RPC Server Unavailable error when trying to audit machines remotely

When ENT NetCenter shows 'RPC Server Unavailable' in the Network Status for the machine that you are trying to audit, this basically indicates that either the DCOM or WMI service is not present or not available on the remote machine. There could be various reasons for this, depending on the operating system that is installed on the machine that you are trying to audit.

Windows 95, 98 or NT 4.0

If the remote machine is running one of the Windows 95, 98 or NT 4.0 operating systems, the problem could be that WMI has not been installed or that Remote Connections for DCOM have not been enabled. The following PDF document contains detailed information on how to configure machines, which are running these operatings systems, so that these can be audited remotely:

Windows 2000 or Windows XP (service pack 1 or earlier)

For machine running Windows 2000 or Windows XP Service pack 1 or earlier, such a message is usually an indication that the machine is not powered on. If this is not the case, it may be the the system administrator on your network has explicity blocked access to either the WMI service on these machines or the ports that it requires. Otherwise, both the General Advice and the information relating to Windows 2003 or later, here below, may be of use to you.

Windows XP (service pack 2 or later), Windows 2003 SP1 or later

If the remote machine is running Windows XP SP2, Windows 2003 SP1 or later, then it may also be the case that the WMI service on the remote machine has been blocked on the remote machine for security reasons (probably by the windows Firewall). Please refer to the following knowledge base article for further information :

RPC Server Unavailable when auditing machines running Windows 2003 or XP SP2.

General Advice 

If you didn't find a resolution relating to the specific operating system running on the machine that you are trying to audit, above, The following checklist may help you troubleshoot the problem.

1. If the machine that you are trying to audit is running Windows 95/98, you will need to make sure that DCOM is installed and running
   
2. If the machine that you are trying to audit is running Windows 95/98 or ME then you will have to enable remote connections for DCOM on the remote machine
   
3. If the machine is running Windows 95/98 or NT 4.0 then you will have to make sure WMI has been installed on the remote machine
   
4. Try running EntAudit.exe from the command line on the remote machine. If EntAudit.exe can audit the machine then that indicates that DCOM and WMI are correctly installed on the machine and that the problem is security related (i.e. you can audit the machine locally but don't have privileges to audit this remotely). In this case, you will have to change the security settings for WMI on the machine in question to allow remote WMI connections.
   
5. If you are sure that none of the above is causing the problem then make sure that the remote machine is powered on and connected to the network