KB275991816: Automation Engine - Troubleshoot Esko Cloud Connection (to Share & Approve)

Summary and Symptoms

When connecting Automation Engine to Esko Cloud (Share & Approve), you get the message 'Failed to Connect, retry later'. or 'Failed to connect to EskoCloud. Please retry later'.  You cannot connect to Esko Cloud. 

Other failures for which this article may be helpful: 

• Failed to connect to Esko Cloud. Getting userinfo  (via token) failed for xxx HTTP-GET to xxxx.getCurrentUserInfo returned: 401 (Authentication is possible but has failed or not yet been provided)

Solution

Check following: 

• The info you provide to the input field is a valid JSON string (the best way to get to it is to copy from the Equipment Creation/Edit page in Esko Cloud by clicking on the '+' button). It looks like: 

  {"token":"xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx","site":"SomeSiteName","organization":"a-p-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx","domain":"someregion.esko.cloud","url":"https://approve.us.esko.cloud/sites/rU8qDCwhFnou/SomeSiteName/myNetwork/equipment"}

• On Esko Cloud Share & Approve: Your Automation equipment is member of the group Automation Engines. 
• On Esko Cloud Share & Approve: 
  • For a subscribed account (normal customers): Your Automation engine is subscribed. 
    • If not subscribed, subscribe it
    • If it is, try un-subscribing and subscribing again. 
  • Such subscription is not needed for a Subscription Free account (typically inside Esko for demo). 
• The group Automation Engines has Manager access to the site mentioned in the JSON string (above 'SomeSiteName'). You can check these permissions by going as Administrator to that site and on the root, click the Share button/Manage Permissions. You will see a line containing Automation Engines with Manager Role.
• After correcting the latter two, your Automation Engine needs to log out and log in again. There is no user interface for this. One solution is to wait for an hour and try again. 
• Your Automation Engine is at least version 18.1.1. If not, please upgrade to at least 18.1.1. (better a more recent version). 

If that is not successful:

• Check the log file on Automation Engine. You find it on C:\Esko\bg_data_fastserver_v100\LOGGING\bgmd_dateinfo.log  (where C:\Esko is your Esko home, possibly on another drive and dateinfo is different every day, but only 1 fitting today). Search for ERROR CM_TSitesHandler.  If you find it, it will typically show also something like 
  Getting userinfo(via token) failed for us.esko.cloud-xxx. HTTP-GET to https://iam.us.esko.cloud/rest/iam/getCurrentUserInfo?org=a-p-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx returned: 400→ means that your token is wrong or no longer valid (e.g. because a newer one was meanwhile generated for the same equipment). 
• If you don't find the previous, search for "Connection Setup failed".  A typical line you find is:
  Problem connecting Automation Engine Enterprise: there is configuration (a-p-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx/SomeSiteName in us.esko.cloud) but no equipment having appropriate access rights. This line points to missing access rights (see above for what you  need) but seems to also point to any other issue found.
• Token does not correspond to an Automation Engine Equipment node. Check whether you are not using the token of another equipment type such as WebCenter or other. Create an equipment of type Automation Engine instead. 
• Search for ERROR CM_TRepoClient - Automation engine is not subscribed: try to (optionally) unsubscribe via the My Network/Equipment user interface and subscribe (again). Check the log file again to see whether the problem persists. 
• Search for 404 for GET https://repo.eu.esko.cloud/INFO/v0/INDEX or userid: null.  If this is found, check your Automation Engine version. If it's older than 18.1.1., please upgrade. 

If none of this works, generate a new token in Esko Cloud. 

If that is still not successful, you could delete your Automation Engine equipment and generate it again. However, please note that a newly created one, even if it has the same name, is a new identity in Esko Cloud. This means that files created by the previous connection will no longer be recognized as this Automation Engine. For Share & Approve, this has largely aesthetic disadvantages, but in Automation Engine 'Enterprise', this can have more far-going disadvantages.