Sage 100

Technical second opinion wanted -- have a client who sporadically (once or twice a day) is receiving messages about files not being found -- usually SY_Workstation but it can be others (see attached PDF). I've logged in to rename the SY_Workstation and attempted to have their IT staff exclude the typical MAS data files from scanning (they're running Symantec Endpoint and some Malware scanning). The IT staff have basically thrown me under the bus -- and when I've crawled out they kick me in the teeth and give another push to make sure the wheels of the bus hit me again. Am I missing something on my preliminary diagnosis? All I've asked is for the IT staff to exclude the MAS folder from scanning for both AV and Malware. To which they claim they've done so and proceed to broadcast email everyone in the company that this is absolutely a MAS 90 problem -- there's no doubt in their mind. I'm open to any suggestions. Most of the Sage KB articles suggest registry changes (op locking) or anti-virus exclusions (which I don't manage)

And this message comes up every once (around once a day though it could be three or four times) in a while. They enter through and can work as normal - no data corruption, nothing. New Windows 7 workstations and new server. Using MAS 90 v4.40 and will be installing latest PU tomorrow.

Oh and I've reviewed what I think are the two most relevant community postings. One doesn't seem to apply since not everyone in the company experiences this and the errors can occur more than once per day. http://community.sagemas.com/t5/Technical-and-Installation/Mas90-crashing-regularly-for-our-staff-Sy-workstation-M4T-not/m-p/10595 http://community.sagemas.com/t5/Technical-and-Installation/SY-Workstation-M4T-not-found/td-p/26166

And the client also gets this error first thing in the morning on MS Outlook -- and it seems repeatable that it occurs first thing in the AM. They're running Outlook 2010

I just had a user report a similar issue with a missing SY_workstation.m4t. It has only happened twice. (They have been live for about 4 weeks) They are on a WIN2008 64 bit server running MAS200 and v4.40,.0.1. Still troubleshooting the issue. I 'll let you know if we find anything interesting.

We are fighting the same thing on two networks. We determined one was a free version of Anti-virus and their corporate version of antivirus was running on teh workstations. This is the network without 2010. MAS is running ok on the 2010 Office network, but Outlook is bombing.

Here's the nasty gram I got last night from their network guy. See if you can spot the problem with his logic (hint - I think it's in the post that he linked to) Hi Wayne: Just to recap, as soon as you originally mentioned some concern about potential AV software conflicts with MAS90, I asked CCS to open a service ticket to officially disable SEP on the workstations. This work was completed by one of their service engineers immediately. Then, when you suggested that MAS90 still had a potential AV software conflict, another ticket was opened and yet another CCS engineer went in and disabled any MAS90 folder scanning on the server as well. I contacted Bethany that same day of the server exclusion and she advised me that since MAS90 had been upgraded several months ago, this MAS90 lockup error only ever occurred twice on her machine. Yet, I contacted Judy the very next day and she had already experienced another MAS90 error that morning. I then advised CCS of the comments you made below and this matter was elevated again to additional Microsoft Certified System Engineers at CCS, and also one of the owners of their Company. The conclusion was unanimous that this is clearly and simply a Sage MAS90 error. They researched the issue online and found ever further substantiation on one of the MAS90 support pages: http://community.sagemas.com/t5/Technical-and-Installation/Mas90-crashing-regularly-for-our-staff-Sy-workstation-M4T-not/m-p/10595 It was also concluded by CCS and myself that no modifications of built in Microsoft Security components should be made without clear and detailed intentions prior to any changes being reviewed and approved by CCS's Microsoft Certified System Engineers. At this point, any additional operating system changes or edits would be considered a billable event by CCS and not a part of normal Microsoft operating system support or part of any Gull warranty. In conclusion, I would strongly suggest that instead of you or us trying to reinvent the wheel by tampering with Microsoft's or Symantec's time tested functionality, Sage be held accountable for just fixing the error within their software program. If you require further support from CCS, fell free to email them at: service@ctcomp.com. Let me know how you make out this Thursday when you go out to Gull. I'll be available by phone if you have any questions for me. Thanks, Larry Sypher Sydell Associates LLC

You mean besides the Oplocks and AV settings solution fixing the problem in the forum post?

Um, yeah. What I think that the guys did at the IT place is find a headline and pronounce MAS90 as the culprit without actually reading the content. Everything in the content of the post (which I'm going to review tomorrow with the client) points to what we've been suggesting all along. I'm not entirely sure how to resolve this without IT resources so I'm going to flat out tell the client he should get used to living with it unless they IT resources are able to assist.

I usually present my case to the owner that I'm more than glad to continue to pursue the problem on their dime, but if IT will make the changes as suggested it will fix the problem most of the time so we'd be wasting their money until we eliminate the fix suggested. I'm not sure how you work this on a fixed fee basis. It usually gets IT pretty motivated quickly when you're on an hourly basis.

These are external IT people. What I think happened is the client (very small) kicked out their long time lone gun IT person and went to a bigger firm. I think the bigger firm subcontracts low-end-Larry to go in and do the shit that they don't want to do. In turn Low End Larry doesn't want to be seen as screwing up in the eyes of the big company that subcontract him so he makes the unfortunate error or shooting from the hip.

I've also wagered $100 (or lunch) with the IT guy that it will fix the problem if he'll do it. Usually he has all of the passwords and security to make the required changes. Usually they don't take the wager and make the changes. Then again, I'm not above arranging to get the passwords (via the owner) and making the changes myself.

Why not open a case with Sage and turn it over to them?

I won't open a Sage case until I've done a diagnosis. The problem here is that once I open a Sage case they're going to ask if I've done everything in the KB yet - to which I can't answer yes. Being blocked from diagnosing errors by IT is a pretty significant hurdle for me so I am going to suggest the client might want to either have their IT guy support MAS or find another VAR.

It is a Sage issue. The issue may go back to one of @MarkChinsky 's points about the way that MAS handles network data transfers. However opportunistic locking (I don't even understand what it does) has become normal. Most apps work with it turned on. It's a default that is turned on by default and it takes a Reg Hack to turn it off. However, it's a Sage issue that they are not going to fix anytime soon.

I had a similar issue about a month ago, and once I gained access to the MAS server I found that the AV program was scheduled to run an update every morning - which coincided with the time when the users were losing connectivity (File not found errors). I sat with the IT guy and we reset all scheduled tasks to run after hours, except for the virus definition updates to the workstations, which are built into the .bat file to run when the user logs on. Since we made those changes, have not had one disconnect. This also cleaned up some performance issues as well - I was told that the SO Entry screen used to take almost a minute to open in the AM, but opened immediately after noon. Since making the changes to the AV schedule, all windows open without a delay.

Client was never logging out of network. One of the issues that seemed somewhat related to this was on the Community Forum and mentioned that the workstation may request a renewed connection every x hours. So far the client reports that by logging out of the system at the end of the day has reduced (or stopped) the random lock ups. I'm not sure why we would have only been locking on one file -- and during multiple times of the day. I'll continue to keep an eye on this

Another reason to turn on the auto logoff feature.

This client has a lone gun IT person who was unhelpful in debugging. They pronounced it a MAS 90 problem when I was just getting started with the debugging process.

If only I had a nickel for every time IT blamed MAS as the problem..............

Mas 90 Ver 4.3 15 users. All users were fine except the only user on Vista. He lost files several times a day including AR_Customer. In addition to excluding the required files (rpt, M4t, ect) from Norton AV, excluding the MAS mapped drive and turning off the network setting solved the problem.

Vista????? Why won't they let you upgrade that piece of crap to WIN 7?????