In Strategy Intelligence Server Universal, a special instance of Strategy Intelligence Server is used to handle metadata operations in Strategy Intelligence Server configuration. Strategy Intelligence Server configuration in UNIX environments is a three-tier procedure, which introduces the possibility of some types of problems that will not be seen in Windows.
The configuration server instance, DUMMY_SERVER, fails to start or shuts down unexpectedly
If the DUMMY_SERVER cannot start successfully, the Configuration Wizard will not be able to perform any required metadata updates. Valuable troubleshooting information may be found in the DUMMY_SERVER DSSErrors.log, which is located at /log/Instances/DUMMY_SERVER/DSSErrors.log.
It is also recommended to enable Java logging for the Configuration Wizard itself. It may be difficult to tell from the interface whether the problem is in the server instance or in the Configuration Wizard. The Java logs will assist in making this determination. Consult the section below, Client problems in the Configuration Wizard, for details.
If the metadata server instance is shutting down unexpectedly, very likely a core file will exist in the Strategy folder structure. Collect this file along with the DUMMY_SERVER DSSErrors.log and contact Strategy Technical Support in this case.
DUMMY_SERVER fails to stop normally
If DUMMY_SERVER hangs or fails to stop for any other reason, administrators may encounter errors in the Configuration Wizard such as 'User Authentication failed: Cannot add server instance with the same name as one which already exists.' The current server definition may be stopped using the following steps:
The DUMMY_SERVER instance should no longer appear in the list.
If the DUMMY_SERVER server hangs regularly, it is also recommended to obtain procstack tracing to help determine where the problem might be occurring. The protocol is to execute the procstack command four or five times, with a 5-10 minutes delay between each invocation, making sure to capture the output into a file each time. Strategy Technical Support will be able to review the output and get a more clear indication of Strategy Intelligence Server activity at the time of the hang.
ps -af | grep MSTRSvr
Communication problems between the Configuration Wizard and DUMMY_SERVER
Like any other Strategy Intelligence Server client, the Configuration Wizard must communicate with the metadata server instance using a TCP connection. These communications are subject to network difficulties. In particular, problems may arise if the domain name server (DNS) is unable to resolve the Strategy Intelligence Server machine's name. Review the following Strategy Knowledge Base technical note for additional details on one such scenario:
KB13948 - 'User authentication failed: MSIXML: Server name not initialized' error occurs when performing metadata operations in Strategy Configuration Wizard in UNIX environments
In such cases, it is useful to ping the Strategy Intelligence Server machine, both by IP address and simple machine name (that is, not the fully qualified machine name) to rule out network or DNS problems.
Java logging, as described below, may be helpful in identifying the source of networking difficulties.
Client problems in the Configuration Wizard
Some configuration issues may take place entirely within the Configuration Wizard. That is, the DUMMY_SERVER server instance may be functioning correctly but the Configuration Wizard is malfunctioning. In these cases, users are encouraged to collect Java logging according to instructions in the following Strategy Knowledge Base technical note:
KB14511 - How to collect logging data to troubleshoot issues with the Strategy Intelligence Server Universal 8.x Java components
One known issue in the Configuration Wizard occurs if the UNIX user who performed the Strategy installation has characters in the userid that are outside the standard, base ASCII character set (codes 32-127). This issue is documented in the following Strategy Knowledge Base technical note:
KB13280 - Users receive a java.lang.NullPointerException error when trying to run Strategy Configuration Wizard or License Manager on a machine with Strategy Intelligence Server Universal
Additional reading
For additional information on the use of the DUMMY_SERVER the server instance for Strategy Intelligence Server configuration, see the following Strategy Knowledge Base technical notes:
