Powerchute business edition - Problem running Default command

[BillP]

Hello All,

I am working on PowerChute Business edition for our setup.  I have seen other threads with the same problem but no one has and solution resolving it. 
Trying to run an executable within the default.cmd command to send a request for a shutdown. 
I followed the instructions here on this APC Tid FA159625, but with no result.

When running a non executable (cmd, exe, etc) command in the script it will execute properly.  however any other executable will fail with what seems to be insufficient privileges. If running just notepad or cmd,exe we see the process show up in Task manager but it will not run. 
I use PowerChute business edition 9.1, on Windows 2008 R2 server.  I have it setup and tested on 3 different servers, and they all behave the same way.

I know that the scripts we are calling and running work within the OS, when run manually, but not through the APC Interface.

Any advice and help is appreciated,

Thanks,

Poly

[BillP]

I am not sure why we have two articles but you may need to change what account the PCBE Agent logs on as (if it does not have sufficient privileges) but mentioned in FA168226.

I found the steps to verify that "Interact with Desktop" is selected which was not in the article ID you found. I'd try that first then consider what I said about the log on user being utilized.

Depending on what actions your final script is configured to perform, (like log on to a remote machine over the network to shut it down) verify the particular account also has privileges that PCBE is using.

[BillP]

Thank you for your reply.

I have already tried to change the service from using "Local system" to using the administrator account without any luck. and I also tried the Interact with Desktop on the "Local System" account.  Neither were successful.

[BillP]

Hmm. Ok, maybe Bill P. could tell us if we missed something between the two articles or what the next step for narrowing down the problem could be.

[BillP]

Does the time test command script run as described in the Kbases? Also, what type of file are you attempting to run? PCBE can only run .cmd or .bat files. It will not run .exe files. I have also found that if the file has multiple lines it is better to create a command file that triggers the actual file instead of having PCBE trigger it. Example: The file I want to run is named Shutdown.exe and it has 10 lines of code. I would write command file name launcher.cmd and in that have one line of code that launches Shutdown.exe. I would then configure PCBE to run launcher.cmd.

to answer the question as to why are there 2 Kbases, the reason is at 1 point FA159625 would not display properly for end users so FA168226 was created. After a database rebuild FA159625 became accessible. Since that time whenever we have attempted to deactivate either we get complaints because people have linked the the documents. So the decisions was made to leave both active. 

[BillP]

Here is another forum, that you were involved with a few months ago.  I am experiencing the exact same problem and I don't see any resolution to this one either. 

http://forums.apc.com/thread/14048

within the command file we try to run a simple executable for now, notepad.exe or cmd.exe.

I have also read that multiple lines will not work, so our goal is to call another cmd or batch file. but those don't seem to work as either,

Does APC offer Phone support for this kind of issues?

Thanks Angela

[BillP]

It really seems like it is an issue with permissions and interacting with the desktop considering you're seeing the .exe called in task manager. The poster in that other thread was pursing a permissions issue and we/you could always tag that user to see if they can provide any findings to us. Let me know if you want me to do that or if you wanted to. I personally felt this might be outside of APC's scope of support since it has to do with permissions if the item is showing in task manager. I am certainly not a batch file or scripting expert. I know voidstar also indicated a few things that could be tried too - I've never done them though.

So at this time, I think interact with desktop is not configured properly (which I know you said you selected) or there is an issue with the account PCBE is launching with and it does not have sufficient privileges.

While APC offers phone support as I know you contacted one of our representatives who reached out to me, I think we covered everything they would certainly cover here already since Bill P and I are the highest level of technical support globally and any unsolved issues via phone would most likely get pushed to us anyway.

[BillP]

Thank you Angela and Bill,

I really would like to find a solutions to this.  We have a lot of customers that we recommend and sell APC products to, and want to make sure we can utilize the full functionality of the product, including PCBE.  In the past most servers would have dedicated UPS that the software would automatically manage and shutdown the physical device. 
With the move to Virtual environments and the limitation of USB connectivity we are forced to find a solution to properly shutdown remote servers through PCBE, using a set of commands.

In this particular case we are trying to use the default.cmd command offered by APC.
During troubleshooting we are "assuming'" that the command initiated has insufficient privileges, but have no log entries of any sort saying proving this.

One thing came to mind, so I uninstalled and reinstalled all component of PCBE.  What is the relationship of the user account created during the install process of the agent and server services, and the actual services running on the server? 
if not using the Local System to run the service, does the service account have to be a Domain\admin account or a local admin account? 
Are there any other logs within PCBE that we can check and review? 

If possible, I would like to setup a remote session with either one of you, to show you what we are experiencing, and if need be elevate this to a development team.

I would like to thank you in advance for any help you can provide.

Regards.

Poly

[BillP]

Hi,

I have been researching this issue and was pointed to this document that might help. Impact of Session 0 Isolation on Services and Drivers in Windows I ran a test on Windows 7 I did see that when I ask PCBE to start notepad.exe it is starting in session 0 as described in the the document.

I plan to spend more time over the next few day researching this. Please let me know if the MS doc helps.

[BillP]

Hi Bill,

I found a similar document related to the same issue.  I have found a solution to get this working.  I would like to share this with your engineering team, and hopefully come up with a working procedure for the community.  Is there a better medium to communicate and possibly share the findings?

I would not want to post something if you have not tested it as well.  

Let me know how to proceed.  I have an open case as well with your team, ticket # 401984254, you will find my contact information there.

Poly

[BillP · Accepted solution]

Poly,

Thanks for the update. Please feel free to share with the forum. That way other members can test and make edits if any are needed. I will also ask QA to review and assuming the solution passes will edit the Kbase/s you referenced earlier to help none forum members.

Thanks again for the update.