Server Admin & Monitor 10.5.7 “no server available at the address you entered”

[andrewhu]

Hi,

Since the 10.5.7 update neither server monitor or admin can find the server – “There is no server available at the address you entered.”
This happens on both remote clients and locally on the server. Both apps show no servers available at all.
Workgroup manager still connects. DNS services are still being provided and apparently correctly.
I can connect through terminal SSH and all server functionality seems to be good.
It is an old g4 xserve 1gHz.
Anyone got any ideas?

Thanks

[guitar24t]

In Server Admin, do you connect to the server with an IP Address?
(You’re best off troubleshooting with Server Admin because I have experienced problems with monitor while admin works fine.)

Are you running a firewall?

Robert

[andrewhu]

Thanks for the reply Robert

In Server Admin, do you connect to the server with an IP Address?
I’ve tried both ip and qualified DNS name with the same result – no server found. Also tried on the server itself with no success including local loop ip address.

(You’re best off troubleshooting with Server Admin because I have experienced problems with monitor while admin works fine.)
Agreed.

Are you running a firewall?
Yes but this is from an internal address and no ports are closed of – I can ping them. Even from the local machine.

I tried downloading the latest 10.5.7 Admin tools to a Mac Pro I have not used with admin tool before with the same result – I would assume it is some problem with the Server 10.5.7 update’s effect on remote client connections.

I tried re-installing the 10.5.7 update (used the combo standalone installer) with no change.

[guitar24t]

Just need a bit more info ’til we start troubleshooting.

What is the result of[code]sudo serveradmin list[/code](please post)

Have you changed the IP address or host name from the first time you installed the server?

What is the result of[code]nslookup ip_of_your_server[/code]

Does it give you the domain your server is actually at?
Is it the same as the result of [code]hostname[/code]

Is the result of[code]ifconfig[/code]
the IP you try to use Server Admin with?

Are you using the local server as its own dns server?
Use [code]cat /etc/resolv.conf[/code] and see if either ip matches ifconfig.

The most helpful thing right now will be the list of services from [code]sudo serveradmin list[/code]
Just a question, but when was the last time you reformatted the hard drive and reinstalled from scratch (did you upgrade from Tiger)?
Hope we can resolve this soon, but there are still more tricks to try!
Good luck, Robert

[andrewhu]

sudo serveradmin list ->
accounts
afp
backup
calendar
dhcp
dirserv
dns
filebrowser
ftp
info
ipfilter
jabber
mail
mysql
nat
netboot
network
nfs
pcast
print
qtss
radius
sharing
signaler
smb
swupdate
teams
vpn
web
webobjects
xgrid
xserve

nslookup ip_of_your_server ->
Server: 192.168.0.101
Address: 192.168.0.101#53

** server can’t find ip_of_your_server: NXDOMAIN –OK I can see this being a problem

hostname ->
xserve.rapidlearning.com.au

ifconfig ->
en0: flags=8863 mtu 1500
inet6 fe80::203:93ff:fec1:6bfa%en0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x4
inet 192.168.0.101 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 192.168.0.255

resolv.conf ->
nameserver 192.168.0.101
nameserver 192.168.0.1

So yes to ip matching expected.
Drive reformatted in the move to 10.5 so essentially a clean install with no tiger remnants. I have modified php and added some apache mods including gd but otherwise it’s from out of the box. It is on a G4 though.

[guitar24t]

What I meant was [code]nslookup 192.168.0.101[/code]
instead of ip_of_your_server 😆 😀
that should resolve to the same as hostname (if the server only has one name)

see if [code]nslookup xserve.rapidlearning.com.au[/code] resolves to your server ip

Another thing to try is [code]sudo mv ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.ServerAdmin.plist ~/Desktop[/code] on the local server
this will reset your Server Admin server list (and the rest of your preferences 😀 )
As this is an issue on multiple machines this is most likely not the case, but it never hurts to try

post the results of
[code]nslookup google.com[/code]
and try to access google and 74.125.67.100 in a web browser (I don’t know if this is a dns issue but this may or may not affect server admin depending)

If at all possible, set the server’s dns in system preferences to (opendns)
[code]208.67.222.222
208.67.220.220[/code]
run
[code]sudo mv ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.ServerAdmin.plist ~/Desktop[/code]
then open server admin and try to add your server by ip address

I made a mistake in my prior post. serveradmin list won’t help at all.
This might
[code]#! /bin/bash
sudo serveradmin status afp > ~/Desktop/status.txt
sudo serveradmin status dhcp >> ~/Desktop/status.txt
sudo serveradmin status dirserv >> ~/Desktop/status.txt
sudo serveradmin status dns >> ~/Desktop/status.txt
sudo serveradmin status ftp >> ~/Desktop/status.txt
sudo serveradmin status ipfilter >> ~/Desktop/status.txt
sudo serveradmin status jabber >> ~/Desktop/status.txt
sudo serveradmin status mail >> ~/Desktop/status.txt
sudo serveradmin status mysql >> ~/Desktop/status.txt
sudo serveradmin status nat >> ~/Desktop/status.txt
sudo serveradmin status netboot >> ~/Desktop/status.txt
sudo serveradmin status network >> ~/Desktop/status.txt
sudo serveradmin status nfs >> ~/Desktop/status.txt
sudo serveradmin status radius >> ~/Desktop/status.txt
sudo serveradmin status smb >> ~/Desktop/status.txt
sudo serveradmin status swupdate >> ~/Desktop/status.txt
sudo serveradmin status vpn >> ~/Desktop/status.txt
sudo serveradmin status web >> ~/Desktop/status.txt
sudo serveradmin status xgrid >> ~/Desktop/status.txt[/code]
Put that in a .bash file and run it as sudo
(make sure you don’t have an important file named status.txt on your desktop as it will be overwritten)

Post the contents of the file status.txt on your desktop and sorry for my mistake
Robert

[andrewhu]

nslookup 192.168.0.101 ->
Server: 192.168.0.101
Address: 192.168.0.101#53

101.0.168.192.in-addr.arpa name = xserve.rapidlearning.com.au.

nslookup xserve.rapidlearning.com.au ->
Server: 192.168.0.101
Address: 192.168.0.101#53

Name: xserve.rapidlearning.com.au
Address: 192.168.0.101

Resetting did not change Server Admin

nslookup google.com ->
Server: 192.168.0.101
Address: 192.168.0.101#53

Non-authoritative answer:
Name: google.com
Address: 74.125.67.100
Name: google.com
Address: 74.125.45.100
Name: google.com
Address: 74.125.127.100

and no problrm accessing google page with ip
Switched to open DNS servers no change.

status.txt
afp:state = “RUNNING”
dhcp:state = “STOPPED”
dirserv:state = “RUNNING”
dns:state = “RUNNING”
ftp:state = “STOPPED”
ipfilter:state = “STOPPED”
jabber:state = “RUNNING”
mail:state = “RUNNING”
mysql:state = “RUNNING”
nat:state = “STOPPED”
netboot:state = “STOPPED”
network:state = “RUNNING”
nfs:state = “STOPPED”
radius:state = “STOPPED”
smb:state = “RUNNING”
swupdate:state = “STOPPED”
vpn:state = “STOPPED”
web:state = “RUNNING”

[guitar24t]

WOW! That’s crazy! I suppose a complete OS reinstall is out?
It helps a lot to apply all updates before configuring.

The only other thing I can think of is to try and connect to the server with a .local
Go to system preferences > sharing and look at the computer name
connect to server admin with the computer name and .local
i.e.
fileserver.local
where fileserver is the computer name

If this fails and an os reinstall is out, I would be more than happy to invite you into my vpn and check some of the logs; I don’t know which are needed or if they will help (it is sometimes better just to see first hand). I understand that this might be against your organization policy as a breach of security. If you would like to, go to http://www.studiosoundandvision.com and contact me through email, (I’d rather not post even help user info on a public forum 😀 ). We can arrange a time to both be at the computer (I think your in Perth, Australia (WST)? so that might be tricky, but possible).

I’ll keep looking for solutions, but I’ve never seen anything quite like that. A complete reinstall and update would be the best option.

Robert

[andrewhu]

Thanks Robert,

Crazy it is but I believe I’ve tracked the source of the problem. It looks as though it has to do with servermgrd not accepting security certificates – self signed. This has happened to others but in 10.4 upgrades (.9 and .11).

[guitar24t]

Sorry I couldn’t be of more help but I’m thrilled you solved your problem.
Good luck in the future,
Robert

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