Packages content status stuck on “in Progress” in SCCM 2012

Hi Sysadmins

Recently I noticed that my SCCM 2012 sp1 CU1 stopped distributing content to remote DPs.

Troubleshooting this problem has been a pain so I thought I’d share this with you.

This apply to : SCCM 2012 / SCCM 2012 sp1 / SCCM 2012 sp1 CU1

The Problem:

  1. Distribution points doesn’t get the content you distribute to them from the primary server.

  2. When you look at a package deployment status you see the package status stuck on ‘in progress’:

sccm1

  1. Looking at distmgr.log, you will see the following lines:


    Found notification for package ‘PRI00044’  $$<sms_distribution_manager><08-13-2013 23:33:43.220-120><thread=
    5188 (0x1444)> 
    Package ‘PRI00044’ (priority 2) is already in queue
    .  $$<SMS_DISTRIBUTION_MANAGER><08-13-2013 23:33:43.221-120><thread=
    5188 (0x1444)>
    ~Used 3 out of 3 allowed processing threads.  $$<SMS_DISTRIBUTION_MANAGER><08-13-2013 23:33:43.244-120><thread=
    5188 (0x1444)>
    ~No more available threads left to process any more packages.  $$<SMS_DISTRIBUTION_MANAGER><08-13-2013 23:33:43.244-120><thread=
    5188 (0x1444)>
    ~Sleep 
    3600 seconds…  $$<SMS_DISTRIBUTION_MANAGER><08-13-2013 23:33:43.246-120><thread=5188 (0x1444)>
    Sleep 30 minutes…  $$<SMS_DISTRIBUTION_MANAGER><08-13-2013 23:33:48.230-120><thread=
    6060 (0x17AC)>
    ~Used 3 out of 3 allowed processing threads.  $$<SMS_DISTRIBUTION_MANAGER><08-13-2013 23:33:48.272-120><thread=
    5188 (0x1444)>
    ~No more available threads left to process any more packages.  $$<SMS_DISTRIBUTION_MANAGER><08-13-2013 23:33:48.272-120><thread=
    5188 (0x1444)>

  2. you might also find these lines in distmgr.log:

Found notification for package ‘SomePackageID’

Package ‘SomePackageID’ (priority 2) is already in queue

  1. Another message in distmgr.log :

Package ‘SomePackageID’ in queue has old priority 1. Remove it from queue and reset priority to 2

The cause for this is probably a problematic DP which you might want to catch in ccm.log,

To eliminate the rogue Dp, you can remove the DP role  temporarily from the problematic DP.

Also there might be high load of traffic or heavy replication between your primary server and your DP’s.

The remedy:

I did find a Hotfix from Microsoft that addresses what seems to be a similar problem, but it didn’t solve my case.

What you should do is increase the number of Maximum threads per package in Software distribution component properties under Sites ->choose your site -> Configure site components -> Software Distribution

software distribution

SCCM software distribution props

The next thing you should do is WAIT!

SCCM takes its time when dealing with over the WAN or complex activities. After all it was SMS (Slow Moving Software) ;-)

So, I hope this did save you hours of frustration.

Post a comment if you have any questions.

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