Remote App Server Shows Offline in VDC Despite Agent Console Saying "Service is running"
  

George Fady Lv2Posted 2026-Aug-31 19:31

I'm George, part of the Technical Support team at Sangfor (RMEA region). Wanted to share a case I worked recently in case others run into the same confusing symptom.
The Problem
During a VDI Remote App deployment (HCI 6.3.1, VDC 5.9.6), a newly installed Remote App Server showed up as Offline in VDC under Assets > Remote App Servers — and not just offline, but with every related field blank: Agent Protocol, Agent Version, Cluster, Run Location, all showing "-". That blank-field pattern is the key detail: it means VDC has never received a single successful registration from the agent, as opposed to a connection that was established and then dropped.
What made this one tricky is that the local Agent Console on the Remote App Server itself showed "Service is running..." with the VDC IP and Agent Port (7170) correctly filled in. So from the server's side, everything looked fine — which naturally points suspicion away from the agent and toward the network/config layer.
Why This Happens
When you see this exact combination — agent shows "running" locally, but VDC shows Offline with completely blank fields — it almost always comes down to one (or more) of these:

  • The required port isn't actually open in both directions

  • The server entry in VDC doesn't match the real IP/port the agent is using

  • The agent process needs to be told to retry registration rather than waiting passively

How I Solved It
For anyone hitting this, here's the sequence that worked:

  • Confirmed the port requirement. TCP 7170 is the port VDC uses to reach the Remote App Server for registration and status monitoring (separate from the client-facing screen transmission ports 7171/7172/8801-9001). I tested connectivity from VDC to the server on 7170 and found it was being blocked.

  • Opened the firewall. Corrected the Windows Firewall rule on the Remote App Server to allow inbound TCP 7170 from the VDC.

  • Fixed the config mismatch. Cross-checked the server's IP/port entry under VDC > Assets > Remote App Servers against what was actually configured in the local Agent Console — they didn't match. Corrected the VDC-side entry.

  • Forced a reconnect. Used VDC > Assets > Remote App Servers > More > Update Agent to trigger an active re-registration attempt rather than waiting for the next passive retry cycle.

After these three fixes, the server flipped to Online with all fields (Agent Protocol, Version, Cluster, Run Location) correctly populated.
Takeaway for the community
If your Remote App Server shows "Service is running" locally but VDC displays it as Offline with blank metadata fields, don't assume the agent installation is broken — check network path + config match first. A quick note also worth remembering: on newer builds, don't be thrown off by folder naming (Sangfor VMSTool under Program Files is a separate VDI VM component, not the Remote App agent — the actual Remote App process runs as RemoteAppServer).
Hope this saves someone a support ticket. Happy to answer questions if you're seeing something similar.
— George, Technical Support, Sangfor (RMEA)

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Arsalan Israr Lv1Posted 2026-Sep-01 01:57
  
Thanks for sharing