Mac GlobalProtect = Detected another instance

[cmateam]

I just setup SSL-VPN access on our PAN-2020s and downloaded the latest Global Protect Bundle that was released on June 20th, 2012 - v. 1.1.5.  I logged into the portal in my mac and installed the version for Mac running OS X 10.7.4 (64bit) and once the application was done installing I get a popup that says "An old GlobalProtect instance exists, new instance cannot be started!".

I've never installed GlobalProtect before, and am unsure as to why I am getting this error.

This is typical logging information from Console after installing:

6/21/12 8:55:30.482 PM com.paloaltonetworks.gp.pangpa: P 421-T2823  Jun 21 20:55:30:481807 Info (1009): found another instance: 0

6/21/12 8:55:31.976 PM com.apple.launchd.peruser.1247467267: (com.paloaltonetworks.gp.pangpa) Throttling respawn: Will start in 9 seconds

6/21/12 8:55:41.069 PM com.paloaltonetworks.gp.pangpa: P 429-T2823  Jun 21 20:55:41:69004 Info (1009): found another instance: 0

6/21/12 8:55:43.119 PM com.apple.launchd.peruser.1247467267: (com.paloaltonetworks.gp.pangpa) Throttling respawn: Will start in 8 seconds

And this is after I uninstalled:

6/21/12 8:58:06.675 PM Installer: **** Summary Information ****

6/21/12 8:58:06.675 PM Installer:   Operation      Elapsed time

6/21/12 8:58:06.675 PM Installer: -----------------------------

6/21/12 8:58:06.675 PM Installer:        disk      0.01 seconds

6/21/12 8:58:06.675 PM Installer:      script      0.00 seconds

6/21/12 8:58:06.675 PM Installer:        zero      0.02 seconds

6/21/12 8:58:06.675 PM Installer:     install      11.12 seconds

6/21/12 8:58:06.675 PM Installer:     -total-      11.15 seconds

6/21/12 8:58:06.832 PM Installer: IFDInstallController F2001E10 state = 5

6/21/12 8:58:06.832 PM Installer: Displaying 'Install Succeeded' UI.

6/21/12 8:58:06.000 PM kernel: PsvDrv[line 75]: ctl_deregister failed with error 16

6/21/12 8:58:06.000 PM kernel: Kext com.paloaltonetworks.kext.pangpd did not stop (return code 0x5).

6/21/12 8:58:06.000 PM kernel: Kext com.paloaltonetworks.kext.pangpd can't unload - module stop returned 0xdc008017.

6/21/12 8:58:11.815 PM com.apple.launchd.peruser.1247467267: (com.paloaltonetworks.gp.pangpa[639]) posix_spawn("/Applications/GlobalProtect.app/Contents/MacOS/GlobalProtect", ...): No such file or directory

6/21/12 8:58:11.815 PM com.apple.launchd.peruser.1247467267: (com.paloaltonetworks.gp.pangpa[639]) Exited with code: 1

6/21/12 8:58:11.815 PM com.apple.launchd.peruser.1247467267: (com.paloaltonetworks.gp.pangpa) Throttling respawn: Will start in 10 seconds

6/21/12 8:58:12.934 PM sandboxd: ([349]) WebProcess(349) deny file-read-data /Library/Managed Preferences/chris baker/.GlobalPreferences.plist

6/21/12 8:59:51.842 PM com.apple.launchd.peruser.1247467267: (com.paloaltonetworks.gp.pangpa[653]) posix_spawn("/Applications/GlobalProtect.app/Contents/MacOS/GlobalProtect", ...): No such file or directory

6/21/12 8:59:51.843 PM com.apple.launchd.peruser.1247467267: (com.paloaltonetworks.gp.pangpa[653]) Exited with code: 1

6/21/12 8:59:51.843 PM com.apple.launchd.peruser.1247467267: (com.paloaltonetworks.gp.pangpa) Throttling respawn: Will start in 10 seconds

I have to go hack a hidden plist file under /private/var/db/launchd.db/com.apple.launchd.peruser.1247467267 and reboot my machine to stop the process from trying to launch the application that has since been removed.

Tomorrow I plan to revert back one version of the GPBundle and try that to see if it works.  Has anyone else seen this issue?  Thanks.

[cmateam]

This issue seems to be related to my account specifically.  However, I never had Global Protect installed previously.  So I am at a loss on this one.  Hmm..

[UhMayYeah · Accepted solution]

Check the Application Instances on your MAC, Applications->Utilities->Activity Monitor should show you the application instances.

Also if you have spaces within your username ,there are outstanding issues which are planned to fixed in the upcoming 4.1.7 release.

Regards,

AK

[cmateam]

I see GlobalProtect and PanGPS running.  Under another account, it only shows GlobalProtect.  This is on the same computer. 

We do have spaces in our user names.  When do you expect this fix to be released?  We just put our PAN's into production and have Mac users who need VPN access. Thanks.

[Haymarket]

I was just wondering if you resolved this?, I am having the same issue using a Mac with 10.6.X when using my AD account, however if I use the local Admin account I don't get a problem.

My account does have a First name space Last name so my next test is to create an account with just a first name to see if that is the cause.

[Haymarket]

Ok the issue looks to be if the name has a space so a quick work around is to put a dot between first name and last name eg, rather than bob hope change to bob.hope

Fingers crossed this gets resolved in the next release.

[cmateam]

James,

Glad I'm not the only one having this problem.  Does the . work?  We have firstname lastname and that doesn't work like you mentioned.  Our email addresses work for logins as well, but did not have any luck with that. Spaces work great on a windows side, but they mentioned the next release fixes the space problem. I've been anxious for this as I have mac users needing VPN access.  I was told you can use other IPsec clients to connect, so I was going to look for one for the Mac.

[Haymarket]

Yes the dot worked, this is for the login (AD account) you login to your Mac with [not] the name used in the global protect application.

Just wanted to make that clear.

Give it a try I just created a test account in AD called pd.test and used this to login onto the Mac, and the global protect software stoped having an issue.

Let me know how you get on, hopefully this helps others until a fix is provided.

[cmateam]

Interesting.  That's a lot of work for users who have accounts already setup on their Mac's.  Installing third party software, if it works, seems like a better solution for a temp problem (hopefully its temp, anyway).  Good to know this fixes the issue.

[cmateam]

James,

I was told that 1.1.6 would be release in conjunction with PANOS 4.1.7 update early August and the name space issue would be resolved.  This is per my sales engineer.

[Haymarket]

That's good news, I'm a bit surprised they did not pick up something as simple as this in testing did the dot work for you in the test?, just wanted to see if my results are correct, always good to get a second pair of eyes on the fault.

[cmateam]

I didn't do a . test, but I have a admin account that is prefix_name style and that works great on my Mac. So I'd assume it's the same as the .? 

[Haymarket]

As you are most probably aware this issue with a space has been fixed in the new Global Protect version 1.1.6 this works fine with Apple 10.6 and Apple O/S 10.7 however we have run into issues with O/S 10.8 if you use 10.8 it does not remember the Username or Password on a reboot it does for some strange reason remember the gateway address.

However as of this morning we have just patched 10.8 to 10.8.1 and this issue has inadvertently been fixed, and all so far looks to be working Ok.

I will update this section if we discover any further issues.