I had this same issue happen last week. People were calling me saying they couldn't access the database.
Upon investigation, I discovered that our backup process was the cause of the issue. Never had a problem until I changed to the Server 2008. But what was happening was what Tom observed. The database was now about 1/3 the size and fortunately the renamed database could not be copied on itself because it was locked. What I do find interesting is the Server 2008 automated routine setup. On Server 2003, if I was logged in as the administrator, I could watch the routines run and follow the process. On Server 2008, if I am logged in as the administrator, it appears that nothing happens. Except now if I look at the logs, I can see that it ran succesfully. So it looks like the the timed processes run like a terminal server session or something like that. So the only way out was to reset the server. I appreciate this discussion because I still have a bit to learn about Server 2008. Jan -----Original Message----- From: TOM HART <[email protected]> To: [email protected] (RBASE-L Mailing List) Date: Thu, 5 May 2011 07:24:42 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [RBASE-L] - RE: Over reloading/repacking I had a similar problem at a location where I do an auto backup routine every night(all I do is output file, then unload all), I noticed that the routine would stop and get message 'unable to run file' or something like that. I noticed that the file was created but only about 1/3 of the size it should be. Ran autocheck no errors, Rscope no errors. Then I copied the database and found a corrupt row in a table, it had weird dates and characters. Deleted row then unloaded and everything is fine. I was never able to find a reason why the unload stopped right at that bad row, but it did. Tom Hart From: John Engwer <[email protected]> To: RBASE-L Mailing List <[email protected]> Sent: Thu, May 5, 2011 7:55:56 AM Subject: [RBASE-L] - RE: Over reloading/repacking Frank, Since November of last year, I have been performing an unload/reload once per week at four of my sites (all V8 compiled). Three times in the past 6 months, two of the sites have reported that the unload failed with an "Access violation" and they could not logon to the application until they rebooted the server. I have never been able to see the problem until yesterday, when the customer called before they rebooted. Here is what I found: The basic process is: BACKUP DB AUTOCHK - No errors reported UNLOAD ALL RENAME THE DB LOAD ALL The access error occurred during the unload; before the DB was renamed. I do not know where in the unload process the failure occurred because I do not output the command execution sequence to a file. I will in the future. The reason that they could not logon to the application after the reload attempt was because the RX4 file was "in use". I checked the server open file list and it did not show the RX4 file open. I could not copy or delete the RX4 file. I rebooted the server and everything worked properly after the reboot. I reran Autochk (no errors). This DB is on a Dell server running OS 2008. I plan to do some more checking after close of business tonight (RScope etc.). A month or so ago, I asked my clients if they noticed an improvement in performance since I started the weekly Unload/reload and all but one said that they did not notice any change. I think that I will go back to a monthly unload/reload. BTW, I make heavy use of temp tables and temp views. John Engwer (412) 751-2433 -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Frank Taylor Sent: Wednesday, May 04, 2011 2:18 PM To: RBASE-L Mailing List Subject: [RBASE-L] - Over reloading/repacking Is there such a thing as over reloading/packing your database ? Our Database uses a lot of permanent tables to store temporary data. ( We used to use temp tables a long time ago, but ran into corruption issues). This leads to a high number of fragmentation in our File 2 with utilization dropping quickly each day, which appears to slow our DB down on lookups and printing. As standard practice I used to do a Reload / Pack routine every Sunday with an unload/load every month. But now we are getting busier and it seems like I need to do a reload/repack on a daily basis to keep things running fast. So the question is, is there such a thing as over doing a reload/repack on a DB ? Anyone have experience with doing reloads frequently ? Frank Taylor - Information Technology Administrator F.J. O'Hara & Sons, Inc - Araho Transfer Inc. Boston, MA - Rockland, ME - Miami, FL Direct Dial - 617-790-3093 email: [email protected]
