Unlimited Stops Hosting

[FilemakerKid]

Hello All,

I have a problem with my web site. For unknown reasons my files stops hosting but is still open and running on my client PC.

At the moment i have the file as hidden ( multi Users ) is this the resaons why it is dropping?:

I am using custom pages for my site.

Regards,

Martin

[Anatoli]

Could you ping the address from outside?

Did you check WC sharing?

Did you restart FM?

Version? Platform?

[FilemakerKid]

Hello,

"Yes" i can ping the client PC no problems there. I am using Filemaker Unlimited 6.0

When i close down filemaker and re-launch it. Things are back to normal and everything is OK for a few days?

Regards, Martin

[dwal]

This is the same type of problem earlier on this forum. It is titled 'FMU Unexpectantly quitting' at

http://www.fmforums.com/threads/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=UBB5&Number=52499&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=&fpart=1

I have been having the same problem as you after upgrading to FMU 6. I am using a Mac. The processor is pegged at 100%. FMU still functions but is extremely slow. I reload FMU daily to fix it. I never had any problems with FMU 5.5 and am considering downgrading to FMU 5.5

[r309k]

I have worked hours on this problem. I have discovered by the process of elimination that any time my data base is accesses by someone using Netscape 6.0, it crashes the data base. I am using Filemaker Unlimited and I contacted Filemaker and they confirmed that this is indeed a problem. I went back to Filemaker 4.0 and it works perfectly with all browsers

[Vaughan]

Could you confirm this for me: FMPU 6 is crashed by Netscape 6.0, but FMPU 5.5 isn't?

I'm setting up a server soon and have the choice of versions.

Thanks.

[FilemakerKid]

Hello All, This is a big problem now for me. I will keep you all updated on my finding....

[jims]

If it's any consolation for the Mac users here, I joined this forum because I have the same problem, but on a 600MHz Pentium using Windows 2000 Workstation, FMPU6.

One of my files seems to drop off the web for no reason. The web user sees "database xxxxx.fp5 not open" This file has about 25,000 records. When I look at the machine with FMPU on it, the file is open and in various states, either having a find with 0 records or a find with any number of records.

I had been running FMP4 as a service under NT server with very few problems for years. When we updated to 6, we moved the web function to its own box running FMPUnlimited.

Right now I shut down the files daily for backing up, and restart, but the file still stops serving to the web for no apparent reason.

I thought the problem might be too many requests; but it seems the requests queue until gotten to; I can't really be sure.

Any other suggestions?

[jims]

A follow up:

I had read that the culprit may be Netscape clients, and I did get my databases to shut down using Netscape. However, I have a new theory.

It seems like when the web client hits the stop button (as in waiting for a long query to process and impatience sets in) this causes the file to "shut down."

The next query coming in after that gets the "database not open message" It occurs with both IE and Navigator (I don't have any other browsers to try...)

This may be the problem, but what is the solution?

Jim

[Anatoli]

Are Web user allowed to "export" records from FM? If not try to enable "export".

[Mariano Peterson]

I've found something that causes this exact problem every time (where FMP is still open and functioning, but a single file stops responding to web requests, and restarting FMP "fixes" the problem).

If an http connection is dropped before FMP can respond to it, web companion goes haywire.

Here's the event sequence that crashes web companion:

Client application sends http request to web companion (WC) for data from file x.

WC receives the request

WC can't respond to it because the FileMaker Server (FMPS) is performing a backup.

WC keeps the http connection with the client open while the server backs up.

User of client application gets impatient and closes the connection from their end.

FMPS completes backup.

WC processes queued requests.

WC attempts to respond to client application.

WC discovers that the http connection to the client is no longer available.

WC freaks out.

WC stops processing all requests for data in file X.

WC continues processing and responding to requests for data in other files.

I discovered this because the errors coincided with server backup times - when I tested this (by killing http client applications written in c++ while performing the fmp server backup process), it caused WC to fail every time.

This is a bug in FMP Web Companion where it is unable to handle interupted http sessions. Hopefully the folks at FileMaker will fix that the next time around.

I worked around the problem by setting up an IIS Server with ASP and writing an ASP page that forwards requests to web companion. I make sure that all client applications send their requests to ASP, which now acts as a proxy. The timeout is set quite high on ASP. This way, if a user disconnects their http session, they are disconnecting it with ASP but ASP maintains the http connection with FileMaker, so that FileMaker has a connection to respond to. This has totally solved the problem for me.

[Steve T.]

GJ, MP! I applaud both your detective work and your solution. Keep us advised of your smoothly running system from time to time... there may be other gremlins lurking. Congrats!

[jims]

This is true even if FMP is not doing something like backing up.

If the client browser decides to go elsewhere (because of slow response) and drops the http connection, web companion fails to keep the file available for future connections.

I have done some mods to my database to minimize slow returns (like indexing everything I can! but it isn't really a fix; especially if you are not using web connector and are going directly to web companion.

Can anyone suggest a solution that would hold a connection open if you are unable to use the Web Connector and are using web companion directly?

I have been struggling with my admins to get WC installed on IIS and they claim there are significant install problems if the IIS is not in the default install state (such as having had security patches installed) and the WC install fails.

Any suggestions?

thx.

[ibiubu]

I just wanted to bring this thread alive again. I am having the same problem. FM Unlimited on a Win 2000 server, FM Server on a OSX server.

FM unlimited will all of a sudden just STOP serving the file to the internet. The file is still open on the win 2000 machine, just not available to the internet. The user just gets the message that the .fp5 file is not available.

Quitting and restarting unlimited on the win 2000 machine solves this. But have this happen at least once a day if not more.

REALLY frustrating.

LR

[Will]

What versions of FileMaker?

How long have you been running this configuration before having this problem?

[Steve T.]

We have 2 unlimited servers and they are not consistent... on average, they go down about 1-2/month but there have been times it was almost every day for a week... weird. Most of the time, FileMaker ends up hogging CPU so bad we can't even quit FM, but we can still launch TOP to see CPU%. We've just lived with it.

morestableone: FMU 5.5, G3/300, OSX 10.2.8

lessstableone: FMU5.5 G3/300, was OSX 10.2.8 but somewhat better now on OSX 10.3.4

--ST

[ibiubu]

Using the latest version of FM 6 and the latest version of Web Companion.

I really have not been using it long. Just trying to find a configuration that is stable. For example:

Ran Unlimited on a Mac running OSX. Tried OSX from 10.1 all the way up to the latest 10.3. Finally got tired of all the unexpected quits. Moved over to FM server 5.5 running on a X-serve G5. Then I have my Windows 2000 box running Unlimited 6 open up the files from the XServe and serves them up to the internet. Unlimited does not seem to unexpectedly quit on the Windows 2000 machine, it just stops serving up the pages through web companion from time to time. I just have to quit and re-launch FM unlimited.

I guess my next move would be to move the files off FM Server running on the Xserve and just install them directly on the Windows 2000 machine and have FM Unlimited serve them up that way. Then I could wait and see if web companion will keep dishing up the files without quiting.

LR