Stuart_C Posted January 23, 2009 Posted January 23, 2009 Anyone ever had their SIMS server restart during an update of SIMS? I was applying the December update, it started creating the backup, I looked away whist that ran, I turned back a little while later and the machine was restarting. DB Version is OK, Software version is OK, Data seems accessable, workstation upgrades run. Nothing obvious in Event Manager and according to the information I got from Capita when I ran a couple of checks there were no problems. I however don't like random server restarts and I was wondering if anyone had had that happen to them.
Geoff Posted January 23, 2009 Posted January 23, 2009 A windows update maybe? Otherwise I'd suspect a hardware issue.
Stuart_C Posted January 23, 2009 Author Posted January 23, 2009 No updates to apply - I tend to do them manually over the holidays. Possibly the hardware though this is the first time it's ever "randomly" re-set itself. Just seemd a suspicious time to do it.
Jobos Posted January 23, 2009 Posted January 23, 2009 It happened to me and it’s very annoying when you only have one server that runs everything and it restarts in the middle of lessons... but that's SIMS for you
Mcshammer_dj Posted January 23, 2009 Posted January 23, 2009 I do not beleive that this is a SIMS issue. I have 60 schools each with 1 server to deliver the network and SIMs and I have never had a problem with rebooting caused by SIMS. Equally is there a reason why you are doing SIMS upgrades during the day. With scripted use of Solus you can allow any sims upgrades to run overnight when there is nobody in the school
matt40k Posted January 23, 2009 Posted January 23, 2009 Have to agree with Mcshammer_dj. Sounds like it crashed during the backup, this is pretty resource heavy, could be your hardware can't cope
Jobos Posted January 23, 2009 Posted January 23, 2009 I do not beleive that this is a SIMS issue. I have 60 schools each with 1 server to deliver the network and SIMs and I have never had a problem with rebooting caused by SIMS. Equally is there a reason why you are doing SIMS upgrades during the day. With scripted use of Solus you can allow any sims upgrades to run overnight when there is nobody in the school All our SIMS support comes from our LA with instructions to run the upgrades during office hours in case of problems.
Stuart_C Posted January 23, 2009 Author Posted January 23, 2009 @ Mcshammer_dj - Because I didn't know you could script the Running of Solus. Wouldn't W2K3 Servers tendency to to ask me if I am absolutely definately sure I want to run that exe file when it runs all the upgrade files be a problem? @ matt40k - Doubt it. It ran the backup I manually created 5 minutes before hand fine. Plus it's a Quad Core XEON with 4Gb Ram and about 65GB of spare disk space. Not betting on a lack or resources. Might just have to keep an eye on it and run a full disk scan over the half term... It's just a bit irritating.
Mcshammer_dj Posted January 23, 2009 Posted January 23, 2009 We have the ask for .exe files turn off on the servers. Only my team are able to access the servers. The advantage of running overnight means that that any issue regarding server use are addressed. Regarding problems with Upgrades I used to have similar feelings but with Solus 2 we have seen an increased level of stability where the upgrades are concerned. I still am a bit worried about the way some releases have been pulled returned or even changed but in general we have been pleased with Solus 2 and we are now eagerly awaiting solus 3 which should make our lives even easier
jamesb Posted January 23, 2009 Posted January 23, 2009 How big is your database file? If its around 4GB then when it runs the backup with dbupgrade it'll be trying to zip it, and there are limits on the .zip format. At that sort of size it becomes very resource intensive and can cause a crash. Best way around it is to do the manual backup using DBAttach so there's no attempt to compress it, then run dbupgrade with the /nobackup switch. I don't know if the .zip problem would cause a full restart or not, but its a possibility.
matt40k Posted January 23, 2009 Posted January 23, 2009 Currently dbupgrade is using Dynazip which is 32bit only, it's no longer supported as the company has gone bye bye. There is a patch to remove it (uncompressed backups), which will mean more disc space is required and you'll need to keep an eye on this. I believe a new zipping tool is included in March. As for the spec of the server. Are you using full SQL? What else is running on the server? How many students do you have? What OS do you have?
Stuart_C Posted January 23, 2009 Author Posted January 23, 2009 As for the spec of the server. Are you using full SQL? What else is running on the server? How many students do you have? What OS do you have? SQL 2005, Win 2K3, 420 students and the only other thing currently on the server is the AV Sfotware. (Sorry it's brief meeting to get to)
matt40k Posted January 23, 2009 Posted January 23, 2009 I would run a memory test - Try: Memtest86+ - Advanced Memory Diagnostic Tool
Jobos Posted January 24, 2009 Posted January 24, 2009 Thinking back I remember seeing the server shutting down in a controlled manner so I searched the event log for the day in question and found this. At the time I thought it was normal for a restart when upgrading SIMS. Event Type: Information Event Source: USER32 Event Category: None Event ID: 1074 Date: 01/12/2008 Time: 09:29:13 User: XXXXXX\Administrator Computer: GA Description: The process GLBE92.tmp has initiated the restart of computer GA on behalf of user XXXXXX\Administrator for the following reason: No title for this reason could be found Reason Code: 0x0 Shutdown Type: restart Comment: For more information, see Help and Support Center at Events and Errors Message Center: Basic Search. Data: 0000: 00 00 00 00 ....
matt40k Posted January 26, 2009 Posted January 26, 2009 No. SIMS shouldn't restart. Looks more like someone shut it down manually, still someone else might know more.
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