Config Manager

There is a hotfix available for an issue where in ConfigMgr the status summarizer stops working and a backlog SVF files begin to pile up in the OfferSum inbox.  This was first reported publicly on December 3rd on the myITforum.com SMS mailing list by Lane K.  Shortly after it was reported Brian Huneycutt, an Escalation Engineer at Microsoft, launched an investigation into this issue. After it was confirmed a KB was created and sent through the release process. 

Update: (Dec 9 9:00 GMT) hotfix now publicly available for download here.

Currently (Dec. 8th 1200 GMT) the KB is available by contact PSS, your TAM, or standard Microsoft Support (1-800-936-4900) and referencing KB 945898.  It is also available on the premier.microsoft.com site if you have a Premier Support contract.  Rick Jones at AT&T Wireless (formerly Cingular Wireless) reported that when he contacted Microsoft Support that he was told no such KB existed, if this happens to you just ask to speak to an engineer and they will be able to get the hotfix mailed to you.

Additional details on the fix:

• Fix has to be applied to all ConfigMgr Site Servers.
• No reboot or site reset is required but the SMS Exec service will be stopped during the install.
• After applying the hotfix you may notice numerous entries of “Invalid time for offer ‘AdvertisementName’ with message MessageID from client ClientName.”  This is reported by Microsoft to be a side effect of the time difference between the selected Display Interval and the back logged SVF files that are now being processed, and can ignored because it is clearly out of sync because of the back log. 
• The hotfix is applied to the offersum.dll file and if you want to make a backup of this file prior to updating it make sure you copy it to a different directory and do not just rename it and leave it in the original directory because the patch will fail.
  • Not sure why anyone would do this, you couldn’t patch a file that doesn’t exist but I am guessing someone did this and then reported it to Microsoft.
• This hotfix can be uninstalled.

The back log of files should start processing almost immediately after you apply the fix and can be monitored in the OfferSum.log (see note above).

This issue could have other side effects that may not make it immediately apparent as to what is causing the issue you are seeing.

I would very strongly advise against EVER modify the site control file for ANY reason.  I have seen at least one email where the admin deleted lines from the site control file to resolve this issue.  If this file becomes corrupt or is modified in certain ways it could cause far more serious issues than a backlog of files in your Inbox.  As Microsoft puts it “because it is possible to irreparably damage your SMS site.”  If you need to make changes to the site control file do it programmatically through the exposed WMI classes and the SMS Provider.

Regards,
Anthony

Anthony Clendenen | Solutions Engineer | 1E

http://configmgr.com

© 2007 Anthony Clendenen