Sentinel Agent Manager MSDTC Failure or refusal to connect

While installing Sentinel Agent Manager an error is received that MSDTC can not or has refused connection. There are several eventIDs and error codes in this range, the important part is the message will contain a connection failure or refusal.

To check the MSDTC settings for Windows 2003 on the Central Computer and the SQL Server. See the following Steps:

1.      Click on: Start > All Programs > Administrative Tools > Component Services.

2.      Inside Component Service expand: Component Service > Computers > My Computer.

3.      Right click on My Computer and click on properties.

4.      Select the MSDTC Tab and click on Security Configuration, in the bottom left corner.

5.      Inside Security Configuration window select the following:

• Allow remote Clients,
• Allow Remote Administration
• Allow Inbound
• Allow Outbound
• No Authentication Required
• Enable XA Translations.

    6.  Click ok at the bottom and then ok on the My Computer Properties Window.

To se MSDTC Settings in Windows 2008 or higher see the following steps:

1. Click Start, click Run, type dcomcnfg and then click OK to open Component Services.

2. In the console tree, click to expand Component Services, click to expand Computers, click to expand My Computer, click to expand Distributed Transaction Coordinator and then click Local DTC.

3. Right click Local DTC and click Properties to display the Local DTC Properties dialog box.

4. Click the Security tab.

• Allow remote Clients,
• Allow Remote Administration
• Allow Inbound
• Allow Outbound
• No Authentication Required
• Enable XA Translations.

If Windows Firewall is running, add an exception for the MSDTC service

The Windows Firewall service may block MSDTC communications between computers. To ensure that MSDTC communications are not blocked between computers, add msdtc.exe to the Windows Firewall exception list if the Windows Firewall service is running.

1. Click Start, click Run, type firewall.cpl, and then click OK to display the Windows Firewall dialog box.

2. Click Allow a program through the Windows Firewall to display the Windows Firewall Settings dialog box.

3. Click the Exceptions tab of the Windows Firewall Settings dialog box.

4. Click Add Program to display the Add a Program dialog box.

5. Click Browse and navigate to %system32%\msdtc.exe.

If MSDTC settings do not match on both the SAM server and the SQL server they are unable to agree on communication and the connection is actively refused. If all the settings match,make sure an exclusion exist for MSDTC within the firewall settings.