CCITCP2 Troubleshooting

This section provides information that may be useful if you experience problems when using CCI over TCP/IP with CCITCP2.

• "mfcobol port entry not found in services file" error

  Run the CCI Configuration Utility on the machine receiving this error: this should automatically update the TCP/IP services file with the necessary entries.

• "Cannot find CCITCP2" error

  Run the CCI Configuration Utility on the machine receiving this error. Make sure that the hostname or TCP address value matches that of the machine running the CCITCP2 process you expect to use, and that the CCITCP2 process is running on that machine. Use "ping" and "ftp" to make sure that the machine is reachable using the address you have specified. Check that there are no CCITCP environment variables or CCI.INI file entries over-riding the value specified by the Configuration Utility. If the value has been changed recently, make sure that the failing process has been subsequently re-started.

• "Registered service found but could not make a connection" error

  There are two main possible causes of this message:

  • This error can occur if the CCI server the client is trying to connect to has abnormally terminated, but still remains registered with the CCITCP daemon that both the client and server are pointed at. (Where possible, CCITCP attempts to detect this sort of abnormal termination and tries to remove the Server Name entry which is no longer valid, however this cannot be guaranteed.) The client then connects to the CCITCP2 daemon, which tells it where to look for the CCI server, but when it then tries to connect to the terminated server and fails it will give the above error.

    To check to see if this is what is happening close and re-start the CCITCP2 daemon that the client is pointed at. This will clear it of all registered Server Names, including any "orphan" servers. (If CCITCP2 is running in debug console mode then you can press F2 and it will list what CCI servers are registered with it.) Check to see that the CCI service is not abnormally terminating.

  • Another reason you may get this error is if both the CCI server and client can see the CCITCP2 daemon, but they cannot contact each other directly (because of the network topology: packets from the client are not reaching the server because a bridge or router is not allowing them through). Check that the client can "ftp" from the machine running the CCI server and visa versa. If they cannot, then notify the system administrator.
• "A CCITCP call has timed out" error

  This most commonly occurs if the server application that the client is attempting to contact is not running at the time the client is started. However, it can also a be produced in a network topology which includes routers or bridges which have not been configured to allow CCITCP2 daemons to communicate with each other. For example, if a client fails to connect with a registered service as follows:

  • Server A registers itself with the CCITCP2 process running on machine A
  • Client B looks for server A using the CCITCP2 process running on machine B
  • Client B fails to connect to server A.

  The CCITCP2 modules are designed to communicate with each other using the TCP/IP broadcast address mechanism. If this is not correctly configured, CCITCP2 cannot locate services registered with other CCITCP2 modules. If this happens, you should advise your system administrator.

  System administrators should be aware of the following:

  • Bridges and gateways that are not configured to pass broadcast addressed packets will have a blocking effect on CCITCP connectivity. These items must be re-configured to pass broadcast packets if the registration of processes is performed on a leg of a network other than that of the requesting client. The actual configuration operations for these are specific to each device. In this situation, the use of a CCITCP2 module on the same leg of the network for both client and server applications will avoid the problem.
  • Most bridges and routers can be configured to only pass broadcast packets using certain TCP/IP port numbers; that is, a filter is applied. To allow CCITCP2 to communicate across bridged networks, your router or bridge should allow broadcasts using port number 86 in the UDP domain to pass unhindered through the filter.

  For CCITCP2 modules to communicate correctly, your network must be configured to pass broadcast packets to all areas that want to use CCITCP.