = Canceled

RESOLUTION

Unfortunately the behavior of the despooler component under SMS 1.0 and 1.1 cannot be resolved. The problem is corrected in SMS 1.2.

The following workarounds are suggested if you encounter problems determining the current status of package installation for SMS clients.

• Extend the job expiration date to give enough time to review the job status for each client where possible.
• Use a NOIDMIF to report details about the package installation (that is, Complete, Failed), so that a new attribute for the package is displayed for each client detailing the install status.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Systems Management Server 1.0 and 1.1. We are researching this problem and will post new information here in the Microsoft Knowledge Base as it becomes available.

The problem is corrected in SMS 1.2.