Synch Status or Inv_Synch_Status messages filling the evtqfast queue

[johny_sim]

This issue comes from a variety of issues, and with each subsequent release listed in the Environment section, a cause of the issue is fixed; however, subsequent releases have also introduced new causes. The main cause of the issue stems from the

Task: New Software Portal Settings Task. This Task consists of two embedded tasks:

Software Delivery Agent Install: This embedded task installs the Software Delivery Solution Agent if it is not installed. This was done to make it seamless for any computer that received this task but did not have the required

Agent to install. However this setup is also the main cause to all the issues detailed here.
Synch Task: New Software Portal Settings or Software Delivery Task for 'New Software Portal Settings Task—This embedded task is the actual task that updates the Software Portal Settings.
These tasks are deleted and re-created every night, providing a new GUID. This is done to ensure the Software Delivery Agent rollout occurs fresh should it be required, but this is what has been causing these issues.

Resolution

Software Delivery Solution 6.1 SP3 Resolves these issues. Upgrade to avoid them. Or if that fails or you can't upgrade, note the following:

The following walks through how to completely avoid the issues caused by the current arrangement. Attached are two XML files.

Package for KB 32282 Software Portal Settings Work Around.xml: This XML is the Package that contains the location and command-line to execute the proper update of the Software Portal Settings.
Software Portal Settings Update Task.xml: This XML contains the Task that will update the Software Portal Settings daily on the client computers.

Use the following steps to implement these:

Disable the old New Software Portal Settings Task as this is causing most of these issues. Location: Configuration tab, under Solution Settings > Software Management > Software Delivery > Windows > Software Portal Settings.

Under the Resources tab, under Resources > Software Management > Software Delivery Packages > Windows, right-click on Windows and choose Import. Import the XML file Package for KB 32282 Software Portal Settings Work Around.xml.

Under Tasks, under Software Management > Software Delivery > Windows > Software Delivery Tasks, right-click on Software Delivery Tasks and choose Import. Import the XML file Software Portal Settings Update Task.xml.

If so desired, change the targeting collection. The default collection is Computers With Software Delivery Agent Installed. This is highly recommended! This collection can be cloned and parameters can be added if desired to minimize how often computers show up in this collection.

Note: The entire reason the embedded Software Delivery Agent Install was placed into the default New Software Portal Settings Task was to ensure the Software Delivery Solution Agent was installed before the Software Portal Settings Task was executed. This Agent is absolutely required for the Settings Task to execute successfully, thus using the collection chosen by default with this new task will fulfill this requirement.

I choose the default schedule applied to the default New Software Portal Settings Task, which is to run the update task daily at 2 a.m. This can be changed if so desired. It is also recommended that you set this to run As soon as the computer is notified so new computers in the system will run the task immediately and obtain the Portal Settings.

The command-line in the program imported controls what settings are applied to the target systems. They can be changed by flipping the True/False value (for the link options), or inputting a value (between 1 and 99) into the max Request number. See examples displayed below:

Desired Settings: Show the Software Portal link in the Start menu, but not in the Altiris Agent context menu (right-click menu) with a max request limit of 3.

Command Line: SWRAgentUtils.exe /ApplyAgentSettings:StartMenu=True:AgentMenu=False:AddRemove=False:MaxAllowedRequests=3
Desired Settings (This is what I set by default): Show the Portal link in the StartMenu, AgentMenu, and set the max request limit to 2

Command Line: SWRAgentUtils.exe /ApplyAgentSettings:StartMenu=True:AgentMenu=True:AddRemove=False:MaxAllowedRequests=2
For German language systems, we found the following command-line needed to be used:

Command Line:
"%ProgramFiles%\Altiris\Altiris Agent\SWRAgentUtils.exe" /ApplyAgentSettings:StartMenu=False:AgentMenu=False:AddRemove=False:MaxAllowedRequests=2

Note: Leave the AddRemove=False key alone. This feature had been removed from Software Delivery, but the command needs to remain.
Note: Customer had to use the %ProgramFiles% variable in the working directory command line in order for this to work on x64 clients.

The following are descriptions of the different options:

StartMenu=<Value: True/False>: This indicates if the Software Portal Link shows in the Start menu.
AgentMenu=<Value: True/False>: This indicates if the Software Portal Link shows in the right-click menu of the Altiris Agent tray icon.
AddRemove=False: Leave this key alone.
MaxAllowedRequets=<Number Value between 1 and 99>: This sets the max number of simultaneous requests per Request submission.
Note: Do not set this value to 0 or over 99! This can cause unexpected results.

The Task should be enabled when imported. Once the settings and command-line has been set as appropriate, it replaces the former

Task and will resolve most of the sources of the issues listed in the Problem/Symptoms.
Uncheck the User input required setting on the program area. This has been known to cause issues on run while in a Windows 2003 session.

[WiseUser]

Nice post