Error: Activation Failed

Several events can trigger an "Activation Failed" alert:

Activation Failed - Protocol Error

This error typically occurs when you use Deep Security Manager to attempt to activate an agent and the manager is unable to communicate with the agent. The communication directionality that the agent uses determines the method that you should use to troubleshoot this error. (See Agent-Manager communication .)

Agent-initiated communication

When the agent uses agent-initiated communication, you need to activate the agent from the agent computer. (See Activate an agent.)

When using Deep Security as a Service, agent-initiated communication is the recommended communication directionality.

Bidirectional communication

Use the following troubleshooting steps when the error occurs and the agent uses bidirectional communication:

  1. Ensure that the agent is installed on the computer and that the agent is running.
  2. Ensure that the ports are open between the manager and the agent. (See Port numbers and Firewall Rules.)

Activation failed - Unable to resolve hostname

The error: Activation Failed (Unable to resolve hostname) could be the result of an unresolvable hostname in DNS or of activating the agent from Deep Security Manager when you are not using agent-initiated activation.

If your agent is in bidirectional or manager-initiated mode, your hostname must be resolvable in DNS. Check the DNS on your Deep Security Manager to ensure it can resolve your hosts.

If you are a Deep Security as a Service user or your computers are in cloud accounts, we recommend that you always use agent-initiated activation. Learn how to configure policy rules for agent-initiated communication and deploy agents using deployment scripts, see Use agent-initiated communication with cloud accounts.

Activation failed - No Agent/Appliance

This error message indicates that the agent software has not been installed on the computer that you would like to protect.

To install agent software:

For Deep Security from AWS Marketplace—review the section Deploy Deep Security agents to your AWS instances in Getting started with Deep Security AMI from AWS Marketplace.