RoboServer 8 Search Feature Not Working Properly

Report · Apr 11, 2011

Hello All,

I use RH 8 and publish to RoboServer 8, today I came in and one of my users stated they were having a problem with the search feature. My publishing layout is WebHelp Pro. The error the users get is below.

HTTP Status 500 -

type Exception report

message

description The server encountered an internal error () that prevented it from fulfilling this request.

exception

javax.servlet.ServletException: Servlet execution threw an exception

root cause

java.lang.OutOfMemoryError: Java heap space

note The full stack trace of the root cause is available in the Apache Tomcat/6.0.20 logs.

Apache Tomcat/6.0.20

So I did a little testing before I notified our IT department to re-start the server, because normally this will fix a simple issue. I have found that when I do a search some words that are searched for will return this error while other words will not. For instance I can search for "Kitten" and the error will appear and I know the word "Kitten is in my project. But, I can then search for the word "Cat" and it will return a list of results. Same thing if I search for "Dog" error message, "Rabbit" Search results.

I have never seen this issue before and I've been using RH for a while now. I have already tried to re-start the server, and the search feature still has the problem. I'm not sure what to do from here.

Thank you in advance,

Ian

Report · Apr 12, 2011

Hi Ian.

Can you start by seeing if this is an issue that is limited to a single project? Create a project that contains the search phrases that error and publish them to the serer. I'd put them in a brand new totally separate area on the server as well. If the same error occurs, can you let us know the exact search phrase that error if they aren't "kitten", "dog", etc.

The RoboColum(n)

@robocolumn

Colum McAndrew

Report · Apr 12, 2011

Hi Colum,

I have several projects on this server and in several different areas. In this area where the error was happening I have 4 other projects that all have the same search term in them. I have already tried those other projects and the actual words I was searching for was "Verification" and I received the error and "FAFSA" and I received the error. But the number "106" would return search results. This was only the case in the one project.

I have since then resolved the issue though. After looking over the error and doing a little deductive reasoning the answer hit me like a ton of bricks. It was telling me that my Java Heap Space was out of Memory, well I understand that is like RAM. So the only thing I could think of doing was to either flush it clean like emptying the clip board or increasing it. So I had my IT department stop the Tomacat services and check to see what the heap space was set to. It turns out when the IT department initially setup the Robo 8 Server they never allocated any memory to this as per instructed in the manual. So The server was using some default value. So I have the IT department set the values to 512mb instead of the recommended 256mb, this in-turn doubling the size of the heap space, and WALLA, the search feature is working again. I've now tried the words that were giving me the error and no more error message, I have also tried a few others and still no error message. So at this time my problem is fixed.

Ian