client-server disconnected every some minutes

[Salin]

I have a FM server running since March this year. Everything was fine until the server was rebooted couple of weeks ago. The Admin console didn't work since the reboot. Now the clients get disconnected from the server every some minutes.

We have another database (Progeny) running on the system and has been working fine. So it seems the problem is with FM only. I reinstalled FM server. The problem persists. The admin console works at this point.

Here are some of the related messages:

Cline "name (IP)" no longer responding; connection close (51)

Client "name" authentication failed on database "db-name" using "opening (fmapp)".

Could someone shed some light on this? It would be greatly appreciated for any help soon!

-Sal

[Vaughan]

What version FM Server?

Java updates often cause problems with the admin console. Best bet is to not allow software updates to automatically install on the server.

[Steven H. Blackwell]

Cline "name (IP)" no longer responding; connection close (51)

This means that the Server is not receiving the required heartbeat from the client and is thus disconnecting it.

If this is happening to more than one client, look to the server. This is likely a hardware issue somewhere between the NIC's, across the network, through any switches.

BTW, when the server was "rebooted" I hope that the FIleMaker files were closed and not being hosted.

Steven

[Salin]

Thanks Vanghan and Steven for your information.

It is a FM 10 server and about 20 FM10 clients. All are getting connection interruptions every 5 to 30 minutes since yesterday. I closed all databases before reboot. After the first reboot in July, the GUI admin console could not be started. I then use command line to close all database files for all the subsequent reboots.

I don't know if the server was set to allow software updates automatically. I don't think Java was updated before the reboot in July. I remember I updated Java manually two weeks ago. Someone suggested that there may be problems between the new library in Java and FM. But the problem didn't occur right after the Java update.

As I mentioned initially, another database (Progeny)is running fine on the same server and accessed by the same clients. If it was a hardware issue between the server and the clients, Progeny must have a different way of communicating between server and client, or maybe not checking the network heartbeat as frequent?

I'll be talking to my company IT to look into any network issues. What else I should try from FM to debug and fix the problem?

Thanks again for all your help!

-Sal

[Steven H. Blackwell]

Give FileMaker Server its own dedicated server. That will rule out interference by other services.

Steven

[Wim Decorte]

We have another database (Progeny) running on the system and has been working fine. So it seems the problem is with FM only.

That's very likely a very bad assumption.

I'm not familiar with Progeny but most other database engines (mysql, sql server, oracle) do not maintain the same kind of persistent and interactive connections with the clients like FileMaker server does with filemaker clients.

In a typical SQL database environment you ask for a set of data and you get that but you stop communicating with the server until you're done with your data.

FileMaker Pro communicates with FMS [color:brown]*constantly* even if you think you're not putting in requests.

That makes FMP/FMS more vulnerable to a bad network, which is what I think is going on. I suspect you have either a lot of latency on your network or packet loss somewhere.

Edited September 10, 2010 by Guest
typo

[Wim Decorte]

I concur. Put FMS on a dedicated machine, at the very least during troubleshooting efforts.

If you move it and it runs fine, leave it there.

[Salin]

Thank you everyone for your comments and suggestions. Wim summed it up well, that I shouldn't focus on FM. The problem with FM admin console was another reason that led my focus on FM.

I think we fixed the problem. The culprit was that the clock was not sync between the server and the clients. It is a virtual server. After updated VMware the FM server and the clients are happily connected for the last 15 hours.

Just so you know the server is a dedicated FM server. Progeny is a small database/pedigree drawing tool which we use infrequently. Yap, it redirected my attention to the wrong path for this debugging.

Again thank you all for your help!

-Sal