Visual Foxpro and Metaframe 1.8 for Win2k - Error 1104 2

[JAG500]

Hi All,

Has anyone ever seen an "Error 1104 : Error reading file" when using Visual Foxpro within a Metaframe 1.8 client.

The error is generated by Foxpro, and it happens quite infrequently - but enough to be a pain in the neck!

I know I haven't provided many details - I'm really just fishing to see if anyone has seen this before...

Cheers

Justin

 

[CitrixEngineer]

Hmm. Is this the one where if one user quits the app, then all users get kicked out?

I've seen this raised a couple of times on various forums, but have seen no solution yet.

Try running Filemon to see if there are any pecularities with file locations, permissions, etc.

Hope this helps

 

[JAG500]

Thanks Citrixengineer....

I had a response back from the Foxpro developer in the US last night. As you say, it seems to be a known issue with Win2K Terminal Server and is not specifically related to Foxpro.

They suggested that there is a patch for the problem and it relates to when you have mapped drives within a Metaframe session. When one user logs out, it disconnects everyone elses network drives as well ! The answer I've been given is to try the patch, or move the application to the Metaframe box so I don't have to map drives (I don't really want to do that yet - but I gueess it's a last resort).

We're in the process of calling Microsoft now, to get some more info on this supposed "patch". I'll post the results in this for if anyone is interested.

Cheers,

Justin

 

[JAG500]

Well....

According to MS (who are aware of the problem), this issue is not going to be fully fixed until XP. The patch I loaded last week fixes the issue *sometimes*. I haven't been able to perform full testing as I don't want to upset the user base any more than they already are.. The problem only occurs when the first person to login logs out - so I cheated a little by kicking everyone out, logging a spare machine in and leaving it logged in.

The 2 technet articles that relate to this are Q272127 and Q294816. The patch I have used is the one mentioned in the first article. The second article describes the problem exactly, but only proposes a workaround, not a fix.

Cheers,

Justin

 

[CitrixEngineer]

Just a thought, are you running the latest MetaFrame Service Pack/hotfixes/clients?

CE

 

[JAG500]

We're running -

- Metaframe Version 1.8 (Build 260), Service Pack 2
- Hotfix ME182W008

Cheers,

Justin

 

[danbrennan]

WOW! Finally someone who has had some of the same probs. I've actually been implementing SBT and another custom app for a month now on XP / Win2K. 1104 was just for starters... PostScript errors, and plenty more to go with. Here's the problem with your 1104... Your FoxPro app and the Citrix server are talking back and fourth non-stop. the more users you have, the worse it gets. If you are not running 100MB/s FULL Duplex between those two boxes on NIC's with a decent Cache, then this error will continue. My correction to this was to dual-home these two servers and put them on a dedicated subnet. From the Citrix server, map a drive to the FoxPro server via its IP address not \\servername\share.

Here's why... Unlike Outlook ,Word, Excel, SQL Databases, etc... if the connection to a FoxPro database is interrupted by the slightest hiccup, it considers itself lost in space, and disconnects. I'm sure you'll notice, that this happens more with more users connected than just a few.

Also, (I'll make this short)... I had the two server on the same switch as 20 other users and the other server. 100MB/s but the citrix/foxpro traffic was too much for this. Only 15 connections online after dual-homing and the server chattered a measly 20Gb of data in 1 hour. This took a HUGE load off of the switch too. Do it, this WILL work.

-dan

p.s. postscript errors, other probs? ask, i've seen it all this month. use the foxpfix.exe yet for Processor utilization?

 

[JAG500]

Hi Dan,

It looks like you're in the same boat. We are currently in the process of regressing back to NT 4.0. We're not really happy about it, but the MS recommended solution is to move all data and applications onto the Metaframe box to avoid mapping a drive (and this is something we can't really do). The distributor of SBT (which we're using too) recommend NT 4.0 over 2000, so we don't have many options other than to get rid of 2000.

Our current setup is both the Metaframe server and the App server are plugged into a switch at 100meg Full Duplex. The only other devices on the switch are a router, another 2 server and a couple of hubs. Speed and response are pretty good. The whole setup at the site is fairly complex (Netware boxes, File/Print services for Netware, RF gear etc), but apart from this one issue - everyting else is pretty quick and stable. I might get our comms people to monitor the traffic on that site, and especially the switch.

The engineers here have used foxpfix, but really didn't notice a change. What's it meant to do ? As for other issues, well, the event logs get pretty full with various warnings and errors about printer problems (no postsript) - but nothing that causes any serious issues.

I'll let you know how things go after our migration to NT 4.

Cheers

Justin

 

[danbrennan]

Sigh... life is beginning to suck again. First the bad news. Client is complaining of getting kicked out still. I will be moving the App to the Citrix box next week for testing. I guess I was just a bit to confident.

foxpfix.exe will manage how foxpro uses the processor. the parameters are /enable or /disable. In my case I set it to /enable and my average processor utilization on the Citrix box is about 4% for 25 users. When it was disabled, it ALWAYS stayed constant at 100%.

Printing has been a major issue though. Since we're practically forced to use PS drivers and not PCL, I am getting a ton of PS errors when printing in these FoxPro apps. And the errors only happen in Citrix. I found a ton of reg hacks for PostScript and other printing issues regarding timeouts and other probs, tried them all, in different combinations, and still having troubles now and then. Very inconsistant, so hard to troubleshoot. Sometimes it prints fine, then on multiple two page jobs, the first page prints, not the second. Or, the First page prints and the second page prints a PostScript error.

Never liked SBT or these other apps to start with. Now this... go figure.

-dan

 

[JAG500]

I feel your pain )-:

 

[jmcauliffe]

What you are describing sounds like exactly what I am experiencing now. Very surprising development. We are actually using 3 different solutions, Citrix Metaframe 1.8, Citrix XP, and Tarantella, but all of them ultimately go to TS for file access, I think. Are any of you satisfied with the resolutions you have achieved? I would be very interested in knowing if you have managed to solve this problem.

 

[JAG500]

We have since admitted defeat with 2000 and regressed back to Metaframe 1.8 on TS for NT4.0. Since then, we have had no further issues with users being kicked out etc.

In terms of satisfaction, we weren't really happy with the answer we got from MS when trying to fix the issues on 2000. Basically, they admitted there was a problem, but were not going to fix the problem ?? I guess we're pretty happy since moving to NT4.0 and certainly don't have the same issues we had before. It was just frustrating that we seemed to take the long road to a stable platform....

 

[CitrixEngineer]

"....take the long road to a stable platform...."

That sounds very familiar indeed...



BTW, there's a new wtsuprn.inf file on TheThin.net which aliases a whole bunch of printers that are not in the shipping one. I'm rolling it out wherever I encounter a printing issue as the first step. It's fixed quite a few "strange ones" for me - note the huge list of HP printers.

http://thethin.net/wtsuprn.txt

*Don't forget to rename your existing one before trying this!

I hope this helps, at least with the printing aspects.

 

[DevilDog]

CitrixEngineer - Question of curiosity... Do you comment out any printers not used by your clients or do you leave them all in? With such a long list I am wondering about the effect on login times. I know that in the computer world that's not much of a list but you never know.

Thanks for your input. -- Devil Dog --

 

[CitrixEngineer]

I haven't noticed a significant delay in login time - it's just a text file that gets parsed - in much the same way as a system policy or the registry; but I see what you're saying.

Generally, yes, I would just edit the wtsuprn.inf to suit the site. However, I'm visiting more and more places that allow working from home or even anonymous public access to web sites. In this situation you cannot predict what printers users may have.

The best rule of thumb (as ever) is your own. Backup the existing wtsuprn.inf and try TheThin's. If you notice a delay in login time caused by this single action, just copy and paste the printers in use by your company into a custom file. Keep TheThin's list as a useful source if you come across a "rogue" printer.

It's cheaper than (eg) Uniprint

I hope this helps

 

[DevilDog]

Thanks for your input CitrixEngineer. You're right. I also have more and more remote users and printers have always been a pain. I believe in working smart not hard.

Later... -- Devil Dog --

 

[Megh]

Hi!

I just installed Foxpro 2.6 for windows on my XP system and guess what, I am getting a

divide by zero or overflow error

error. Can anyone help? is this a problem with my system or is it a problem with XP? please help, as my client wants me to transfer an old project on to his xp system without having to rewrite any code. I did not convert the project into an exe file the last time. I want to do it now, but want to make sure it works on xp. please help.

 

[jmcauliffe]

I am sorry to say that is an issue with FPW26 not playing nice with 32 bit Windows. I had several projects that worked in WFW, Windows 95, Windows 98, then gave up the ghost in WIN2K and NT. It is the runtime, too, not any specific code or anything you can change. Time to port to VFP6 or 7. It is really not as painful as you might think.
If it is not too big of a project, you can pretty much get it done in a day. BTW - do the functional conversion to retain functionality and so that the READ, VALID, and other syntax associated with the @GET fields will work.
Hope this helps.

 

[Guest_imported]

About being disconnected, did you know that Win2K will disconnect drives that has been inactive for the default value of 15 mins?

>> net config server

will show you this value.

>> net config server /autodisconnect:n

where n is in minutes will increase this value.

Best of luck!

 

[Guest_imported]

Greetings,

I would like to start a lab today with MetaFrame 1.8 for NT 4.0, then upgrade to MetaFrame XP.

I'll need an evaluation copy of MetaFrame 1.8 for NT 4.0.

Can Citrix help out on that one?

Best wishes,
Dr Jimmy Pierre CNE MCMI MInstD
President
Network Users Institute
49 rue de Sotteville
76100 ROUEN, France
jpierre@nuinet.com

http://www.nuinet.com