Lookout 6.5 clients not connecting to server

[Ryan.S]

Could you use the wireshark to do some logging?

http://www.wireshark.org/

It's a free software. After you launch it on client computer, select Capture->Options. Choose the Ethernet board to capture the communication. Run the lookout client or TagMonitor, wait for a while, and stop the capture in wireshark. Save the captured data to a file and post it here or upload to ftp://ftp.ni.com/incoming

[JPmsu]

No problem, WireShark and I are already aquainted.  I've uploaded msu_nscl.zip via ftp, it contains two files:

msu_nscl_capture_TagMonitor_61up65.pcap

(a capture of trying to use TagMonitor on a client PC with 6.1 upgraded to 6.5, and not working)

msu_nscl_capture_TagMonitor_61.pcap

(a capture of using TagMonitor on the same PC with just 6.1 installed, and working fine)

[Ryan.S]

I find something weird in the log. The 6.5 client connects an unexpected server port. I'm trying to figure out what's wrong.

On your server computer, are there any other NI software installed besides NI Lookout?

[JPmsu]

I uninstalled all NI software and rebooted prior to upgrading our servers to 6.5 (and deleted the "c:\Program Files\National Instruments" and "c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\National Instruments" directories, the later because otherwise MAX would crash).

Currently the NI Software manager thing under Add/Remove Programs in the control panel on the primary server I was trying to connect to lists the following under "Products":

NI Lookout 6.5

NI Measurement & Automation Explorer 4.6.0

NI OPC Servers 2009

NI System API RT

NI System API Windows 32-bit

There is nothing listed under "Patches".

[JPhillips]

Ryan,

I uploaded my wireshark files to the ftp site - they are located in the "jp_capture_clients.zip" file.

One is for a client running 6.2, and the other is for a client running 6.5.

My server is running 6.5.

Thanks!

[Ryan.S]

We did add the LogosXT to the NI Logos which uses the TCP instead of UDP. I'm not sure if the LogosXT is the problem, but another test you can do is to disable the LogosXT.

Create a folder named Logos in NI All Users directory - C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\National Instruments (XP system)

Create a logos.ini file in Logos folder.

In the file, set

[logos]
Global.DisableLogosXT=True

Add this file on both server and client computer. If it doesn't work either, make another log file by wireshark.

[JPmsu]

Hey, that did it! 

I'd only made the change on the client before trying it, I didn't want to touch the server's setup unless I had to, and it now works fine.  TagMonitor works, the Lookout 6.5 client works.

(For anybody coming across this later, btw, for Windows 7 clients the logos.ini file goes in C:\Users\All Users\National Instruments\Logos)

[erblock]

I have not been able to reproduce this issue.  Upgraded 3 servers (Win2k8) and many clients and still have mix of 6.2 and 6.5 clients with no issues.

Where I have seen issues is with a slow client connection speed.  In that case, for some reason the traces usually will not load.  How does the client/server decide not to update traces???

For instance, I use my cell phone to tether my laptop with a lookout client.  If I use bluetooth instead of USB or if my cell connection is slow, the traces will not download from the server even after a long wait.  The lookout live data (expressions) from the server always updates as long as the connection between client/server is viable.

I consistently use the Cisco AnyConnect VPN client, so connectivity is not the issue in this and other examples.

ED

[Ryan.S]

Ed,

Do you use the web client on your cell phone?

Do you see any citadel cache data? The client or server doesn't have a strategy to decide not to update trend data. I believe the citadel on client is always trying to copy the data from server to cache folder on client, and then the client application updates the trend from the local cache. So, if you see some data in cache folder, it means the client is copying data from server. But maybe there are problems when the network is slow.

The cache folder is in National Instruments\Shared\Citadel or Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\National Instruments\Citadel. The folder may be hidden.

[JPhillips]

Disabling the LogosXT solved my problem as well!

From what I was told by one of our IT guys, since I have over 100 clients in my system, and they are spread out over many different subnets (but on the same domain), the error checking that TCP/IP performs may be responsible for the communication problems I was having before disabling LogosXT.

Do you agree?