Crash recovery and upgrade senarios

seletc · 2005-04-03

We are in quite a jam here. We have been running FIN 2.0 (almost) without incident. We find ourselves with a crashed server (we DO have a backup) and no way to immediately replace the box. We want to move the server to another machine temporarily but after install we cannot open the database. We get a message about "cannot open database because the DB was opened on the server using the program property database=..." Running Win 2K.
Any help would be greatly appriciated.

and
If anyone has any info on the process of upgrading (good?, bad?, possible?), we'd be glad to hear it since we will be upgrading very soon.

P.S. New to forums, please be kind.

fb · 2005-04-03

Greetings seletc, and welcome to the mibuso forum.

I'm guessing that you have successfully installed the v2.0 server and it is running ok.

Furthermore, I am guessing that the error message occurrs when you try to connect to this new server.

(If these guesses are incorrect, then my suggestion will probably be wrong).

So, here's what I think may be happening:

When you try to connect to a server, you get a dialog box that asks you to specify two things: the Server Name, and the Database Name. You are therefore trying (reasonably so) to specify both these things.

However, when you installed and started the server service, you specified the database that the server was to 'serve' as part of the server setup.

Now, here's my guess (in two parts) --

a) The server is happily waiting for a client to connect, but since it has been instructed to serve a particular db, it doesn't want to be bothered by client connection requests that want to access some 'other' database...

b) At the client, you are specifying both the name of the server, and the name of the database file -- but, somehow, you are not getting the name of the database file quite right. The server, therefore, is telling you to stop bothering it with requests to open some 'other' db file.

If I've guessed right so far, the solution is easy: Fill in the server name in the connection dialog, but leave the database name blank -- the server already knows which file to connect to...

Hope this helps. Don't hesitate to correct me if I've guessed wrong!

seletc · 2005-04-03

Thanks fb for the pointer. It has eliminated one issue.
Now the message is "program does not permit setup of more than 3 companies". We are licensed for 3 but of course we are trying to open an existing database/company.
Some clients report that "the database is already in use".
Network communications and attaching to the server are OK from any system.

fb · 2005-04-03

Now the message is "program does not permit setup of more than 3 companies".

When you re-installed the Server, did you copy your license file (fin.flf) into the folder on the server where 'server.exe' is located? If you did not perform this step, then the server runs using a 'demo' license, with a number of restrictions.

Some clients report that "the database is already in use".

I suspect that these clients are trying to connect by using the menu selection 'File, Database, Open' -- this method should only be used for single-user situations, where the database is located on your local hard drive.

Instead, use the menu selection 'File, Server, Connect'. (I hope I've gotten those menu choices correct -- I'm doing this from memory...)

seletc · 2005-04-03

Yes, I copied the license file to the server folder.
If i get your meaning properly, the process for a client to connect would be to chose server, connect and enter the name of the server. At that point the company information would be available. l We can connect to the server OK but there is no data and all choices in company are grayed out.
Somehow we don't seem to have a connection between the server.exe on the server and the data on the server. Although, the server seems to think we do since it's reporting that we can't define more that 3 companies.

Are there any support options available that you know of? WE're getting desperate as Monday morning approaches.

Thanks again for your help.

seletc · 2005-04-03

fb

I think we've found the problem. Your question about the license started the wheels turning and... we had the wrong source directory from the old server. Once we moved in the correct files it worked.

Thanks again and I hope I can repay one day.

fb · 2005-04-03

[Edit -- oops, we've cross-posted -- I see that you have now solved the problem. Glad to have been of help. I do recommend that you consider the upgrade, although I cannot guarantee that it will be without its own 'issues.']

Yes, the process to connect is 'File, Server, Connect', followed by 'File, Company, Open'.

However, I take it that the server is refusing to allow you to open any companies because of what it thinks is a license violation -- your license file allows 3 companies, but the server is telling us that it sees more than 3 companies in the database, and is therefore refusing to allow you access to any company.

Any idea why the server thinks there are more than 3 companies in the database? Is the server 'connected' to the correct db file?

If you cannot solve that mystery, then do you have a recent backup (a '.fbk' file)? If so, then you might try the sequence

File,Database,New
File,Database,Expand
Tools,Restore

I should warn you however that this may cause more issues to arise, if you are not familiar with these procedures. (This is an odd Catch-22 situation: Navision can run for so long without problems, then when something breaks, we have a hard time fixing it, because we haven't had the problem before...!)

Talking to a real support person would of course be the fastest way to get these issues resolved. If you do not have a relationship with a local Solution Center, then you might try Microsoft Product Support -- looks like they offer 24x7 support:
http://support.microsoft.com/oas/defaul ... prid=7041&

Crash recovery and upgrade senarios

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