Trust of Spotfire Node Manager fails with the error "connect timed out" and "Could not contact the remote"

Product:TIBCO Spotfire Server
Versions:7.5 and higher

Summary:
In this article you will learn why you cannot trust a node manager.

Details:
After installing a new TIBCO Spotfire Server and Node Manager and confirming that both applications are running successfully on their individual machines, when attempting to trust the Node Manager in the Nodes & Services --> "Untrusted Nodes" tab, the node reverts back an untrusted node shortly after clicking the "Trust Nodes" button. Look at the Spotfire server's server.log. You may see the following:

ERROR 2017-06-01T18:27:58,869-0400 [http-nio-443-exec-8] web.controller.TrustController: The certificate could not be communicated to the Node Node [serverId=2298f739-7709-4c9e-a299-82e6e8ee5e2c, serverName=ServerName.local, port=9443, online=false, siteID=5c2c7b84-e1f4-4187-9799-85a2a48f0ebc]
WARN 2017-06-01T18:28:28,906-0400 [] server.http.HttpCallable: Failed to send ServiceCommand request to 'https://ServerName.local:9443/spotfire/remote/message' : Connect to ServerName.local:9443 [ServerName.local/10.117.30.48] failed: connect timed out
WARN 2017-06-01T18:28:28,906-0400 [] control.communicator.HttpMonitor: Could not contact the remote. Message: ControlCommand [controlCommandType=SERVICE_ANNOUNCE, eventDataType=TERMINAL_COMMAND, anticipatedSteps=1, guid=b56a9917-0009-48ff-8fbe-90dada9ee05d, node=Node [serverId=2298f739-7709-4c9e-a299-82e6e8ee5e2c, serverName=ServerName.local, port=9443, online=false, siteID=5c2c7b84-e1f4-4187-9799-85a2a48f0ebc]]

 

Resolution:
Assuming the TIBCO Spotfire Server and Node Manager applications are running, verify the TIBCO Spotfire Server and Node Manager machines can communicate.

• Check if the TIBCO Spotfire Server can ping and Telnet to the Node Manager server via the 2 ports (communication and registration).
• Check if the Node Manager server can ping and Telnet to the TIBCO Spotfire Server via the 2 ports.

For example, suppose the TIBCO Spotfire Server is on 10.97.37.149 and running on default registration and communication ports (9080 and 9443) and the Node Manager is on 10.97.37.148 and running on default registration and communication ports (9080 and 9443).

In this scenario, the telnet command from Spotfire Server to Node Manager would have the following syntax:

telnet <IP address> <port>

If the connection succeeds, a blank screen will show up, meaning that the computer port is open. This is an example of a successful telnet connection:


When the telnet connection fails, it would look like this:


The test should also be performed in the opposite direction. The opposite test (from the Node Manager to the Spotfire Server) would be similar and a failure is shown here:


Additionally, to test the ping connectivity, from the command prompt on 10.97.37.149 run the following command:

ping 10.97.37.148

and from 10.97.37.148 run the following command:

ping 10.97.37.149

If they cannot connect on those given ports, then there is a DNS and/or firewall issue preventing the proper communication. Work with your network or firewall administrators to ensure the machines can communicate on the required ports.