Troubleshooting the Android agent is very similar to troubleshooting any BigFix agent since all agents are based on the same code. The troubleshooting steps described in the wiki section at https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/mydeveloperworks/wikis/home?lang=en#/wiki/Tivoli%20Endpoint%20Manager/page/Troubleshooting can be used for the Android agent.

Basic Troubleshooting

The Android agent has a troubleshooting option available in the app if you push the "menu" button. The troubleshooting menu allows you to perform tasks to start/stop/restart the agent, copy the agent files to the SD card (where they can be viewed), or reset the agent.

If you install and configure the agent, but it does not appear in the Console after a few minutes, common connectivity issues to check for include:

• Make sure the Android agent can contact the server or relay by the dns name / IP that was entered when the agent was installed.
• When using wifi, ensure there is a network route to the server or relay. If the Android device is connected on Edge/3G/4G, you will need to set up an Internet Relay to allow the device to connect.
• Android agent need to use fully qualified DNS names or IP addresses to contact the server or relay.
• To check connectivity, open the Android browser and type the name of your relay or server with the port number like this: http://dnsname.companyname.com:52311/masthead. You should see a text masthead file if the connectivity is not working. If you do not see the file, it means that the Android device cannot connect to the server.

Accessing to the Android agent logs and data files

The Android app sandbox model on Android prevents apps from seeing data from other apps. This is useful for security reasons, but it makes it difficult to troubleshoot using typical techniques where you browse to a file folder to view logs or see the data files. To avoid this issue and assist troubleshooting, the Android agent allows you to copy the agent's data folder and logs to the SD card into a file "besagent.zip" where it can be copied to a computer (typically through a USB cable) or by viewing the contents with an Android file explorer (such as ES File Explorer). The log files (located in the zip file in the directory "/tem-agent-files/__BESData/__Global/Logs" will help troubleshoot the issue.

Uninstalling the Android agent

The Android agent can be uninstalled by the user of the device (the user of the device always has permissions to uninstall any app). However, since the Android agent is installed as a "Device Administrator", some versions of Android require that they user first go to the device settings and uncheck the device administrator box before uninstalling the agent. On many Android versions, you can deselect the Device Administrator by going to: Settings > Location and Security > Select Device Administrator

The user can then go to Settings > Applications > Manage Applications and then remove the TEM agent.

Note that uninstalling the Android agent will remove all data associated with BigFix from the device and if you later reinstall the agent, it will appear as a different device in the console (this is somewhat different from other BigFix Agents that typically leave behind some information so if they are reinstalled, they will report as the same device).