Business Notification error

Benny

I'm currently trying to get Business Notification to work and after a lot of hazzle, testing and variations I've pretty much hit the wall. I've searched this forum several times and I can't find anything that would solve the issue so I've turned to writing a post here, in case there's a kind soul out there who has run into the same problem.

The scenario is as follows:

I have two servers:

One Win2k3 Standard Server with MS SQL Server 2005.
One Win2k3 Standard Server with Nav4SP3, Business Notification Client, Business Notification Server, IIS and a native Nav4SP3-database running as service.

I've got the whole BN-workflow to function when putting the Navision database on the SQL Server. However, now I want it to work with a native database but that didn't turn out to be as easy.

I have a pretty strong suspiscion that the BN Server, during installation, has problem accessing the native database. After the installation I've discovered that the installation process has made no modifications in the database, table 9801 is empty, and the following error appears in the Event Viewer:

Event Type: Error
Event Source: Business Notification
Event Category: None
Event ID: 0
Date: 2007-05-15
Time: 17:53:49
User: N/A
Computer: BNSERVER
Description:
Could not write configuration to Navision.
Exception:
System.Exception
Could not start Navision Application Server.
at Microsoft.BusinessSolutions.MBN.VIP.AttainDataProvider.AttainPsychicalConnection.Open()
at Microsoft.BusinessSolutions.MBN.VIP.AttainDataProvider.AttainConnection.Open()
at Microsoft.BusinessSolutions.MBN.VIP.TransactionManagement.ConnectionManager.OpenConnection(String connectionString)
at Microsoft.BusinessSolutions.MBN.VIP.AttainAdapter.ConnectionFactory.OpenConnection(String companyName)
at Microsoft.BusinessSolutions.MBN.VIP.AttainAdapter.PropertyStorageProvider.GetSubs(String key)
at Microsoft.BusinessSolutions.MBN.VIP.AttainAdapter.PropertyStorageProvider.Remove(String key)
at Microsoft.BusinessSolutions.MBN.VIP.AttainAdapter.PropertyStorageProvider.set_Item(String key, Object value)
at Microsoft.BusinessSolutions.BusinessNotification.NotificationService.NotificationServiceDeploymentManager.InitializeNavision()

---

Inner Exception

---

System.InvalidOperationException
There is an error in XML document (0, 0).
at System.Xml.Serialization.XmlSerializer.Deserialize(XmlReader xmlReader, String encodingStyle, XmlDeserializationEvents events)
at System.Xml.Serialization.XmlSerializer.Deserialize(XmlReader xmlReader, String encodingStyle)
at System.Xml.Serialization.XmlSerializer.Deserialize(XmlReader xmlReader)
at Microsoft.BusinessSolutions.MBN.VIP.AttainDataProvider.AttainPsychicalConnection.Open()

---

Inner Exception

---

System.Xml.XmlException
Root element is missing.
at System.Xml.XmlTextReaderImpl.Throw(Exception e)
at System.Xml.XmlTextReaderImpl.ThrowWithoutLineInfo(String res)
at System.Xml.XmlTextReaderImpl.ParseDocumentContent()
at System.Xml.XmlTextReaderImpl.Read()
at System.Xml.XmlTextReader.Read()
at System.Xml.XmlReader.MoveToContent()
at Microsoft.Xml.Serialization.GeneratedAssembly.XmlSerializationReaderlogin.Read7_login()

During installation, the BN Server is being assigned a domain user account. The user account has SUPER-access to the native database and is Local Administrator on both the servers.


So, any ideas?

kine

1) Are you sure that the Native DB is running and working? Try to connect through client to it...
2) Are you entering correct server name? (just to be sure)
3) Are you using same BN version as DB Server?

Benny

kine wrote:

1) Are you sure that the Native DB is running and working? Try to connect through client to it...

Yes, it's running and the client connects to it just fine. I've tried to install BN with and without the client running(sometimes Navision is just cheeky about this) but with the same result.

kine wrote:

2) Are you entering correct server name? (just to be sure)

Yes, I'm entering the same name I'm connecting the client to(the name that has been recorded in my host-file). I've also tried to point the BN-installation with the exact path to the database rather than using the host-name.

kine wrote:

3) Are you using same BN version as DB Server?

Yeah, I'm using the standard Chronus-database which is found on the installation CD.

kine

There are some things which I need to clear:

the name that has been recorded in my host-file

??? why??? What is added into your host-file? Is the DB on remote PC or on the local one, on which you are installing the BN?

...BN-installation with the exact path to the database rather than using the host-name...

You are entering the server name, not DB path...

Benny

kine wrote:

??? why??? What is added into your host-file? Is the DB on remote PC or on the local one, on which you are installing the BN?

I'm referring to the "localhost", which is recorded in the host-file. This is standard in every host-files and I've added nothing to it.

kine wrote:

You are entering the server name, not DB path...

I've tried the name of the server, the host-name of the server("localhost"), the IP-adress("127.0.0.1") and the local path of the database.

kine

Another questions (sorry, but if you want some hints, I need to have clear picture... 8) ):

Based on your first post, you have one PC with MS SQL and one with NAV DB, NAV Client, BN Server and Client and IIS. Which MS SQL is used for the BN? On which server you have installed (or configured) the MS SQL BN service? On the server with MS SQL? I assume that yes...


Check the file Web.Config in folder:

c:\Program Files\Microsoft Business Solutions-Navision\Business Notification\DeploymentServer

There must be something like:

<appSettings>
<add key="ConnectionString" value="server=SQLSERVERNAME;Integrated Security=SSPI;database=BusinessNotification"/>
<add key="TransactionTimeout" value="3600"/>
<add key="InstanceDbConnectionString" value="server=SQLSERVERNAME;Integrated Security=SSPI;database=BusinessNotificationInstanceMBSBN" />
<add key="MasterDbConnectionString" value="server=SQLSERVERNAME;Integrated Security=SSPI;database=master" />
<add key="InstanceName" value="BusinessNotificationInstance"/>
<add key="InstanceDbName" value="BusinessNotificationInstanceMBSBN"/>
<add key="MainDbName" value="BusinessNotificationInstanceNSMain"/>
<add key="HostName" value="%COMPUTERNAME%"/>
<add key="SqlServer" value="SQLSERVERNAME"/>
<add key="BaseDirectory" value="C:\Program Files\Microsoft Business Solutions-Navision\Business Notification\BusinessNotificationServices"/>
<add key="SmtpServer" value="SMTPSERVER"/>
<add key="SmtpAuthenticate" value="false" />
<add key="applicationLogLevel" value="debug"/>
</appSettings>

This are parameters for SQL DB, may be there will be other parameters when you are using Native DB server...

For me it seems like some settings are missing or something like that and thus the NAS is not started. It is not because permissions, it seems like because some corrupted file. Try to uninstall the BN, CLEAR (delete) the rest of folders and install it again. May be that the installation didn't overwrite some files... but it is just "may be"...

Benny

kine wrote:

Another questions (sorry, but if you want some hints, I need to have clear picture... 8) ):

That's allright, kine. I'm really grateful that you are putting some time to this.

kine wrote:

Based on your first post, you have one PC with MS SQL and one with NAV DB, NAV Client, BN Server and Client and IIS. Which MS SQL is used for the BN? On which server you have installed (or configured) the MS SQL BN service? On the server with MS SQL? I assume that yes...

No, the PC with the MS SQL has only the SQL Server. All the rest is installed on the PC with the Navision Client, BN Client and so on. I got this to work perfectly when I had the Navision-DB on the SQL Server and I saw no reason why it shouldn't work when using a native Navision-DB.

kine wrote:

Check the file Web.Config in folder:

c:\Program Files\Microsoft Business Solutions-Navision\Business Notification\DeploymentServer

There must be something like:

<appSettings>
<add key="ConnectionString" value="server=SQLSERVERNAME;Integrated Security=SSPI;database=BusinessNotification"/>
<add key="TransactionTimeout" value="3600"/>
<add key="InstanceDbConnectionString" value="server=SQLSERVERNAME;Integrated Security=SSPI;database=BusinessNotificationInstanceMBSBN" />
<add key="MasterDbConnectionString" value="server=SQLSERVERNAME;Integrated Security=SSPI;database=master" />
<add key="InstanceName" value="BusinessNotificationInstance"/>
<add key="InstanceDbName" value="BusinessNotificationInstanceMBSBN"/>
<add key="MainDbName" value="BusinessNotificationInstanceNSMain"/>
<add key="HostName" value="%COMPUTERNAME%"/>
<add key="SqlServer" value="SQLSERVERNAME"/>
<add key="BaseDirectory" value="C:\Program Files\Microsoft Business Solutions-Navision\Business Notification\BusinessNotificationServices"/>
<add key="SmtpServer" value="SMTPSERVER"/>
<add key="SmtpAuthenticate" value="false" />
<add key="applicationLogLevel" value="debug"/>
</appSettings>

This are parameters for SQL DB, may be there will be other parameters when you are using Native DB server...

For me it seems like some settings are missing or something like that and thus the NAS is not started. It is not because permissions, it seems like because some corrupted file. Try to uninstall the BN, CLEAR (delete) the rest of folders and install it again. May be that the installation didn't overwrite some files... but it is just "may be"...

I've compared the two Web.config for the DeploymentServer and they look exactly the same. But the Web.config is installed with the BN Service and it's during this installation that the error-message, contained in my original post, appears. So I don't think there is any problems with the sites or the IIS.

kine

I've compared the two Web.config for the DeploymentServer and they look exactly the same. But the Web.config is installed with the BN Service and it's during this installation that the error-message, contained in my original post, appears. So I don't think there is any problems with the sites or the IIS.

One problem is, that I do not know where the parameters for connecting to the NAV DB are stored. I just found where are passed to the NAS when the service is started (it is in regkey HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Navision\Navision Application Server\W1 04,00,04,00 (Console Application)\AppServer_SQL which is created each time the BN service is started) but I do not know from where the service took that parameters. I didn't found them in .config or in some .xml not even in registry...

Benny

After some additional research in the registry at "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Business Solutions\Business Notification\NAS Parameters\" I discovered that the BN uses TCPS as default while I've been connecting with TCP to the native database all along.

Now, SQL Server 2005 uses TCPS as default as well so this might be why BN worked fine when I stored the Navision-DB on the SQL Server.

I've been looking for a way to install BN using TCP but apparently that's not possible so I've turned to using TCPS with the native database instead. I'm trying to get the database service to use TCPS but so far I've had no luck.

kine

We need to find out where the initial parameters are stored. The BN service must take them from somewhere. May be that process monitor (regmon and filemon in one) can register the actions done by BN installation and you can find out into which file/registry the data are stored... or from where are read when the service is started...