Avast! on Small Business Server 2008 ADNM, SQL and Service Errors

Avast Business Avast Server Protection
1

Hi,

Heres the deal, I have a Small Business Server 2008 and I’m trying to get Avast! ADNM Console to work. I’m using SQL express 2005 x64 installed with a named instance of AVAST and Mixed authencation with SA username and a password. I’ve uninstlled, restarted and reinstalled in a bunch of combinations but so far have been unable to get it to work.

First I installed Sql express 2005 and created a database called AVAST with mixed authencation (SA username and password)

On the ADNM installer (ver 4.8.975) I can install fine, when it asked for the database settings I use server\avast with the SA username and password. No errors here. Installs fine and updates fine.

Next I open the ADNM Console and click detect servers. It dosn’t find any so I type in the name of my server and the default password (admin) and click Ok. I get this error message:
No connection could be made because the target machine actively refused it
Unable to login as Administrator or conneection error

I try my domain admin accout, same error.

I open up the AMS Maintenancce Tool and click on the Test SQL server. I fill out the info: server, avast, sa, <> and click Test conneection and I get the following error:
AmsTool
Database conneection error: 0x0000A410
*; Going to check conneection to MS SQL Server “server”, using
user “sa”…
Cannot initialize data sourcce, error 0x80004005…

One more thing. The avast! Management Server service stoppes about 15 seconds after its started and the following error is recorded in the event viewer/system

The description for Event ID 7023 from source Service Control Manager cannot be found. Either the component that raises this event is not installed on your local computer or the installation is corrupted. You can install or repair the component on the local computer.

If the event originated on another computer, the display information had to be saved with the event.

The following information was included with the event:

avast! Management Server
%%42000

The resource loader failed to find MUI file

So… am I doing something worng during the installation or is the ADNM just really flakey on a SBS 08 machine. I have never had this much trouble installing it on SBS 03 it just works.

Thanks in advance for your help,
Perry

2
So... am I doing something worng during the installation or is the ADNM just really flakey on a SBS 08 machine

I thought it was flaky too, when I did my first install. I started a thread to help others. It seems that we (well others) have a good install guide now. Read a little past my posts, the other posters have it down pat for the most part.

http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=41775.0

3

I followed the instructions in that post almost to the T… Only differance is the version of SQL Express 2005 on microsofts web site come with SP3 now. So for the first install I used Sql express 05 SP3. I installed it while having all the other SQL services stopped.
SQL Express Edition 2005 SP3 installed OK.

Now I am installed Avast! ADNM again… going on like 10 installs now. Same options as I listed above.
Finished installing and I am still experiancing the exact same errors as listed above.

Anyone got any ideas?

4

I am no longer using Avast on my SBS 2008 (I was able to get NFR software from another mfg), but I certainly will be using it on some upcoming installs of SBS 2003. Anyway, I looked at the SQL Express that I was using on SBS 2008, and it definitely contains SP3 - so that is probably not your problem.

I believe that each time ADMN was able to find the server - if my memory is correct, there was a search or find button. I don’t believe there was ever a time (and I must have done about 10 installs even after I got it working) that it did not find the server name itself. That might be a clue to help you find the problem.

I don’t think there is a problem with ADMN on SBS 2008 -too many of us have had success. On the other hand, SBS 2008 is pretty flaky, and I will not be installing it on any of my customers machines - at least, no customer that I want to keep! That is where I would concentrate my efforts.

Wish I could be more help.

5

Anyone else have an idea on how to get the ADNM working on SBS 2008?

6

Yeah, one more idea. SBS 2008 comes with Forefront installed. It’s Microsoft’s little A/V program. It can cause some problems.

You might want to try removing that.

Also, is your exchange server running and mounting the databases?

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Forfront, havnt thought of that. I’ll try disabling it. What do you mean by the exchange server running and mounting the database?

Exchange 07 is running and working fine…

8

If it is, then don’t worry about it! lol.

9

I see Perry’s problem now.

I’m doing a new install on another SBS 2008 server, and I’m experiencing the same thing.

The SQL database connection is working fine, as long as you do a named instance, but once everything is downloaded, installed, and complete, you can’t login to the ADNM server.

I see that my Avast Management Server service isn’t running and every time I start it, it stops again. I guess that’s an issue, eh?

I’ll work on it (don’t have a choice, I have to get this running for my customer) and I’ll let you guys know what I find out.

10

Think I finally figured it out. I didn’t understand why the Avast Management Service wouldn’t stay running. I thought for a little while that it couldn’t talk to the database. I checked permissions, changed permissions, compared everything that I could think of with my working SBS 2008 box, and I couldn’t find anything wrong.

Finally, I looked at the event viewer, under “Applications and Services Logs” > Anti-virus.

I kept getting

“Error 0000A410 has occured while opening license file D:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Management Tools\DATA\license.dat. Is the license file correct?”
errors.

So, I checked permissions on that file, which seemed ok. So I renamed it, and made that change in the AMS Maintenance tool, under “License.” It still didn’t work, so I renamed it back. Then I checked the database connection which was fine.

Then, I went back to SQL Connection, put in the server info:
Sql Server Instance: server\avast
Database: avast
login: sa
password: “password that I setup during SQL setup”

When I hit ok, and it said that it had to restart the service, it gave me an error: 5, so I restarted the service manually.

I then noticed that it wasn’t shutting down anymore by itself.

So, I tried to open the ADNM console, and tried to have it detect servers. It still didn’t do that, so I typed in the server’s full netbios name, typed in the username and default password (admin) and she came up!

Now, as soon as I got it up and running, I came running here so that I could get the information out there. Hopefully it stays running through a reboot or two, and we can close this unfortunate case for good. I’ll keep you all posted!

11

This may help. I beat my head bloody and then got it to work. I documented my steps in my blog.

Notes on installing Avast ADNM on Windows Server 2008 x64 with SQL Server 2008 x64
http://blogs.windwardreports.com/wunder_fodder/2010/03/notes-on-installing-avast-adnm-on-windows-server-2008-x64-with-sql-server-2008-x64.html

Hope this helps

–TR