System Management Server Jobs Continue to Retry And Not Fail

• Microsoft Systems Management Server version 1.1 and 1.2

SYMPTOMS

Some Systems Management Server "Remove Package from Server" jobs, "Run command on Workstation" jobs and "Share Package on Server" Jobs may go into a state of retrying and not fail.

CAUSE

The SMS_Despooler attempts to process a job 100 times before changing the state of the job to "Failed". When a failure occurs, the job goes into a "Retrying" state.

If the SMS_Despooler is stopped and restarted before the 100th retry of the job, the SMS_Despooler retry-count is re-initialized to zero and the despooler retries again 100 times. Therefore, if you start and stop the SMS_Despooler you may prolong the retry status of such jobs.

MORE INFORMATION

To determine the number of pending retries (assuming SMS is installed in c:\sms and c:\temp exists):

1. Copy snirdr.exe and hdecomp.exe from the SMS 1.2 CD (support\debug\x86) to c:\sms\site.srv\x86.bin.

2. From c:\sms\site.src\X786.bin run the following commands:

   Retries in a .SNI:

   - snirdr c:\sms\site.srv\despoolr.box\receive\xxxxxxxx.SNI

        c:\temp\xxxxxxxx.txt
   

   - type c:\temp\xxxxxxxx.txt

   Retries in a .INS:

   - hdecomp c:\sms\site.srv\despoolr.box\receive\xxxxxxxx.INS

        c:\temp\xxxxxxxx.sni
   

   - snirdr c:\temp\xxxxxxxx.sni c:\temp\xxxxxxxx.txt

   - type c:\temp\xxxxxxxx.txt

The execution time is M/D/Y 2-19-1970 The number of retries is N ...

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in System Management Server version 1.1 and 1.2. A supported fix is now available for SMS 1.2, but has not been fully regression-tested and should be applied only to systems experiencing this specific problem. Unless you are severely impacted by this specific problem, Microsoft recommends that you wait for the next Service Pack that contains this fix. Contact Microsoft Technical Support for more information.