RoboHelp Server 8, Tomacat, regular restarts under load

[shootathought]

Hi, all.

While we were testing the new links and our new RoboHelp 8 server (and after we figured out all the api problems) everything seemed to be working fine.

All the new links were released a couple weeks ago in our online product, and since then the RoboHelp 8 server goes offline every few days.

The technical ppl that watch over my server say that "tomcat seems to crash every couple of days".

The biggest difference we see between then (when everything worked smoothly without having to restart any services or the server even once in 4 months or so) to now (when we have to restart tomcat and/or the server every 2-3 days) is that now our clients are regularly accessing the server; it is now under a heavier load.

While that makes sense, it's not really an acceptable thing to have happen, as we've no way to continually monitor the server and if clients can't get to the help they'll just call in, which costs us money.

So, the big question:

Has anyone else seen this problem? Is there a setting or a tweak that we've missed somewhere that will keep tomcat running under heavy loads? How do we make sure our clients are getting the help they deserve without trashing the RoboHelp server and going back to hosting it on a subdomain without a server setup?

Thanks in advance for your help!

Tia

[johndaigle]

Hi, shootathought

I have not personally experienced this problem but perhaps someone who has will chime in.

While Adobe staff not does officially monitor this forum, Tulika Garg of the Adobe RoboHelp Server team does try to look in from time to time. (I believe she responded previously to one of your posts.) I understand she is not in her office this week and it may be Monday before we can expect to hear from her.

Meanwhile it would be helpful to outline your server profile such as:

RoboHelp Server 8 configured with IIS (version) the Windows Server version, SQL Server database version, etc.

Also, I've noticed Tulika can best help if she has the zipped Tomcat logs to review. You will find them along this path on the server:
C:\Program Files\Apache Software Foundation\Tomcat 6.0\logs

I realize this doesn't help you short term and I'm sorry I don't have an immediate solution. Perhaps posting the above info will help us come up with an answer faster.

Thanks

John Daigle

[tuls_garg]

Hi John,Tia,

I thought I will peep into the forums before taking off for Diwali

Tia, as John correctly mentioned, it will be helpful if you can share your tomcat logs.

Meanwhile there are a few things you can try. RoboHelp server's default configuration is optimal for development/testing environment. There are a few settings you need to configure before you move to production environment.

1) Increase Java heap space: You can find details about this configuration in RoboHelp Server documentation. Here are a few links on how to do that:

)       http://www.adobe.com/products/robohelpserver/faq/ under header “How to Install Apache Tomcat?”

2)      http://help.adobe.com/en_US/RoboHelp/8.0/RoboHelpServer/WS5b3ccc516d4fbf351e63e3d11c0aaa9fd7-7ff4.ht...

3)      http://blogs.adobe.com/techcomm/roboserver_8_gettingstarted.pdf under heading “Install Tomcat”

2) Increae java perm space :

You need to increase PermSpace available to your tomcat. You can do that using <tomcat-install-dir>/bin/tomcat6w.exe

Just ensure that your “Maximum memory pool” and “XX:MaxPermSize” should not add up to more than actual memory you can make available to tomcat.

The setting is as shown in this snapshot:

3) Ms Access database is not optimal for production environment. You should use SQL server or oracle database for production environment.

Hope this information helps

Tulika.

[RoboColum_n_]

Hi Tulika.

I for one would appreciate some additional information on the advantages or using an SQL Server or Oracle database or the problems we may face with remaining on a MS Access database in a production environment. Is it just performance or are there other considerations?

---

Read the RoboColum(n) for a tips,  tricks and musings on the Technical Communication Suite products.

[tuls_garg]

Hi Colum,

In production environment where number of concurrent users is high and there are many threads accessing database, it's important to have a database which can handle multiple open connections simultaneously. SQl server and oracle have that capability whereas Ms Access does not have that.

So its advisable to use SQl Server or Oracle in production environment.

Regards

Tulika.

[RoboColum_n_]

Thanks Tulika for the quick response. Have a great Diwali.

---

Read the RoboColum(n) for a tips, tricks and musings on the Technical Communication Suite products.

[shootathought]

This is what our server guy found in the logs:

Driver Version : 2.0001 (04.00.6305)
java.lang.NullPointerException
at adobe.robohelp.server.BrowserPool.getBrowser(BrowserPool.java:799)
at adobe.robohelp.server.ServerData.getBrowser(ServerData.java:311)
at adobe.robohelp.server.RoboHelpServer.doGet(RoboHelpServer.java:117)
at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:617)
at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:717)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:290)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:206)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapperValve.invoke(StandardWrapperValve.java:233)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContextValve.invoke(StandardContextValve.java:191)
at org.apache.catalina.authenticator.AuthenticatorBase.invoke(AuthenticatorBase.java:433)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHostValve.invoke(StandardHostValve.java:128)
at org.apache.catalina.valves.ErrorReportValve.invoke(ErrorReportValve.java:102)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngineValve.invoke(StandardEngineValve.java:109)
at org.apache.catalina.connector.CoyoteAdapter.service(CoyoteAdapter.java:286)
at org.apache.jk.server.JkCoyoteHandler.invoke(JkCoyoteHandler.java:190)
at org.apache.jk.common.HandlerRequest.invoke(HandlerRequest.java:283)
at org.apache.jk.common.ChannelSocket.invoke(ChannelSocket.java:767)
at org.apache.jk.common.ChannelSocket.processConnection(ChannelSocket.java:697)
at org.apache.jk.common.ChannelSocket$SocketConnection.runIt(ChannelSocket.java:889)
at org.apache.tomcat.util.threads.ThreadPool$ControlRunnable.run(ThreadPool.java:690)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)
checking license

[shootathought]

I posted my logs, but no one has responded. bumping!