MSNet - Protocol Error

BobDDstryr · Post by **BobDDstryr** » Thu Mar 24, 2011 1:04 am

I'm running into a problem with msnet on one of my machines and I'm not sure why. So I've got three machines:

lab -> controller -> client
lab uses msnet to call scripts on controller; controller uses msnet to call scripts on client

controller has used Windows Server 2003, without a problem. However I now need to upgrade it to Windows Server 2008, and I can't get things to work. Specifically, after installing Macro Scheduler and msnet on controller, I can run msnet on controller to run scripts on client - but I can't run msnet on either lab, controller, or client to run scripts on controller - I get a "protocol error" - but I don't really know what that means, or how to figure out what's actually wrong? Any ideas?

Post by **Marcus Tettmar** » Thu Mar 24, 2011 9:18 am

Try a local test on controller, to run a macro locally on controller. Try using 127.0.0.1 or localhost or the name of the machine or the actual IP address of the machine. If none of those work try changing the port number. Also check the local firewall settings. Something must have changed.

If once you can make it work from controller to controller (local test) you can't get it to work from somewhere else to controller then it must be a network/firewall issue.

BobDDstryr · Post by **BobDDstryr** » Sat Mar 26, 2011 4:17 am

I've now tried using 127.0.0.1, localhost, the machine name, and the ip address, to no avail. I've also tried changing the port to several different numbers and compleetely disabled the firewalls, but still just getting protocol error...

It might be worth mentioning that this machine is Windows 2008 SP1. The client machine is running Win7 - and I could run machines on itself using the actual machine name - until I upgraded it to SP1, and now I have to use localhost or 127.0.0.1.

Any other ideas I could try?

BobDDstryr · Post by **BobDDstryr** » Tue Mar 29, 2011 12:40 am

So I've spent awhile today playing around with installing msnet - I've completely disabled the firewalls; I tried tweaking IE security settings; none of those seemed to make a difference. It looks like when I install msnet, its not actually opening a port on the machine. When I run an install with port:6666 and run netstat -a this is the output:
Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7601]
Copyright (c) 2009 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Users\svt>netstat -a

Active Connections

Proto Local Address Foreign Address State
TCP 0.0.0.0:135 wlk-1-6:0 LISTENING
TCP 0.0.0.0:445 wlk-1-6:0 LISTENING
TCP 0.0.0.0:1433 wlk-1-6:0 LISTENING
TCP 0.0.0.0:1771 wlk-1-6:0 LISTENING
TCP 0.0.0.0:1781 wlk-1-6:0 LISTENING
TCP 0.0.0.0:3389 wlk-1-6:0 LISTENING
TCP 0.0.0.0:47001 wlk-1-6:0 LISTENING
TCP 0.0.0.0:49152 wlk-1-6:0 LISTENING
TCP 0.0.0.0:49153 wlk-1-6:0 LISTENING
TCP 0.0.0.0:49154 wlk-1-6:0 LISTENING
TCP 0.0.0.0:49155 wlk-1-6:0 LISTENING
TCP 0.0.0.0:49195 wlk-1-6:0 LISTENING
TCP 0.0.0.0:49196 wlk-1-6:0 LISTENING
TCP 10.19.4.115:139 wlk-1-6:0 LISTENING
TCP 10.19.4.115:3389 dhcp-lab02-43:2748 ESTABLISHED
TCP 10.19.4.115:49156 dfs-sj1-1:microsoft-ds ESTABLISHED
TCP 10.19.4.115:49563 nt-irva-1574:http ESTABLISHED
TCP 10.19.4.115:49949 wlk-1-6:ms-sql-s TIME_WAIT
TCP 10.19.4.115:49950 wlk-1-6:ms-sql-s TIME_WAIT
TCP 10.19.4.115:49951 wlk-1-6:ms-sql-s TIME_WAIT
TCP 10.19.4.115:49952 wlk-1-6:ms-sql-s TIME_WAIT
TCP 192.168.0.254:139 wlk-1-6:0 LISTENING
TCP 192.168.0.254:49216 Client3-732:ms-wbt-server ESTABLISHED
TCP [::]:135 wlk-1-6:0 LISTENING
TCP [::]:445 wlk-1-6:0 LISTENING
TCP [::]:1433 wlk-1-6:0 LISTENING
TCP [::]:1771 wlk-1-6:0 LISTENING
TCP [::]:1781 wlk-1-6:0 LISTENING
TCP [::]:3389 wlk-1-6:0 LISTENING
TCP [::]:47001 wlk-1-6:0 LISTENING
TCP [::]:49152 wlk-1-6:0 LISTENING
TCP [::]:49153 wlk-1-6:0 LISTENING
TCP [::]:49154 wlk-1-6:0 LISTENING
TCP [::]:49155 wlk-1-6:0 LISTENING
TCP [::]:49195 wlk-1-6:0 LISTENING
TCP [::]:49196 wlk-1-6:0 LISTENING
UDP 0.0.0.0:500 *:*
UDP 0.0.0.0:4500 *:*
UDP 0.0.0.0:5355 *:*
UDP 10.19.4.115:137 *:*
UDP 10.19.4.115:138 *:*
UDP 127.0.0.1:56510 *:*
UDP 127.0.0.1:58508 *:*
UDP 192.168.0.254:137 *:*
UDP 192.168.0.254:138 *:*
UDP [::]:500 *:*
UDP [::]:4500 *:*
UDP [::]:5355 *:*

On a machine where it is working, I get:
Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7601]
Copyright (c) 2009 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Users\svt>netstat -a

Active Connections

Proto Local Address Foreign Address State
TCP 0.0.0.0:135 Client3-732:0 LISTENING
TCP 0.0.0.0:445 Client3-732:0 LISTENING
TCP 0.0.0.0:3389 Client3-732:0 LISTENING
TCP 0.0.0.0:6666 Client3-732:0 LISTENING
TCP 0.0.0.0:49152 Client3-732:0 LISTENING
TCP 0.0.0.0:49153 Client3-732:0 LISTENING
TCP 0.0.0.0:49154 Client3-732:0 LISTENING
TCP 0.0.0.0:49155 Client3-732:0 LISTENING
TCP 0.0.0.0:49156 Client3-732:0 LISTENING
TCP 0.0.0.0:49157 Client3-732:0 LISTENING
TCP 192.168.0.3:139 Client3-732:0 LISTENING
TCP 192.168.0.3:3389 wlk-1-6:49216 ESTABLISHED
TCP [::]:135 Client3-732:0 LISTENING
TCP [::]:445 Client3-732:0 LISTENING
TCP [::]:3389 Client3-732:0 LISTENING
TCP [::]:49152 Client3-732:0 LISTENING
TCP [::]:49153 Client3-732:0 LISTENING
TCP [::]:49154 Client3-732:0 LISTENING
TCP [::]:49155 Client3-732:0 LISTENING
TCP [::]:49156 Client3-732:0 LISTENING
TCP [::]:49157 Client3-732:0 LISTENING
UDP 0.0.0.0:123 *:*
UDP 0.0.0.0:500 *:*
UDP 0.0.0.0:4500 *:*
UDP 0.0.0.0:5355 *:*
UDP 192.168.0.3:137 *:*
UDP 192.168.0.3:138 *:*
UDP [::]:123 *:*
UDP [::]:500 *:*
UDP [::]:4500 *:*
UDP [::]:5355 *:*

You can see that the line:
TCP 0.0.0.0:6666 Client3-732:0 LISTENING
is showing up on the machine where its working, and not on the machine where its not.. any idea why this would be, or information that I could get that would be useful?

BobDDstryr · Post by **BobDDstryr** » Thu Mar 31, 2011 6:12 pm

When I first tried installing msnet with 12.1.2, I couldn't get it working - unless I went back and installed Macro Scheduler 11 first.

So - on a Win7 machine, I've installed Macro Scheduler 11.1.10, and msnet weems to work fine. I've then upgraded to Macro Scheduler 12.1.2. msnet still works. If I then install Windows 7 SP1, things still work.

If, however, I start with a machine with Win7SP1 - and install Macro Scheduler 11.1.10, then msnet, then Macro Scheduler 12.1.2, then msnet won't work.

Things will work if I just install 12.1.4 and then install msnet to that - so that's what I'm doing now. But I do find it strange that following the same sequence of events with the only difference being SP1 installed on the machine beforehand - figured I'd mention it in case anybody else runs into anything similar.