NFuse - The metaframe server farm reported an unspecificed error

You may see the message [/i]"The metaframe server farm reported an unspecificed error"[/i] when trying to launch an application from an NFuse server. Unfortunately this is a pretty generic error message that can mean a number of things.

Things to look for:

1. (Most common cause) The XML service used by NFuse by default runs on port 80. If you are running IIS or some other web service on the server (for example a server management tool such as Compaq's web based insight manager) you may want to change XML to run on a different port. Shut down the XML service via the services control applet, then fire up a command prompt and type "netstat -a -n" to display what ports are currently in use. Find something that's clear (such as 8081) and then change the XML service to use that port. This is done by typing "ctxxmlss /U" to unregister Citrix XML, then type "ctxxmlss /R8081" (or /R[the port number you want to use]). Now restart the service. Although you shouldn't have to, just to make sure you may want to restart the server just to make sure everything comes back up correctly. You can then go onto the admin console, right click on the server, and choose properties/metaframe settings and check that the port there is what you want it to be. Now go to nfuseadmin on the NFuse server(s) and make sure they are also configured to use the same port. Of course if there is a firewall (this includes personal firewall software) somewhere between the workstation and the server(s), then make sure that all the ports can get through.

2. Licenses (citrix) - make sure that you have enough and that they haven't expired (if you've been using demo versions)

3. Licenses (microsoft) - as above. Remember that with win2k server you must have a license server running otherwise after 90 days terminal services & metaframe will stop working

4. Even if you've done step 1 some time ago, if you get the "unspecified" error, or some other XML error it's always worth checking everything in step 1 again just in case (I've seen cases where it's gone and "reset" itself back to the default of 80).

5. Name resolution - PNAgent can have issues if the client can't properly resolve the name of the server(s). The readme file for NFuse on the CD states:
[/i]"Users of PNAgent may experience problems listing and launching applications if the DNS domain name of the NFuse Classic Web site they are using is not configured in the client's list of search domains. To resolve this, either upgrade to the latest available PNAgent version and add the Web server's DNS domain to the clients search domain, or fully qualify all host names in the config.xml file located on the Web server."[/i]
At the most recent site I've installed Metaframe into, the error was caused by a corrupted wins database.

6. If you get a "Cannot connect to Citrix server: The Citrix Server you have selected cannot be located" for local ICA clients, and a "The MetaFrame server farm reported an unspecified error." for NFuse clients go to the server and open a command prompt. Now, type "query farm /app" to see what the load is like on the server. If you find that it's maxed out on one or more of the published apps/desktops then that's the problem - either the server is overloaded OR the load evaluator you are using on one/more of the apps/desktops is too low. I have recently found an issue with XPFR2 where one of the settings in the Advanced load evaluator seems to increment whether or not people are using the server - this ends up with the server no longer responding to client requests until - eventually - the server decides everything is OK again. This may take hours or days to do, and a reboot may not clear the counters either. Then the server may be fine again for a week or month or more until without warning it seems to die again but without any messages in the error logs etc. The fix? Detach the evaluator from the server/app. Do the "query farm /app" again and check it's OK. FYI I believe that the default load evaluator does not have this problem.

Cheers