GN4 client applications hang

DESCRIPTION OF PROBLEM

SOLUTION

General network problems

Check the network functionality first. Try to copy files or connect with other software.

The version 2.3 can appear to hang when opening articles, if the Framework 4.6 instead of 4.6.1 is installed.

Symptom: GetTypography command gets called in a loop (use Fiddler to find out).

Install Framework 4.6.1.

SQL server got busy because of a blocking process.

To check blocking processes, in the SQL Management Studio, expand your server, expand Management, right-click Activity Monitor and select View Locks by Process. On the list of processes, identify the id of the blocking process. On Select a page panel, click Process Info, right-click the process with that id and then select Kill process.

There is the native sp_Lock stored procedure, or an enhanced version called sp_lock2 (http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q255/5/96.ASP). This stored procedure, run during the system hang, will display all the current database transactions. The ones having the value of column Mode=X are the locking ones. So you will see the table being locked, and the hostname, useful for identifying the user, and asking him what kind of operations is doing.

This may help to identify possible problems in the software.

Another way is to run SQL Management Studio, expand the Management node and the Activity monitor (see also this link for SQL2000: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/283784.

There all the current transactions are also visible, and possibly you will see locks, and also who's locking who.

Double clicking on the "master locker" the query he's running will be visible.

In case of emergency you could also "kill" this process, and all the cascading locks will disappear.

On a full load on the network with all users logging into Ted4/Fred4, hangs may start to happen. When it would hang, the entire newsroom’s applications would stop responding as well. The fix is to run an iisreset on the gn4web server. What is interesting though is that when the system would hang, you could still launch Ted4 and Fred4 from the application server that talks to the gn4db database server so it was not the connection between the web server and database.

The hangs ONLY occurred when a user was logging into an application.  Once users are in, it would not hang until someone closed and reopened Ted4 or Fred4.  Also, 9 times out of 10 it was one of the slower XP machines that was trying to login.  While testing, only once did it occur on one of new windows 7 machines.

The solution was to create a new application under the GN4 application in IIS called GN4XP, and point this application to the same Web/Gnportal directory, BUT giving it a NEW application pool and called it in a different way than the primary one, eg. gn4xp.

Then, update the script that pushes out the userconfig.xml file, so that you send the slower machines to:

In versions 2.1 or newer

http://gn4.urlname.domain_ext/gn4/gn4xp

In versions 2.0 or older

http://gn4.urlname.domain_ext/gn4/gn4xp/AdminSrv.asmx.

Ted4 or Fred4 may hang during Installing fonts phase.

This happens only on the first launch after updating GN4 system, and only if the Chrome browser, or - only sometimes - Microsoft Outlook 2010 is launched.

Shut down Chrome browser or Microsoft Outlook, and Ted4 or Fred4 will proceed normally.