MOM 2000 HTTP Ping Script Stops Responding (318953)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Operations Manager 2000
This article was previously published under Q318953

SYMPTOMS

You can use the "HTTP Ping" Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) 2000 script to verify the availability of a Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS) server. When you turn on the rule that runs the HTTP Ping script, the script may stop responding (hang), and MOM may generate a 21263 event. The HTTP Ping script eventually times out, but this may take more than 50 minutes to occur, and may create a 2002 Internal MOM event.

CAUSE

This problem may occur if the IIS server does not respond to HTTP requests. Calls to certain Internet APIs may stop responding (hang) if the IIS server does not respond to HTTP requests. This situation can occur because no timeout parameter for the HTTP Ping script exists.

RESOLUTION

To resolve this problem, obtain the latest service pack for Microsoft Operations Manager 2000. For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

814529 How to Obtain the Latest Microsoft Operations Manager 2000 Service Pack

Hotfix Information

A supported hotfix is now available from Microsoft, but it is only intended to correct the problem that is described in this article. Only apply it to systems that are experiencing this specific problem. This hotfix may receive additional testing. Therefore, if you are not severely affected by this problem, we recommend that you wait for the next Microsoft Operations Manager 2000 service pack that contains this hotfix.

To resolve this problem immediately, contact Microsoft Product Support Services to obtain the hotfix. For a complete list of Microsoft Product Support Services telephone numbers and information about support costs, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

http://support.microsoft.com/contactus/?ws=support

Note In special cases, charges that are ordinarily incurred for support calls may be canceled if a Microsoft Support Professional determines that a specific update will resolve your problem. The usual support costs will apply to additional support questions and issues that do not qualify for the specific update in question.

The English version of this hotfix has the file attributes (or later) that are listed in the following table. The dates and times for these files are listed in coordinated universal time (UTC). When you view the file information, it is converted to local time. To find the difference between UTC and local time, use the Time Zone tab in the Date and Time tool in Control Panel. 
   Date       Time   Version    Size     File name
   --------------------------------------------------
   03-Mar-02  11:28  4.00.0067  289,296  Opscutil.dll

Install the Hotfix

This hotfix must be applied to each computer that meets the following criteria:
  • Host is a MOM Central Computer (DCAM or DDCAM).
  • Hosts a manually-installed MOM agent.
To apply this hotfix:
  1. Copy the hotfix program (Q318953.exe) to a local shared folder on your computer or to a shared drive on your network.
  2. Run the Q318953.exe program on each applicable computer that meets the predefined criteria. Follow the instructions that are provided by the hotfix installer.
When you install this fix on a MOM Central Computer (DCAM or DDCAM), the installation engine invokes an agent update to all currently managed servers. This process involves the following steps:
  • At the next scheduled Managed Computer scan, the list of agent computers that must be updated appears in the Pending Installation folder in the Configuration snap-in. If necessary, you can start the Managed Computer scan immediately.
  • On the MOM Central Computer (DCAM or DDCAM), the deployment of the updated agents must be approved.
  • The deployment of the updated agent takes place for each managed node only after it has been approved in the Pending Installation folder.

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 Microsoft Operations Manager 2000 Service Pack 1.

MORE INFORMATION

This hotfix adds a parameter to the OpScrUtil.INet.GetHTTPFile function that the HTTP Ping script calls. The new parameter specifies the timeout duration in milliseconds. By default, a timeout of 30,000 milliseconds (30 seconds) is used. To modify this default value:
  1. In the MOM administrator console, go to Rules, Advanced, Scripts.
  2. Right-click the HTTP Ping script in the right pane, and then click Properties.
  3. Click the Parameters tab, and then click Add.
  4. Type a descriptive name (for example, "Timeout") and a value in milliseconds. For the description, type "Number of milliseconds to wait for a reply from the HTTP server".
  5. Click the Script tab, locate the following line 
    Dim lngCurrentAttempt, vData, vBytesRead
    and then modify this line to read:
    Dim lngTimeout, lngCurrentAttempt, vData, vBytesRead
  6. Locate the following line 
    bLogSuccessEvent   = CBool(oParams.get("LogSuccessEvent"))
    and just below this line, insert the following line 
    lngTimeout         = CLng(oParams.get("Timeout"))
    where "Timeout" is whatever name you typed in step 4.

    The resulting code looks like this:
    bLogSuccessEvent   = CBool(oParams.get("LogSuccessEvent"))
lngTimeout         = CLng(oParams.get("Timeout"))
  7. Locate the following line 
    If oINet.GetHTTPFile(strURL, vData, vBytesRead) Then
    and modify the line to read:
    If oINet.GetHTTPFile(strURL, vData, vBytesRead,,lngTimeout) Then
After you make these changes, you must go into the rules that use the HTTP Ping script (now modified), and remove and re-add the response. Go to Rules, Processing Rule Groups, Microsoft Internet Information Server,IIS 5.0 (or IIS 4.0), IIS Shared Rules, IIS Shared Availability Scripts, Event Processing Rules. Select the appropriate event, and under Properties/Responses for that event, remove the HTTP Ping script and then re-add it. When you do this, you must type a value (in milliseconds) for the timeout. Note that if you do not type a timeout value at this point, you will have no default timeout because you have modified the script in such a way that it will expect to be passed a timeout parameter. If the script does not get one, the default will be zero, and note that no timeout was the behavior prior to this hotfix.

You should use caution in specifying low timeout values (less than 10,000 milliseconds or 10 seconds) when pinging an HTTP server because the script can timeout before the server has had a chance to respond (because of server load and network congestion).

NOTE: By making these changes, you have effectively created a customized version of the HTTP Ping script. Should Microsoft alter this script in a future hotfix, service pack or product release, your changes may be overwritten. In such a case, you must make these changes to the new Microsoft-modified script after it has been applied. You can always create a new script (with another name) that contains a copy of the original HTTP Ping script to avoid any possible overwrites by future MOM fixes.
Modification Type:MajorLast Reviewed:4/7/2006
Keywords:kbQFE KBHotfixServer kbOpMan2000SP1Fix kbbug kbenv KB318953
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