Error Handling and Troubleshooting for Essbase

This chapter describes tools that you can use to diagnose errors, and suggests methods for correcting some errors:

Note: Chapters related to partitions, currency conversion, and data load have basic troubleshooting information in the relevant chapter. For information about restoring from backups, see Restoring Data from Backups. For information about specific error messages, see the Error Messages Guide in /docs/errmsgs in your Essbase installation. For information about error and exception logs, see Using Essbase Logs.

Understanding Fatal Error Handling

The Essbase Kernel considers the following errors fatal:

When the kernel encounters a fatal error, it shuts down and restarts, attempting to reinitialize itself and proceed with database recovery. When recovery begins, Essbase displays an error message similar to this one:

1080022 Reinitializing the Essbase Kernel for database database_name due to a fatal error ... 

This message is followed by other informational messages related to database recovery, such as this one:

1080028 Performing transaction recovery for database database_name during fatal error processing. 

When you see such messages, you know that the kernel shut itself down and is attempting to start up again. Check the OLAP Server log and determine whether Essbase issued a fatal error message just before it generated the reinitialization messages. For information on viewing the OLAP Server log, see Viewing the Server and Application Logs.

If the kernel did encounter a fatal error, in most cases you need to reinitiate any operation that was active at the time of the fatal error. If the operation was a calculation or a data load, you may be able to continue where the operation left off; check the OLAP Server log to see how far Essbase processed the operation. When in doubt, reinitiate the operation. For more information, see What to Expect If a Server Interruption Occurs.

If the kernel did not encounter a fatal error, contact your software provider's technical support to determine what caused the kernel to shut down and restart.

See Understanding the Contents of the OLAP Server Log for information about the OLAP Server log. See Server and Application Log Message Categories for information about identifying the component where the error occurred.

Recovering from Full Restructure Failure

If an error or system failure occurs while Essbase is restructuring, it is most likely to occur during Step 2 in the procedure Understanding a Full Restructure.

To recover from a failure during Step 2 of Understanding a Full Restructure:

  1. Delete the temporary files, both to free up disk space and to avoid conflicts the next time you restructure the database.
  2. Restart the database.

To recover from a failure during Step 1, Step 3, or Step 4 of Understanding a Full Restructure:

  1. Review the disk directory and determine how far the restructuring has progressed.
  2. If all but Step 4 is complete, rename the temporary files to the correct file names

Recovering from Sparse Restructure Failure

If a system failure occurs during any of step of a sparse restructure, you can recover by restarting the database.

Synchronizing Member Names in a Report Script and Database Outline

When you run a report, it is important to ensure that the member names in the report script match the member names in the database outline. An error displays every time the Report Extractor cannot find a matching member name, and you must correct the name in the report script before the report continues processing.

Multiple Reports and Server Problem

Your server machine may freeze if you try to run more reports in parallel than you have assigned server thread resources.

If you are running multiple report scripts and your server freezes, check the value of the configuration file setting SERVERTHREADS in the server essbase.cfg file. There should be at least one thread for each report running. For example, if you are running 22 reports, the value for SERVERTHREADS should be at least 22.




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