ConfigMgr 2012 / SCCM 2012 SP1 Step by Step Guide Part 33: Troubleshooting

Back to ConfigMgr 2012 menu

ConfigMgr 2012 is a very complicated product and there are many pitfalls and gotchas along the way. Being able to troubleshoot issues is a very important aspect of ConfigMgr Administration.

Log files

Extensive logging is available on both servers and clients. This should be the starting point for all troubleshooting.
Technical Reference for Log Files in Configuration Manager provides full details of the log files available.

I have extracted the most commonly used log files from the TechNet document.

Client Operations (C:\Windows\CCM\Logs on client)

·       AppIntentEval.log - Records details about the current and intended state of applications, their applicability, whether requirements were met, deployment types, and dependencies.

·         AppDiscovery.log - Records details about the discovery or detection of applications on client computers.

·         AppEnforce.log - Records details about enforcement actions (install and uninstall) taken for applications on the client.

·         CAS.log - Content Access service. Maintains the local package cache on the client.

·         CcmExec.log - Records activities of the client and the SMS Agent Host service. This log file also includes information about enabling and disabling wake-up proxy.

·         CcmMessaging.log - Records activities related to communications between the client and management points.

·         CcmRestart.log - Records client service restart activity.

·         CertificateMaintenance.log - Maintains certificates for Active Directory Domain Services and management points.

·         CIDownloader.log - Records details about configuration item definition downloads.

·         ClientIDManagerStartup.log - Creates and maintains the client GUID and identifies tasks performed during client registration and assignment.

·         ClientLocation.log - Records tasks that are related to client site assignment.

·         CmRcService.log - Records information for the remote control service.

·         ContentTransferManager.log - Schedules the Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS) or the Server Message Block   (SMB) to download or to access packages.

·         DataTransferService.log - Records all BITS communication for policy or package access.

·         EndpointProtectionAgent - Records information about the installation of the Endpoint Protection client and the application of antimalware policy to that client.

·         execmgr.log - Records details about packages and task sequences that run on the client.

·         InventoryAgent.log - Records activities of hardware inventory, software inventory, and heartbeat discovery actions on the client.

·         LocationServices.log - Records the client activity for locating management points, software update points, and distribution points.

·         mtrmgr.log - Monitors all software metering processes.

Client Installation (C:\Windows\CCM\Logs on client)

·       ccmsetup.log - Records ccmsetup tasks for client setup, client upgrade, and client removal. Can be used to troubleshoot client installation problems.

·         ccmsetup-ccmeval.log - Records ccmsetup tasks for client status and remediation.

·         CcmRepair.log - Records the repair activities of the client agent.

·         client.msi.log - Records setup tasks performed by client.msi. Can be used to troubleshoot client installation or removal problems.

Site Server Log Files (C:\Program Files\Microsoft Configuration Manager\Logs on server)

·       adsysdis.log - Records Active Directory System Discovery actions.

·         adusrdis.log - Records Active Directory User Discovery actions.

·         ccm.log - Records client push installation activities.

·         CertMgr.log - Records the certificate activities for intra-site communications.

·         colleval.log - Records details about when collections are created, changed, and deleted by the Collection Evaluator.

·         compmon.log - Records the status of component threads monitored for the site server.

·         ddm.log - Records activities of the discovery data manager.

·         EPCtrlMgr.log - Records information about the synchronization of malware threat information from the Endpoint Protection site system role server into the Configuration Manager database.

·         EPMgr.log - Records the status of the Endpoint Protection site system role.

·         hman.log - Records information about site configuration changes, and the publishing of site information in Active Directory Domain Services.

·         migmctrl.log - Records information for Migration actions involving migration jobs, shared distribution points, and distribution point upgrades.

·         mpcontrol.log - Records the registration of the management point with WINS. Records the availability of the management point every 10 minutes.

·         PkgXferMgr.log - Records the actions of the SMS Executive component that is responsible for sending content from a primary site to a remote distribution point.

·         ruleengine.log - Records details about automatic deployment rules for the identification, content download, and software update group and deployment creation.

·         sitecomp.log - Records details about the maintenance of the installed site components on all site system servers in the site.

·         smsexec.log - Records the processing of all site server component threads.

·         SMSProv.log - Records WMI provider access to the site database.

Additional Troubleshooting Tools

ConfigMgr 2012 Toolkit - download here here

Contains the following

·       Client Spy - A tool that helps you troubleshoot issues related to software distribution, inventory, and software metering on System Center 2012 Configuration Manager Service Pack 1 clients.

·      Policy Spy - A policy viewer that helps you review and troubleshoot the policy system on System Center 2012 Configuration Manager Service Pack 1 clients.

·      Security Configuration Wizard Template for Microsoft System Center 2012 Configuration Manager Service Pack 1 - The Security Configuration Wizard (SCW) is an attack-surface reduction tool for the Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 operating system. Security Configuration Wizard determines the minimum functionality required for a server's role or roles, and disables functionality that is not required.

·      Send Schedule Tool - A tool used to trigger a schedule on a client or trigger the evaluation of a specified DCM Baseline. You can trigger a schedule either locally or remotely.

·      Power Viewer Tool – A tool to view the status of power management feature on System Center 2012 Configuration Manager Service Pack 1 clients.

·      Deployment Monitoring Tool - The Deployment Monitoring Tool is a graphical user interface designed help troubleshoot Applications, Updates, and Baseline deployments on System Center 2012 Configuration Manager Service Pack 1 clients. This tool requires System Center 2012 Configuration Manager Service Pack 1 or later.

·      Run Metering Summarization Tool - The purpose of this tool is to run the metering summarization task to analyze raw metering data.

·      Role-based Administration Modeling and Auditing Tool – This tool helps administrators to model and audit RBA configurations.

·      Wakeup Spy – This tool shows network traffic and basic information about ConfigMgr wake up client state. This tool requires System Center 2012 Configuration Manager Service Pack 1 or later.

·       Content Library Transfer – This tool moves the content library from one drive to another drive.

·      Content Ownership Transfer – This tool re-assigns orphaned packages to an active ConfigMgr site.

ConfigMgr Client Center - download it here

The Client Center for Configuration Manager provides a quick and easy overview of client settings, including running services and Agent settings in a good easy to use, user interface.


TechNet

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb693982.aspx

Troubleshooting Configuration Manager Client issues


System Center Blogs

http://blogs.technet.com/b/configurationmgr/archive/2009/08/10/troubleshooting-issues-where-clients-are-not-reporting.aspx


ConfigMgr 2012 TechNet Forum

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/home?category=systemcenter2012configurationmanager