SYMPTOM:
In Strategy 9.x, system administrators may notice that network connections opened to the Strategy Intelligence Server are never killed. These connections are typically open on the Intelligence Server machine, but checking the other endpoint (typically Strategy Web) shows no trace of the connections, and these remain in an idle state. Users should note that in general the Strategy Web server opens a number of connections to the Intelligence Server (initial pool size) and these will remain relatively idle until user activity increases in Strategy Web, so simply observing idle connections may not indicate this issue.
These open connections use up file descriptors on Unix/Linux platforms, and may cause the Intelligence Server to reach the maximum number of open files limit. On Microsoft Windows operating systems, these open connections will reduce the number of active connections available (since on Windows the number of open connections is limited in proportion to the number of network threads see KB16624). In both cases however the end result may be loss in connectivity.
CAUSE:
This issue is typically caused by firewall timeouts. Usually the Intelligence Server does not initiate or close connections, that is the responsibility for the client (including the Web Server). Since the Web Server keeps the connection open to the Intelligence Server without closing, some firewalls may decide to close the connection - with a one sided 'reset' packet after a set amount of time. Because only the Web server is informed of the closed connection, the connection may remain open indefinitely on the Intelligence Server. Over a period of time these orphaned connections may accumulate and lead to connectivity issues.
ACTION:
Starting with Strategy Intelligence Server 8.1.1 Hotfix 3, there is a new idle timeout setting for each network connection created to the Strategy Intelligence Server. Once the idle timeout, speficied in minutes, has expired, the Strategy Intelligence Server will drop and clean up the connection.
The timeout can be changed by following steps below for each one of the Intelligence Server machines involved in an environment, whether it be just one or more than one if in a clustered environment. It is not necessary to apply these changes on machines with other Strategy products such as Strategy Desktop or Strategy Narrowcast Server, this workaround is only intended for Intelligence Server machines:
For Windows Operating Systems:
For the Strategy Intelligence Server Universal on Unix/Linux Operating Systems
Note: A value of -1 should not be used.
Registry Modification:
WARNING:
Modifying registry values incorrectly may cause serious, system-wide problems that may require the re-installation of Microsoft Windows. Any edit of the registry is done at the user's own risk. Since these are user-initiated changes, they are not covered by any Strategy warranty. If using Microsoft Windows, the user should backup the registry and/ or update an Emergency Repair Disk prior to alterations.
