Response Invalid MAC address format Windows 7 Client

Daryl Lee

** RESOLVED! Solution:**
Resolution came from @Sebastian-Roth

Please edit C:\Program Files (x86)\FOG\settings.json and change value for HTTPS from 0 to 1. Then restart the client.

Problem:
I recently upgraded to Ubuntu 16.04 and have Fog version 1.5.5. The new install was setup with SSL. Image deployment and all PXE related stuff works fine. The problem is with the FOG client running on a physical Dell Windows 7 system (QTY 20 identical systems). It will not connect with the fog server. The systems all have a wired connection (This is what im using) and an unused Bluetooth and Wireless network devices, both disabled. The systems have been manually registered and full inventory submitted via PXE. Not sure where to go from here, hoping someone might have an idea.

The server itself is running on a VM.

Versions:

Client Version: Tried 0.11.15 and 0.11.16
FOG Server Version: 1.5.5
OS: Ubuntu 16.04 (KVM VM)
Client OS: Windows 7 SP 1 (Fully patched)
Update: also tested with a fresh install of Windows 10

Error of note:

Middleware::Response Invalid MAC address format

Debugger.exe output:

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------FOG Console---------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 3/26/2019 10:28 AM Console Type ? for a list of commands

fog: middleware configuration server http://<ip of server>/fog
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
fog: middleware authentication handshake
 3/26/2019 10:29 AM Middleware::Authentication Waiting for authentication timeout to pass
 3/26/2019 10:29 AM Middleware::Communication Download: http://<ip of server>/fog/management/other/ssl/srvpublic.crt
 3/26/2019 10:29 AM Data::RSA FOG Server CA cert found
 3/26/2019 10:29 AM Middleware::Authentication Cert OK
 3/26/2019 10:29 AM Middleware::Authentication No token found at C:\Users\ece\Downloads\token.dat, this is expected if the client has not authenticated before
 3/26/2019 10:29 AM Middleware::Authentication ERROR: Could not get security token
 3/26/2019 10:29 AM Middleware::Authentication ERROR: Could not find file 'C:\Users\ece\Downloads\token.dat'.
 3/26/2019 10:29 AM Middleware::Communication POST URL: http://<ip of server>/fog/managemen/index.php?sub=requestClientInfo&authorize&newService
 3/26/2019 10:29 AM Middleware::Response Invalid MAC address format
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

fog.log contents:

3/26/2019 10:23 AM Main Overriding exception handling
 3/26/2019 10:23 AM Main Bootstrapping Zazzles
 3/26/2019 10:23 AM Controller Initialize
 3/26/2019 10:23 AM Controller Start

 3/26/2019 10:23 AM Service Starting service
 3/26/2019 10:23 AM Bus Became bus server
 3/26/2019 10:23 AM Bus Emmiting message on channel: Status
 3/26/2019 10:23 AM Service Invoking early JIT compilation on needed binaries

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------Authentication--------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 3/26/2019 10:23 AM Client-Info Version: 0.11.16
 3/26/2019 10:23 AM Client-Info OS:      Windows
 3/26/2019 10:23 AM Middleware::Authentication Waiting for authentication timeout to pass
 3/26/2019 10:23 AM Middleware::Communication Download: http://<IP of server>/fog/management/other/ssl/srvpublic.crt
 3/26/2019 10:23 AM Data::RSA FOG Server CA cert found
 3/26/2019 10:23 AM Middleware::Authentication Cert OK
 3/26/2019 10:23 AM Middleware::Communication POST URL: http://<IP of server>/fog/management/index.php?sub=requestClientInfo&authorize&newService
 3/26/2019 10:23 AM Middleware::Response Invalid MAC address format

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------Authentication--------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 3/26/2019 10:23 AM Client-Info Version: 0.11.16
 3/26/2019 10:23 AM Client-Info OS:      Windows
 3/26/2019 10:23 AM Middleware::Authentication Waiting for authentication timeout to pass

x23piracy

@Daryl-Lee try to reset encryption data for one host and test again, should be found in the host definition.

Regards X23

Daryl Lee

@x23piracy Thanks for the reply. The button to reset encryption data is not available. I assume this is because a token has not yet been successfully issued because of the MAC address format error.

Some addition things I have done in this area of troubleshooting:

Removed the per-existing host entry and allowed FOG PXE to put it back.
Completely removed the client between version attempts.

Here is a screenshot of the host screen:
alt text

Sebastian Roth

Probably the best is to look at what MAC addresses the fog-client finds on your hosts to see if there is really some issue with the address itself or we have a bug in the validation logic. Please download Zazzles.zip (36.0 KB), extract the Zazzles.dll, stop FOGService (Windows Services management console), rename C:\Program Files (x86)\FOG\Zazzles.dll and put the new Zazzles.dll in place. Then start the FOGService again and watch the log. Before the Communication POST URL: http://... it should print a list of MAC addresses.

Daryl Lee

@Sebastian-Roth Thanks for the help! I downloaded the provided file and put it into place. Here is the result from two separate systems.

Dell Optiplex 9020 Windows 7

1 physical NIC [MAC: D8:9E:F3:39:51:6A]
2 wireless NIC [MAC: 68:EC:C5:78:D3:5E/6A:EC:C5:78:D3:5E]
1 Bluetooth and 3 Tunnel Adapters on system [68:EC:C5:78:D3:6/00:00:00:00:00:00:00:E0/00:00:00:00:00:00:00:E0/00:00:00:00:00:00:00:E0]

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------Authentication--------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 3/26/2019 3:02 PM Client-Info Version: 0.11.16
 3/26/2019 3:02 PM Client-Info OS:      Windows
 3/26/2019 3:02 PM Middleware::Authentication Waiting for authentication timeout to pass
 3/26/2019 3:02 PM Middleware::Communication Download: http://<IP>/fog/management/other/ssl/srvpublic.crt
 3/26/2019 3:02 PM Middleware::Authentication Cert OK
 3/26/2019 3:02 PM Middleware::Authentication MACAddresses: 68:EC:C5:78:D3:62|6A:EC:C5:78:D3:5E|68:EC:C5:78:D3:5E|D8:9E:F3:39:51:6A||00:00:00:00:00:00:00:E0|00:00:00:00:00:00:00:E0|00:00:00:00:00:00:00:E0
 3/26/2019 3:02 PM Middleware::Communication POST URL: http://<IP>/fog/management/index.php?sub=requestClientInfo&authorize&newService
 3/26/2019 3:02 PM Middleware::Response ERROR: Could not parse data
 3/26/2019 3:02 PM Middleware::Response ERROR: Unexpected character encountered while parsing value: <. Path '', line 0, position 0.
 3/26/2019 3:02 PM Middleware::Authentication ERROR: Could not authenticate
 3/26/2019 3:02 PM Middleware::Authentication ERROR: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.

Dell Optiplex 9020 FRESH Windows 10:

1 NIC [MAC: 64:00:6A:51:5E:D9]
2 Tunnel Adapters [MAC: 00:00:00:00:00:00:00:E0/00:00:00:00:00:00:00:E0]

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------Authentication--------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 3/26/2019 3:08 PM Client-Info Version: 0.11.16
 3/26/2019 3:08 PM Client-Info OS:      Windows
 3/26/2019 3:08 PM Middleware::Authentication Waiting for authentication timeout to pass
 3/26/2019 3:08 PM Middleware::Communication Download: http://<IP>/fog/management/other/ssl/srvpublic.crt
 3/26/2019 3:08 PM Middleware::Authentication Cert OK
 3/26/2019 3:08 PM Middleware::Authentication MACAddresses: 64:00:6A:51:5E:D9||00:00:00:00:00:00:00:E0|00:00:00:00:00:00:00:E0
 3/26/2019 3:08 PM Middleware::Authentication No token found at C:\Program Files (x86)\FOG\token.dat, this is expected if the client has not authenticated before
 3/26/2019 3:08 PM Middleware::Authentication ERROR: Could not get security token
 3/26/2019 3:08 PM Middleware::Authentication ERROR: Could not find file 'C:\Program Files (x86)\FOG\token.dat'.
 3/26/2019 3:08 PM Middleware::Communication POST URL: http://<IP>/fog/management/index.php?sub=requestClientInfo&authorize&newService
 3/26/2019 3:08 PM Middleware::Response ERROR: Could not parse data
 3/26/2019 3:08 PM Middleware::Response ERROR: Unexpected character encountered while parsing value: <. Path '', line 0, position 0.
 3/26/2019 3:08 PM Middleware::Authentication ERROR: Could not authenticate
 3/26/2019 3:08 PM Middleware::Authentication ERROR: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.

Sebastian Roth

@Daryl-Lee Thanks for testing. We have been discussing this a while ago in the forums already but never got to a finite solution. Possibly a good point to pick this up again and find a proper solution.

Daryl Lee

@Sebastian-Roth I never noticed how the MAC Address for the tunnel adapters has extra octets, but that definitely explains the issue. I can work around this for now by just removing those adapters (a quick test looks good). Thanks for the info and appreciate the effort looking into it.

Daryl Lee

@Sebastian-Roth I ended up removing the tunnel adapters and currently only one adapter is on the system, however it still comes back with the same error even with the normal, single, MAC. Here is the output:

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------Authentication--------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 3/27/2019 11:31 AM Client-Info Version: 0.11.16
 3/27/2019 11:31 AM Client-Info OS:      Windows
 3/27/2019 11:31 AM Middleware::Authentication Waiting for authentication timeout to pass
 3/27/2019 11:31 AM Middleware::Communication Download: http://<ip>/fog/management/other/ssl/srvpublic.crt
 3/27/2019 11:31 AM Middleware::Authentication Cert OK
 3/27/2019 11:31 AM Middleware::Authentication MACAddresses: 64:00:6A:51:5E:D9
 3/27/2019 11:31 AM Middleware::Authentication No token found at C:\Program Files (x86)\FOG\token.dat, this is expected if the client has not authenticated before
 3/27/2019 11:31 AM Middleware::Authentication ERROR: Could not get security token
 3/27/2019 11:31 AM Middleware::Authentication ERROR: Could not find file 'C:\Program Files (x86)\FOG\token.dat'.
 3/27/2019 11:31 AM Middleware::Communication POST URL: http://<ip>/fog/management/index.php?sub=requestClientInfo&authorize&newService
 3/27/2019 11:31 AM Middleware::Response ERROR: Could not parse data
 3/27/2019 11:31 AM Middleware::Response ERROR: Unexpected character encountered while parsing value: <. Path '', line 0, position 0.
 3/27/2019 11:31 AM Middleware::Authentication ERROR: Could not authenticate
 3/27/2019 11:31 AM Middleware::Authentication ERROR: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.

x23piracy

@x23piracy said in Response Invalid MAC address format Windows 7 Client:

@Daryl-Lee try to reset encryption data for the specific host and try again, should be found in the host definition.

Regards X23

Sebastian Roth

@x23piracy Sorry to say this but I am fairly sure this is not gonna help here. The error is quite different. I will look into this soon.

Sebastian Roth

@Daryl-Lee Do you see the “Unable to parse data” error over and over or is it working properly sometimes? I ask because the character it complains about, <, is the start of a HTML tag. I suppose the webserver answers with a HTTP error page instead of returning proper JSON data…

Take a look at the apache logs (see my signature) and try to match client requests with logging on the client and your server.

Does the web UI still work properly?

Daryl Lee

@Sebastian-Roth said in Response Invalid MAC address format Windows 7 Client:

@Daryl-Lee Do you see the “Unable to parse data” error over and over or is it working properly sometimes? I ask because the character it complains about, <, is the start of a HTML tag. I suppose the webserver answers with a HTTP error page instead of returning proper JSON data…

Take a look at the apache logs (see my signature) and try to match client requests with logging on the client and your server.

Does the web UI still work properly?

Sorry for the delay getting back to you. I finally had some time to circle back to this. I can see the client and the web server talking, but fails after this log entry.

Answers to your questions:

httpd error_log contains nothing relevant to this error. The server never shows up in the log.
httpd access.log contains relevant access data (included below).
php www-error.log and error.log contain nothing relevant to this error.
Web UI still works great.
Matched log files with client and server:

Here is the scenario, let me know what else I can check.

Brand new CLEAN install of Windows 10. The only network device is the single network adapter. I install the client and it reaches out, gets the cert info from the webserver and then tries to POST the above line, which triggers the failure. I have both web logs and the log of the client, from the same moment.

FOG CLIENT:

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------Authentication--------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 7/22/2019 7:42 PM Client-Info Version: 0.11.16
 7/22/2019 7:42 PM Client-Info OS:      Windows
 7/22/2019 7:42 PM Middleware::Authentication Waiting for authentication timeout to pass
 7/22/2019 7:42 PM Middleware::Communication Download: http://<FOG SERVER>/fog/management/other/ssl/srvpublic.crt
 7/22/2019 7:42 PM Middleware::Authentication Cert OK
 7/22/2019 7:42 PM Middleware::Authentication MACAddresses: 64:00:6A:51:5E:EC
 7/22/2019 7:42 PM Middleware::Authentication No token found at C:\Program Files (x86)\FOG\token.dat, this is expected if the client has not authenticated before
 7/22/2019 7:42 PM Middleware::Authentication ERROR: Could not get security token
 7/22/2019 7:42 PM Middleware::Authentication ERROR: Could not find file 'C:\Program Files (x86)\FOG\token.dat'.
 7/22/2019 7:42 PM Middleware::Communication POST URL: http://<FOG SERVER>/fog/management/index.php?sub=requestClientInfo&authorize&newService
 7/22/2019 7:42 PM Middleware::Response ERROR: Could not parse data
 7/22/2019 7:42 PM Middleware::Response ERROR: Unexpected character encountered while parsing value: <. Path '', line 0, position 0.
 7/22/2019 7:42 PM Middleware::Authentication ERROR: Could not authenticate
 7/22/2019 7:42 PM Middleware::Authentication ERROR: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.

FOG SERVER - APACHE LOG (same time period)

<FOG CLIENT> - - [22/Jul/2019:19:42:23 -0700] "GET /fog/management/other/ssl/srvpublic.crt HTTP/1.1" 302 246 "-" "-"

<FOG CLIENT> - - [22/Jul/2019:19:42:23 -0700] "GET //fog/management/other/ssl/srvpublic.crt HTTP/1.1" 200 1684 "-" "-"
<FOG CLIENT> - - [22/Jul/2019:19:42:23 -0700] "POST /fog/management/index.php?sub=requestClientInfo&authorize&newService HTTP/1.1" 302 283 "-" "-"

So the fog client reached out to the fog server, gets the SSL certs, then tries to check in getting the response that it couldn’t parse the data. This is the last we see of it for a while before it starts again. This repeats over and over. At the time of this error above, the client did not exist as a host on the website. I did enter the host on the website, but the error does not change. All other website operations are fine.

I’m surprised others aren’t having this. When I made this setup it was literally a brand new server install with brand new clients. The clients don’t even exist in the database (so no fancy reset to encryption needed) and these are all being built on very standard dell systems.

If i were to guess, i would say its something to do with the SSL process. It was working before this.

Sebastian Roth

@Daryl-Lee said in Response Invalid MAC address format Windows 7 Client:

If i were to guess, i would say its something to do with the SSL process. It was working before this.

Ohhhhhh my… I must have missed that part in your initial post!! As SSL is still not too heavily used in FOG that being your problem didn’t come to my mind.

Please edit C:\Program Files (x86)\FOG\settings.json and change value for HTTPS from 0 to 1. Then restart the client.

Daryl Lee

@Sebastian-Roth
Awesome, that did it thanks!

Sebastian Roth

I added some more checks and a more appropriate error message so people will find out more easy in future versions of the fog-client.

Response Invalid MAC address format Windows 7 Client

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