Security Compliance

After an update a collector or a client does not connect in ARM

This article explains how to mitigate a problem with an ARM client and/or collector which won't connect to the ARM Server after the update to ARM 2020.2.2 and above.

First published date

10/6/2020 7:13 AM

Last published date

2/11/2025 7:48 PM

Overview

The collector may fail to connect with the following messages in the ARM Config---Collectors.

Error1: Disconnected. Reason: Failed to determine the installed ARM version and - if possible - to sart it.

Sometimes can happen that the ARM-Service in a collector or the ARM Server machine is installed and running but the pnCollector.exe or the armServer.exe process changes PID often and crashes in the background. The following Error logs may appear in pnCollector.log or armServer.log file:

|Error      ]         SslCertificateHttpLoader.LoadServerCertificate(Uri address): System.IO.IOException: Authentication failed because the remote party has closed the transport stream. … [   
|Error      ]         GrpcClientTransportSink.sendRequestWithRetry(IMessage msg, ITransportHeaders requestHeaders, Stream requestStream): System.Runtime.Remoting.RemotingException: An error occured when communicate to ‚grpc://armServerFqdn:55555/tracerServer‘! —> SolarWinds.ARM.Remoting.GrpcRemotingException: Could not load certificate from ARM-Server
 

|Error      ]     SslCertificateHttpLoader.LoadServerCertificate(Uri address): System.IO.IOException: Fehler bei Handshake wegen eines unerwarteten Paketformats.


| Error      ]         GrpcClientTransportSink.sendRequestWithRetry(IMessage msg, ITransportHeaders requestHeaders, Stream requestStream): System.Runtime.Remoting.RemotingException: An error occured when communicate to 'grpc://collector:55555/tracerServer'! ---> SolarWinds.ARM.Remoting.GrpcRemotingException: Could not connect to the ARM server! The remote certificate is invalid according to the validation procedure. ---> System.Security.Authentication.AuthenticationException: The remote certificate is invalid according to the validation procedure.


Error2: Disconnected. Reason: Connect request rejected

Sometimes when a manual update is done on the collector and selecting Full installation the connection between the ARM Server and the collector is not possible.

Error 3: Upgrade ARM

The remote update of a collector via Powershell may fail.

Product section

Access Rights Manager

Cause

Cause for Error1:
  • At least one of the following cipher suites is not enabled in the collector machine and ARM Server:
TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_128_GCM_SHA256
TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_256_GCM_SHA384
TLS_RSA_WITH_AES_256_GCM_SHA384
  • The certificate files may not be correct in C:\ProgramData\protected-networks.com\8MAN\cfg\security\server. In this case this can also be considered for the ARM Server itself in case of a migration with a server name change.

Cause for Error2:
  • When a manual update is done on the collector and selecting Full installation, all the services including the ARM Server can be installed and not only the Collector and Logga filter. This would cause the connection problem.
Cause for Error3:
  • The remote update of a collector via Powershell may fail due to environment restrictions.

Resolution

Resolution 1:
Enable at least one of the required security protocols as displayed below, using the following tool:
https://www.nartac.com/Products/IISCrypto/ 

  • After selecting and applying the correct cipher suites restart the collector machine and/or the ARM Server machine and retry to connect the collector.

  • If the required ciphers seem to be supported and the collector or the client still does not connect and fails with the same error message please try the following.
  • On the collector or the ARM Server machine:
  • Stop the ARM-Service
  • Delete the certificate files from C:\ProgramData\protected-networks.com\8MAN\cfg\security\server
  • Remove the related collector from ARM Config---Collectors
  • Start the ARM-Service. The certificate files will be recreated.
  • Add and connect the collector in ARM Config---Collectors on the ARM Server
  • This solution may also apply for the ARM Server as well if the certificate error shows up.

Resolution for Error 2:

  • Uninstall the ARM application from the collector machine and install it again by selecting only the services Collector and Logga filter driver (if needed).

Resolution for Error 3:

  • Please try an update or repair with the ARM setup file directly on the problematic collector machine.
  • Try to reconnect the collector in ARM Config---Collectors right after