Scheduled Job Failing

Question

I have a scheduled job to run every night to back up our BPS 2000 switches. 90% of the switches fail either when the scheduled job runs or if you manually run the job. However, if I just test the job everything works perfect. Any ideas why the scheduled job fails all the time, but the test always works?

bleearg13 · Answer

I've found the following needs to be done, possibly in addition to Haley's instructions above, in order to get scheduled jobs to work in Windows 2003 with a non-administrator account:

1.  Create account.
2.  Add 'Log on as a service' and 'Log on as a batch job' permissions in the Local Security Policy.
3.  Add the account to the Read and Read/Execute permissions on 'cmd.exe' in C:\Windows\System32.
4.  Add the account to the Read and Read/Execute permissions on the task's Security tab within in the Task Scheduler Control Panel.
5a.  If you are using Windows NT Integrated Security for SQL server access , ensure that the account is setup within SQL Server and has access to the database when attaching to the DB.  This is done when the Cirrus database is either first set up or re-attached to.
5b.  If you are using SQL Authentication for SQL server access, ensure that the right account is used when attaching to the DB.  As mentioned above, this is done when Cirrus is first configured.

I always caution those who just assign Administrator permissions to any account just to get it to work.  That may be the quick and easy way to get things done, but it's a security problem.  I personally believe that Cirrus should use its own internal task scheduler rather than relying on the terrible Windows Task Scheduler, for the permissions reasons alone.

pguenther · Answer

Apparently the user account I was using didn't have admin rights to the box. Once I added that the errors went away and the job runs smoothly now. Thanks.

Haley · Answer

The security error appears to be related to the account you are using to launch the jobs within Cirrus not having sufficient rights.  The user needs to have local launch and activation rights.  The following steps should help resolve the issue.

Open Component Services from Administrative Components, drill down to My Computer, right click and select Properties.

On the COM Security tab, click the Edit Default button within the Launch and Activation Permissions section.

If SARCOM\solarwinds is listed, simply check the boxes for Local Launch and Local Activiation.  If SARCOM\solarwinds is not listed, click the Add button and add the user.   Then check the Local Launch and Local Activation checkboxes.   Click OK a several times to exit Component Services.