TM1 Forum

Hi,
When I selected the option "Connect to Local Server on Startup", rather than getting the login prompt, I get the error message:
E1) Can't initialize "tm1s.log". Directory "directory_name" may be locked by another server.

Both the TM1 client and server is the same version. What is causing this problem and how do I fix it?

Thanks.

tm1usr wrote:Hi,
When I selected the option "Connect to Local Server on Startup", rather than getting the login prompt, I get the error message:
E1) Can't initialize "tm1s.log". Directory "directory_name" may be locked by another server.

Both the TM1 client and server is the same version. What is causing this problem and how do I fix it?

I haven't seen the "directory name" bit of that message before, but it could be indicating that you don't have write permission to the folder that the tm1s.log file is stored in. That's the file that TM1 uses to record any entries that are made to the cubes, so naturally if you're running a local server you, as the user under whose name the session is running, must have write permission to the folder that contains it.

Normally when I see the "cannot initialise" error it's because another TM1 session, using the data directory and log file in question, is already running. (For example it may have automatically started as a service when your computer started up.) While that's still a possibility, I'd be looking at the write permissions on the folder first.

Hi Alan,
Thanks for the quick reply.

I do have write permission to that folder. When I go to the Server Explorer and double-click on the server, it prompts me for the username and password. I can connect to the server without any problems this way. It is only when I try to connect on startup that it gives me that error message.

I just find it a bit of a hassle to have to go to the Server Explorer to log in rather than have it automatically prompt for the login on startup.

Any ideas on how to fix the problem?

Thanks.

tm1usr wrote:Hi Alan,
Thanks for the quick reply.

I do have write permission to that folder. When I go to the Server Explorer and double-click on the server, it prompts me for the username and password. I can connect to the server without any problems this way. It is only when I try to connect on startup that it gives me that error message.

I just find it a bit of a hassle to have to go to the Server Explorer to log in rather than have it automatically prompt for the login on startup.

Any ideas on how to fix the problem?

That does sound exactly like what I described in the second part of my earlier message. In fact in 9.4, that's exactly the message that you'll get when you try to do that.

If you can double click on the server name (and I'm guessing that the server name ISN'T the word "Local"), it means that the server is already running somewhere else. It may be running on a remote server box, it may be running on your own PC, but it IS already running.

What the "Connect to Local Server on Startup" option does isn't to log you on automatically, but rather to start a server session in the memory of your own computer. That session loads all of the cubes and dimensions in the folder that you have specified as your data directory. The server session that results from this will be called "Local". It's the same as if you select File -> Start Local Server from the Server Explorer menu, except that the Local server will load automatically when you launch Excel.

Since only one server can use a set of data files at the one time, if you attempt to do that with a set of data files that is already in use by another server, you'll get that error message.

Incidentally, even if you DO launch the data as a local server that's no guarantee that you won't have to log in. It IS possible to have login security assigned to a local server as well (though of course it's easy to bypass if you have access to the data directory, which you'd have to to do that).

Thanks. That clears things up.