All, we have been seeing a lot of cases come into support about this issue after installing Update 2. Here is a wiki that will walk you through the resolution steps. TROUBLESHOOTING: Failed to retrieve schema or cannot connect to database while creating a FIM MA http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/9112.troubleshooting-failed-to-retrieve-schema-or-cannot-connect-to-database-while-creating-a-fim-ma.aspxTimothy P Macaulay, MCSD, MCSD.NET, MCAD, MCP

I now cannot refresh the FIM MA. I have swapped those two lines in the config file but it makes no difference. Should this fix also apply to refreshing? The error I get now is "Failed to connect to the specified database".http://www.wapshere.com/missmiis

Hi Carol, Does the account have the correct user rights on the machine? <o:p></o:p> Cheers,<o:p></o:p> (HOPEFULLY THIS INFORMATION HELPS YOU!) Jorge de Almeida Pinto | MVP Identity & Access - Directory Services ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- * This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties and confers no rights! * Always evaluate/test yourself before using/implementing this! * DISCLAIMER: http://jorgequestforknowledge.wordpress.com/disclaimer/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ################# Jorge's Quest For Knowledge ############### ###### BLOG URL: http://JorgeQuestForKnowledge.wordpress.com/ ##### #### RSS Feed URL: http://jorgequestforknowledge.wordpress.com/feed/ #### -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<o:p></o:p> "Carol Wapshere [MVP]" wrote in message news:3d0148e9-43b6-4287-84e5-fee07c877eae@communitybridge.codeplex.com... I now cannot refresh the FIM MA. I have swapped those two lines in the config file but it makes no difference. Should this fix also apply to refreshing? The error I get now is "Failed to connect to the specified database". http://www.wapshere.com/missmiis Jorge de Almeida Pinto [MVP-DS] | Principal Consultant | BLOG: http://jorgequestforknowledge.wordpress.com/

Hi Carol, No. This fix should not apply to refreshing the schema. If you are getting "Failed to connect to the specified database" during a refresh of the schema it may be a couple different things. 1. Ensure that the account mentioned in the FIM MA is the same as the account that you specified during the installation of the FIM Service and Portal. FIM 2010 - How to validate FIM Service Management Agent Account: http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/7348.fim-2010-how-to-validate-fim-service-management-agent-account.aspx 2. If the SQL Server is remote, ensure that you can reach the SQL Server from the FIM Synchronization Service server. See if you can ping the SQL Server from the FIM Synchronization Service serverUse a UDL file and see if you can connect to the SQL Server while logged into the FIM Synchronization Service server as the account specified in the FIM Service Managment Agent. Ensure that the SQL Server Service is startedUse SQL Profiler to see if you can trace the account logging into the SQL Server I hope that helps. Cheers, Tim Macaulay, Microsoft Support - Identity Support Team Timothy P Macaulay, MCSD, MCSD.NET, MCAD, MCP

OK but the FIM MA account did not change in any way. It was working perfectly on imports and exports - then I make a change to the Portal schema, get an app-store-import-error, go to refresh the FIM MA schema and can't do it. Rolled back the database to before the schema change and the FIM MA works fine. Why would it work on imports and exports but not on a scheme refresh? http://www.wapshere.com/missmiis

Hi Carol, What build of FIM 2010 were you working on prior to the 4.00.3606.2 update (FIM 2010 Update 2)? FIM 2010 RTM (4.00.2592.0) did not experience the problem with the difference in the FIM Service Management Agent (FIM MA) account, and the account specified during installation. They actually could be different. However, in later builds FIM got more strict on things like the FIM MA account matching the account used during the installation. You would not see the problem until you did something like refresh the schema of the FIM MA, or did a change to the schema in the FIM Portal, or experienced some other problem in the FIM Portal or FIM Service. So if you upgraded from 2592 to 3531 (Update 1) and did not make any changes, then Imports and Exports would work. This is most likely why you are experiencing the problem now, is that you are attempting to refresh the schema. Timothy P Macaulay, MCSD, MCSD.NET, MCAD, MCP

This server was installed fresh a couple of weeks ago with the sync and portal configs imported from the dev environment. I initially put update rollup 2 straight on it then couldn't create the fim ma. So after wasting an entire day on that I reinstalled the server, created the fim ma first, and then installed update rollup 2, and then re-migrated my configs. I tested a schema refresh then and it was fine - however there were no schema updates to apply, so I don't know if that makes a difference. All the work since then has been testing with only minor changes and I do not believe there have been any changes made to the fim ma account. Which was of course the one I specified during installation (and I've gone and compared the SIDs and accountnames just to be extra sure). http://www.wapshere.com/missmiis

Dang it someone had changed something! Logon locally rights were revoked since I was last there - maybe a group policy change or something. After all the fuss I had initially with the FIMMA and rollup 2 I thought it was the same problem, but no, just a garden variety rights issue. Sorry for clogging up this thread with something unrelated..http://www.wapshere.com/missmiis

that??s why I said....?Does the account have the correct user rights on the machine?? whenever I get the error you got, I check the following: * server name and instance on the FIM MA * service address on the FIM MA * permissions config on SQL * user rights config on windows most of the times it is the last one! <o:p></o:p> Cheers,<o:p></o:p> (HOPEFULLY THIS INFORMATION HELPS YOU!) Jorge de Almeida Pinto | MVP Identity & Access - Directory Services ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- * This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties and confers no rights! * Always evaluate/test yourself before using/implementing this! * DISCLAIMER: http://jorgequestforknowledge.wordpress.com/disclaimer/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ################# Jorge's Quest For Knowledge ############### ###### BLOG URL: http://JorgeQuestForKnowledge.wordpress.com/ ##### #### RSS Feed URL: http://jorgequestforknowledge.wordpress.com/feed/ #### -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<o:p></o:p> "Carol Wapshere [MVP]" wrote in message news:96cef66d-4fe4-479a-af19-d094d51e9828@communitybridge.codeplex.com... Dang it someone had changed something! Logon locally rights were revoked since I was last there - maybe a group policy change or something. After all the fuss I had initially with the FIMMA and rollup 2 I thought it was the same problem, but no, just a garden variety rights issue. Sorry for clogging up this thread with something unrelated.. http://www.wapshere.com/missmiis Jorge de Almeida Pinto [MVP-DS] | Principal Consultant | BLOG: http://jorgequestforknowledge.wordpress.com/