MacOS: ndtask fails to launch. Devices are not checking in

[LeeBraithwaite]

Hi

I am having issues with a large number of devices not checking into Flexera on MacOS . When i check the launchd.log, I see an error :

2023-06-22 16:55:46.686941 (gui/502 [100020]) <Error>: Failed to bootstrap path: path = /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.backgroundtaskmanagement.agent.plist, error = 37: Operation already in progress
2023-06-22 17:05:29.739779 (system) <Notice>: Bootstrap by launchctl[3585] for /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.flexerasoftware.ndtask.plist failed (37: Operation already in progress

I cannot see ndtask running in Activity Monitor either. 

Any help on resolving this would be greatly appreciated. 

For some Background: We are upgrading Flexera for MacOS from version 17 to 19 via Kandji. The Flexnet agent + mgsft_rollout_response gets unzipped in /var/tmp and the install command is run from there.

[durgeshsingh]

Can you check in logs , what does it say?

[LeeBraithwaite]

Hi Durgesh
The logs are below. They say that the user agent is not configured to run on this machine?!?

[Mon Jun 19 15:36:32 2023 (G, 0)] {468} Usage agent started
[Mon Jun 19 15:36:32 2023 (G, 0)] {468} Entering low priority mode due to LowProfile preference
[Mon Jun 19 15:36:32 2023 (G, 0)] {468} Usage agent is configured not to run on this machine
[Mon Jun 19 15:37:46 2023 (G, 0)] {468} Usage agent finished
[Thu Jun 22 16:55:06 2023 (G, 0)] {473} Usage agent started
[Thu Jun 22 16:55:06 2023 (G, 0)] {473} Entering low priority mode due to LowProfile preference
[Thu Jun 22 16:55:06 2023 (G, 0)] {473} Usage agent is configured not to run on this machine
[Thu Jun 22 17:54:08 2023 (G, 0)] {473} Usage agent finished
[Fri Jun 23 09:57:47 2023 (G, 0)] {499} Usage agent started
[Fri Jun 23 09:57:47 2023 (G, 0)] {499} Entering low priority mode due to LowProfile preference
[Fri Jun 23 09:57:47 2023 (G, 0)] {499} Usage agent is configured not to run on this machine

The rest are attached

[ChrisG]

The tracker.log file shows attempts to upload inventory data are failing with HTTP 404 NOT FOUND errors:

[Thu 22 Jun 17:25:15 2023 (G, 0)] {5468} Uploading file 'lee.braithwaite@datacom.co.nz on fvffkra3q6l4 at 20230622T172510 (Full).ndi.gz' to 'https://flexera-akl.datacomunity.com/ManageSoftRL/Inventories/'
[Thu 22 Jun 17:25:15 2023 (N, 0)] {5468} Error 0xE0500194: 404 Not Found

 The installation.log shows download attempts are failing with similar errors:

[Fri Jun  9 10:53:04 2023 (N, 0)] {14234} Downloading “https://flexera-akl.datacomunity.com/ManageSoftDL/Policies/Merged/datacomunity.com_domain/Machine/FVFFKRA3Q6L4.npl?machinename=FVFFKRA3Q6L4&ipaddress=192.168.1.77” to “/var/tmp/NDL710535229.npl”
[Fri Jun  9 10:53:04 2023 (G, 0)] {14234}   Download failure: Error 0xE0500194: 404 Not Found

To troubleshoot, you can try using a web browser on the problematic machines to navtigate to a URL like the following to ensure it returns some content: https://flexera-akl.datacomunity.com/ManageSoftDL/Policies/Merged/datacomunity.com_domain/Machine/FVFFKRA3Q6L4.npl

 A 404 NOT FOUND error would suggest that the beacon software on flexera-akl.datacomunity.com is not running or configured, or something is intercepting the HTTP requests to cause a 404 response to be returned.

[durgeshsingh]

I am agree with chris G response.

[mfeinman]

[Mon Jun 19 15:36:32 2023 (G, 0)] {468} Usage agent is configured not to run on this machine

To add to other posters, this simply means that usage tracking is currently turned off and there's nothing for the usage agent to do, so it tells you that "it isn't configured to run on this machine".

--Mark

[LeeBraithwaite]

Chris G was on the money with the flexera-akl.datacomunity.com server being down. However in the working client; the logs show that it prioritised the 4 available servers, then it fell back to another one when the flexera-akl server was down. But not in this case? 

I will know tomorrow if check in rates improve.  

[ChrisG]

For the agent installation on this particular computer (FVFFKRA3Q6L4), the logs suggest that the agent is currently configured so that it only knows about the flexera-akl beacon. Hence that is the only beacon is it attempting to contact.

Details of other beacons that are available in the environment will normally be downloaded and configured when the agent does its policy update. However if the agent has never [yet] been successful at connecting to the initial beacon that details were provided for when the agent was bootstrapped then it will not yet have downloaded details of any other beacons - so it will just continue to attempt to connect to the initial beacon over and over until/unless it is successful at some point.