Problem Definition

When running qfarm on different servers in the same zone of a MetaFrame server farm, different Zone Data Collectors are listed:

Environment

• MetaFrame XP Presentation Server 1.0 and later (This issue is seen on all versions of MetaFrame Presentation Server)

• Windows 2000 Server and Windows 2003 Server

Troubleshooting Methodology

All MetaFrame servers have a Data registry key located under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/Citrix/IMA.

As shown in the example, this key is not available. This is because none of the accounts have read permissions to it.

After assigning the “Everyone” group to the key and adding “read” rights to it, it is now available:

This key is a hex value which MetaFrame servers use to decide what farm they are in when they are communicating with each other.

There is a corresponding hex value located in the data store. This can be viewed by using DSView.exe which is located in the Support/debug/os directory of the Presentation Server CD-ROM:

There are rare occasions when a server is joined to the farm and this value is not modified on the MetaFrame server. This can typically be caused by the server joining the farm over a latent WAN link, an overly large data store database (over 1 GB in size), or some other type of unforeseen error during the chfarm operation.

Another method of finding this problem is by using CDF tracing. This trace shows the incorrect “Farm Magic” value being passed between servers. Citrix Support representatives can supply a .ctl or .xml file which can be used for tracing. The resulting .etl file is sent to Citrix Support where they are able to verify this issue.

Resolution

To resolve this issue:

1. Change the permissions on the Data key in the registry key on the affected server to give a user read/write access to the key and change it to match the “good” value.

2. Restart the IMA Service.

A hotfix is currently being tested which will perform a comparison of the Data Key value on the MetaFrame server to its corresponding value in the data store. If the values are different, the IMA Service will not start and an appropriate message will be entered in the Event Viewer on the server.