To: firebird-support@yahoogroups.com
From: helebor@...
Date: Wed, 30 Dec 2009 15:05:39 +1100
Subject: Re: [firebird-support] Re: firebird database base crashing windows server





At 01:03 AM 29/12/2009, Steve Wiser wrote:

>I also like to fiddle around in the BIOS to make sure the NIC is not
>sharing an IRQ with anything else. (kind of old school, but I have seen
>it happen lately!).
>
>
>Bob Acheson wrote:
>> The one in the PCI slot (active one now) is a Realtek 8139 PCI
>> adapter. The onboard one (disabled) is a Boradcom NetXtreme Gigabyte
>> ethernet. Where do I find the DHCP Media Auto Sense? This a Windows
>> 2003 server.

In the TC/PIP > Advanced property sheet of the NIC. Most modern NICs come with this property enabled, which is fine for workstations if the network is using DHCP. For servers, it is not fine: a server needs a static IP address.

> Server does have a static IP, and there is no DHCP Media Auto Sense.

Disabling it should enable another property that allows the option to set a static IP address for the card. Generally it's not necessary to set it on the card if the gateway and local address properties were set up correctly but, with Windows, who knows? Make sure the subnetmask is correct, too, probably 255.255.255.0, but check the router's documentation to be sure.

> IP address set up correctly, have been doing servers on the internet since 1992

Choose an IP address that is in the range prescribed by the router. Some routers will generate a static address on request; if that's not available, then a convenient choice for the network host machine is an address that is next to the router's address, e.g., if the router is 10.0.0.1 then make the host machine 10.0.0.2.

>Router is 192.168.1.1, Server is 192.168.1.100

Make sure the disabled on-board card has its IP address unset.

> Was done.

All that should be enough to dissuade DHCP from trying to assign that IP address to another node in the network.

> No more than 20 machines on the network. DHCP scope is set up to assign IP addresses 192.168.1.10 - 40

However, check the HOSTS file ($windir$\system32\drivers\etc\HOSTS) in case there's an outdated entry there for the server. Correct it if it's there; add one if it's not. (Do the same checks in the HOSTS file of any clients that are unable to connect, as well.)

> Was not one there, added

Also, since nobody else mentioned it so far, make sure that the database is not being accessed via a mapped drive or a network share. Its file path *must* be a "raw" path to a location on a disk that is physically attached to the Firebird server's host machine.

>The application is on drive D (what they wanted) and mapped as drive M (also as per the vendor), when you say raw, do you mean as UNC?

It's possible the software depends on finding the database in the exact location defined by an alias in aliases.conf (in Firebird's root directory) or a path hard-coded into the application code. In that case, if someone moved the database, the application won't find it. Changing the path associated with the alias might solve part of the problem but experience says that Delphi programmers (of which I am one) are notoriously careless about eliminating hard-coded paths from their application code when they change their software to use aliases. So - if the database is in the wrong place, stop Firebird and just move the database back to where the application expects it to be.

DON'T TRY ANY OF THESE THINGS WHILE USERS ARE LOGGED IN OR ARE TRYING TO LOG IN.

NB, you're not helping yourself by declining suggestions to look in firebird.log (in Firebird's root directory).

> From firebird.log - started at 15:01:19 and threw an error window on the screen every second until the time below then froze.

EQUIVET (Client) Sun Dec 20 17:06:25 2009
INET/inet_error: send errno = 10054



That's where the Firebird server components try to write messages that might be of concern - including exceptions that it receives from the network and the OS. Especially with network issues, it's the first place to look when connection problems occur. Firebird can't DO anything about a cranky network but the log often a source of clues as to what's going on.

> It's cool if it threw up an error window, but this one doesn't stop even when the network reconnected (drop-outs are usually so quick it doesn't even show up in the event log.) I have seen only one 5 second drop-out in the event log since this issue began.

./hb

>Thanks, Bob

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