We're running ARS 6.x with Helpdesk 4.0.3 on Windows 2000 Server. Our DB
is Oracle 9i running on another server. We've had problems quite a few
times on the database server where it either has rebooted or been taken
down for maintenance. In these instances I have to completely restart
the Remedy server. I can't even just stop and start the service.

Is this normal or should the Remedy service reconnect to the database
once it is back up?

Thanks,
James


UNSUBSCRIBE or access ARSlist Archives at http://www.ARSLIST.org

I would think that restarting the service should take care of it. If
you are having to restart the server, perhaps the reason is not Remedy
or SQL related. Perhaps there is another service that needs to be
restarted along with Remedy.

Rick

-----Original Message-----
From: Action Request System discussion list(ARSList)
[mailto:arslist@ARSLIST.ORG] On Behalf Of James Pifer
Sent: Monday, March 13, 2006 1:43 PM
To: arslist@ARSLIST.ORG
Subject: Should Remedy reconnect to the database if the connection is
lost and then restored?

We're running ARS 6.x with Helpdesk 4.0.3 on Windows 2000 Server. Our DB
is Oracle 9i running on another server. We've had problems quite a few
times on the database server where it either has rebooted or been taken
down for maintenance. In these instances I have to completely restart
the Remedy server. I can't even just stop and start the service.

Is this normal or should the Remedy service reconnect to the database
once it is back up?

Thanks,
James



UNSUBSCRIBE or access ARSlist Archives at http://www.ARSLIST.org


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It's been my experience that Remedy needs to be restarted when the DB comes
back up....I haven't experienced the server needing to be rebooted....but
best practice is to have coordination with the DB team to take Remedy down
before the DB to ensure nothing gets lost when the DB goes away

-----Original Message-----
From: Action Request System discussion list(ARSList)
[mailto:arslist@ARSLIST.ORG] On Behalf Of James Pifer
Sent: Monday, March 13, 2006 2:43 PM
To: arslist@ARSLIST.ORG
Subject: Should Remedy reconnect to the database if the connection is lost
and then restored?

We're running ARS 6.x with Helpdesk 4.0.3 on Windows 2000 Server. Our DB is
Oracle 9i running on another server. We've had problems quite a few times on
the database server where it either has rebooted or been taken down for
maintenance. In these instances I have to completely restart the Remedy
server. I can't even just stop and start the service.

Is this normal or should the Remedy service reconnect to the database once
it is back up?

Thanks,
James



UNSUBSCRIBE or access ARSlist Archives at http://www.ARSLIST.org


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**
James,

Do you have the ARSystem service set to automatic? If so, is there ample time for the Oracle Listener to be fully started?

If the Listener service is not completely started even though it looks like the ARSystem service has started it really isn't connected. Usually a startup script is put in place that allows for a period of time (long pause) in-between the two services starting.

If you don't use that type of script you may have to set Remedy to manual and Start it by hand.

Susan


On 3/13/06, L. J. Head wrote:

It's been my experience that Remedy needs to be restarted when the DB comes
back up....I haven't experienced the server needing to be rebooted....but
best practice is to have coordination with the DB team to take Remedy down
before the DB to ensure nothing gets lost when the DB goes away

-----Original Message-----
From: Action Request System discussion list(ARSList)
[mailto:arslist@ARSLIST.ORG] On Behalf Of James Pifer
Sent: Monday, March 13, 2006 2:43 PM
To: arslist@ARSLIST.ORG
Subject: Should Remedy reconnect to the database if the connection is lost
and then restored?

We're running ARS 6.x with Helpdesk 4.0.3 on Windows 2000 Server. Our DB is
Oracle 9i running on another server. We've had problems quite a few times on
the database server where it either has rebooted or been taken down for
maintenance. In these instances I have to completely restart the Remedy
server. I can't even just stop and start the service.

Is this normal or should the Remedy service reconnect to the database once
it is back up?

Thanks,
James



UNSUBSCRIBE or access ARSlist Archives at http://www.ARSLIST.org


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20060125This posting was submitted with HTML in it

On Mon, 2006-03-13 at 16:45 -0600, Susan Palmer wrote:
> **
> James,
>
> Do you have the ARSystem service set to automatic? If so, is there
> ample time for the Oracle Listener to be fully started?
>
> If the Listener service is not completely started even though it looks
> like the ARSystem service has started it really isn't connected.
> Usually a startup script is put in place that allows for a period of
> time (long pause) in-between the two services starting.
>
> If you don't use that type of script you may have to set Remedy to
> manual and Start it by hand.
>
> Susan

Well that's not really my situation. We have Remedy on one server and
Oracle on another and both are running fine. For one reason or another
the Oracle database goes down. When the DBAs fix the problem and the
database is back up, Remedy will not reconnect, and can't just restart
the service, I have to completely restart the box. When the server comes
back up it connects and runs like it should.

Thanks,
James


UNSUBSCRIBE or access ARSlist Archives at http://www.ARSLIST.org

James,
We ran in to this situation as well. Our specific config was
running Windows app server and Linux DB server.

The best thing to do is to stop ARS on the remote machine (from the DB
machine) as part of the script stopping the database. Likewise starting
ARS just after starting the DB. If they're on the same platform it's a
bit simpler. If it's not on the same platform, you'll need to figure
out how to issue commands remotely across platforms.

What platforms are your respective systems on?
Do you have Tivoli, NetIQ, or any other monitoring systems in place the
systems?

In our case, we installed a cygwin/SSH server on the Windows app server,
and can issue commands from the Linux box that way.

Another approach that works is to create a monitor to test the return
code from TNSPING on the app server to your DB Instance. When it fails,
stop ARS. When it works (and didn't last time it checked), start ARS.

Hope this helps,
-Brian

-----Original Message-----
From: Action Request System discussion list(ARSList)
[mailto:arslist@ARSLIST.ORG] On Behalf Of James Pifer
Sent: Monday, March 13, 2006 1:43 PM
To: arslist@ARSLIST.ORG
Subject: Should Remedy reconnect to the database if the connection is
lost and then restored?

We're running ARS 6.x with Helpdesk 4.0.3 on Windows 2000 Server. Our DB
is Oracle 9i running on another server. We've had problems quite a few
times on the database server where it either has rebooted or been taken
down for maintenance. In these instances I have to completely restart
the Remedy server. I can't even just stop and start the service.

Is this normal or should the Remedy service reconnect to the database
once it is back up?

Thanks,
James



UNSUBSCRIBE or access ARSlist Archives at http://www.ARSLIST.org


UNSUBSCRIBE or access ARSlist Archives at http://www.ARSLIST.org

**

Krishnukumar:

I agree. This should be built into the arserverd/arserver.exe program. When the database connection fails, then the program is brought down gracefully. At the present time, the process 'hangs' until a system administrator restarts the database and then Remedy's ARS processes/services. Not clean by any means.

James McKenzie


-----Original Message-----
From: Action Request System discussion list(ARSList)
[mailto:arslist@ARSLIST.ORG]On Behalf Of Krishnakumar
Sent: Tuesday, March 14, 2006 5:30 AM
To: arslist@ARSLIST.ORG
Subject: Re: Should Remedy reconnect to the database if the connection
is lost and then restored?


Hi James,
Like Brian has mentioned, the ideal thing to do would be to
monitor the DB and stop the ARS service if the DB is down.

However, if this turns out to be a bit out of reach, you could atleast
make sure that ARS is stopped before the DB is brought up again. This
would ensure that ARS is not using the old connection to the DB. ARS can
then be started once the SQL Listeners are up and running. This should
ensure that ARS works fine.


Regards,
Krishnakumar

On Tue, 14 Mar 2006 05:44:21 +0530, Luke, Brian
wrote:

> James,
> We ran in to this situation as well. Our specific config was
> running Windows app server and Linux DB server.
>
> The best thing to do is to stop ARS on the remote machine (from the DB
> machine) as part of the script stopping the database. Likewise starting
> ARS just after starting the DB. If they're on the same platform it's a
> bit simpler. If it's not on the same platform, you'll need to figure
> out how to issue commands remotely across platforms.
>
> What platforms are your respective systems on?
> Do you have Tivoli, NetIQ, or any other monitoring systems in place the
> systems?
>
> In our case, we installed a cygwin/SSH server on the Windows app server,
> and can issue commands from the Linux box that way.
>
> Another approach that works is to create a monitor to test the return
> code from TNSPING on the app server to your DB Instance. When it fails,
> stop ARS. When it works (and didn't last time it checked), start ARS.
>
> Hope this helps,
> -Brian
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Action Request System discussion list(ARSList)
> [mailto:arslist@ARSLIST.ORG] On Behalf Of James Pifer
> Sent: Monday, March 13, 2006 1:43 PM
> To: arslist@ARSLIST.ORG
> Subject: Should Remedy reconnect to the database if the connection is
> lost and then restored?
>
> We're running ARS 6.x with Helpdesk 4.0.3 on Windows 2000 Server. Our DB
> is Oracle 9i running on another server. We've had problems quite a few
> times on the database server where it either has rebooted or been taken
> down for maintenance. In these instances I have to completely restart
> the Remedy server. I can't even just stop and start the service.
>
> Is this normal or should the Remedy service reconnect to the database
> once it is back up?
>
> Thanks,
> James
>
>
>
> UNSUBSCRIBE or access ARSlist Archives at http://www.ARSLIST.org
>
>
> UNSUBSCRIBE or access ARSlist Archives at http://www.ARSLIST.org


UNSUBSCRIBE or access ARSlist Archives at http://www.ARSLIST.org

20060125This posting was submitted with HTML in it

Hi James,
Like Brian has mentioned, the ideal thing to do would be to
monitor the DB and stop the ARS service if the DB is down.

However, if this turns out to be a bit out of reach, you could atleast
make sure that ARS is stopped before the DB is brought up again. This
would ensure that ARS is not using the old connection to the DB. ARS can
then be started once the SQL Listeners are up and running. This should
ensure that ARS works fine.


Regards,
Krishnakumar

On Tue, 14 Mar 2006 05:44:21 +0530, Luke, Brian
wrote:

> James,
> We ran in to this situation as well. Our specific config was
> running Windows app server and Linux DB server.
>
> The best thing to do is to stop ARS on the remote machine (from the DB
> machine) as part of the script stopping the database. Likewise starting
> ARS just after starting the DB. If they're on the same platform it's a
> bit simpler. If it's not on the same platform, you'll need to figure
> out how to issue commands remotely across platforms.
>
> What platforms are your respective systems on?
> Do you have Tivoli, NetIQ, or any other monitoring systems in place the
> systems?
>
> In our case, we installed a cygwin/SSH server on the Windows app server,
> and can issue commands from the Linux box that way.
>
> Another approach that works is to create a monitor to test the return
> code from TNSPING on the app server to your DB Instance. When it fails,
> stop ARS. When it works (and didn't last time it checked), start ARS.
>
> Hope this helps,
> -Brian
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Action Request System discussion list(ARSList)
> [mailto:arslist@ARSLIST.ORG] On Behalf Of James Pifer
> Sent: Monday, March 13, 2006 1:43 PM
> To: arslist@ARSLIST.ORG
> Subject: Should Remedy reconnect to the database if the connection is
> lost and then restored?
>
> We're running ARS 6.x with Helpdesk 4.0.3 on Windows 2000 Server. Our DB
> is Oracle 9i running on another server. We've had problems quite a few
> times on the database server where it either has rebooted or been taken
> down for maintenance. In these instances I have to completely restart
> the Remedy server. I can't even just stop and start the service.
>
> Is this normal or should the Remedy service reconnect to the database
> once it is back up?
>
> Thanks,
> James
>
>
>
> UNSUBSCRIBE or access ARSlist Archives at http://www.ARSLIST.org
>
>
> UNSUBSCRIBE or access ARSlist Archives at http://www.ARSLIST.org


UNSUBSCRIBE or access ARSlist Archives at http://www.ARSLIST.org

** Of course it would be far better that the AR System service would try to reconnect to the database every x minutes when it can not connect to the database. But I guess this would be an enhancement request.
Shal we all submit this enhancement request?

Regards,
Michiel


On 3/14/06, Krishnakumar wrote:

Hi James,
Like Brian has mentioned, the ideal thing to do would be to
monitor the DB and stop the ARS service if the DB is down.

However, if this turns out to be a bit out of reach, you could atleast
make sure that ARS is stopped before the DB is brought up again. This
would ensure that ARS is not using the old connection to the DB. ARS can
then be started once the SQL Listeners are up and running. This should
ensure that ARS works fine.


Regards,
Krishnakumar

On Tue, 14 Mar 2006 05:44:21 +0530, Luke, Brian < Brian.Luke@SCHWAB.COM >
wrote:

> James,
> We ran in to this situation as well. Our specific config was
> running Windows app server and Linux DB server.
>
> The best thing to do is to stop ARS on the remote machine (from the DB
> machine) as part of the script stopping the database. Likewise starting
> ARS just after starting the DB. If they're on the same platform it's a
> bit simpler. If it's not on the same platform, you'll need to figure
> out how to issue commands remotely across platforms.
>
> What platforms are your respective systems on?
> Do you have Tivoli, NetIQ, or any other monitoring systems in place the
> systems?
>
> In our case, we installed a cygwin/SSH server on the Windows app server,
> and can issue commands from the Linux box that way.
>
> Another approach that works is to create a monitor to test the return
> code from TNSPING on the app server to your DB Instance. When it fails,
> stop ARS. When it works (and didn't last time it checked), start ARS.
>
> Hope this helps,
> -Brian
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Action Request System discussion list(ARSList)
> [mailto:arslist@ARSLIST.ORG] On Behalf Of James Pifer
> Sent: Monday, March 13, 2006 1:43 PM
> To: arslist@ARSLIST.ORG
> Subject: Should Remedy reconnect to the database if the connection is
> lost and then restored?
>
> We're running ARS 6.x with Helpdesk 4.0.3 on Windows 2000 Server. Our DB
> is Oracle 9i running on another server. We've had problems quite a few
> times on the database server where it either has rebooted or been taken
> down for maintenance. In these instances I have to completely restart
> the Remedy server. I can't even just stop and start the service.
>
> Is this normal or should the Remedy service reconnect to the database
> once it is back up?
>
> Thanks,
> James
>
>
>
> UNSUBSCRIBE or access ARSlist Archives at http://www.ARSLIST.org
>
>
> UNSUBSCRIBE or access ARSlist Archives at http://www.ARSLIST.org


UNSUBSCRIBE or access ARSlist Archives at http://www.ARSLIST.org



20060125This posting was submitted with HTML in it

**

Michiel:

I would not like this feature. Why? Because there is a retry limit in the ar.conf file. This forces the arserverd process on Unix and arserver.exe programs to terminate whenever the database fails. This is a safety feature that prevents certain actions from happening. However, this does not always happen and if users are logged in when the database fails can cause miscommunications. What I would like to see is a fix for a long standing problem and that is the error message generation process. If you cannot communicate with the database, then the error message should state so like this:

"The Remedy Action Request Server cannot communicate with its associated database. Please advise the Remedy Administrator of this difficulty" rather than the cryptic ARERR 91/92/93/94 stuff. This would provide more information than I need in order to fix the problem. This information and what the user was doing at the time will suffice.

If communications is lost with the database, a constantly bouncing ARS process/program would be more frustrating to my users than a dead system.

James McKenzie

-----Original Message-----
From: Action Request System discussion list(ARSList) [mailto:arslist@ARSLIST.ORG]On Behalf Of Michiel Beijen
Sent: Tuesday, March 14, 2006 6:34 AM
To: arslist@ARSLIST.ORG
Subject: Re: Should Remedy reconnect to the database if the connection is lost and then restored?


** Of course it would be far better that the AR System service would try to reconnect to the database every x minutes when it can not connect to the database. But I guess this would be an enhancement request.

Shal we all submit this enhancement request?

Regards,
Michiel


On 3/14/06, Krishnakumar wrote:
Hi James,
Like Brian has mentioned, the ideal thing to do would be to
monitor the DB and stop the ARS service if the DB is down.

However, if this turns out to be a bit out of reach, you could atleast
make sure that ARS is stopped before the DB is brought up again. This
would ensure that ARS is not using the old connection to the DB. ARS can
then be started once the SQL Listeners are up and running. This should
ensure that ARS works fine.


Regards,
Krishnakumar

On Tue, 14 Mar 2006 05:44:21 +0530, Luke, Brian < Brian.Luke@SCHWAB.COM>
wrote:

> James,
> We ran in to this situation as well. Our specific config was
> running Windows app server and Linux DB server.
>
> The best thing to do is to stop ARS on the remote machine (from the DB
> machine) as part of the script stopping the database. Likewise starting
> ARS just after starting the DB. If they're on the same platform it's a
> bit simpler. If it's not on the same platform, you'll need to figure
> out how to issue commands remotely across platforms.
>
> What platforms are your respective systems on?
> Do you have Tivoli, NetIQ, or any other monitoring systems in place the
> systems?
>
> In our case, we installed a cygwin/SSH server on the Windows app server,
> and can issue commands from the Linux box that way.
>
> Another approach that works is to create a monitor to test the return
> code from TNSPING on the app server to your DB Instance. When it fails,
> stop ARS. When it works (and didn't last time it checked), start ARS.
>
> Hope this helps,
> -Brian
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Action Request System discussion list(ARSList)
> [mailto:arslist@ARSLIST.ORG] On Behalf Of James Pifer
> Sent: Monday, March 13, 2006 1:43 PM
> To: arslist@ARSLIST.ORG
> Subject: Should Remedy reconnect to the database if the connection is
> lost and then restored?
>
> We're running ARS 6.x with Helpdesk 4.0.3 on Windows 2000 Server. Our DB
> is Oracle 9i running on another server. We've had problems quite a few
> times on the database server where it either has rebooted or been taken
> down for maintenance. In these instances I have to completely restart
> the Remedy server. I can't even just stop and start the service.
>
> Is this normal or should the Remedy service reconnect to the database
> once it is back up?
>
> Thanks,
> James
>
>
>
> UNSUBSCRIBE or access ARSlist Archives at http://www.ARSLIST.org
>
>
> UNSUBSCRIBE or access ARSlist Archives at http://www.ARSLIST.org


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20060125This posting was submitted with HTML in it

20060125This posting was submitted with HTML in it

** James,

But when say the database server for some reason decides to reboot at 4.00 am on Sunday morning this will cause the remedy service to hang unless someone manually reboots it. Of course you can script your way around this but it would be so much nicer if the system itself would be smart enough to reconnect.

Regards,
Michiel


On 3/14/06, McKenzie, James J C-E LCMC HQISEC/L3 wrote:

**

Michiel:

I would not like this feature. Why? Because there is a retry limit in the ar.conf file. This forces the arserverd process on Unix and arserver.exe programs to terminate whenever the database fails. This is a safety feature that prevents certain actions from happening. However, this does not always happen and if users are logged in when the database fails can cause miscommunications. What I would like to see is a fix for a long standing problem and that is the error message generation process. If you cannot communicate with the database, then the error message should state so like this:

"The Remedy Action Request Server cannot communicate with its associated database. Please advise the Remedy Administrator of this difficulty" rather than the cryptic ARERR 91/92/93/94 stuff. This would provide more information than I need in order to fix the problem. This information and what the user was doing at the time will suffice.

If communications is lost with the database, a constantly bouncing ARS process/program would be more frustrating to my users than a dead system.

James McKenzie



-----Original Message-----
From: Action Request System discussion list(ARSList) [mailto:arslist@ARSLIST.ORG]On Behalf Of Michiel Beijen
Sent: Tuesday, March 14, 2006 6:34 AM
To: arslist@ARSLIST.ORG

Subject: Re: Should Remedy reconnect to the database if the connection is lost and then restored?






** Of course it would be far better that the AR System service would try to reconnect to the database every x minutes when it can not connect to the database. But I guess this would be an enhancement request.

Shal we all submit this enhancement request?

Regards,
Michiel


On 3/14/06, Krishnakumar wrote:
Hi James,
Like Brian has mentioned, the ideal thing to do would be to
monitor the DB and stop the ARS service if the DB is down.

However, if this turns out to be a bit out of reach, you could atleast
make sure that ARS is stopped before the DB is brought up again. This
would ensure that ARS is not using the old connection to the DB. ARS can
then be started once the SQL Listeners are up and running. This should
ensure that ARS works fine.


Regards,
Krishnakumar

On Tue, 14 Mar 2006 05:44:21 +0530, Luke, Brian < Brian.Luke@SCHWAB.COM>
wrote:

> James,
> We ran in to this situation as well. Our specific config was
> running Windows app server and Linux DB server.
>
> The best thing to do is to stop ARS on the remote machine (from the DB
> machine) as part of the script stopping the database. Likewise starting
> ARS just after starting the DB. If they're on the same platform it's a
> bit simpler. If it's not on the same platform, you'll need to figure
> out how to issue commands remotely across platforms.
>
> What platforms are your respective systems on?
> Do you have Tivoli, NetIQ, or any other monitoring systems in place the
> systems?
>
> In our case, we installed a cygwin/SSH server on the Windows app server,
> and can issue commands from the Linux box that way.
>
> Another approach that works is to create a monitor to test the return
> code from TNSPING on the app server to your DB Instance. When it fails,
> stop ARS. When it works (and didn't last time it checked), start ARS.
>
> Hope this helps,
> -Brian
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Action Request System discussion list(ARSList)
> [mailto:arslist@ARSLIST.ORG] On Behalf Of James Pifer
> Sent: Monday, March 13, 2006 1:43 PM
> To: arslist@ARSLIST.ORG
> Subject: Should Remedy reconnect to the database if the connection is
> lost and then restored?
>
> We're running ARS 6.x with Helpdesk 4.0.3 on Windows 2000 Server. Our DB
> is Oracle 9i running on another server. We've had problems quite a few
> times on the database server where it either has rebooted or been taken
> down for maintenance. In these instances I have to completely restart
> the Remedy server. I can't even just stop and start the service.
>
> Is this normal or should the Remedy service reconnect to the database
> once it is back up?
>
> Thanks,
> James
>
>
>
> UNSUBSCRIBE or access ARSlist Archives at http://www.ARSLIST.org
>
>
> UNSUBSCRIBE or access ARSlist Archives at http://www.ARSLIST.org


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20060125This posting was submitted with HTML in it

20060125This posting was submitted with HTML in it


20060125This posting was submitted with HTML in it

**
Michiel:

You are correct. However, this can be and is done through scripting. What you need to 'cover' is when either the database is taken down out of schedule or communications is lost between the ARS system and the database system.

James McKenzie


-----Original Message-----
From: Action Request System discussion list(ARSList) [mailto:arslist@ARSLIST.ORG]On Behalf Of Michiel Beijen
Sent: Tuesday, March 14, 2006 7:18 AM
To: arslist@ARSLIST.ORG
Subject: Re: Should Remedy reconnect to the database if the connection is lost and then restored?


** James,

But when say the database server for some reason decides to reboot at 4.00 am on Sunday morning this will cause the remedy service to hang unless someone manually reboots it. Of course you can script your way around this but it would be so much nicer if the system itself would be smart enough to reconnect.

Regards,
Michiel


On 3/14/06, McKenzie, James J C-E LCMC HQISEC/L3 wrote:

**

Michiel:

I would not like this feature. Why? Because there is a retry limit in the ar.conf file. This forces the arserverd process on Unix and arserver.exe programs to terminate whenever the database fails. This is a safety feature that prevents certain actions from happening. However, this does not always happen and if users are logged in when the database fails can cause miscommunications. What I would like to see is a fix for a long standing problem and that is the error message generation process. If you cannot communicate with the database, then the error message should state so like this:

"The Remedy Action Request Server cannot communicate with its associated database. Please advise the Remedy Administrator of this difficulty" rather than the cryptic ARERR 91/92/93/94 stuff. This would provide more information than I need in order to fix the problem. This information and what the user was doing at the time will suffice.

If communications is lost with the database, a constantly bouncing ARS process/program would be more frustrating to my users than a dead system.

James McKenzie



-----Original Message-----
From: Action Request System discussion list(ARSList) [mailto:arslist@ARSLIST.ORG]On Behalf Of Michiel Beijen
Sent: Tuesday, March 14, 2006 6:34 AM
To: arslist@ARSLIST.ORG

Subject: Re: Should Remedy reconnect to the database if the connection is lost and then restored?






** Of course it would be far better that the AR System service would try to reconnect to the database every x minutes when it can not connect to the database. But I guess this would be an enhancement request.

Shal we all submit this enhancement request?

Regards,
Michiel


On 3/14/06, Krishnakumar wrote:
Hi James,
Like Brian has mentioned, the ideal thing to do would be to
monitor the DB and stop the ARS service if the DB is down.

However, if this turns out to be a bit out of reach, you could atleast
make sure that ARS is stopped before the DB is brought up again. This
would ensure that ARS is not using the old connection to the DB. ARS can
then be started once the SQL Listeners are up and running. This should
ensure that ARS works fine.


Regards,
Krishnakumar

On Tue, 14 Mar 2006 05:44:21 +0530, Luke, Brian < Brian.Luke@SCHWAB.COM>
wrote:

> James,
> We ran in to this situation as well. Our specific config was
> running Windows app server and Linux DB server.
>
> The best thing to do is to stop ARS on the remote machine (from the DB
> machine) as part of the script stopping the database. Likewise starting
> ARS just after starting the DB. If they're on the same platform it's a
> bit simpler. If it's not on the same platform, you'll need to figure
> out how to issue commands remotely across platforms.
>
> What platforms are your respective systems on?
> Do you have Tivoli, NetIQ, or any other monitoring systems in place the
> systems?
>
> In our case, we installed a cygwin/SSH server on the Windows app server,
> and can issue commands from the Linux box that way.
>
> Another approach that works is to create a monitor to test the return
> code from TNSPING on the app server to your DB Instance. When it fails,
> stop ARS. When it works (and didn't last time it checked), start ARS.
>
> Hope this helps,
> -Brian
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Action Request System discussion list(ARSList)
> [mailto:arslist@ARSLIST.ORG] On Behalf Of James Pifer
> Sent: Monday, March 13, 2006 1:43 PM
> To: arslist@ARSLIST.ORG
> Subject: Should Remedy reconnect to the database if the connection is
> lost and then restored?
>
> We're running ARS 6.x with Helpdesk 4.0.3 on Windows 2000 Server. Our DB
> is Oracle 9i running on another server. We've had problems quite a few
> times on the database server where it either has rebooted or been taken
> down for maintenance. In these instances I have to completely restart
> the Remedy server. I can't even just stop and start the service.
>
> Is this normal or should the Remedy service reconnect to the database
> once it is back up?
>
> Thanks,
> James
>
>
>
> UNSUBSCRIBE or access ARSlist Archives at http://www.ARSLIST.org
>
>
> UNSUBSCRIBE or access ARSlist Archives at http://www.ARSLIST.org


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20060125This posting was submitted with HTML in it

20060125This posting was submitted with HTML in it


20060125This posting was submitted with HTML in it

20060125This posting was submitted with HTML in it

**

There is already an ar.cfg tag called 'Db-Connection-Retries' that will cause AR Server to attempt to reconnect to the database the specified number of times, in 15 second intervals. Although it hasn't always worked for us.



For example, to have it try to reconnect every 15 seconds over a 20 minute period (80 attempts) you would use:



Db-Connection-Retries: 80



Again, this hasn't worked well for us. It worked initially in our dev server but never worked in our prod system. It seems like our production servergroup thread, email engine thread, or some other thread will always terminate AR Server before the retries are finished.



Chad Hall
(501) 342-2650



From: Action Request System discussion list(ARSList) [mailto:arslist@ARSLIST.ORG] On Behalf Of McKenzie, James J C-E LCMC HQISEC/L3
Sent: Tuesday, March 14, 2006 7:59 AM
To: arslist@ARSLIST.ORG
Subject: Re: Should Remedy reconnect to the database if the connection is lost and then restored?



Michiel:

I would not like this feature. Why? Because there is a retry limit in the ar.conf file. This forces the arserverd process on Unix and arserver.exe programs to terminate whenever the database fails. This is a safety feature that prevents certain actions from happening. However, this does not always happen and if users are logged in when the database fails can cause miscommunications. What I would like to see is a fix for a long standing problem and that is the error message generation process. If you cannot communicate with the database, then the error message should state so like this:

"The Remedy Action Request Server cannot communicate with its associated database. Please advise the Remedy Administrator of this difficulty" rather than the cryptic ARERR 91/92/93/94 stuff. This would provide more information than I need in order to fix the problem. This information and what the user was doing at the time will suffice.

If communications is lost with the database, a constantly bouncing ARS process/program would be more frustrating to my users than a dead system.

James McKenzie

-----Original Message-----
From: Action Request System discussion list(ARSList) [mailto:arslist@ARSLIST.ORG]On Behalf Of Michiel Beijen
Sent: Tuesday, March 14, 2006 6:34 AM
To: arslist@ARSLIST.ORG
Subject: Re: Should Remedy reconnect to the database if the connection is lost and then restored?



** Of course it would be far better that the AR System service would try to reconnect to the database every x minutes when it can not connect to the database. But I guess this would be an enhancement request.

Shal we all submit this enhancement request?

Regards,
Michiel



On 3/14/06, Krishnakumar wrote:
Hi James,
Like Brian has mentioned, the ideal thing to do would be to
monitor the DB and stop the ARS service if the DB is down.

However, if this turns out to be a bit out of reach, you could atleast
make sure that ARS is stopped before the DB is brought up again. This
would ensure that ARS is not using the old connection to the DB. ARS can
then be started once the SQL Listeners are up and running. This should
ensure that ARS works fine.



Regards,
Krishnakumar

On Tue, 14 Mar 2006 05:44:21 +0530, Luke, Brian < Brian.Luke@SCHWAB.COM>
wrote:

> James,
> We ran in to this situation as well. Our specific config was
> running Windows app server and Linux DB server.
>
> The best thing to do is to stop ARS on the remote machine (from the DB
> machine) as part of the script stopping the database. Likewise starting
> ARS just after starting the DB. If they're on the same platform it's a
> bit simpler. If it's not on the same platform, you'll need to figure
> out how to issue commands remotely across platforms.
>
> What platforms are your respective systems on?
> Do you have Tivoli, NetIQ, or any other monitoring systems in place the
> systems?
>
> In our case, we installed a cygwin/SSH server on the Windows app server,
> and can issue commands from the Linux box that way.
>
> Another approach that works is to create a monitor to test the return
> code from TNSPING on the app server to your DB Instance. When it fails,
> stop ARS. When it works (and didn't last time it checked), start ARS.
>
> Hope this helps,
> -Brian
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Action Request System discussion list(ARSList)
> [mailto:arslist@ARSLIST.ORG] On Behalf Of James Pifer
> Sent: Monday, March 13, 2006 1:43 PM
> To: arslist@ARSLIST.ORG
> Subject: Should Remedy reconnect to the database if the connection is
> lost and then restored?
>
> We're running ARS 6.x with Helpdesk 4.0.3 on Windows 2000 Server. Our DB
> is Oracle 9i running on another server. We've had problems quite a few
> times on the database server where it either has rebooted or been taken
> down for maintenance. In these instances I have to completely restart
> the Remedy server. I can't even just stop and start the service.
>
> Is this normal or should the Remedy service reconnect to the database
> once it is back up?
>
> Thanks,
> James
>
>
>
> UNSUBSCRIBE or access ARSlist Archives at http://www.ARSLIST.org
>
>
> UNSUBSCRIBE or access ARSlist Archives at http://www.ARSLIST.org


UNSUBSCRIBE or access ARSlist Archives at http://www.ARSLIST.org



20060125This posting was submitted with HTML in it

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intended only for the use of the recipient named above, and may be
legally privileged.

If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, you are
hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this
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20060125This posting was submitted with HTML in it 20060125This posting was submitted with HTML in it

I guess the answer depends on who you ask. If you ask me, Remedy
should automatically reconnect to the database when it comes back
up, but in reality it does not. It used to do so a long time ago...
perhaps in version 3. I complained to Remedy tech support when
this feature was taken away, and they said that a customer requested
that Remedy not try to automatically reconnect. I don't understand
that customer's logic, but they apparently have more influence than I do.

In our environment, we have Remedy and Oracle running on separate
boxes. I requested new equipment back in 2003, with the assumption
that both boxes would continue to remain on the same subnet. We had a
few network hiccups shortly before I ordered the equipment, so I went
ahead and ordered two GigE cards to have a private network segment
between both of the new boxes. Shortly after receiving the equipment,
I found out that all of the database servers would be moved to a
different subnet, and each subnet would be firewalled. If it wasn't
for the private network segment, I think we would have had a lot of
Remedy stability issues. Luckily, everything has run smoothly using
a private network segment with maybe one hiccup every year or two.

When we take Oracle down for a backup, a script sshes into the
Remedy box to tell ARSystem to stop. After the backup completes,
the script restarts Remedy.

In your situation, it sounds like the root cause of your problem is
people related as opposed to being hardware or network related.
As another poster mentioned, see if you can somehow get the database
server to shut down Remedy before your database goes down for maintenance.
The issue with you having to reboot your entire box instead of just
stopping and restarting the Remedy service sounds like overkill. I'll
refrain from making any Windows vs Unix comments.

Alex

On Mon, Mar 13, 2006 at 04:43:16PM -0500, James Pifer wrote:
> We're running ARS 6.x with Helpdesk 4.0.3 on Windows 2000 Server. Our DB
> is Oracle 9i running on another server. We've had problems quite a few
> times on the database server where it either has rebooted or been taken
> down for maintenance. In these instances I have to completely restart
> the Remedy server. I can't even just stop and start the service.
>
> Is this normal or should the Remedy service reconnect to the database
> once it is back up?
>
> Thanks,
> James
>
>
> UNSUBSCRIBE or access ARSlist Archives at http://www.ARSLIST.org

--
O--------------O--O---------------------------------O
| Alex Agle \/ Systems Support Specialist III |
O---------------/\ Georgia Institute of Technology |
|(404)894-6165 //\\ ITS-Collaborative Applications |
| Atlanta, GA //\/\\ alex.agle(@)oit.gatech.edu |
O------------O-\/\/-O-------------------------------O


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On Tue, 2006-03-14 at 17:59 +0530, Krishnakumar wrote:
> Hi James,
> Like Brian has mentioned, the ideal thing to do would be to
> monitor the DB and stop the ARS service if the DB is down.
>
> However, if this turns out to be a bit out of reach, you could atleast
> make sure that ARS is stopped before the DB is brought up again. This
> would ensure that ARS is not using the old connection to the DB. ARS can
> then be started once the SQL Listeners are up and running. This should
> ensure that ARS works fine.
>
>
> Regards,
> Krishnakumar

>From all the posts here's what I've gathered.

Obviously for a scheduled Oracle downtime it's best to stop Remedy
before the DBAs take down Oracle. This is easily accomplished.

For those times when the database is down unexpectedly, or unreachable,
Remedy needs to be restarted, but there's question to whether you can
just restart the service or not.

Sounds like Remedy possibly tries to use an old connection until you
restart? That would back the experience I have had. Restarting the
service does not fix our problem.

For the record, our Remedy server is:
Windows 2000 SP4, current updates
ARS 6.03.00 Patch 11
Helpdesk 4.0.3
Oracle Client 9.2.0.1.0

Oracle Server:
Windows 2000 SP4, current updates
Oracle Server 9.2 (still waiting for the exact version number)

I like the idea of watching the database connection, with tnsping or
whatever, but in our case, since we can't just restart the service it
wouldn't work for us...yet.

In response to the last reply by Alex: Windows vs Unix. Believe me, I
wish we were on Unix or some flavor of supported *nix. Unfortunately we
aren't so I have to deal with what we have. Also, the root cause is the
unexpected problems. For one reason or another the Oracle server has had
some problems in the last six months. It's been down unexpectedly a
handful of times.

Thanks,
James


UNSUBSCRIBE or access ARSlist Archives at http://www.ARSLIST.org

**

James:

Sadly, this sounds like a Windows problem. I can, and have, HUP'd the arserverd process which caused all of the other processes to fail with a TERM and this brought backup the Remedy server and reconnected it with an Oracle database on another server. Sadly, I think that this might be solved by stopping the Remedy service and waiting a few minutes for all of the communications to die down (I've had to do this with other products) and then restart the service. Have you tried this?

James McKenzie

-----Original Message-----
From: Action Request System discussion list(ARSList)
[mailto:arslist@ARSLIST.ORG]On Behalf Of James Pifer
Sent: Tuesday, March 14, 2006 8:51 AM
To: arslist@ARSLIST.ORG
Subject: Re: Should Remedy reconnect to the database if the connection
is lost and then restored?


On Tue, 2006-03-14 at 17:59 +0530, Krishnakumar wrote:
> Hi James,
> Like Brian has mentioned, the ideal thing to do would be to
> monitor the DB and stop the ARS service if the DB is down.
>
> However, if this turns out to be a bit out of reach, you could atleast
> make sure that ARS is stopped before the DB is brought up again. This
> would ensure that ARS is not using the old connection to the DB. ARS can
> then be started once the SQL Listeners are up and running. This should
> ensure that ARS works fine.
>
>
> Regards,
> Krishnakumar

>From all the posts here's what I've gathered.

Obviously for a scheduled Oracle downtime it's best to stop Remedy
before the DBAs take down Oracle. This is easily accomplished.

For those times when the database is down unexpectedly, or unreachable,
Remedy needs to be restarted, but there's question to whether you can
just restart the service or not.

Sounds like Remedy possibly tries to use an old connection until you
restart? That would back the experience I have had. Restarting the
service does not fix our problem.

For the record, our Remedy server is:
Windows 2000 SP4, current updates
ARS 6.03.00 Patch 11
Helpdesk 4.0.3
Oracle Client 9.2.0.1.0

Oracle Server:
Windows 2000 SP4, current updates
Oracle Server 9.2 (still waiting for the exact version number)

I like the idea of watching the database connection, with tnsping or
whatever, but in our case, since we can't just restart the service it
wouldn't work for us...yet.

In response to the last reply by Alex: Windows vs Unix. Believe me, I
wish we were on Unix or some flavor of supported *nix. Unfortunately we
aren't so I have to deal with what we have. Also, the root cause is the
unexpected problems. For one reason or another the Oracle server has had
some problems in the last six months. It's been down unexpectedly a
handful of times.

Thanks,
James


UNSUBSCRIBE or access ARSlist Archives at http://www.ARSLIST.org

20060125This posting was submitted with HTML in it

**
If this is a windows problem, why dont you create a dependency between the ARS Server and the Oracle database wherein the ARS Server service would depend on the Oracle service and would not start without the Oracle services being up.. that way the Oracle database admins wont able to stop the Oracle server without first killing the ARS Server...

These dependencies can be created via the registry - if you do not know how let me know and I can guide you through it...

Regards

Joe D'Souza
Remedy Developer / Consultant,
Shyle Networks,
New Jersey.

"McKenzie, James J C-E LCMC HQISEC/L3" wrote:

**
James:
Sadly, this sounds like a Windows problem. I can, and have, HUP'd the arserverd process which caused all of the other processes to fail with a TERM and this brought backup the Remedy server and reconnected it with an Oracle database on another server. Sadly, I think that this might be solved by stopping the Remedy service and waiting a few minutes for all of the communications to die down (I've had to do this with other products) and then restart the service. Have you tried this?
James McKenzie
-----Original Message-----
From: Action Request System discussion list(ARSList)
[mailto:arslist@ARSLIST.ORG]On Behalf Of James Pifer
Sent: Tuesday, March 14, 2006 8:51 AM
To: arslist@ARSLIST.ORG
Subject: Re: Should Remedy reconnect to the database if the connection
is lost and then restored?

On Tue, 2006-03-14 at 17:59 +0530, Krishnakumar wrote:
> Hi James,
> Like Brian has mentioned, the ideal thing to do would be to
> monitor the DB and stop the ARS service if the DB is down.
>
> However, if this turns out to be a bit out of reach, you could atleast
> make sure that ARS is stopped before the DB is brought up again. This
> would ensure that ARS is not using the old connection to the DB. ARS can
> then be started once the SQL Listeners are up and running. This should
> ensure that ARS works fine.
>
>
> Regards,
> Krishnakumar
>From all the posts here's what I've gathered.
Obviously for a scheduled Oracle downtime it's best to stop Remedy
before the DBAs take down Oracle. This is easily accomplished.
For those times when the database is down unexpectedly, or unreachable,
Remedy needs to be restarted, but there's question to whether you can
just restart the service or not.
Sounds like Remedy possibly tries to use an old connection until you
restart? That would back the experience I have had. Restarting the
service does not fix our problem.
For the record, our Remedy server is:
Windows 2000 SP4, current updates
ARS 6.03.00 Patch 11
Helpdesk 4.0.3
Oracle Client 9.2.0.1.0
Oracle Server:
Windows 2000 SP4, current updates
Oracle Server 9.2 (still waiting for the exact version number)
I like the idea of watching the database connection, with tnsping or
whatever, but in our case, since we can't just restart the service it
wouldn't work for us...yet.
In response to the last reply by Alex: Windows vs Unix. Believe me, I
wish we were on Unix or some flavor of supported *nix. Unfortunately we
aren't so I have to deal with what we have. Also, the root cause is the
unexpected problems. For one reason or another the Oracle server has had
some problems in the last six months. It's been down unexpectedly a
handful of times.
Thanks,
James



Yahoo! Mail
Use Photomail to share photos without annoying attachments. 20060125This posting was submitted with HTML in it

** This would work obviously - but only if the DB is on the same box as the AR Server....

Regards,
Michiel


On 3/14/06, Joe DeSouza < joeremedy@yahoo.com > wrote:

**
If this is a windows problem, why dont you create a dependency between the ARS Server and the Oracle database wherein the ARS Server service would depend on the Oracle service and would not start without the Oracle services being up.. that way the Oracle database admins wont able to stop the Oracle server without first killing the ARS Server...

These dependencies can be created via the registry - if you do not know how let me know and I can guide you through it...

Regards

Joe D'Souza
Remedy Developer / Consultant,
Shyle Networks,
New Jersey.


"McKenzie, James J C-E LCMC HQISEC/L3" wrote:


**
James:
Sadly, this sounds like a Windows problem. I can, and have, HUP'd the arserverd process which caused all of the other processes to fail with a TERM and this brought backup the Remedy server and reconnected it with an Oracle database on another server. Sadly, I think that this might be solved by stopping the Remedy service and waiting a few minutes for all of the communications to die down (I've had to do this with other products) and then restart the service. Have you tried this?
James McKenzie
-----Original Message-----
From: Action Request System discussion list(ARSList)
[ mailto:arslist@ARSLIST.ORG ]On Behalf Of James Pifer
Sent: Tuesday, March 14, 2006 8:51 AM
To: arslist@ARSLIST.ORG
Subject: Re: Should Remedy reconnect to the database if the connection
is lost and then restored?

On Tue, 2006-03-14 at 17:59 +0530, Krishnakumar wrote:
> Hi James,
> Like Brian has mentioned, the ideal thing to do would be to
> monitor the DB and stop the ARS service if the DB is down.
>
> However, if this turns out to be a bit out of reach, you could atleast
> make sure that ARS is stopped before the DB is brought up again. This
> would ensure that ARS is not using the old connection to the DB. ARS can
> then be started once the SQL Listeners are up and running. This should
> ensure that ARS works fine.
>
>
> Regards,
> Krishnakumar
>From all the posts here's what I've gathered.
Obviously for a scheduled Oracle downtime it's best to stop Remedy
before the DBAs take down Oracle. This is easily accomplished.
For those times when the database is down unexpectedly, or unreachable,
Remedy needs to be restarted, but there's question to whether you can
just restart the service or not.
Sounds like Remedy possibly tries to use an old connection until you
restart? That would back the experience I have had. Restarting the
service does not fix our problem.
For the record, our Remedy server is:
Windows 2000 SP4, current updates
ARS 6.03.00 Patch 11
Helpdesk 4.0.3
Oracle Client 9.2.0.1.0
Oracle Server:
Windows 2000 SP4, current updates
Oracle Server 9.2 (still waiting for the exact version number)
I like the idea of watching the database connection, with tnsping or
whatever, but in our case, since we can't just restart the service it
wouldn't work for us...yet.
In response to the last reply by Alex: Windows vs Unix. Believe me, I
wish we were on Unix or some flavor of supported *nix. Unfortunately we
aren't so I have to deal with what we have. Also, the root cause is the
unexpected problems. For one reason or another the Oracle server has had
some problems in the last six months. It's been down unexpectedly a
handful of times.
Thanks,
James





Yahoo! Mail
Use Photomail to share photos without annoying attachments. 20060125This posting was submitted with HTML in it




20060125This posting was submitted with HTML in it

On Tue, 2006-03-14 at 09:01 -0700, McKenzie, James J C-E LCMC HQISEC/L3
wrote:
> **
>
> James:
>
> Sadly, this sounds like a Windows problem. I can, and have, HUP'd the
> arserverd process which caused all of the other processes to fail with
> a TERM and this brought backup the Remedy server and reconnected it
> with an Oracle database on another server. Sadly, I think that this
> might be solved by stopping the Remedy service and waiting a few
> minutes for all of the communications to die down (I've had to do this
> with other products) and then restart the service. Have you tried
> this?
>
> James McKenzie

No, I have not tried stopping the service and waiting a few minutes and
then restarting. I have a test box that I could try this on and see if
it works. If it does then I could possibly write something that:
watches the connection
if it fails, keep rechecking for it to come back up
when connectivity to Oracle returns:
stop services for some period of time (to be determined)
then restart the services

If I can get it to work in some automated way that would be a workable
solution. If not, restarting the box is just as easy.

In response to Joe DeSouza, Remedy and Oracle are on different servers.

James


UNSUBSCRIBE or access ARSlist Archives at http://www.ARSLIST.org

Of course - some network latency would explain this. You might use this as an opportunity to have your network guys look at the whole setup, to ensure that settings are as they should be for normal communications as well.


Rick


From: Action Request System discussion list(ARSList) on behalf of James Pifer
Sent: Tue 3/14/2006 8:18 AM
To: arslist@ARSLIST.ORG
Subject: Re: Should Remedy reconnect to the database if the connection is lost and then restored?





On Tue, 2006-03-14 at 09:01 -0700, McKenzie, James J C-E LCMC HQISEC/L3
wrote:
> **
>
> James:
>
> Sadly, this sounds like a Windows problem. I can, and have, HUP'd the
> arserverd process which caused all of the other processes to fail with
> a TERM and this brought backup the Remedy server and reconnected it
> with an Oracle database on another server. Sadly, I think that this
> might be solved by stopping the Remedy service and waiting a few
> minutes for all of the communications to die down (I've had to do this
> with other products) and then restart the service. Have you tried
> this?
>
> James McKenzie

No, I have not tried stopping the service and waiting a few minutes and
then restarting. I have a test box that I could try this on and see if
it works. If it does then I could possibly write something that:
watches the connection
if it fails, keep rechecking for it to come back up
when connectivity to Oracle returns:
stop services for some period of time (to be determined)
then restart the services

If I can get it to work in some automated way that would be a workable
solution. If not, restarting the box is just as easy.

In response to Joe DeSouza, Remedy and Oracle are on different servers.

James


UNSUBSCRIBE or access ARSlist Archives at http://www.ARSLIST.org




UNSUBSCRIBE or access ARSlist Archives at http://www.ARSLIST.org

**
Thats true - but I think there is a way to configure dependencies on services across servers too.. Not too sure on that one though.. Might be worth checking it out with MicroSoft if that is the case and you have Oracle installed on a remote server..

Regards

Joe D'Souza
Remedy Developer / Consultant,
Shyle Networks,
New Jersey.

Michiel Beijen wrote:

** This would work obviously - but only if the DB is on the same box as the AR Server....

Regards,
Michiel


On 3/14/06, Joe DeSouza < joeremedy@yahoo.com > wrote:

**
If this is a windows problem, why dont you create a dependency between the ARS Server and the Oracle database wherein the ARS Server service would depend on the Oracle service and would not start without the Oracle services being up.. that way the Oracle database admins wont able to stop the Oracle server without first killing the ARS Server...

These dependencies can be created via the registry - if you do not know how let me know and I can guide you through it...

Regards

Joe D'Souza
Remedy Developer / Consultant,
Shyle Networks,
New Jersey.



Yahoo! Mail
Use Photomail to share photos without annoying attachments. 20060125This posting was submitted with HTML in it

**

James:

Please let us know the results of your testing. This appears to be a common problem.

James McKenzie


-----Original Message-----
From: Action Request System discussion list(ARSList)
[mailto:arslist@ARSLIST.ORG]On Behalf Of James Pifer
Sent: Tuesday, March 14, 2006 9:19 AM
To: arslist@ARSLIST.ORG
Subject: Re: Should Remedy reconnect to the database if the connection
is lost and then restored?


On Tue, 2006-03-14 at 09:01 -0700, McKenzie, James J C-E LCMC HQISEC/L3
wrote:
> **
>
> James:
>
> Sadly, this sounds like a Windows problem. I can, and have, HUP'd the
> arserverd process which caused all of the other processes to fail with
> a TERM and this brought backup the Remedy server and reconnected it
> with an Oracle database on another server. Sadly, I think that this
> might be solved by stopping the Remedy service and waiting a few
> minutes for all of the communications to die down (I've had to do this
> with other products) and then restart the service. Have you tried
> this?
>
> James McKenzie

No, I have not tried stopping the service and waiting a few minutes and
then restarting. I have a test box that I could try this on and see if
it works. If it does then I could possibly write something that:
watches the connection
if it fails, keep rechecking for it to come back up
when connectivity to Oracle returns:
stop services for some period of time (to be determined)
then restart the services

If I can get it to work in some automated way that would be a workable
solution. If not, restarting the box is just as easy.

In response to Joe DeSouza, Remedy and Oracle are on different servers.

James


UNSUBSCRIBE or access ARSlist Archives at http://www.ARSLIST.org

20060125This posting was submitted with HTML in it

Yeah, on UNIX it would be easy to put a listener in the Remedy startup script to ensure that Oracle is running, wherever it is. Not sure how you'd do that in Windows, unless you wrote a Java or Perl script or something, but even then, I'm not sure what the calls would be.

Maybe if you did a simple SQL call against the DB, and only let the Remedy startup begin when you got a return value (as opposed to a timeout)?


Rick



From: Action Request System discussion list(ARSList) on behalf of Joe DeSouza
Sent: Tue 3/14/2006 8:24 AM
To: arslist@ARSLIST.ORG
Subject: Re: Should Remedy reconnect to the database if the connection is lost and then restored?




**
Thats true - but I think there is a way to configure dependencies on services across servers too.. Not too sure on that one though.. Might be worth checking it out with MicroSoft if that is the case and you have Oracle installed on a remote server..

Regards

Joe D'Souza
Remedy Developer / Consultant,
Shyle Networks,
New Jersey.

Michiel Beijen wrote:

** This would work obviously - but only if the DB is on the same box as the AR Server....

Regards,
Michiel


On 3/14/06, Joe DeSouza < joeremedy@yahoo.com > wrote:

**
If this is a windows problem, why dont you create a dependency between the ARS Server and the Oracle database wherein the ARS Server service would depend on the Oracle service and would not start without the Oracle services being up.. that way the Oracle database admins wont able to stop the Oracle server without first killing the ARS Server...

These dependencies can be created via the registry - if you do not know how let me know and I can guide you through it...

Regards

Joe D'Souza
Remedy Developer / Consultant,
Shyle Networks,
New Jersey.



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James,

I am wondering whether you have tried also tried stopping and
restart the "AR System Portmapper" service?

Here are two simple windows CMD files I use to stop or restart
remedy.

To Stop Remedy...

Filename: RemedyStop.cmd

::Begin Batch file
::NET STOP "service Remedy Mail Server"
::NET STOP "service Remedy Application Server"
NET STOP "Remedy Action Request System Server"
NET STOP "AR System Portmapper"
::End Batch file


To Start Remedy...

Filename: RemedyStartup.cmd

::Begin Batch file

NET START "AR System Portmapper"
NET START "Remedy Action Request System Server"

::NET START "Remedy Application Server"
::NET START "Remedy Mail Server"
::End Batch file

I don't know whether restarting the portmapper service will
resolve your specific issue or not but it most certainly is worth
a try. The order that the services are stopped/started is very
important. If a service is already stopped or started a slight
delay will occur while Windows tries to perform the requested
action. You can also perform this manually via the services
management console.

Obviously this is a "Windows only" solution but I'm sure the same
can be accomplished in other environments.

I'm hopeful that this resolves your issue without your having to
reboot the machine to accomplish the same. Please do let me know
the result good or bad should you give this a try.


Regards,

tom

Thomas J. Mutaffis
Simplexity Inc.

----- Original Message -----
From: "James Pifer"
Newsgroups: public.remedy.arsystem.general
To:
Sent: Tuesday, March 14, 2006 11:18 AM
Subject: Re: Should Remedy reconnect to the database if the
connection is lost and then restored?


> On Tue, 2006-03-14 at 09:01 -0700, McKenzie, James J C-E LCMC
> HQISEC/L3
> wrote:
>> **
>>
>> James:
>>
>> Sadly, this sounds like a Windows problem. I can, and have,
>> HUP'd the
>> arserverd process which caused all of the other processes to
>> fail with
>> a TERM and this brought backup the Remedy server and
>> reconnected it
>> with an Oracle database on another server. Sadly, I think
>> that this
>> might be solved by stopping the Remedy service and waiting a
>> few
>> minutes for all of the communications to die down (I've had to
>> do this
>> with other products) and then restart the service. Have you
>> tried
>> this?
>>
>> James McKenzie
>
> No, I have not tried stopping the service and waiting a few
> minutes and
> then restarting. I have a test box that I could try this on and
> see if
> it works. If it does then I could possibly write something
> that:
> watches the connection
> if it fails, keep rechecking for it to come back up
> when connectivity to Oracle returns:
> stop services for some period of time (to be determined)
> then restart the services
>
> If I can get it to work in some automated way that would be a
> workable
> solution. If not, restarting the box is just as easy.
>
> In response to Joe DeSouza, Remedy and Oracle are on different
> servers.
>
> James
>
>
> UNSUBSCRIBE or access ARSlist Archives at
> http://www.ARSLIST.org
>
>


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In theory this is already in place (4 times, 15 seconds between).
Although I haven't seen it work properly in our situation. It's likely
just not enough time.
It would also be useful to know the specific recovery attempts that
armonitor.exe makes vs. arserver.exe.

There is also an ar.cfg parameter that I've tried, but still hasn't
seemed to do what I wanted:

Db-Connection-Retries: 22

Currently there is no way to change the interval between retries.

-Brian Luke




From: Action Request System discussion list(ARSList)
[mailto:arslist@ARSLIST.ORG] On Behalf Of Michiel Beijen
Sent: Tuesday, March 14, 2006 5:34 AM
To: arslist@ARSLIST.ORG
Subject: Re: Should Remedy reconnect to the database if the connection
is lost and then restored?


** Of course it would be far better that the AR System service would try
to reconnect to the database every x minutes when it can not connect to
the database. But I guess this would be an enhancement request.
Shal we all submit this enhancement request?

Regards,
Michiel


On 3/14/06, Krishnakumar wrote:

Hi James,
Like Brian has mentioned, the ideal thing to do would
be to
monitor the DB and stop the ARS service if the DB is down.

However, if this turns out to be a bit out of reach, you could
atleast
make sure that ARS is stopped before the DB is brought up again.
This
would ensure that ARS is not using the old connection to the DB.
ARS can
then be started once the SQL Listeners are up and running. This
should
ensure that ARS works fine.


Regards,
Krishnakumar

On Tue, 14 Mar 2006 05:44:21 +0530, Luke, Brian <
Brian.Luke@SCHWAB.COM >
wrote:

> James,
> We ran in to this situation as well. Our specific
config was
> running Windows app server and Linux DB server.
>
> The best thing to do is to stop ARS on the remote machine
(from the DB
> machine) as part of the script stopping the database.
Likewise starting
> ARS just after starting the DB. If they're on the same
platform it's a
> bit simpler. If it's not on the same platform, you'll need to
figure
> out how to issue commands remotely across platforms.
>
> What platforms are your respective systems on?
> Do you have Tivoli, NetIQ, or any other monitoring systems in
place the
> systems?
>
> In our case, we installed a cygwin/SSH server on the Windows
app server,
> and can issue commands from the Linux box that way.
>
> Another approach that works is to create a monitor to test the
return
> code from TNSPING on the app server to your DB Instance. When
it fails,
> stop ARS. When it works (and didn't last time it checked),
start ARS.
>
> Hope this helps,
> -Brian
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Action Request System discussion list(ARSList)
> [mailto:arslist@ARSLIST.ORG] On Behalf Of James Pifer
> Sent: Monday, March 13, 2006 1:43 PM
> To: arslist@ARSLIST.ORG
> Subject: Should Remedy reconnect to the database if the
connection is
> lost and then restored?
>
> We're running ARS 6.x with Helpdesk 4.0.3 on Windows 2000
Server. Our DB
> is Oracle 9i running on another server. We've had problems
quite a few
> times on the database server where it either has rebooted or
been taken
> down for maintenance. In these instances I have to completely
restart
> the Remedy server. I can't even just stop and start the
service.
>
> Is this normal or should the Remedy service reconnect to the
database
> once it is back up?
>
> Thanks,
> James
>
>

>
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>
>


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