When a JAMS Agent cannot be authenticated, the Agent State will become "Unauthenticated" in JAMS Version 7. The Agent State can be viewed within the Agent Definitions.

What Does it Mean When the Agent State is "Unauthenticated"?

If the Agent State is "Unauthenticated", this means new jobs cannot be started on the specific agent.

Why Does this Occur? 

This may occur in instances when attempts to authenticate fail. This may be due to a configuration issue within Windows, or when the Agent machine is within its own Work Group, or in a different Active Directory Domain.

How Does the Agent Authenticate?

When the JAMS Scheduler attempts to connect to the agent, the Scheduler and Agent try to agree on an authentication scheme. The Scheduler tells the Agent what types of authentication it allows, and the Agent tries to pick one based on the types the Agent allows in the following order:

1. TLS
2. SSPI
3. None  

If there is no common authentication type between the Scheduler and the Agent or the first common method fails, the Agent state will be reported as "Unauthenticated". For SSPI, JAMS will attempt to use the account the JAMS Executor service is running, usually Local System.

How Can I Resolve the SSPI Authentication Error? 

There are two ways to resolve SSPI authentication errors: 

1. Disable authentication.
2. Use TLS. 

How Do I Disable Authentication? 

NOTE: The preferred method is to use TLS. Disabling authentication is not recommended.

To disable the authentication, the configuration of the following must be changed:

• Agent Machine
• JAMS Agent 

NOTE: If you change the security settings for Allow No Remote Host Security or Allow SSPI Remote Host Security, the changes will be applied when the Agent has a new connection. This may occur when the Agent is restarted or when the next connection is made, if the Connect on Demand option is used. See Agents in JAMS for more information.

Use the following instructions to to disable authentication:

1. Starting on the Agent Machine, run the following as an Administrator:
   

   \Program Files\MVPSI\JAMS\Agent\JAMSRegister.exe

2. Turn off SSPI and turn on NONE using the following command:
   

   UPDATE AGENT LISTENER /ALLOWNONE /NOALLOWSSPI

3. Verify the new configuration using the following:
   

   LIST AGENT CONFIG

   The screen will appear as follows:
4. In the JAMS Desktop or JAMS Web Client, launch the Agent from the Agents list, select the Properties tab, select the Agent property "Allow No Remote Host Security", and deselect the Agent property "Allow SSPI Remote Host Security".
   
5. Save the Agent, and then Refresh the Agent Definitions to verify the Agent is now in Idle, Connected, or Online state.
   

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   NOTE: If the Agent State is not in Idle, Connected, or Online, you will disable, and re-enable the Agent and check again.

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Related Articles

• Disabling JAMS Server to Agent Authentication using JAMS V6
• What Does My Agent State Mean?