Resolution
fact
Directory and Resource Administrator 7.0
fact
Directory and Resource Administrator 7.0 SP1
symptom
Member servers in a managed NT4 domain are randomly available to be managed.
symptom
When checking the computers list, most systems are displayed with a question mark in the icon, meaning they are "unavailable". If you right-click and choose "manage" anyway, you get the screen that says the machine may be unavailable and to hit "refresh". Normally doing this would allow you to go into the system and get to the services etc. But, in this case, when you click "refresh", it just brings you right back to this same screen again. An endless loop. However, if you do a domain cache refresh, some of the systems may be available again. If you immediatley do another resource refresh, the list changes yet again. More may be available, or all may be unavailable. It appears to be totally random. The service account is a domain admin account in that domain and the DA's are part of the local admistrators group on the servers listed as unavailable. You can also map a drive letter to one of the unavailable servers, from the DRA server, using the service account credentials
cause
This is a UI problem. If you select a computer that is unavailable this message is displayed in the details pane: "You may not be able to manage resources for this computer because this computer may be unavailable. To proceed, click the refresh button on the details pane.". You can still right-click on the computer and select Manage\Printers but if you do, nothing happens. The UI does not send a PrinterEnum request to the server unless you select the refresh button in the details pane. If the PrinterEnum succeeds the printers are displayed, if it fails an error dialog is displayed.
fix
This is corrected in DRA 7.5 and later. To resolve this issue upgrade to the latest version of DRA.
Directory and Resource Administrator 7.0
fact
Directory and Resource Administrator 7.0 SP1
symptom
Member servers in a managed NT4 domain are randomly available to be managed.
symptom
When checking the computers list, most systems are displayed with a question mark in the icon, meaning they are "unavailable". If you right-click and choose "manage" anyway, you get the screen that says the machine may be unavailable and to hit "refresh". Normally doing this would allow you to go into the system and get to the services etc. But, in this case, when you click "refresh", it just brings you right back to this same screen again. An endless loop. However, if you do a domain cache refresh, some of the systems may be available again. If you immediatley do another resource refresh, the list changes yet again. More may be available, or all may be unavailable. It appears to be totally random. The service account is a domain admin account in that domain and the DA's are part of the local admistrators group on the servers listed as unavailable. You can also map a drive letter to one of the unavailable servers, from the DRA server, using the service account credentials
cause
This is a UI problem. If you select a computer that is unavailable this message is displayed in the details pane: "You may not be able to manage resources for this computer because this computer may be unavailable. To proceed, click the refresh button on the details pane.". You can still right-click on the computer and select Manage\Printers but if you do, nothing happens. The UI does not send a PrinterEnum request to the server unless you select the refresh button in the details pane. If the PrinterEnum succeeds the printers are displayed, if it fails an error dialog is displayed.
fix
This is corrected in DRA 7.5 and later. To resolve this issue upgrade to the latest version of DRA.
Additional Information
Formerly known as NETIQKB40386