Q140374: SMS: System Management Server Jobs Continue to Retry & Not Fail

Article: Q140374
Product(s): Microsoft Systems Management Server
Version(s): winnt:1.1,1.2
Operating System(s): 
Keyword(s): kbnetwork kbDespooler smsdespooler
Last Modified: 31-JUL-2001

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The information in this article applies to:

- Microsoft Systems Management Server versions 1.1, 1.2 
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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 Systems Management Server 1.2 CD
  (Support\Debug\X86) folder to C:\Sms\Site.srv\X86.bin.

2. From the C:\Sms\Site.src\X786.bin folder run the following commands:

  Retries in an .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 output should start as below:

  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 Systems Management Server
versions 1.1 and 1.2. This problem has been corrected in the latest U.S. service
pack for Systems Management Server version 1.2. For information on obtaining the
service pack, query on the following word in the Microsoft Knowledge Base
(without the spaces):

  S E R V P A C K

Additional query words: prodsms

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Keywords          : kbnetwork kbDespooler smsdespooler 
Technology        : kbSMSSearch kbSMS110 kbSMS120
Version           : winnt:1.1,1.2
Solution Type     : kbfix

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