Liquid UI - Documentation - 4.04 Server Control Panel - SynWatchdog

4.04 Server Control Panel - SynWatchdog


SynWatchdog is a bundled utility for Liquid UI Server.

The SynWatchdog is a utility that will stop and restart Liquid UI Server, regardless of what state the Server might be in. SynWatchdog can also record events and send warning emails to a system administrator. SynWatchdog is automatically installed by the InstallShield wizard. However, SynWatchdog is not set to start automatically - it must be manually started by a user.

Note: For information on upgrading SynWatchdog, please see the Upgrading SynWatchdog section.

SynWatchdog Actions

SynWatchdog can be configured to execute different actions for different failures. In the Services pane, SynWatchdog can be configured to perform actions based on whether a failure is the first, second or some other failure. The available options are as follows:

Take no action
Nothing will happen when the failure occurs.
Restart the service
SynWatchdog will restart the service after the failure occurs.
Run a program
Choose an application to run. This might be a diagnostic application or some other program.
Restart the computer
Restart the computer after the failure occurs.

To set these actions, please do the following:

  1. Go to Start > Run and type services.msc.
  2. The Services window will appear. Scroll down to the entry for Synactive Watchdog Service.
  3. In the Startup Type column, right-click and select Properties.
  4. The Properties window will display. In the Recovery tab will be listings for ‘First Failure’, ‘Second Failure’ and ‘Subsequent failures’ as shown below:


  5. Click on the drop-down menu for each failure type and select the desired action to occur.

SynWatchdog.ini

The SynWatchdog utility configured through the SynWatchdog.ini file located in the GuiXTServer folder. A typical SynWatchdog configuration file looks like the following example.

The SynWatchdog.ini file contains a number of parameters, which are explained as follows:

AppName
Path to the location of the Liquid UI Server aka GuiXT Server application. This parameter must include the -debug flag in order to function correctly.
KillTimeOut
Time in seconds before killing SynWatchdog if there is no response from SAPProxy.exe.
MonitorInterval
Time between SynWatchdog monitoring sessions in minutes. The minimum value is 1.
GuiXT
Specify whether GuiXT is using the WS engine. If the implementation is not WS, the number will be 1. If it is WS, the number will be 10.
AdminRestart
Value dictating if an immediate restart is to be performed. Value 1 is to send an email to the administrator but not restart; value 0 is to restart immediately and send email to the administrator in addition.
AdminSMTPServer
The customer's email SMTP server.
AdminEmailAddress
The email address of the administrator. Multiple email addresses can be entered, using a comma as delimiter.
MaxMemoryPerConnect
This is the total amount of memory that can be allocated per each connection in megabytes. Normally this should not be set above 50 MB - average usage normally runs between 30 and 35 MB per connection.
MaxMemoryUsage

Unlike the previous parameter, this value is a percentage of the total available memory. Users can determine this value by using the following formula:

  • X = Maximum concurrent connections (e.g. 50)
  • Y = Total virtual memory (e.g. 2000 MB)
  • 20 = Average virtual memory used per connection
  • MaxMemoryUsage = 100 * ((x * 20) / Y(MB))
  • 100 * ((20 * 50) / 2000) = 50
  • When the specified low memory value is reached, SynWatchdog will send out an email.
VerboseLog

This is a Boolean value - it can be set to either 0 or 1. If at zero, no verbose logging is provided. If set to 1, verbose logs like the following example are created in the GuiXTServer folder.


SendEmailCrash
A Boolean value, this is set either to 0 or 1. If set to 1, it will send an email to the system administrator email specified in the INI file in the event of a Liquid UI Server crash.
SendEmailLowMemory
Like the crash parameter, this is a Boolean. If set to 1, it will send an email to the administrator email address in the event that the memory limits specified in the INI file are approached.
SendEmailNoResponse
If set to 1, sends email to the administrator in the event of there being no response from the Liquid UI Server.
NotifyInterval

Defined in minutes, this is the interval between the initial email being sent and the subsequent email. Please note that multiple emails are only sent if the server is in a low memory situation. If the server actually crashes, only a single email will be sent as SynWatchdog restarts the server and that action clears all error conditions. However, in a low memory situation, multiple emails may be sent as in the following scenario:

  • Liquid UI Server reaches a low memory situation at 11 PM and the interval is set to 720 minutes (12 hours), if the state is the same at 11 AM, a second email will be sent to the administrator. Each parameter has a separate interval. If a low memory situation occurs at 10 PM, there will not be another low memory email until 10 AM. But if another parameter is triggered at 1 AM, an email will be sent at that time; the next email would be sent at 1 PM.

Starting SynWatchdog

To start SynWatchdog, users double-click on the 'Synwatchdog-Service.bat' file located in the GuiXTServer folder. To set SynWatchdog to start automatically, please do the following:

  1. Go to Start > Run and type services.msc.
  2. The Services window will appear. Scroll down to the entry for Synactive Watchdog Service.
  3. In the Startup Type column, right-click and select Properties.
  4. The Properties window will display. In the General tab, find the Startup drop-down menu and select 'Automatic' and then click OK.
  5. SynWatchdog will now start automatically when Windows starts.

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