Deferred Report? MSL Error...

[vbcoder85]

We run MRP nightly as a deferred report. But we can't seem to just set this up and run every day without it eventually failing. The deferred report may run good 3 nights in a row, but then all of the sudden, some MSL error pops up and the deferred report ends (of course) due to this error. Any ideas on what would cause an MSL error?

The following text is the message box and the details from the error.

MSL Error... (<--- title in message box)

The following error has occurred in MacMSL.dll

[DBNETLIB][ConnectionWrite (send()).]General network error. Check your network documentation.
-----------------------------------below this line is the "details" ------------------------------------------------
MSL Technical Error Info:

An error occured in MacMSL.dll (ver. 2, 0, 1, 49)
DB Provider Error:
COM Error: Error
Code = 0x80004005
Code meaning = Unspecified error
Source = Microsoft OLE DB Provider for SQL Server
Description = [DBNETLIB][ConnectionWrite (send()).]General network error. Check your network documentation.
Op : EB, fhStartNotLessThan
Table or Script: [SQL01].[001].DBO.[DEFERRPT_SQL]

SQL Statement:
BEGIN TRANSACTION

 

[dgillz]

What version of Macola?

A general network error is usually indicative of network communications issues - bad routers, connections, cables, etc.

How long does this report run when it does run? When is it scheduled? Have you taken any steps to reduce the running time? Have you tried running it from different machines?

Software Sales, Training, Implementation and Support for Macola, eSynergy, and Crystal Reports

http://www.gainfocus.biz

"What version of URGENT!!! are you using?

 

[vbcoder85]

We cheked our switches and there are no packets lost in any log files that we can see.

The report only takes 30 min or so to run, so I suspect the task doesn't get started and when it's time, to run, it can't reconnect to SQL.

We have tried running from different machines but the process has been intermittent, until recently.

I suspect some minor connection failure with SQL. While normally a Windows application will reconnect to the network, the way Macola connects to SQL is once you loose connection, it just crashes instead of trying to reauthenticate itself.

I had heard that our NIC may be from Broadcom (but it's not) and that Broadcom NIC's can sometimes lose connectivity and that we should disable TCP Offload engine, TOE Large sendoff load, and Received side scaling.
I don't know if this would have helped, but we did see that our INTEL cards have a power management option to go to sleep during inactivity. We changed this to NOT go to sleep so we'll see what happens.

I'll update this if we find anything, I was just throwing this out there to the group to see if anyone else has had similar problems.

 

[NEmacGuy]

I would check the exact knowledgebase. Is the workstation windows XP. There was a registry tweak for long running processes. Exact Document: 01.536.761
Possible

 

[dgillz]

Also install the full SQL client on the workstation.

Software Sales, Training, Implementation and Support for Macola, eSynergy, and Crystal Reports

http://www.gainfocus.biz

"What version of URGENT!!! are you using?

 

[vbcoder85]

Well, it wasn't the power management option on the network cards. However, the deferred report ran, and after it ran, it lost connection.

NEmacGuy.. We've already tried all the known registry tweaks.

dgillz.. Install full client? What would constitute "full client?" I believe we installed SQL client normally, I don't know what full would be? Do you mean install all the options like Profiler, Query Analyzer and Enterprise Manager?

 

[NEmacGuy]

How do you have the alias to your server setup in the SQL client network utility ?

 

[dgillz]

Yes exactly. The other option is to install connectivity only. Connectivity only is not even needed with XP or Vista, but it is needed with certain tools such as Visual Menu Builder.

I am curious what might be different if the full SQL client is installed. No other logic behind the request.

Software Sales, Training, Implementation and Support for Macola, eSynergy, and Crystal Reports

http://www.gainfocus.biz

"What version of URGENT!!! are you using?

 

[kscheeler]

What about just logging out and back into Macola in the morning after MRP has finished. Or restarting the PC once a day.

Kevin Scheeler

 

[vbcoder85]

We did look at the alias and did make some changes. If they are successfull, I'll post back.

As far as logging out then back in every day, well.. that kind of defeats the purpose of having a dedicated PC setup just to run the one task. I want a "lights out" operation for this along with generating reports based off of MRP. But if MRP hangs up, we can't rely on the reports.

One way or another we will find what's causing this. Though it may take some time.

 

[dgillz]

If you can run a crystal report, rather than a cobol report, for this application, there are a number of ways of scheduling a crystal report.

Software Sales, Training, Implementation and Support for Macola, eSynergy, and Crystal Reports

http://www.gainfocus.biz

"What version of URGENT!!! are you using?

 

[vbcoder85]

Changing/removing the alias didn't have any affect. We still have not found what's casuing the nightly MSL error.

Should we eventually find out what's causing this, I'll post it.

Dgillz... Running the MRP process as a deferred report is more than just a report. After the MRP regen, I'd run scheduled reports, but I can't since count on MRP to regen without having problems.