SQL Server & Lawson

  • Normally, I come running to my SQL Server Central buddies only after RTFM fails. For the following problem, I've already tried Knowledge Base and Googling. This seems like the next logical place.

    One of our projects is to get all of our payroll and sundry personnel data into a set of applications grouped under the rubric of "Lawson". (I think there are some value-added portions from a company called Wise, and we have some home-grown stuff that goes with all that as well.) Frankly, I don't know much about the apps, but it looks like it's all descended from IBM mainframe stuff -- so there is COBOL involved. (In the great mystery theater known as debugging, COBOL would usually be typecast as the butler, as in, "The butler did it.") As best as I can make out, the app was first ported to Unix boxes, and then to Windows boxes -- so, believe it or not, there is a Unix emulator running on a Windows box so that COBOL originally written on IBM mainframes will work. Someone has done his apparent best to leverage the Ghost of Software Past.

    I know, I know, let's get to the point: In one of the "build database" routines, three results can occur at random:

    1. It can work, in about two or three hours.

    2. Or, It can work, but in about twelve hours.

    3. Or, it can grind its guts for about four hours and finally cough up a hairball. That hairball looks like this:

    quote:


    SQL Server Error Code: 11, Source: Microsoft OLE DB Provider for SQL Server, Description: [DBNETLIB][ConnectionRead (recv()).]General network error. Check your network documentation.


    My thoughts: I think scenarios 2 and 3 are unrelated. Scenario 2 sounds a lot to me like a crucial index or two is getting dropped but not re-installed correctly. Scenario 3 looks like some sort of coding error inside the application, but I can't prove it.

    I've tried SQL Profiler, but the app has behaved itself whenever I've been watching. Does anyone here have any experience with Lawson? If so, I would really appreciate any thoughts you'd be willing to share!

    Edited by - Lee Dise on 05/12/2003 08:06:43 AM

  • A few questions:

    (1) What version of Lawson?

    (2) What version of Apps?

    (3) Lawson on same or separate box?

    On a related note, have you seen the Lawson SysAdmin group on Topica (http://www.topica.com)? You'll find me and few other Lawson SQL Server DBAs there as well...

    K. Brian Kelley

    http://www.truthsolutions.com/

    Author: Start to Finish Guide to SQL Server Performance Monitoring

    http://www.netimpress.com/shop/product.asp?ProductID=NI-SQL1

    K. Brian Kelley
    @kbriankelley

  • Thanks for your response, Brian. In answer to your questions:

    Application: 8.0.1.2 (I'm told we have a "MSP 4 partial -- they did a release after we applied", don't know what that means.)

    Environment: 7.3.3 ESP11

    The app server and SQL Server are running on different boxes.

    I've just been corrected: The errors are not necessarily related to database restores or updates. It's pretty much a general connectivity problem. We've updated everything to MDAC 2.7, so we hope we've addressed incompatibility problems.

    Thanks for your recommendations, will check out the Lawson boards. Don't really know much about Lawson, should be interesting.

    Edited by - Lee Dise on 05/12/2003 10:11:57 AM

  • These disconnects persist after you've done the MDAC upgrade?

    K. Brian Kelley

    http://www.truthsolutions.com/

    Author: Start to Finish Guide to SQL Server Performance Monitoring

    http://www.netimpress.com/shop/product.asp?ProductID=NI-SQL1

    K. Brian Kelley
    @kbriankelley

  • quote:


    These disconnects persist after you've done the MDAC upgrade?


    Yep.

  • Let me ask a known Lawson guru if he's seen any problems with SQL Server 2000 and the config you've mentioned. We've got the reknowned Kwane McNeal at our site for a good while now.

    K. Brian Kelley

    http://www.truthsolutions.com/

    Author: Start to Finish Guide to SQL Server Performance Monitoring

    http://www.netimpress.com/shop/product.asp?ProductID=NI-SQL1

    K. Brian Kelley
    @kbriankelley

  • Thanks!

  • I have encountered the exact same error message while running a stored procedure as a scheduled agent job. The stored procedure only connected to the local server to delete old records. The SQL Server is running Enterprise Edition SP3 (which includes MDAC 2.7).

    The error occurs randomly, with nothing logged in SQL or NT event logs (other than the failure of the scheduled job).

    I'd love to know why/how and what to do prevent it from occurring again.

    Of the 62 SQL server instances we manage, it has only occurred two times on the single instance and only running that particular scheduled job over a period of 10 months or so (job runs daily).


    David R Buckingham, MCDBA,MCSA,MCP

  • Outside of Lawson, I'd expect to see that very rarely. Notice my qualifier...

    Lawson's different screens/programs/whatever you want to call them have varying levels of proficiency with respect to database access. Add to this the really hokey path to get from Lawson to SQL Server, to include components build by Lawson, and you've got a lot of places where things can go very wrong. Been there, done that, Lawson lost the t-shirt.

    As Lee sent to me privately, one piece of advice he received from Kwane McNeal, a noted Lawson expert, is to ensure the client side tools are up to the latest service pack for SQL Server.

    K. Brian Kelley

    http://www.truthsolutions.com/

    Author: Start to Finish Guide to SQL Server Performance Monitoring

    http://www.netimpress.com/shop/product.asp?ProductID=NI-SQL1

    K. Brian Kelley
    @kbriankelley

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