Host not found every morning - Database restart the only fix

[BrettM]

Hi Everyone,

I'm hopeful someone out there has some insight into this problem at hand as Filemaker support here in Australia doesn't know what to do next.

Basically over the past month or so my client has been suffering disconnections or staff unable to connect to the host each day. We had noticed the Bonjour service crashing with an error in the logs (and restarting sucessfully itself) but it doesn't exactly match the periods when users can no longer connect. The strange things is we may have one or two users able to sstay connected in the morning (when others can no longer see or attach to the database) who can also disconnect and reconnect sucessfully. We've attempted not running the backup each night, reinstalled the bonjour service and updated to the latest v3 patch level. We're almost at the point of just scheulding to restart the server each morning at 5am to avoid someone having to manually restart the databases but after reviewing these forums that can cause majour issues in itself.

I found a link on the filemaker site which is exactly what we are getting but the work around being restart is unsustainable - http://help.filemaker.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/9362

What to do next???

This client has about 12 staff using Filemaker Pro internally and 10-15 users accessing IWP on the server through their website.

Server - HP ML330 G6 with 2 x 146GB SAS 15RPM in RAID 1 - Windows 2008 SP2, Filemaker Advanced Server 11.0v3 which is 6 months old and only runs filemaker. No antivirus or firewall installed.

If you need anything else let me know?

Brett

[Steven H. Blackwell]

Very odd behavior, especially as described in the Tech Info.

One other thing to check is to be sure that the server has a static IP address and not a dynamic one.

And you are correct that an automatic restart of the server while the files are being hosted is a very bad idea.

Steven

[Wim Decorte]

what do the application and system event logs say around the time of the disconnects? Also: any DMP files in the FileMaker Server logs folder?

[BrettM]

Thanks guys. I can confirm that the server has a static IP address.

Errors reported this morning from Filemaker logs

Module - Publishing Engine Type - Error - Description - FM Web Publishing - - wpc1 Error : 500

Module - Publishing Engine Type - Error - Description - FM Web Publishing - - wpc1 Error : 101

Module - Publishing Engine Type - Error - Description - FM Web Publishing - - wpc1 Error : 400 - there was about 5 of these around the time the guys all start logging on

Module - Web Publishing Core Type - Error - Description - 150.70.**** "fmi/iwp/cgi?-index=4098&-relatedrecid=4098&-buttonscript="400 9982 - - wpc1 Error : 0

Below is probably when the users are attempting logon

Module - Server Events Type - Warning - Description - Client "username and IP authentication failed on database - - wpc1 Warning: 661

Module - Web Publishing Engine Type - Error - Description - FM Web Publishing - - wpc1 Error : 802

In between all those logs there is someone who looks to be access the IWP website ok but I think it's much the same as the Filemaker users in that anyone new cannot then access the website or the databases.

On the Server in the Application Event logs around the time users start attempting logon with get the following

Warning - Source FileMaker 11 Event ID 661 - Authentication failed on database (All different database names here throughout the logs)

Warning - Source FileMaker 11 Event ID 30 - Client no longer responding connection closed (51)

The bonjour service didn't crash this morning but it seems to have this error around 6:30am (or within 40 mins of this time)

Error Event ID 100 Source Bonjour 484: Error: read_msg errno 10054 (An Existing conection was forcibly closed by the remote host.)

This is pretty much the errors and logs we get to work with on this issue..

Does this help in any way or just muddy the waters some more?

Brett

[BrettM]

Bump - I'm just wondering if anyone is aware of a new version of File Maker server being released soon to help with my problem above. We have a staff member shutting down and restarting the database every monring to work around this issue for the past 6 months - This is around 25 hours labor wasted so far.

If anyone could help that would be great as we're not getting much from FileMaker in Australia.

[Vyk]

Interesting, I assume you have tried a reinstall of the FileMaker server and bonjour service?

[BrettM]

We certainly have. We have actually reloaded the server from scratch also which made no difference other than being a real pain to get the instant web publishing working again. The FM resources here in Australia are stating it must be a windows server problem and the only potential fix a mac mini or something - seems crazy considering a HP ML 330 G6 with two 146GB SAS 15K drives which normally sit at idle all day could have a negative impact. Basically the event logs are clear from the Windows front and the FM event logs don't really give anything away with the odd bonjour crash every now and then which doesn't appear to relate every time to the problems in connecting from clients. I also need to start monitoring the network port and hopefully capture the issue. I just can't pick the problem..