Server keeps switching between online/offline.

[Anonymous]

Hi,

we have a project that we are working on with another company on a shared server. Lately we've faced the usual problem; server going offline frequently and popping back up after a while. We’re running AC 17/Hotfix 5014.

Usually firewalls are blamed, but I don't believe that's the case here. We're on DNS and if it'd be blocked, then I guess it'd be blocked for good(?).

I also read that if there's latency (high ping, above 40ms or so) between client and the server, these problems can occur. That's also pretty much cleared out, since the average ping to the server is 12ms.

So far I've tuned archicad's registry (regedit) to compress the packages sent to the server at max. (CompressionLevel set to 9) to help with possible latency related issues, but that did not help.

Then I found these:
- ServerPresenceCheckingSensibility (by default set to 3)
- MemberPresenceCheckingSensibility (by default set to 3)

I tried to find some information on these, but found none. So, could changing the values on these help with the issue, so that AC wouldn’t assume that the server is offline if it doesn’t give an insta-response? What can one achieve by changing values on these?

Thank you!

[Anonymous]

Hello,

Are both companies having this problem or just
the one connecting from the outside?

Mac or Win server?

[Ed_Brown]

The above listed registry keys could indeed help. The client ArchiCAD regularly checks to see if it is online. On less reliable networks the client might falsely believe that the server went off line.

The server sends a heartbeat every 5 seconds to the clients. If the client does not receive a heartbeat within ServerPresenceCheckingSensibilty * 5 seconds time then it assumes the server is offline. With the default setting of 3, this means if a heartbeat has not been received in 15 seconds then the client considers the server offline. On wide area networks heartbeats can be lost or delayed so by increasing the ServerPresenceCheckingsensibilty to, say 6, then you can exclude pretty much any of the WAN type of latency, delayed delivery, lost packet issues. I wouldn’t bump it much higher than that number though, since you start to mask serious network problems that can lead to other problems with Teamwork.

MemberPresenceCheckingSensibility is similar to ServerPresenceCheckingSensibilty and should be mimic each other’s registry changes.

[rob2218]

We seem to be experiencing this very same issue.
Server goes "online".....then 5 to 8 minutes later.....goes "offline".
I remember having a similar incident when using AC15 a while ago.

Seemed like we had a conflict in ports between our messenging (Yahoo messenger) at the time service and AC15.

I was instructed by a fellow GS tech dude...(Nick where are you when I need you now!!!) who was able to resolve the problem effectively by switching out to a different messaging port in AC so that it wouldn't conflict with the Yahoo messenger chat session.

Could someone else shed some light on this issue? why/what is causing our server to go "offline/online" intermittently???? please advise.

[rob2218]

Nick....I dealt with you when you were (hope still are) at GS many moons ago.
You helped us trouble shoot this "online/offline" issue at a local firm here in DC...I need yer assistance again sir...please.

this new office I'm at is having same "online/offline" issues with their server and our TW model.

please advise.

[Da3dalus]

Nick Cornia and Marton Kiss are aware of the situation. Contact whoever is your primary tech support person to get in on the loop. We've also seen some sporadic disruptions in BIM Server 18 (BS17 is still running solid on the same machine). Nick's had us try a few things, but there hasn't been a complete fix yet. For now, working offline for a few minutes and getting back online via the Teamwork Palette is generally acceptable (you have to turn "Work Offline" off in order to go back online). Just don't Detach yourself unneccessarily!

What I understood from a recent seminar (at the 2015 North America User Conference in Las Vegas) is that BS18 is much more sensitive to port access than previous versions, so anything on your network that closes or blocks ports may be suspect. There is a Hotfix in the works that may help this, but I'm also having my IT guy check this again.

Good luck!

[roderick_sarco]

Hi, we are having a similar issue with BimServer on AC18. We are currently running everything on the 4020 version (spanish language version) and I saw just yesterday that the new hotfix was now available.

For many of the users in the LAN, the problem is that for no apparent reason the server shows them as offline. The way they fix it is either unplugging the LAN cable and then re-plugging it (this immediately solves the problem) or via de-activating the WiFI service and then re-activating it (also immediately solves the problem). Even though this is a fix, it is quite frustrating since some users need to do it between 7-10 times a day.

Interestingly enough, when working remotely and accessing the Bim Server from a location outside the office, this issue never appears.