Altiris Agent Installer Service—AltirisAgentInstSvc.exe

 

1. The actual install package (AeXNSC.exe) for the Altiris Agent does not get pushed to the client computer. The Altiris Agent installer service, named AltirisAgentInstSvc.exe, is pushed to the client computer.
2. The user account specified on the push page settings, or the Application Identity if no account is supplied, is the account that attempts to access the \\machinename\admin$ share on the destination computer.
3. As soon as the Altiris Agent  Installer Service reaches the client computer, it begins to log information into the log file AltirisAgentInstSvc.log, located at C:\<WinDir> or C:\<Windir>\System32. The .EXE resides in the Admin$ share (generally the %windir%).
4. The AltirisAgentInstSvc.exe usually runs under System priviledges. When you open the Task Manager, you will see that is is running under System account.
5. It will register the .EXE as a service. This service has limited ability for throttling and check-point recovery when downloading the Altiris Agent  install Package. If a computer is rebooted before it has successfully downloaded the install package, the service will use check-point recovery to pick up where the download was terminated.
   
   Note: We install as a service so that if the installation is interrupted, such as from a computer reboot, the service will restart and attempt the download/install again.
6. If a push fails and the AltirisAgentInstSvc log does not exist, then the Altiris Agent Installer Service did not reach the client computer. Troubleshoot access rights being used for the push and look at the status in the Altiris Agent push page. If the log does exist, review the details.
7. There should be an Altiris Agent Installer service running under the Services console of the system.
8. The installer service runs a minimal prerequisite check. It will check for:
   • Version 6.0 or higher of Microsoft Internet Explorer
   • Windows NT 4 or higher
9. The Altiris Agent installer service will download the actual install package, named AeXNSC.exe.
10. Next it executes the install package.
11. Check the IIS logs on the Notification Server and use the IP address of the client you pushed the agent to compare communication between the client and the server.
12. The communication between the client and server are sent as events to the Evtqfast directory just like any other small event generated by an Altiris Agent.
13. Once the install package is executed, the AltirisAgentInstSvc.exe removes itself as a Service. When you open the AltirisAgentInstSvc.log, you will see an entry like this:
    Running self uninstaller command: C:\WINDOWS\AltirisAgentInstSvc_del.exe -slfsrvcdelete "Altiris Agent Installation Service"
14. Then it removes itself (.EXE) from %windir%.