SMS: Site Component Manager Reinstalls Component Servers (278745)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Systems Management Server 2.0
  • Microsoft Systems Management Server 2.0 SP1
  • Microsoft Systems Management Server 2.0 SP2
  • Microsoft Systems Management Server 2.0 SP3
This article was previously published under Q278745

SYMPTOMS

If a remote Systems Management Server (SMS) component server is offline or otherwise unreachable over the network when the SMS Site Component Manager service attempts to contact it, Site Component Manager flags the SMS components to be reinstalled. When the remote server comes back online, Site Component Manager reinstalls the SMS components on that computer.

This reinstallation process involves re-creating the service account for the SMS Executive service on the remote server. Therefore, a new user profile for the SMSSvc_[site_code]_xxxx account is created. Typically, this should not be a problem. However, if the network link to the remote server is prone to congestion or down time, the SMS components may be reinstalled frequently. As the user profiles accumulate, a large amount of disk space may be consumed on the system drive partition on the remote server.

CAUSE

If a system has been offline, it is reinstalled to ensure that all of the SMS components are installed and functional.

RESOLUTION

To resolve this problem, obtain the latest service pack for Systems Management Server version 2.0. For additional 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


WORKAROUND

For an SMS component server that is a member server in a domain, the service account that is used by the SMS Executive service is a local machine account, not a domain account. For SMS component servers that are domain controllers, the service account is created in the domain. If there are multiple domain controllers performing SMS component server roles, there is more than one SMSSvc_[sitecode]_xxxx account in the domain. Do not delete the accounts manually because SMS does this automatically. The problem is only that the user profile is not deleted. Therefore, in both situations, you can confirm which account is in use by examining the startup properties of the SMS Executive service on a server and delete only the user profiles for the accounts that are not being used on that server.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article. This problem was first corrected in Systems Management Server 2.0 Service Pack 4.

MORE INFORMATION

Currently, only remote site systems that are managed directly by Site Component Manager are affected by this problem. These include:
  • SMS SQL Server
  • SMS Client Access Point (CAP)
These site systems are not managed directly by Site Component Manager and are not affected by this problem:
  • SMS Distribution Point
  • Software Metering Server
  • Software Metering Database Server
Note that attempting to install a CAP to a clustered server can cause a similar problem. CAP reinstallations are not uncommon; attempts to reinstall a CAP to a clustered server by Site Component Manager do not work because Site Component Manager cannot find a non-clustered drive. For additional information, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

Microsoft Windows 2000 Server Clustering Interoperability with SMS

Modification Type:MajorLast Reviewed:4/7/2006
Keywords:kbQFE KBHotfixServer kbBug kbfix kbSiteComp kbsms200preSP4fix KB278745
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