Sophos Won't Update

Discussions around the setup, operation, replacement, and disposal of clerk computers, not to include using MLS
techgy
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Sophos Won't Update

#1

Post by techgy »

Has anyone else had issues over the past day with Sophos not updating?
Yesterday I had two computers at the stake that showed the red "x" on the shield indicating that it had failed the update. An attempt to do it manually resulted in "unable to contact server".

Today I'm seeing the same thing on a different computer in a different building. All systems in the stake are on high speed DSL and the Internet is fine. We're also able to ping the server address successfully.

I'm thinking that the problem is at the server end, but I wanted to know if anyone else is seeing this problem.

Thanks
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JamesAnderson
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#2

Post by JamesAnderson »

I've had this happen, usually because either you have a lot of computers to update at once, which is rare in clerk settings, or because of some hiccup in the DSL service however brief, breaking the connection during the update.

In that case, right click on the Sophos system tray icon that looks like you describe and includes the X. A Windows menu will appear like you would see for other types of operations, and click on 'Update now'. That will manually force the update. I tried that, it helped get things to update, and if you have several PCs running on the same DSL connection, it will temporarily slow those down but once the updates have run their course the connection speed you normally expect will return to normal also.

This is the one downside of using Sophos. It's always a resource hog when it runs its updater. Have no other similar issues when doing things in the FHC environment, like updating Family Insight or similar software Even updates to Flash, Windows, etc., do not hog the connection like Sophos does.
techgy
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#3

Post by techgy »

JamesAnderson wrote:I've had this happen, usually because either you have a lot of computers to update at once, which is rare in clerk settings, or because of some hiccup in the DSL service however brief, breaking the connection during the update.

In that case, right click on the Sophos system tray icon that looks like you describe and includes the X. A Windows menu will appear like you would see for other types of operations, and click on 'Update now'. That will manually force the update. I tried that, it helped get things to update, and if you have several PCs running on the same DSL connection, it will temporarily slow those down but once the updates have run their course the connection speed you normally expect will return to normal also.

This is the one downside of using Sophos. It's always a resource hog when it runs its updater. Have no other similar issues when doing things in the FHC environment, like updating Family Insight or similar software Even updates to Flash, Windows, etc., do not hog the connection like Sophos does.
I've already tried running the update manually by clicking on the shield. I still get "cannot connect to server". As far as DSL issues go, we're running a business DSL here in this building and I'm the only one here.

Nothing else is running except for Sophos.
BTW, the package itself seems to functioning ok. I can do a scan, etc and the logs don't indicate any problem.
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russellhltn
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#4

Post by russellhltn »

Is the internet normal otherwise?
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techgy
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#5

Post by techgy »

RussellHltn wrote:Is the internet normal otherwise?
Yes. The Internet is fine.

I've contacted the local unit support group and they recommended a scan followed by a re-install of the software package. I've downloaded the package, but it won't install.

I've been through this before and before you can do a re-install you have to shut down all the Sophos services, which I did. Everything goes smoothly during the re-install until it tries to uninstall the autoupdate (and then re-install it). Since the auto-update didn't finish there must be a flag set somewhere and the re-install of the entire package gets canned at this point.

It would be nice to be able to just remove the whole thing and put it back but that isn't possible either. None of the sophos items appear in Add/Remove and there doesn't appear to be an uninstaller in the sophos folder.

I'm kinda stuck until Monday when I can get back to the support desk again.

Edit: I found out after some searching that Sophos itself was blocking the installation of it's own package! When I checked the Sophos it was blocking the running of the new installer. Once I told it to approve the execution of its own installer, it proceeded to install. However, the problem still exists. Following a complete re-install, it still won't update.
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techgy
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#6

Post by techgy »

The strange thing about this is that the problem is occuring on 4 different computers (that I know of) and in two completely different buildings. I haven't yet checked two other buildings, but I'm willing to bet it's the same all over.

It would appear that the problem is with the server itself or the update process. Internet is fine and Sophos itself appears to be functioning normally.

It would help if I had some confirmation that anyone else was seeing the same problem - indicated by a red "x" across the Sophos AV shield icon in the status bar.
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aebrown
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#7

Post by aebrown »

techgy wrote:It would appear that the problem is with the server itself or the update process. Internet is fine and Sophos itself appears to be functioning normally.

It would help if I had some confirmation that anyone else was seeing the same problem - indicated by a red "x" across the Sophos AV shield icon in the status bar.
I can understand why you might reach that conclusion, but if it were a problem with the server itself, many other people would see the same issue. But none of the computers in our stake are having that problem -- Sophos updates normally, with no error condition reported in the icon in the system tray or anywhere else.

If you were having the problem with multiple computers in one building, I would suspect the firewall configuration, but you say it affects two buildings. I still have no better idea than suspecting the firewall, but it is an odd problem.
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russellhltn
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#8

Post by russellhltn »

A couple of other things to check - verify the firewall is still in place. It's more then a firewall, it's a VPN into the church network.

The second thing is to see what version of the software you have. The definition files (IDE) will NOT upgrade if the software itself is more than 3 months old. I'm wondering if something is preventing the software from upgrading and and IDEs have timed out.

Sorry, but the only admin machine I have on broadband is in a place I can't always get to.
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danpass
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#9

Post by danpass »

Alan_Brown wrote:I can understand why you might reach that conclusion, but if it were a problem with the server itself, many other people would see the same issue. But none of the computers in our stake are having that problem -- Sophos updates normally, with no error condition reported in the icon in the system tray or anywhere else.

If you were having the problem with multiple computers in one building, I would suspect the firewall configuration, but you say it affects two buildings. I still have no better idea than suspecting the firewall, but it is an odd problem.
Today, on our stake computer, I observed that we are also having this problem. I looked in the Sophos log and found that the error is occurring when the client attempts a connection to a church owned update server. Unfortunately, I didn't write down the server address and I won't be able to get back to the computer until next Sunday.

Since apparently this problem is not affecting everyone, perhaps one of the update servers is down, or alternatively, it is possible that incorrect configuration information may have been pushed out to some clients.
techgy
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#10

Post by techgy »

Alan_Brown wrote:I can understand why you might reach that conclusion, but if it were a problem with the server itself, many other people would see the same issue. But none of the computers in our stake are having that problem -- Sophos updates normally, with no error condition reported in the icon in the system tray or anywhere else.

If you were having the problem with multiple computers in one building, I would suspect the firewall configuration, but you say it affects two buildings. I still have no better idea than suspecting the firewall, but it is an odd problem.
My thoughts exactly.
RussellHltn wrote:A couple of other things to check - verify the firewall is still in place. It's more then a firewall, it's a VPN into the church network.
The firewall is working properly with no obvious problems. The VPN lamp is green.
RussellHltn;45909 wrote: The second thing is to see what version of the software you have. The definition files (IDE) will NOT upgrade if the software itself is more than 3 months old. I'm wondering if something is preventing the software from upgrading and and IDEs have timed out.
I'll check this tomorrow when I have a chance to return to our building.
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