How to fix orphaned agents

Last Modified

Tue Sep 12 20:03 GMT 2017

Description

  • Changed agent's endpoint address to an IP or URL which isn't N-able N-central server address 
  • Agents are no longer communicating with N-able N-central  
  • Fresh install of the agent has incorrect endpoint address that is N-able N-central

Environment

  • N-able N-central

Solution

  • There are two methods to resolve this issue; manual and automated
  •  Manual Method:
  1. Log into another machine on the LAN with which you can pull up the Administrative share of the affected device (\\machineNameOrIpAddress\C$)
  2. Open Windows Explorer (Win Key + E) and navigate to target device’s Admin Share
  3. Navigate to Program Files (x86)\N-able Technologies\Windows Agent\config\
  4. Find the ServerConfig.xml file and single click on it to highlight it
  5. In Windows Explorer, click the Home option in the upper-left-hand corner
  6. Select the Copy Path  button
  7. Open Powershell
  8. Enter the following commands (replacing the <remoteComputerNameOrIp> with the IP address or NetBIOS name of the target device):
get-service -ComputerName <remoteComputerNameOrIp> -Name "Windows Agent Service" | Stop-Service
get-service -ComputerName <remoteComputerNameOrIp> -Name "Windows Agent Maintenance Service" | Stop-Service
  1. Open an administrative instance of Notepad(Right-Click > Run as Administrator > Accept the UAC prompt)
  2. Choose to Open a new file (File> Open)
  3. In the File Name: section of the Open dialogue box, paste the path you’d copied in step 6, click Open
  4. Within the new file, change the <ServerIP> tag to the appropriate IP address or URL of your N-able N-central server
  5. Save the file
  6. Enter the following commands into Powershell to start the Windows Agent services (again, replacing the <remoteComputerNameOrIp> with the IP address or NetBIOS name of the target device):
get-service -ComputerName <remoteComputerNameOrIp> -Name "Windows Agent Service" | Start-Service
get-service -ComputerName <remoteComputerNameOrIp> -Name "Windows Agent Maintenance Service" | Start-Service
The agent should now be checking in to N-able N-central  
  • Automated Method:
  1. Log into your N-able N-central server and navigate to the Appliance Defaults section (Administration > Defaults > ApplianceDefaults)
  2. Ensure the Endpoint Address is proper
  3. If the Endpoint Address needs updating, do so and check the Propagate box to the right to ensure that the setting will be pushed to existing devices (failure to do so will update the setting for devices from this point onward)
  4. Save changes
  5. If your probe is communicating with N-able N-central , skip to step 11. If your probe is not communicating with N-able N-central , stop the Windows Software Probe service and Windows Software Probe Maintenance service through the Windows Services console
  6. Open an administrative instance of Notepad(Right-Click > Run as Administrator > Accept the UAC prompt)
  7. Choose to Open a new file (File> Open)
  8. In the File Name section of the Open dialogue box, paste the path copied in step 6, click Open
  9. Within the new file, change the <ServerIP> tag to the appropriate IP address or URL of your N-able N-central server
  10. Save the file
  11. Referring to the Support-supplied batch file, replace the two instances of localhost with your N-able N-central server’s FQDN or IP address.
  12. Run the script through N-able N-central against the filter Windows Agent with the Task Handler being a probe