Starting from SFWHA 6.0, the 'Symantec Product Authentication Service' was replaced and renamed to 'Veritas Authentication Service.' This service is used to provide secure communication between the cluster nodes and the clients, such as Cluster Manager (Java Console) and services.

When a user performs an upgrade to SFHWA 6.0 instead of a fresh install, this 'Symantec Product Authentication Service,' also known as VRTSat, is left behind. It may be used by other Symantec products.

Although this service is still listed as 'Automatic,' it cannot be started.

The 'Veritas Product Authentication Service,' can be safely removed without affecting the current running 'Veritas Authentication Service,'  through the command line as below:

sc stop VRTSat
sc delete VRTSat

A single sign-on (SSO) will still function properly after the removal.

After upgrading Storage Foundation HA for Windows (SFWHA) from 5.1SP2 to 6.0, the old 'Veritas Product Authentication Service' remains on the service list, together with the new service called 'VCS Authentication Service.' The 'Veritas Product Authentication Service' service can be set to 'Automatic,' but it cannot be started.