[sims] SIMS CRASHING!!!!

[kennysarmy]

On our Data Manager's PC:

 

Fault Code: 1002-2133-2200 Exception of type 'System.OutOfMemoryException' was thrown: System.OutOfMemoryException

The details are:

 

at System.Collections.Hashtable.rehash(Int32 newsize, Boolean forceNewHashCode)

at System.Collections.Hashtable.expand()

at System.Collections.Hashtable.Insert(Object key, Object nvalue, Boolean add)

at System.Collections.Hashtable.set_Item(Object key, Object value)

at SIMS.Entities.AttributesCollection..ctor(Object obj)

at SIMS.Entities.MarkBase.ConfigureAttributes()

at SIMS.Entities.ATWLessonMark..ctor(DataRow row, InformationDomainEnum informationDomain)

at SIMS.Entities.MissingMarks.PopulateLessonMissingMarks(DataTable data, InformationDomainEnum informationDomain)

at SIMS.Processes.MissingMarkLessonsProcess.PopulateMissingLessonMarks(DateRangeAndScope _dras)

at SIMS.UserInterfaces.MissingMarksDetail.populate(DateRangeAndScope dras, ViewTypeEnum viewTypeenum)

at SIMS.UserInterfaces.MissingMarksContainer.unexplainedAbsenceBrowser_EventOpenDetail(DateRangeAndScope dras)

at SIMS.UserInterfaces.DateRangeAndScopeBrowser.OpenDetail()

at SIMS.UserInterfaces.DateRangeAndScopeBrowser.toolBarButtonOpen_Click()

at SIMS.UserInterfaces.BasicBrowserControl.toolBarLeft_ButtonClick(Object sender, ToolBarButtonClickEventArgs args)

at System.Windows.Forms.ToolBarButtonClickEventHandler.Invoke(Object sender, ToolBarButtonClickEventArgs e)

at System.Windows.Forms.ToolBar.OnButtonClick(ToolBarButtonClickEventArgs e)

at SIMS.UserInterfaces.ToolBar.item_Click(Object sender, EventArgs e)

at NETXP.Controls.Bars.CommandBarItem.RaiseClick()

at NETXP.Controls.Bars.CommandBar.ProcessMouseUp(Point e)

at NETXP.Controls.Bars.CommandBar.OnMouseUp(MouseEventArgs e)

at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WmMouseUp(Message& m, MouseButtons button, Int32 clicks)

at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WndProc(Message& m)

at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.OnMessage(Message& m)

at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.WndProc(Message& m)

at System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow.Callback(IntPtr hWnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wparam, IntPtr lparam)

 

It's getting beyond annoying now as anything that requires a little bit more processing (rather than just looking up a student) results in it crashing - from 2-5 times a day!!

 

PC (which is only 18 months old) Spec. is :

 

Intel Core i5-4460

12 GB RAM

120 GB SSD

[robjduk]

not encountered this before but have had similar (ish) problems when a user has way too much on their home screen.

[BKGarry]

do you have a the following line in connect.ini

 

commandtimeout=1000000

 

We had this a while ago and found most of them went with that line

[zag]

Also try to do some housekeeping on the Sims database. There are knowledge base articles on the Capita site to do it.

 

Usually its registration making the Sims DB too large.

[kennysarmy]

do you have a the following line in connect.ini

 

 

 

We had this a while ago and found most of them went with that line

 

It only has this:

 

[sIMSConnection]

REDIRECT=S:\SIMS

[BKGarry]

on your S drive under the SIMS folder should be another connect.ini file which you can add the setting to

[Narwhal]

Our Attendance person has a habit of not closing pages that she has used and opening a new one to do the same job again. After she has opened several screens it runs out of memory and crashes. Might be worth popping in to check on your Data Manger every so often to see how much she has left open.

[kennysarmy]

Our Attendance person has a habit of not closing pages that she has used and opening a new one to do the same job again. After she has opened several screens it runs out of memory and crashes. Might be worth popping in to check on your Data Manger every so often to see how much she has left open.

 

She assures me this morning it crashed with just the attendance screen open

[BKGarry]

Reset her homepage to default settings, just in case.

 

Also, a very Long Shot, but maybe archive some attendance years too

[kennysarmy]

So here is the solution

 

 

To us via our LEA...

 

 

 

KB113404 Errors / Timeout issues appearing within Attendance 7 / Lesson Monitor 7

 

KBA-456501-M7M4S5

 

Notes

 

There are many reasons why crashes and errors may occur in the Attendance / Lesson Monitor areas of SIMS. These can often be resolved by working through the housekeeping routines below.

 

 

 

Examples of errors include:

 

Memory Leak

 

Memory usage

 

Pulsar.exe memory high and not refreshing

 

100% CPU usage crashes

 

Attendance getting slower through the day

 

Lesson Monitor getting slower through the day

 

Edit Marks / Display Marks

 

Crashes in Attendance / Lesson Monitor areas

 

Exception of type 'System.OutOfMemoryException' was thrown. : System.OutOfMemoryException

 

Workaround

 

Regular timeout errors/crashes are appearing within Attendance 7 / Lesson Monitor 7. Timeouts/crashes can appear within various areas of the two modules mentioned, from running a report to editing students' marks.

 

 

Since 2007 we have made a 60% reduction on the memory resources. We will continue to improve this with every release. We aim to completely address this memory issue fully in a future release of SIMS .net.

 

 

Until this release, please follow the workarounds below:

 

 

1. Stop and restart the SQL Server. It is recommended to do this when all users are logged out of the system, for example in the morning or evening.

 

 

2. Extend the CommandTimeout setting within your connect.ini to 600 or 1200. E.g. CommandTimeout=600

 

 

 

3. Try running this routine on another workstation and also on the server itself.

 

 

 

4. Check the specifications of the affected Workstation / Server and ensure that it meets the minimum SIMS.net software requirements. Please see the SIMS System Requirements document that can be found in the Sticky Items area of My Account, here: https://myaccount.capita-cs.co.uk/search/StandardSearch?q=owstaxIdClassification:sticky-items

 

 

5. Then try running this routine on a server when no other users are logged in – For example in the morning or evening when all other users are logged out of the system.

 

 

6. Run Database Diagnostic and Validate Memberships - SIMS .net | Tools | System Diagnostics | Database Diagnostic and SIMS .net | Tools | Validate Memberships.

 

 

 

(Note: If you have not done so already, please apply Patch 20986 before running Database Diagnostics. This patch activates and extends the versions of some Database Diagnostic fixes. It also rectifies an issue where in certain circumstances running Database Diagnostics removes Exceptional Circumstance # and Y codes that have been entered. This patch will be included in the Autumn 14 release of SIMS, v7.160 and above need not apply this patch).

 

 

7. Archive Attendance Marks - For further information on this please refer to the Lesson Monitor and Attendance handbooks which can be found here: http://simspublications.com/413567/handbooks.html

 

 

8. Apply the Re-Index Patch 14265 and the update table statistics Patch 15589.

 

 

 

(Note: The Re-Index Patch 14265 should only be applied when all users are logged out of the SIMS system, after school for example).

 

 

9. Check for any conflicting, corrupt or high memory using Anti-Virus software on the system, as this may have detrimental effects on SIMS.net.

 

 

10. Check whether you are using an express version of SQL and the size of your SIMS database. Express versions of SQL have a database size limit - we recommend considering an upgrade to a full SQL licence as errors can be caused when the SIMS database grows in size (due to data being stored for several years for example) and then hits the SQL Express database size limit.

 

 

 

SQL Server Express size limits (correct at time of writing):

 

2014, 2012, 2008 R2 - 10GB per database

2008, 2005 and earlier - 4GB per database

 

 

 

11. Uninstall and Re-install SIMS on the affected Workstation(s).

 

Release Notes

 

As with all patches and upgrades please ensure you take a backup prior to applying.

[Narwhal]

She assures me this morning it crashed with just the attendance screen open

 

And you believe her? I don't trust anything I don't see.

[Michael]

The real workaround should be, stop using SIMS and change your MIS.

 

The fact it could be so many possibilities is hardly reassuring given you're expected to support end users!

[kennysarmy]

do you have a the following line in connect.ini

 

 

 

We had this a while ago and found most of them went with that line

 

I've now checked our SIMS.net server and in S:\SIMS the connect.ini already has this line

[BKGarry]

Booo not that.

 

Has your local support unit come back with anything yet?

[kennysarmy]

Booo not that.

 

Has your local support unit come back with anything yet?

 

Yes....all the CR*P in post 10

 

I'm going to dial in over the weekend and try step 8!

 

 

Don't you just love solutions 3 & 5 ???

[BKGarry]

Oh yes, I have had even better ones than that

[jinnantonnixx]

@kennysarmy

It's a real problem caused by objects not being freed by garbage collection.

SIMS has memory leaks. I've got a call open with Capita about this.

None of the proposed solutions that concern the database will have any effect on a client memory leak. It's a complete waste of time.

 

Exhibit A m'lud. I wrote this in December 2015, so I wouldn't hold your breath.

http://www.edugeek.net/forums/mis-systems/158982-database-errors-slow-performance-3.html#post1403203

I must say that I made a mistake at the end of that post. The GC does run (of course!), but the objects created by SIMS (especially form objects) are promoted through Gen0 > Gen1 > Gen2 which implies that the objects on the heap are rooted and are thus promoted through the generations. You can prove that using Windbg.

 

I absolutely guarantee that if you attach Windbg to your crashed Pulsar process, you will see thousands of rooted objects in your Generation 2 heap. If you pick one of these objects and run a !gcroot on it, you will see that it's pinned SIMS object and it will never be released by a garbage collection. A classic example is finding rooted form controls for forms that closed ages ago. The only workaround is to wait for it to crash and restart SIMS.

 

By the way, adding more memory won't help. The maximum heap size for 32 bit Windows is about 1.6GB. Adding RAM won't help as it's an OS limitation. When you run out of heap memory, that's the end of that.

Edited October 21, 2016 by jinnantonnixx

[kennysarmy]

@kennysarmy

It's a real problem caused by objects not being freed by garbage collection.

SIMS has memory leaks. I've got a call open with Capita about this.

None of the proposed solutions that concern the database will have any effect on a client memory leak. It's a complete waste of time.

 

Exhibit A m'lud. I wrote this in December 2015, so I wouldn't hold your breath.

http://www.edugeek.net/forums/mis-systems/158982-database-errors-slow-performance-3.html#post1403203

I must say that I made a mistake at the end of that post. The GC does run (of course!), but the objects created by SIMS (especially form objects) are promoted through Gen0 > Gen1 > Gen2 which implies that the objects on the heap are rooted and are thus promoted through the generations. You can prove that using Windbg.

 

I absolutely guarantee that if you attach Windbg to your crashed Pulsar process, you will see thousands of rooted objects in your Generation 2 heap. If you pick one of these objects and run a !gcroot on it, you will see that it's pinned SIMS object and it will never be released by a garbage collection. A classic example is finding rooted form controls for forms that have been closed ages ago. The only workaround is to wait for it to crash and restart SIMS.

 

By the way, adding more memory won't help. The maximum heap size for 32 bit Windows is about 1.6GB. And no more. Adding RAM won't help as it's an OS limitation. When you run out of heap memory, that's the end of that.

 

Thanks - and I've also added a post to the thread you linked.

[Esteban_Child_of_the_Sun]

Looks like Capita are finally addressing some of the memory leaks

 

Change Requests added to the Spring 2018 Release of SIMS

12/11/2017 What Change Requests are being included?

 

• Improvements to memory leak in PULSAR.exe
  
• Highlighting inactive lookups in the user interface
  
• Enable the print button in pupil bulk update screen
  
• Bulk update of the completed flag in a staff training event
  

 

Edited November 13, 2017 by Esteban_Child_of_the_Sun

[kennysarmy]

Looks like Capita are finally addressing some of the memory leaks

 

Shame we can't upgrade until SOPHOS fix their issue with INTERCEPT X borking the installs and in-place upgrades