Microsoft KB Archive/281107

= Travel mode clients may lose inventory or not run advertisements when roaming =

Article ID: 281107

Article Last Modified on 10/25/2006

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Systems Management Server 2.0 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Systems Management Server 2.0 Service Pack 1
 * Microsoft Systems Management Server 2.0 Service Pack 2
 * Microsoft Systems Management Server 2.0 Service Pack 3

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This article was previously published under Q281107



Important This article contains information about how to modify the registry. Make sure to back up the registry before you modify it. Make sure that you know how to restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up, restore, and modify the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

256986 Description of the Microsoft Windows registry



SYMPTOMS
In Microsoft Systems Management Server (SMS) 2.0, the following behavior may occur with clients that are temporarily outside the site boundaries for the clients' assigned site:  Hardware and software inventory for these clients may be periodically deleted without administrator intervention. Resynchronization of hardware and software inventory for these clients may not work. One of the following status messages may be generated:

3703 SMS Software Inventory Processor requested a resynchronization for resource &quot;CLIENTNAME&quot; because an attempt was made to update inventory information in the SMS site database that does not already exist.

-or-

2703 SMS Inventory Data Loader failed to process the delta MIF file &quot;filename&quot; and has moved it to &quot;path&quot;.

Possible cause: The file is corrupt or contains bad syntax.

Solution: Review the immediately preceding status messages from this component for more details.

If you ignore this problem, SMS will probably fix it and complete this operation later. If this error occurs repeatedly, refer to your SMS documentation or the Microsoft Knowledge Base for further troubleshooting information.

Note These messages can also occur during typical site operations and may not be related to the problem that is described in this article. Please read this article thoroughly to determine whether or not this issue applies to your site. Clients that are installed in secondary sites but are outside the site boundaries may not receive advertised programs.

See the &quot;More Information&quot; section for more details.



CAUSE
This problem can occur if a SMS client either has the Travel Mode option set or is configured for forced sites, the client is located outside its site boundaries, and the client reports a discovery data record (DDR) to the client's installed site. The system resource for this client is then evaluated as not being assigned to any valid SMS site. Discovery Data Manager later deletes the hardware and software inventory for any client that is not assigned to at least one site. This deletion is performed on a daily basis and is not configurable.

See the &quot;More Information&quot; section for more details.



RESOLUTION
To resolve this problem, obtain the latest service pack for Systems Management Server version 2.0. For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

288239 SMS: How to obtain the latest Systems Management Server 2.0 Service Pack

Important You must add the registry value and the appropriate data setting that is described in the &quot;Additional settings&quot; section to the registry of each site server on which the fix has been applied. This includes SMS 2.0 SP4 and later SMS service packs. Unless the registry change is made to each site server, the fix that is described in this article will not work.

Additional settings
Warning Serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly by using Registry Editor or by using another method. These problems might require that you reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that these problems can be solved. Modify the registry at your own risk.

To configure site evaluations to keep Travel mode or forced sites clients assigned appropriately, follow these steps for each SMS site server to which the fix has been applied.

Note You do not need to follow these steps for secondary site servers.  Start Registry Editor (Regedt32.exe). Locate and then click the following registry subkey:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\SMS\Components\SMS_DISCOVERY_DATA_MANAGER

</li> On the Edit menu, click Add Value.</li> In the box, type Travel Mode Clients Filter .</li> Click REG_DWORD for the data type, and then click OK.</li> In the Data box, type one of the following values:  0x1 = Clients in SMS 2.0 Client Travel mode are not unassigned from their installed sites, even if the new site boundaries do not include the clients' currently reported subnets.</li> 0x2 = Clients that have forced sites configured are not unassigned from their installed sites, even if the new site boundaries do not include the clients' currently reported subnets.</li> 0x3 = Clients in either SMS 2.0 Client Travel mode or with forced sites configured are not unassigned from their installed sites, even if the new site boundaries do not include the clients' currently reported subnets.</li></ul> </li> Click OK, and then quit Registry Editor.</li></ol>

Note If you do not configure each site server in a hierarchy with this registry value, inconsistent assignments and the potential absence of inventory for Travel mode or forced site clients might result. Make sure that you configure and document each site in your hierarchy with this new item.

<div class="status_section">

STATUS
Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed in the &quot;Applies to&quot; section. This problem was first corrected in Systems Management Server 2.0 Service Pack 4.

<div class="moreinformation_section">

MORE INFORMATION
You can configure SMS clients for Travel mode, and to prompt the user when the client travels outside site boundaries to join another site, to remove itself from its current site, or to stay installed in its current site. You can also configure the client to remain in its current site without any user intervention. This is useful in keeping the client components installed on computers that travel outside site boundaries, and in reducing bandwidth usage over potentially slow links.

Another available option is the use of a Forced Sites list. With this method, a registry entry specifies the site or sites in which the client is forcibly installed and that the client reports to, in addition to any client evaluation of site assignment that is based on subnet location.

For additional information about the Travel mode and forced sites options, see the Systems Management Server Resource Guide and Systems Management Server Administrator's Guide.

Without this fix, these client-side configuration options do not change the server logic that is used to determine site assignment. Therefore, a client might appear to be installed in a given site, but does not have a status of &quot;Assigned&quot; when the client is evaluated on the server.

When an SMS client travels outside its site boundaries, or the site boundaries of a site are changed so that they do not include that client's subnet, Discovery Data Manager (a component of the SMS_EXECUTIVE service that is running on the site server) evaluates assignment based on this new information. If the client's currently reported subnet value does not match the list of subnets in the site's current assignment rules, the client resource record is updated to reflect that the client is no longer assigned. Note that this behavior may be sporadic, depending on the discovery methods that are used and the frequency of discovery. The primary discovery method for SMS clients is heartbeat discovery, which is configured by default to report every seven days. You may want to avoid removing an assignment for the following reasons:  If a Travel-mode client reports a heartbeat DDR while the client is outside site boundaries, the client appears unassigned from the site or sites to which the client normally belongs when viewed in the SMS site database.</li> SMS deletes inventory for any clients that are not evaluated as assigned to at least one site each night between 12:00 A.M. and 5:00 A.M. (server local time). This inventory deletion task is performed by Discovery Data Manager automatically and is not configurable.</li> If a client sends a partial inventory record, and the database contains no inventory for that client, a resynchronization request must be generated to request that the client send a full hardware or software inventory. The hardware and software inventory resynchronization mechanisms rely on site assignment to determine the site that the resynchronization mechanisms should forward resynchronization requests to. If a client is not assigned to any site, a resynchronization request for it does not succeed. Inventory is not updated until the client is evaluated as being within the boundaries of at least one site.

When this behavior occurs, the following log entries are logged in the Dataldr.log file on the site server:

CMachineSource::InsertMachine - attempt to update non-existent row. Requesting resync.

CMachine::SendResyncCommand - could not get site assignment.

</li> The targeting mechanism for advertised programs at a secondary site requires that all targeted systems be assigned to the site. Secondary sites maintain system resource information in the Sms\Ddm.box\Data.col folder in the form of DDRs. These DDRs are, in effect, the database of system resources that are used by Collection Evaluator and Offer Manager for software-distribution purposes. Only assigned client system DDRs are forwarded to secondary sites by the parent site. Therefore, if a system is not assigned to a site because of re-evaluation by the parent site Discovery Data Manager component, the DDR for that system is removed from the secondary site. Clients are not able to receive software distributions until they are evaluated as being within the boundaries of at least one site.</li></ul>

The fix that is described in this article provides the ability to keep Travel-mode or forced site clients assigned to their installed sites, even if they are reported as being outside the site boundaries.

To implement this ability, a new system resource discovery record Travel Mode attribute has been added to reflect that a client is in Travel mode or has a forced site entry. Discovery Data Manager logic on the SMS site server has been updated to check for this attribute and evaluate these clients as assigned to their reported installed site.

The Travel Mode attribute can have the following values:
 * 0x0 = The client is not in any form of client-configured Travel mode.
 * 0x1 = The client is in SMS 2.0 Client Travel mode as indicated from the Reserved2 registry value, in the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\SMS\Client\Configuration\Client Properties key.
 * 0x2 = The client has forced sites configured in the Forced Sites value in the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\SMS\Client\Sites key.
 * 0x3 = The client is in both SMS 2.0 Client Travel mode and has forced sites configured.

NOTE: Site control file modification to configure Travel mode for SMS clients on a site-wide level is not supported. Clients that are in Travel mode as a result of a site-wide setting that is imposed by the site control file are not detected. Instead, use The Clitravl.exe tool from the SMS 2.0 SP2 Supportability Tools bundle to configure clients for Travel mode.

This attribute is reported with normal client logon or heartbeat discovery and is processed by Discovery Data Manager based on the following algorithm:

If the client has any form of Travel mode set, the system resource is assigned to a combination of its installed sites as reported by the DDR and its assigned sites as evaluated by regular site-assignment rules.

Also, an additional SMS site server registry setting must be configured to control the evaluation of system resources that report the new Travel mode attribute when site assignment rules are changed. Site assignment rules change when an administrator modifies the list of subnets by starting the SMS Administrator console, and then clicking Site, clicking Site Properties, and then clicking the Boundaries tab. Please see the &quot;Resolution&quot; section of this article for details about the necessary registry configuration items.

Examples of changed behavior with the fix applied and enabled
The following examples use a simple hierarchy of three sites: a central site (AAA) and two child primary sites (ABC and XYZ). Four client systems are represented (SMSClient1, SMSClient2, SMSClient3, and SMSClient4). Both site servers have the fix installed, and both also have the Travel Mode Clients Filter registry item configured to 0x3.

Example 1
Site ABC has subnet boundaries of 192.168.0.0. A computer that is named SMSClient1 originally installed the SMS Client software from this site and is in the site boundaries, so SMSClient1 appears as assigned to site ABC. Travel mode is set for SMSClient1 with prompting off.
 * SMSClient1 travels outside the site boundaries to an unmanaged subnet, 10.0.0.0. While SMSClient1 is in this subnet, SMSClient1 sends a heartbeat DDR to site ABC reporting that SMSClient1 is currently in subnet 10.0.0.0.
 * Discovery Data Manager at site ABC evaluates the client and notes that it has Travel mode set. Therefore, Discovery Data Manager assigns the client to the combination of the client's installed sites, ABC, and assigned sites, null, which results in assignment to site ABC.

Example 2

 * Site ABC has subnet boundaries of 192.168.0.0. A computer that is named SMSClient2 originally installed the SMS Client software from this site and is in the site boundaries, so SMSClient2 appears as assigned to site ABC. Travel mode is set for SMSClient2 with prompting off.
 * SMSClient2 travels outside the site boundaries of site ABC to a subnet, 10.0.1.0, managed by another site: XYZ. While in this subnet, SMSClient2 sends a heartbeat DDR to site ABC reporting that SMSClient2 is currently in subnet 10.0.1.0.
 * Discovery Data Manager at site ABC evaluates the client and notes that it has Travel mode set. As a result, Discovery Data Manager assigns the client to the combination of the client's installed sites, ABC, and assigned sites, XYZ, which results in assignment to sites ABC and XYZ. Note that the client is not actually reporting to site XYZ, but because the client is in the site boundaries of XYZ, it is evaluated.

Example 3
Site ABC has subnet boundaries of 192.168.0.0. A computer that is named SMSClient1 originally installed the SMS Client software from this site and is in the site boundaries, so SMSClient1 appears as assigned to site ABC. The Forced Site registry key is populated with ABC, denoting that this client always reports to site ABC.
 * SMSClient1 travels outside the site boundaries to an unmanaged subnet, 10.0.0.0. While in this subnet, SMSClient1 sends a heartbeat DDR to site ABC reporting that SMSClient1 is currently in subnet 10.0.0.0.
 * Discovery Data Manager at site ABC evaluates the client and notes that it has Travel mode set (indicated by a value of 2 for the Travel mode discovery property). As a result, Discovery Data Manager assigns the client to the combination of the client's installed sites, ABC, and assigned sites, null, which results in assignment to site ABC.

Example 4

 * Site ABC has subnet boundaries of 192.168.0.0. A computer that is named SMSClient4 originally installed the SMS Client software from this site and is in the site boundaries, so SMSClient4 appears as assigned to site ABC. The Forced Site registry key is populated with ABC, denoting that this client always reports to site ABC.
 * SMSClient2 travels outside the site boundaries of site ABC to a subnet, 10.0.1.0, that is managed by another site named XYZ. While in this subnet, SMSClient4 sends a heartbeat DDR to site ABC reporting that SMSClient4 is currently in subnet 10.0.1.0.
 * Discovery Data Manager at site ABC evaluates the client and notes that it has forced sites set (indicated by a value of 2 for the Travel mode discovery property). Therefore, Discovery Data Manager assigns the client to the combination of the client's installed sites, ABC, and assigned sites, XYZ, which results in assignment to sites ABC and XYZ. Note that the client is not necessarily reporting to site XYZ, but because the client is in the site boundaries of XYZ, the client is evaluated as being assigned to that site.

Example 5
For the purposes of this example, the events in example 1 or example 2 have already occurred.
 * An administrator at site ABC adds an additional subnet to the site boundaries. This triggers an immediate evaluation by Discovery Data Manager of all of the system resources in the site database.
 * Discovery Data Manager notes that the Travel mode clients filter is set.
 * Based on this setting, Discovery Data Manager does not un-assign any clients that have reported a Travel Mode attribute, including the mask set by using the Travel Mode Clients Filter registry item, even if the clients are currently outside the list of managed subnets for site ABC (for example, the clients' Travel Mode property is set to 1 or 2).

Example of disabling the new assignment behavior for Travel mode clients

 * An administrator at site ABC reconfigures the Travel Mode Clients Filter to a REG_DWORD data value of 0.
 * Discovery Data Manager notes that the Travel Mode Clients Filter is set to 0.
 * All SMS clients still report the Travel Mode property with the clients' regular heartbeat or logon discovery record, but because of the configuration change, Discovery Data Manager no longer uses the new logic to evaluate the records. Discovery Data Manager evaluates site assignment based strictly on the original site assignment rules. If the client does not report as being within a managed subnet boundary, the client is evaluated as not assigned.
 * If a client is in a managed subnet boundary other than the client's home site (that is, the site in which the client was originally installed), the client is assigned to the site in which the client currently resides.

Additional query words: prodsms roam visit move DDM

Keywords: kbqfe kbhotfixserver kbadvertisement kbbug kbdiscovery kbfix kbinventory kbsms200presp3fix kbsms200presp4fix KB281107

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