TM1 Replication ?

[vish]

Hi,

I need to replicate One TM1 cube from one Server to another Server (Full copy). Does anyone have any idea how can I achieve that ?

Appreciate any help.

-V

[Steve Rowe]

Hi Vish,

Have you tried to set it up as per the documentation yet? It's relatively straight forward to set-up, though in practice it requires a lot of work to look after and get working optimally.

It's a pretty big area to expect chapter and verse on in a forum environment, have you got a specific issue?

Do you mean the formal replication functionality that comes with the system, or do you just want to copy one cube to another system as a one off?

Cheers,

[vish]

While using the simple system replication getting the following error -

[Admin] => ERROR: SystemServerNotFound

Any ideas ?

-V

[Alan Kirk]

While using the simple system replication getting the following error -
[Admin] => ERROR: SystemServerNotFound
Any ideas ?

Y'know, I have a dream that some day the help files for TM1 will actually contain not only error codes, but the likely cause of the error and better still, a list of suggestions on how to rectify the problem.

Of course, I also have a dream of winning a first division prize in Powerball, and both seem equally likely.

OK, in something like 3 years of running a replication, I've yet to come across that specific error. Back in 2006 I got one stating "ERROR: SystemServerConnectionInvalid", but not one saying "Not Found".

So by a process of elimination...
First of all I doubt that it's a permissions problem as you appear to be replicating using the default Admin login. Most likely we can scratch that.

Second, the question that arises is what exactly IS the "system server"? Normally if I saw that expression my first thought would be the Admin Server (did I mention that the dream included TM1 using consistent naming conventions across all parts of the application?), but I can't really tie that to the error message that I got. (As far as I can recall in the last 7 years we've only had the Admin Server go south on us once, and it was during the day, not overnight when the replications happen.)

That makes me think that perhaps it's a reference to the server that you're replicating from, but in all other instances that's referred to as the "Star" server. (The one that you're replicating to being the "Planet" one.)

However I'm still inclined to think that that may be the problem.

Even so, the first thing I'd check is the Admin server; is it running, do you have only one instance of it running (i.e., not having different Admin Servers on different boxes), and can you see both the Star and Planet servers if you open a client session?

Second thing I'd check is whether the Star server is in fact running and whether you can log into it using the Admin login and the password that you've supplied to the replication. Also, if you've changed the password on the Admin login recently (on the Star server), make sure that you update the replication by right clicking on the replication and selecting "Modify Replication Parameters", then entering the login and new password.

[Alan Kirk]

While using the simple system replication getting the following error -
[Admin] => ERROR: SystemServerNotFound

I had an interesting experience on the way home tonight relating to this.

I've been testing a TM1-related application. Not an add-in for Excel, this is a separate application. As I've been given this confidentially I can't go into the specifics of it (which aren't germane to this issue anyway), but I CAN say that it provides you with a list of running servers, and you can select a server from that list to log into.

The environment is Windows Vista SP1, two servers (9.4.1 FP1) are running as services, and the Admin host running on the same machine.

I had the application open earlier that day and it had its list of servers populated. When I went to log into one of the servers on the way home, I got the error message SystemServerNotFound.

I checked the Admin host; it was running. I could log into the servers via Excel / Server Explorer (which had, admittedly, also been open since that afternoon but which clearly had no problem seeing or connecting to the servers). However when I tried to log into either server via the application, the attempt failed with the same error message.

I restarted the application, and this time it didn't find any servers to populate its list.

In the end I restarted the server and the Admin host services, and sure enough, when I restarted the application it populated its server list with both running servers.

While not conclusive, it does reinforce my view in the earlier post that this error message indicates some sort of issue with the Admin Host, though the fact that (in my case) it affected only some things (the application) but not others (Server Explorer in Excel) is somewhat disturbing.

It would be interesting to know whether a restart of all of the TM1 applications and services cured the error reported originally.

[David Usherwood]

It may be relevant (and is very irritating) that if you suspend/hibernate a laptop to take a demo to a client, typically when it resumes the IP address changes (assuming your ethernet connection is DHCP) and the Admin server sulks. You need to restart _both_ the admin server _and_ the TM1 server. When my demo server was rather larger than it used to be this was a right royal PITA. (Also happens if you use a GPRS/3G connection and shut it down.) I wouldn't mind if you had to restart the Admin server, but both ??? (*&(*&(*&^&^%%$£%$£%".

[Alan Kirk]

It may be relevant (and is very irritating) that if you suspend/hibernate a laptop to take a demo to a client, typically when it resumes the IP address changes (assuming your ethernet connection is DHCP) and the Admin server sulks. You need to restart _both_ the admin server _and_ the TM1 server. When my demo server was rather larger than it used to be this was a right royal PITA. (Also happens if you use a GPRS/3G connection and shut it down.) I wouldn't mind if you had to restart the Admin server, but both ??? (*&(*&(*&^&^%%$£%$£%".

You don't get the choice, at least not in 9.4 on Vista. When you shut down the Admin server it warns you that any TM1 server services that are running are dependent on the Admin Host service, and therefore need to shut down as well. Continuing with the shut down of the Admin Host will then make Vista automatically shut down the TM1 server services. (Obviously I'd expect that this would only apply when they're all running on the same box.)

[mattgoff]

When you shut down the Admin server it warns you that any TM1 server services that are running are dependent on the Admin Host service, and therefore need to shut down as well.

If you install the TM1 server service using the "tm1sd -install" method it doesn't make it dependent on the admin server service. That might work around this issue-- not sure if will solve the overall issue. Is there any way to make them use the loopback IP instead of your real IP? Or trick it into that via the hosts file?

Matt

[Alan Kirk]

When you shut down the Admin server it warns you that any TM1 server services that are running are dependent on the Admin Host service, and therefore need to shut down as well.

If you install the TM1 server service using the "tm1sd -install" method it doesn't make it dependent on the admin server service.

I don't know whether that's changed in 9.4.1, but I installed a service a couple of nights ago to bring across some of my "heavy hitter" cubes. (The services that I had been using previously had been set up when 9.4.1 was installed.)

When I tried to stop the Admin Host service tonight, sure'nuff it still gave the "this will stop {the service that I installed using the -install option) service as well" message.

(Actually I made a copy of the tm1sd.exe file, renamed it and installed the service from that. If you have multiple server sessions renaming the .exe is a useful technique to be able to see which one is chewing processor cycles in Task Manager.)

[mattgoff]

Ugh. I'm starting to get to the point where I'd say documentation is the #1 issue for TM1, even above all of my SR. A related #2 would have to be surprise changes-- if I changed around my hierarchies like Cognos changes functionality (documented or otherwise), I'd be sacked overnight if the users with torches and pitchforks didn't find me first. No doubt the answer from them would be that restarting an admin server makes the TM1 server unstable, not supported, etc etc.

Matt

[Steve Rowe]

Not to side track this even more but I'm pretty sure that if you stop and start the admin server without bringing down the TM1 server there was no way to get the TM1 servers to re-register themselves with the admin server without restarting the server, so you have to restart the TM1 server anyway? Isn't it then a good thing that the TM1 and admin servers are now dependant?
I'm pretty sure how the 8.4 version worked but I could be wrong.
Cheers,

[Alan Kirk]

Not to side track this even more

Alas it's true; if this were a mathematical forum our name wouldn't be either Sine Forums or Cosine Forums, it would be Tangent Forums.

(And that's probably as geekish a joke as ever needs to be made in these hallowed halls... )

but I'm pretty sure that if you stop and start the admin server without bringing down the TM1 server

Though isn't this academic if you can't do that anyway? (And I don't think that trying to kill the Admin Host process via task manager will work either, though I haven't tested it; even as an Admin I couldn't kill a TM1 server session running as a service (on Windows Advanced Server 2000, under the Administrator login) and had to kill it via the services list. I imagine the same will be true of the Admin Host service.)

there was no way to get the TM1 servers to re-register themselves with the admin server without restarting the server, so you have to restart the TM1 server anyway?

I'm not sure that that's correct, at least under 8.2.12. Later versions, I can't speak to.

We had the Admin Host service die on us once, just the once, in 7 years. It died without any humanoid intervention; just stopped for reasons that we never did fathom. When we brought it back up, the users could see the server sessions again just by hitting [F5]. We didn't need to restart any of the running servers.

Isn't it then a good thing that the TM1 and admin servers are now dependant?

Weeeelll... they are and they're not. The current situation is kind of a half way house when you think about it.

If the Admin Host and the servers are running on the same box then yes, the servers are dependent on the Admin Host service.

However if the servers are running on a different box, then obviously shutting down the Admin Host service isn't going to shut the servers down as well. The Admin Host's Windows session won't be able to control the TM1 servers' Windows session, or the services running therein.