Troubleshooting ALBD startup failures on Windows

 Technote (FAQ)

Question

Is there a collection of knowledge which attempts to address some possible causes and solutions related to starting the IBM® Rational® ClearCase® ALBD server service on Microsoft® Windows®?

Answer

The troubleshooting steps below for each error are the culmination of different approaches that have been taken to solve the particular problem. The error is generic but the solutions are specific to the environment from which the problem occurs, therefore the steps below span multiple environments.

The steps are NOT numbered by priority or order because any solution or combination of solutions for the given error may need to be applied to solve your issue depending on your Windows configuration.

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When the ALBD service fails to start, or terminates immediately after startup it may become necessary to assist support in troubleshooting your issue. If the albd appears to start successfully on bootup (meaning that you are not getting the "one or more services did not start successfully" message) but is stopped by the time you log in, check the application event log for clearcase errors. In most cases of this nature, you can follow the steps in the "Error 1067" section below.

In order to determine the cause of the failure, the first place to look is the System Event Viewer log. In many cases, the Service Control Manager will report an error starting the ALBD. The possible error messages are:

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Error 1069

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C:\>net helpmsg 1069

The service did not start due to a logon failure.
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When this error occurs, one or more of the following issues is blocking the ALBD from starting.

1. ALBD account password changed.
   
2. ALBD account name is incorrect. This is most likely to occur in the middle of a domain migration, once the old domain is decommissioned.
   
3. ALBD account locked. (This may occur as a result of #1 above or through too many failed attempts to login using the incorrect password.)
   
4. ALBD account does not have one of the following rights on the host:
   • Log on Locally
   • Log on as a Service
     Refer to the Windows help under the topic of "User rights assignment" for further information.
     
     Note: In an Microsoft Active Directory® domain, a group policy may override the local policy setting. If to, the "Local Security Policy" control panel will show different results for "local" and "effective" policies after restarting the computer.
     

When trying to start the clearcase_albd service, the following error is displayed:

Could not start the Atria Location Broker service on \\MACHINE
Error 1069: The service did not start due to a logon failure.

The Atria Location Broker service cannot logon with the stored user name (SID) and password.

There can be a number of reasons for this: The most common are:

These resolutions correspond to the items above:

• Contact your IT department to see if there were any changes to the clearcase_albd account or its password. If the password or the account itself has been changed, create a new site prep (netinst) area and have all users run the Setup program again to pickup the new password.
  
  To check if there is a bad password, go to the Windows Services applet, click on Atria Location Broker, click on the Logon tab and re-enter the password. Attempt to start the albd service again.
  
• Contact your IT department to insure that the clearcase_albd account password is set to never expire.
  
• Have your IT department reset the clearcase_albd account.
  
• The status of the "logon as a service" right can be determined by checking the rights assignments:
  
  The domain qualified albd account (DOMAIN\clearcase_albd) should be displayed in the list of users who have the Log on as a service rights.
  
• Both the Local Policy Setting and Effective Policy Settings boxes should be checked. If the Effective Policy Setting box is not checked for the clearcase_albd account, then the account rights assignment was not set correctly on the Domain Controller.
  
  If you ensure that has the correct account name and password but the service still has logon problems then you need to seek the assistance of the Windows Domain Administrator to resolve the logon issue.
  
• Create the directory \var\rgy
  

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Error 1067

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C:\>net helpmsg 1067

The process terminated unexpectedly.
***********************************************************************************

Check the application event log for errors from the ALBD. If there is a recent error from the ALBD reading Error: albd_server must run in the ClearCase group, one of the following issues has caused the ALBD server to refuse to start:

1. ALBD is being started while disconnected from the network. This is not a supported configuration as ClearCase is a network-based SCM application.
   
2. ALBD is starting before the network has fully initialized. In this event, the albd_server process cannot access a Windows domain controller to authenticate itself on the network. When this occurs, the albd_server process will log the above error and exit. In some cases it may "hang" instead of properly exiting. If this problem happens often enough try the following workaround to alleviate the symptoms:
   • Add the "Browser" and "Netlogon" services to the list of dependencies for the ALBD service.
     
     WARNING: If you use the Microsoft Windows Registry Editor incorrectly, you may cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. IBM Rational Software cannot guarantee that you can solve problems that result from using the Microsoft Windows Registry Editor incorrectly. Use the Microsoft Windows Registry Editor at your own risk.
     1. Open the registry with regedit
     2. Go to the key -
        HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Albd
     3. Double click on "DependOnService" The current hex value is:
        52 00 70 00 63 00 53 00 73 00 00 00 54 00 63 00 70 00 49 00 70 00 00 00 00 00
        (RpcSs TcpIp)
     4. Edit it to a new hex value of:
        52 00 70 00 63 00 53 00 73 00 00 00 54 00 63 00 70 00 49 00 70 00 00 00 62 00 72 00 6F 00 77 00 73 00 65 00 72 00 00 00 6E 00 65 00 74 00 6C 00 6F 00 67 00 6F 00 6E 00 00 00 00 00
        (RpcSs TcpIp browser netlogon)
        
3. The ALBD account is not a member of the ClearCase Server Process Group. Obtain the name of the ClearCase Administrator's Group that is reported in the General Information section of the ClearCase Doctor (Start > Run type ccdoctor).
   
   Example:
   
   
   Note: If you run the ALBD service as a non-privileged user, you are set up in non-supported configuration as ClearCase servers will be prevented from correctly executing administrative tasks.
   
4. The ALBD user account must have a valid password set and the ALBD user account password should be set to never expire
   
5. The Atria Location Broker Service startup is set to:
   
   Startup Type = Automatic
   Log On As = This account:
   
   Note: If you are in a Domain, the must be domain qualified
   
   Example: DOMAIN\username
   
6. If machine is in a Domain, there cannot be a group called clearcase in the user manager for the Domain and in the user manager on the local machine. The local clearcase group must be removed.
   
7. The Domain name cannot be clearcase. This will cause problems starting the ALBD service.
   
8. The ALBD user must have read/execute permissions to the RATIONAL-HOME directory
   
9. Confirm that the ClearCase bin directory is at the beginning of the System path.
   
10. Confirm that the DOMAIN\clearcase_albd has permissions on the Local Machine (Local User Manager).
    
11. WINDOWS, WINNT or WINNT35 and subdirectories have to allow the ALBD user to have at least read/execute permissions.
    
12. Give the albd user full control of the root drive c: (or where ClearCase is installed). Do not replace on subdirectories, because this will replace your entire c: drive, just the root.
    
13. The password for the albd may be corrupted. Go into the Control Panel > Services and double click on the albd service. Then re-enter the password on client machine. This will recreate the password if it is corrupt.
    
14. If all of the above fails, normally the clearcase_albd user does not need local admin rights, but if everything else has been checked, try adding the domain qualified clearcase_albd user to the local administrator's group.
    
15. Check if the system's hard drive is low on disk space or if the virtual memory is empty.
    
16. If the ClearCase registry was being tampered with (for example if you make a backup registry server the primary register server not using rgy_switchover, but by copying the info from the var/backup directory into the var directory and reboot) you will get error 1067. Resolution is to undo all that was previously done and revert back to the original registry server. Delete the info in var directory and making the system a backup registry server again.
    
17. Left over information in the "var" directory from the older install may be causing confusion with the newer version of ClearCase.

Follow these steps:
1. Stop ClearCase completely through Start > Setting > Control Panel > ClearCase > Services Startup tab or stop ClearCase from the command line (review ).
2. CD to "C:\Program Files\Rational\ClearCase" or your installation directory.
3. Copy the "var" directory and put it on your desktop.
4. Go back to the "C:\Program Files\Rational\ClearCase\var" directory and remove all possible directories that you can.
5. Reinstall ClearCase to the original installation directory
6. Restart Windows
7. Login as the same user that did the install (This is critical)
8. Once logged back in CD into the "saved" var directory, then into the "rgy" directory and copy (into the Windows clipboard) all the information in this directory.
9. CD to the "C:\Program Files\Rational\ClearCase\var\rgy" and paste the copied information from the "saved" ...\var\rgy directory clicking yes to replace all.
10. Verify that all the ClearCase services are running from the Services Startup tab in the ClearCase control panel (as these services should have started automatically).
    

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Error 1068

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C:\>net helpmsg 1068

The dependency service or group failed to start.
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In a default configuration, this means that one of the two services the ALBD service depends on (RPC and TCP/IP) has failed to start or was disabled. To determine which issue is the case, open the Services Control Panel (Start > Run type services.msc) and locate those services and determine their status.

If the ALBD has been configured to depend on other services, the services in question will be listed in the Dependencies tab of the ALBD service properties.

Check the following:

1. Is the machine to which you are starting the albd still a member of the domain in which the albd resides? If unsure, reinstall ClearCase.
   
2. Check the DNS database to see if there are any duplicate entries of the machine in question.
   
3. Check to make sure the clearcase_albd user is a member of the 'clearcase' group.

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Error 1053

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C:\>net helpmsg 1053
The service did not respond to the start or control request in a timely fashion.
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When ClearCase attempts to start, a pop-up error of 1053 is displayed.

The albd service appears not to be able to start whereas the lock manager and the MVFS may start with no problems. The message indicates that the albd attempted to start but did not complete.

Review the steps under above for possible workarounds.

Note: A known workaround to resolve this issue is to give the clearcase_albd account local admin rights on the host.

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Error 1058

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C:\>net helpmsg 1058
The service cannot be started, either because it is disabled or because it has no enabled devices associated with it.
***********************************************************************************

When ClearCase attempts to start, a pop-up error of 1058 is displayed.

The albd service appears not to be able to start whereas the lock manager and the MVFS may start with no problems.

The problem occurs even before the albd is able to login, so the usual 1067 or 1069 errors don't show up.

Review the steps under above for possible workarounds.

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Error 1057

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C:\>net helpmsg 1057
The account name is invalid or does not exist, or the password is invalid for the account name specified.
***********************************************************************************

Windows Services that are configured to run as a particular user must use a valid Windows user account name and password. If the account does not exist, an invalid password is entered or the account has somehow become corrupted, the service will not start.

Configure the Atria Location Broker Service properly.

1. The ALBD user must be a member of the group clearcase
   
2. The account for the ALBD user must have a password set
   
3. The ALBD account password should be set to never expire
   
4. The albd service startup is set to:
   
   Startup Type = Automatic
   Log On As = This account:
   
   Note: If you are in a Domain, the must be domain qualified and must be a member of the Domain's global clearcase group.
   

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Error 1070

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C:\>net helpmsg 1070

After starting, the service hung in a start-pending state.
***********************************************************************************

While this is possible, it has not yet been observed at a customer site. The most likely cause of this issue is that the ALBD service "froze" while attempting to determine if it is running as a ClearCase-privileged account.

Review the steps under above for possible workarounds. The likely cause is either issue #1 or #2.

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Error 109

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C:\>net helpmsg 109
The pipe has been ended.
***********************************************************************************

In some cases the creation of a local albd account and clearcase group was the cause of this error. Prior to this error a domain albd account and group was being used. Once the albd account was configured to use a domain account again, the error went away.

Review the step 3 under above for possible workaround.

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Error 2189

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C:\>net helpmsg 2189

The service could not be controlled in its present state.
***********************************************************************************

The service is not currently accepting requests. If the service is starting, it cannot process requests until it is fully started.

Try the operation again in a minute or two.

If this problem persists, the service may be stuck in a partially running state.

Restarting the server seems to be the only way to resolve the problem.

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Error 0005

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C:\>net helpmsg 0005

Access is denied.
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The ALBD user (clearcase_albd by default) must have access to the directory in which the ClearCase executables are stored. If the ClearCase service account does not have full access to the directory then the Atria Location Broker Service itself will not be started.

This problem can happen during domain migrations if the ALBD account and/or ClearCase group were created anew and not by the migration tool.

The ClearCase executables are stored in

C:\Program Files\Rational\ClearCase\bin (by default).

Note: Since FAT file systems do not implement security measures, this problem only applies to Rational ClearCase installations which reside on NTFS file systems.

Determine which user account the ALBD Service runs as by performing the following procedure:

1. Click Start > Settings > Control Panel > Services
   
2. Double-click on the ALBD Service to bring up the Service configuration window.
   
3. Make note of the user account information specified in "Log On As: This Account:" for use in the next step.
   

Note: With Rational ClearCase LT® this account will be a Local System account; refer to for more details.

4. Give this account full control in the following directory locations:

1. The ClearCase install directory and all subdirectories. This is typically located at C:\Program Files\Rational\ClearCase.
2. The C:\temp directory
3. The directory where Windows® is installed. This is typically C:\Windows.
4. The Windows® System32 directory usually located at C:\Windows\System32
5. The root directory of the drive that both ClearCase and Windows® is installed. This is generally C:\. If ClearCase and Windows® are installed on different drives, both drive root directories must have their permissions adjusted. Also, when changing the permissions of the root directory, you must not set permissions in subdirectories automatically.

Note: The above directories should only need Read and Execute permissions, but giving Full Control is recommended for troubleshooting purposes.