A scanning server marked "scanserver unavailable" or missing from the web console means one thing: that server isn't reaching your Lansweeper database. This article covers the causes, in the order worth checking.
How scanning servers report status
When you install Lansweeper Classic, a service called Lansweeper Server is added to Windows Services on the machine hosting your installation. This service scans your network and sends data back to your Lansweeper database. It also pushes configured deployments to Windows computers and processes emails.
The Lansweeper Server service is the scanning service, and the machine hosting it is a scanning server. Every installation has at least one, and you can configure more. The service is set to start automatically, because it has to be running to scan your network.
Each scanning server reports its status by writing to the database. A server that can't reach the database can't report in, so the console shows it as down or unavailable. A secondary scanning server that never reaches the database never gets its own configuration tab in the console at all.
Check the scanning service is running
On the affected server, open Windows Services and find Lansweeper Server.
- If the service is stopped, start it.
- If the service fails to start, or starts and then stops, check the Windows Event Viewer for the failure reason before going further.
- Confirm the startup type is Automatic, so the service comes back after a reboot.
If the service runs but the console still reports the server as unavailable, continue below.
Check for a duplicate server name
If you're connecting a secondary scanning server, verify it doesn't share a name with another scanning server in your installation. Multiple scanning servers with the same name aren't supported.
Check the database connection string
The installer writes a random username and password to a secondary scanning server's configuration file. A secondary server can install successfully and still fail to reach the database for this reason. This is the most common cause of a missing configuration tab.
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If your database is hosted in SQL LocalDB or SQL Server and you never set your own database password, change the Lansweeper database password now.
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Stop the Lansweeper Server service in Windows Services on the affected server.
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Run the ConfigEditor tool at
Program Files (x86)\Lansweeper\Tools\ConfigEditor.exeon the affected server. -
Compare the ConnectionString on the Service tab against the one on the Website tab of ConfigEditor on the server hosting your web console. They must match.
For SQL Compact, the connection string is only a reference to an
.sdffile and should already be correct. For SQL LocalDB and SQL Server, check that the Data Source (SQL instance name), Initial Catalog (Lansweeper database name), username, and password are all correct.On remote servers, replace any
localhostreference in the Data Source with your database server's actual name or IP address. -
Restart the Lansweeper Server service in Windows Services on the affected server.
If you can see data in the web console, the console is reaching the database and its connection string is correct. A scanning server using those same connection details should reach the database too.
Check the network path to your database
A correct connection string still fails if the scanning server can't reach the database over the network. This applies to any scanning server that isn't on the same machine as your database.
Confirm the scanning server can reach your SQL Server instance on port 1433/TCP, plus any other ports your instance uses. See ports scanned or used by Lansweeper for the full list.
Read the error log
If the issue persists, look for recent entries in Program Files (x86)\Lansweeper\Service\Errorlog.txt on the affected server. The log usually names the reason the database connection failed.
Two common errors have their own articles: