Resolving iscsicli Error "Access is denied 0x5 occurred while reading the console output buffer" During Environment Add or Refresh (KBA7431)

Issue

When attempting to Add or Refresh a Target Environment running Windows Server 2019 using Delphix Engine 6.0.10 or earlier, you may see the following error message:

Error: Failed to add or update the iSCSI persistent login target on host "10-43-40-248.qa-ad.delphix.com".

Error Code: exception.windowshost.iscsi.add.persistent_target.failed

Suggested Action: Make sure that the iSCSI initiator service is running and try the operation again.

Command Output: (Duplicate lines removed):

Microsoft iSCSI Initiator Version 10.0 Build 17763

The operation completed successfully.
...
Program 'iscsicli.exe' failed to run: Win32 internal error "Access is denied" 0x5 occurred while reading the console output buffer. Contact Microsoft Customer Support Services.At C:\Program Files\Delphix\DelphixConnector\discovery\564db372-96df-9e06-8de0-62e92732d5f8-WINDOWS_HOST_ENVIRONMENT-1\AddPersistentLoginTarget.ps1:77 char:9
+         iscsicli AddTargetPortal $targetip $targetport
+         ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~.
At C:\Program Files\Delphix\DelphixConnector\discovery\564db372-96df-9e06-8de0-62e92732d5f8-WINDOWS_HOST_ENVIRONMENT-1\AddPersistentLoginTarget.ps1:77 char:9
+         iscsicli AddTargetPortal $targetip $targetport
+         ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : ResourceUnavailable: (:) [], ApplicationFailedException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : NativeCommandFailed

This article deals specifically with failures that include the error text:

Program 'iscsicli.exe' failed to run: Win32 internal error "Access is denied" 0x5 occurred while reading the console output buffer. Contact Microsoft Customer Support Services.

 

Applicable Delphix Versions

Click here to view the versions of the Delphix engine to which this article applies

Major Release	All Sub Releases
6.0	6.0.0.0, 6.0.1.0, 6.0.1.1, 6.0.2.0, 6.0.2.1, 6.0.3.0, 6.0.3.1, 6.0.4.0, 6.0.4.1, 6.0.4.2, 6.0.5.0, 6.0.6.0, 6.0.6.1, 6.0.7.0, 6.0.8.0, 6.0.9.0, 6.0.10.0, 6.0.10.1
5.3	5.3.0.0, 5.3.0.1, 5.3.0.2, 5.3.0.3, 5.3.1.0, 5.3.1.1, 5.3.1.2, 5.3.2.0, 5.3.3.0, 5.3.3.1, 5.3.4.0, 5.3.5.0, 5.3.6.0, 5.3.7.0, 5.3.7.1, 5.3.8.0, 5.3.8.1, 5.3.9.0
5.2	5.2.2.0, 5.2.2.1, 5.2.3.0, 5.2.4.0, 5.2.5.0, 5.2.5.1, 5.2.6.0, 5.2.6.1
5.1	5.1.0.0, 5.1.1.0, 5.1.2.0, 5.1.3.0, 5.1.4.0, 5.1.5.0, 5.1.5.1, 5.1.6.0, 5.1.7.0, 5.1.8.0, 5.1.8.1, 5.1.9.0, 5.1.10.0
5.0	5.0.1.0, 5.0.1.1, 5.0.2.0, 5.0.2.1, 5.0.2.2, 5.0.2.3, 5.0.3.0, 5.0.3.1, 5.0.4.0, 5.0.4.1, 5.0.5.0, 5.0.5.1, 5.0.5.2, 5.0.5.3, 5.0.5.4

Troubleshooting

This error may be related to Active Directory Group Policy settings that force logging (transcripts) of PowerShell commands. This is a non-default Windows configuration, and may have been explicitly enabled by a System or Domain administrator.

To validate the current Group Policy settings for Windows:

1. Log into the affected Windows host using the account that you are using to add the Environment in Delphix.
2. Execute the following two commands from an Administrative command prompt:

gpresult /r /v /scope user
gpresult /r /v /scope computer

3. Look for any customizations visible in the output.
   Specifically, the "EnableTranscripting" policy appears to affect this behavior.
   If set locally on the computer, this will be displayed as "GPO: Local Group Policy":

            GPO: Local Group Policy
                Folder Id: Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\PowerShell\Transcription\EnableTranscripting
                Value:       1, 0, 0, 0
                State:       Enabled

If inherited from a group policy set by your Domain Administrators, this will be displayed using the name of the policy that they have created:

            GPO: My-Domain-Group-Policy-Name
                Folder Id: Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\PowerShell\Transcription\EnableTranscripting
                Value:       1, 0, 0, 0
                State:       Enabled

 

Tip:

This Group Policy setting may have been present for some time. The behavior of PowerShell Transcripting appears to have changed in a recent Windows Update (2021-01 or later), in such a way that it triggered an incompatibility with the Delphix Engine.

Resolution

This incompatibility has been resolved in Delphix Engine version 6.0.11.0.

To allow Environment operations to continue successfully without changing Group Policy settings, please arrange an upgrade to Delphix Engine 6.0.11.0 or later using the instructions in our document Upgrading the Delphix Engine: Overview.

 

If this is not possible, it will be necessary to disable PowerShell Transcripting so that Environment operations will succeed.

If this policy has been set by Local Group Policy, then it should be possible to disable this using the Windows Local Group Policy Editor (gpedit.msc) on the affected Target host:

• Computer Configuration → Administrative Templates → Windows Components → Windows PowerShell → Turn on PowerShell Transcription: Disabled / Not Configured
• User Configuration → Administrative Templates → Windows Components → Windows PowerShell → Turn on PowerShell Transcription: Disabled / Not Configured

If this policy has been set by Group Policy, it will be necessary to work with your Windows Domain Administrators to exclude this user or computer from the policy and ensure that it has propagated to the relevant Domain Controllers and applied to the computer (for example, using gpupdate).

 

Note:

The Delphix Engine interacts frequently with Windows hosts using PowerShell, as part of VDB and Environment monitoring as well as during VDB operations.

Enabling transcription may result in reduced host performance and excessive disk consumption. Please work with your system administrators to ensure that processes are in place to archive or clear old transcripts.

 

The underlying cause of this incompatibility is unknown. For a more detailed analysis of why PowerShell Transcription can result in this type of failure, it may be necessary to engage Microsoft Customer Support Services as indicated by the error message.

If this does not resolve the issue, please contact Delphix Support for further assistance.

 

 

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