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Troubleshooting Techniques for Pending Tasks

Pam
Deploying Tasks to Computers

The information in this article applies to:

• Prism Deploy

Summary:

You’ve assigned a new Task to a group of computers. The Prism Deploy report shows that the Task has been successfully installed to all but two computers that still show the Task as Pending. What could be the cause of the Pending status and how do you troubleshoot?

Solution:

There could be a number of reasons why a Task remains in a Pending state. Answers to the following questions will help determine how to continue.

1. Has the computer ever received a Task successfully?

2. If yes, then what happens if you assign a different Task to the computer? (A simple Task we at New Boundary Technologies often use is a Command Task that launches “%windir%\notepad.exe”.)

Based on the answers to these questions, you can resolve the issue by going through the following checklist.

If the computer has never successfully received a Task:

  • Is the Prism Deploy client installed?

  • Has the computer been rebooted after installing the Prism Deploy client?

  • Are you in a mixed Novell and Active Directory environment AND trying to use Active Directory rather than NetBios names in your channel? If so, try changing the naming convention for members of your channel by either 1) generating and running a new subscription file that uses NetBios names, or 2) adding the computers back to your channel by browsing Network Neighborhood rather than Active Directory, then doing a direct install.

  • Is the target computer on the network and communicating with your Prism Deploy server? In order to verify:

Can you ping the NetBIOS name of the Prism Deploy server? For example, from a command prompt at the target computer, type PING SERVERNAME.

If pinging the NetBIOS name doesn’t resolve, can you ping the TCP/IP address of the Prism Deploy server? For example, from a command prompt at the target computer, type PING xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx. If this is successful, change the Prism Deploy client settings to use the TCP/IP address of the Prism Deploy server rather than the computer name. This can be done by building a Subscription file that changes the client settings. Refer to the Prism Deploy User’s Guide for more information.

  • Refresh the report window by selecting .

If the computer has successfully received Tasks in the past but both the original Task and test Task remain pending:

  • Is the Prism Deploy client subscribed to this channel? If you’ve done a Direct install of the Prism Deploy client from this channel, the client will be subscribed. If you built a subscription file in order to subscribe to the channel, re-run the subscription file.

  • Is the Prism Deploy client set for a long interval between polling sessions? For example, once an hour or once a day. You can update the polling interval by building a subscription file in order to modify the client settings.

  • Is a user logged on to the computer? Tasks that do not have the property defined to run in Unattended mode will only run when a user is logged on to the computer. Tasks will only run on Windows 95, 98 or Me when a user is logged on.

If the computer has successfully received Tasks in the past and the test Task installed successfully while the original Task remains pending:

  • Is a user logged on to the computer? The test Task may have the property to run in Unattended mode while the original Task does not.

  • If the original Task is a Package or script, a prompt may need to be answered before the Task finishes successfully. Examples of prompts include a Before or After Message, a Reboot message or variable prompt.

  • Tasks will remain pending if they are scheduled to be “Uninstalled” however the Task was never previously installed to the computer. For example, you create a new Package Task and then assign it to Uninstall from a computer. This new Task will remain pending.

If the Task remains pending after going through the troubleshooting steps above, reinstall the Prism Deploy client by Direct install to NT/2000/XP computers or by running a Subscription file to 95/98/Me computers.


Contact New Boundary Technologies support if you have questions on any of the above information.
Support can be reached Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. central time at 612-379-1851, send email to support@newboundary.com.


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