Asset Intelligence is failing to Sync

 

If you have looked at your AIUpdateSvc.log file lately you may have notice a few errors in there showing that you are not syncing with the System Center Online Catalog.  The errors may look something like this:

Asset Intelligence Catalog Sync Service Information: 0 : Thu, 26 May 2011 20:10:33 GMT:Authentication: Did not find machine certificate in ALM store Asset Intelligence Catalog Sync Service Information: 0 : Thu, 26 May 2011 20:10:33 GMT:Enrollment Certicate Path is Asset Intelligence Catalog Sync Service Information: 0 : Thu, 26 May 2011 20:10:34 GMT:Redirected to URL https://sc.microsoft.com/CatalogService/service.svc Asset Intelligence Catalog Sync Service Warning: 0 : Thu, 26 May 2011 20:10:36 GMT:WebException trying to enroll: Status = ProtocolError Asset Intelligence Catalog Sync Service Error: 0 : Thu, 26 May 2011 20:10:36 GMT:Exception attempting sync - The request failed with HTTP status 403: Forbidden.

In Service Pack 2 for CM07 we removed the need for customers to have a certificate to connect with System Center Online.  This was only partly true.  We still require an internal certificate to connect.  This certificate is built into Config Manager and is require to verify that it is a valid Config Manager Site that is connecting to us to upload and download information.  In late April this internal certificate expired and that is causing the error shown above.  Take a look at KB article 2483225.  This article will provide more information about the error and also include a link to a hotfix that will take care of this issue.  Once the hotfix is install I had to restart all my SMS Services and then the next sync cycle connected correctly.

Since most folks create the AI sync point and then forget about it this is something that can go undetected for a while.  Take a look at your log as soon as possible to see if you are having this issue.  Everyone should run into this when the certificate expires.