DBMS Crash: Searching for the reasons !!

We are running a Navision Financials Server 2.60D on a 2.00 Database (W20000 Server) and had two corrupted database failures in the last 4 weeks. Now i am searching for the reasons. Here are some ideas, do anybody know, if this is a problem for NF : we have an Intel-Dual-Processing Server we have a Raid 1 System based on a FIBRE Channel Controller with 100 MB/sec (Mylex AcceleRaid 170 U2W RAID Controller with a Mylex SANArray FFx Controller 64 MB in a 4.3 Fibre Channel Switch) Do anybody have some experiences with this combination of hardware and software ?? Thanks a lot for answering !!

Hello. What is being used to backup the database? A backup program such as backup exec? If so, when does this program run - do you ensure that you have stopped the Navision server service before backign up. This is the main reason that I see most frequently. Other cases are: 1. Bad networking Ctonrol 2. Bad sectors on the drive 3. Bad hard drive controller I hope this gives you something to use as a starting point.

Thank you for answering, yes, that’s right we are using Backup Exec. The system is backed up in the night, but i can’t stop the Navision Server, because we are producing 24 h a day. The crashes didnt’ occur when we backed up the system, but the NF-database has been running while Backup Exec backed up the DBMS-files of NF. Do you think, that this could corrupte a NF DBMS ??

If users are on the system then you don’t backup the database file directly. You use the backup facility within Navision to generate a .fbk file and it is this that you put on tape, not the .fdb file. That is the safe way of backing up. I recall that I have copied the database (.fdb) while a service was running but without users active and there were no obvious (and “obvious” is the operative word here) ill effects but that was just part of an intellectual exercise and just because it has been done does not mean that you should do it on a live production system. Cheers, John

Thanks, John, that’s the way we did it the last months (only using the FBK-Files). Now we will stop all backup services of Navision files by Backup Exec (execpt the fbk-files), i hope, this will solve our problem !!

You should consider upgrading to C/SIDE 3.01 and use the new feature “Hotcopy”. Hotcopy is a server-based backup facility that allows you to make consistent (file) backups of a live/running server. It is much faster than the “old” Navision backup ( generating *.fbk), both for doing backups and for restoring the backup. It will even perform a database consistency check (DBTest) and inform you of the result of the test and backup. Regards - Jens

Hi, Michael, what i don’t understand is your answer, that a bad network controller could cause a DBMS-crash. I always thought, that the NF-Server detects bad client processes and writes information into the DBMS, till all informations have reached the server (Committ) !! So what bad things can a bad network controller do ?? Thanks a lot for your help !!

You can stop Navision Server fror short time, copy FDB to another location and start Navision Server. Use tool SC.EXE (services control) from “Win2000 ResourceKit” and AT command: Create PREPARE_NAVISION_FOR_BACKUP.CMD file: rem --------------------------START @echo off sc.exe stop NAVISION_SERVICE_NAME rem HERE YOU MUST DO SOMETHING WHILE SERVER STOPS rem ABOUT 10-60 seconds. copy *.fdb d:\backups*.fdb sc.exe start NAVISION_SERVICE_NAME rem --------------------------END After this in command prompt call command AT: AT 23:30 /every:M,T,W,Th,F,S,Su “c:\winnt\PREPARE_NAVISION_FOR_BACKUP.CMD” Use AT without parameters to verify scheduled job. Problem is wait until server stops. How to organize loop for 10-30 seconds in command file? May be other have suggestions? You must to make copy or stop Navision, because any Backup software using “current-on-disk” file but some data is in the Navision’s cache and will be lost. Or if file currently in backup process, then NavServer can’t make write operations and fails. Business Applications Programmer Sertified Navision Developer SIA “Sintegra” Latvia