SMS: Unable to Delete Site System from Administrator UI (235138)

SYMPTOMS

When you attempt to delete a Site System with the Systems Management Server (SMS) Administrator UI under

Systems Management Server
   Site Database (site code - site name)
      Site Hierarchy
         site code - site name
            Site Settings 
               Site Systems

the server disappears, and then reappears when upon refresh.

This problem occurs for systems which once served as a Client Access Point (CAP) site system role.

SMS 2.0 (without a service pack) will raise status message errors every hour if the server can not be uninstalled successfully.

CAUSE

The Site System carries the Component Server role and the Administrator UI is designed to not remove any site systems which are still serving an active site system role.

After all Administrator-definable roles are removed from the Site System properties of the system to be removed, Site Component Manager (an SMS core service) is instructed to "de-install" and remove the x:\SMS directory structure, SMS Executive service, and registry entries from the server in question. After the deinstallation of the server is complete, the Site Component Server disappears, or 7 days after a retry attempt has failed, at which point the Site Component Manager assumes the server is permanently offline, the role of Component Server is removed.

The Component Server role is not definable by the Administrator and cannot be modified manually.

WORKAROUND

Wait for Site Component Manager to remove Component Server role after successful deinstallation of the Client Access Point or wait for the 7-day retry interval to pass, and then delete the server within the SMS Administrator UI.

If the server in question is no longer available and SMS is in use without a service pack, upgrade to the latest Service Pack.