Cannot connect using Vault CPC

[malex]

Hello everyone,

My workplace has a Vault 9 Standard server and our Windows clients work perfectly.
However when I try to use the CPC on OSX, I receive the following error:

The connection to the server failed: server cannot be contacted or uses a protocol that is not supported by this client. <computer name>: <computer name>: nodename nor servname provided, or not known

However I know that I am able to access the vault server because I can load the website we have running on it just fine. I have double checked that the username, password, server address, and 'Use SSL' box are the same as on our Windows clients.

Thanks for any help!

[jclausius]

Is it possible there is a problem with the Vault Server's certificate?

To test this, using a browser, browse to https://<computer-name>/VaultService/VaultService.asmx . Does it bring up the services page, or does the browser display a page regarding the state of the SSL certificate?

By default, the Vault Cross Platform Client should connect without issue using SSL when the certificate is a trusted, non-expired, signed certificate. If the certificate has any issues, users may need to manually configure their Java installations to trust the Vault Server certificate.

Can you check the details in this link to see if that situation applies- http://support.sourcegear.com/viewtopic ... 26&p=43067

[malex]

Is it possible there is a problem with the Vault Server's certificate?

To test this, using a browser, browse to https://<computer-name>/VaultService/VaultService.asmx . Does it bring up the services page, or does the browser display a page regarding the state of the SSL certificate?

By default, the Vault Cross Platform Client should connect without issue using SSL when the certificate is a trusted, non-expired, signed certificate. If the certificate has any issues, users may need to manually configure their Java installations to trust the Vault Server certificate.

Can you check the details in this link to see if that situation applies- http://support.sourcegear.com/viewtopic ... 26&p=43067

I used Chrome and Safari to browse to the Vault service address provided and they both list our SSL certificate as valid.

Just to be safe I followed the link about using invalid certificates and installed our certificate to my Java key store, and still received the same error.

Our SSL certificate is a wildcard certificate, if that matters.

[jclausius]

Can we look at this from a different angle?

From your Vault Standard CPC, what version info is found in the dialog for Help -> Technical Support?

Next, using your Vault Standard CPC client, can you connect to vaultdemo.sourcegear.com. Use 'guest2' for both user and password, along with checking the Use SSL option. Can your client connect to that server?

[malex]

Can we look at this from a different angle?

From your Vault Standard CPC, what version info is found in the dialog for Help -> Technical Support?

Next, using your Vault Standard CPC client, can you connect to vaultdemo.sourcegear.com. Use 'guest2' for both user and password, along with checking the Use SSL option. Can your client connect to that server?

My Help -> Technical Support dialogue contains the following:

Client Information
SourceGear Vault Cross Platform Client Version: 9.0.0.238
Vault Core Version: 9.0.0.452
Operating System: Mac OS X
Operating Architecture: x86_64
OS Version: 10.11.2
Java: Oracle Corporation 1.7.0_71
Java VM: Oracle Corporation 24.71-b01
Total Java VM Runtime Memory: 126.50 MB
Java VM Max Memory: 2.22 GB
Time Zone: Central Standard Time

I am unable to connect to the https://vaultdemo.sourcegear.com site. I receive the same error message.

[jclausius]

Using a browser, can you connect to the URL https://vaultdemo.sourcegear.com/VaultS ... login.aspx ?


Also, from a terminal, can you try the following commands:

- "nslookup vaultdemo.sourcegear.com"
- "nslookup <your-vault-server-hostname>"

The original error message, "nodename nor servname provided, or not known" relates to some type of DNS problem ( See http://crunchify.com/getting-java-net-u ... osts-file/ for example ).

However, what has me stumped is that it was working for you in Vault 8, and nothing has changed between the versions regarding the login procedure.

[malex]

Using a browser, can you connect to the URL https://vaultdemo.sourcegear.com/VaultS ... login.aspx ?

I am able to connect and log in to this site via my browser.

----------------------------------------

Also, from a terminal, can you try the following commands:

- "nslookup vaultdemo.sourcegear.com"
- "nslookup <your-vault-server-hostname>"

My results for the Vault Demo are:

Non-authoritative answer:
vaultdemo.sourcegear.com canonical name = vault6demo.sourcegear.com.
Name: vault6demo.sourcegear.com
Address: 12.48.83.239

My results for my workplace Vault are (some replaced with x's since this is publicly viewable, but they seem to be correct):

Non-authoritative answer:
Name: dev.xxxxx.com
Address: xxx.180.55.23

----------------------------------------

However, what has me stumped is that it was working for you in Vault 8, and nothing has changed between the versions regarding the login procedure.

My apologies if I implied that, but this same issue was occurring on Vault 8. I just never tried to get it resolved.

[jclausius]

At this point, I don't have any straight forward answers. We're going to have to try some experimental things here:

I found a possible solution in which it looks like the reverse DNS within your network is not resolving your hostname correctly, and thus causing problems - http://crunchify.com/getting-java-net-u ... osts-file/

Try what this post is suggesting in modifying the hosts file (start at "Follow below steps and you should be good" use the results from 'hostname' for the named entry):

Before proceeding please do the following:

• Make a copy of your hosts file ( Terminal - "sudo cp /etc/hosts /etc/hosts.bak )
• Determine the machine's name ( Terminal - "hostname" )

Finally, instead of running Step 5 (as that may or may not work depending on the version of OS X), just reboot your machine.

After the change, try the CPC client, did that resolve the problem? If not, remove the /etc/hosts file and rename (move) the hosts file back to its original name.

[malex]

After the change, try the CPC client, did that resolve the problem?

Yes, that resolved it perfectly! Thanks so much for your patience.

[jclausius]

Glad that work-around worked. Note, if you change host names, you will have to change the hosts file as well to match.

This is more of a band-aid approach to the problem. In the long run, it would be better to figure out why DNS is not able to do a reverse lookup on that machine.