NAB Timeout

[Ian_Spottiswood]

I'm having trouble downloading a Nitro Query to Excel for one of our customers.

Errors app shows these details:

Message Text:
Timeout encountered during processing of remote QSHELL command
Help Text:
No response was found in data queue VV186428O within timeout value of 60 seconds. If job VRMT186428, which is responsible for processing remote calls and populating the data queue, is no longer running then you must restart the IWMDTST server instance before any more remote commands can be processed.
Valence Login ID:
IWMSADMIN
IBM i User:
IWMSADMIN
Timestamp:
2023-07-19-15.59.05.442000
Job Number:
186428
Calling Program:
VVRMTDB
Call Stack:
VVCALL[VVCALL]-->VVDATASRC[VVDATASRC]-->VVDATASRC[GETDATAEXCEL]-->VVSRVPGM{VVOUT}[VVOUT_EXECSQLTOSS]-->VVSRVPGM{VVOUT}[VVOUT_SSSQLROWS]-->VVSRVPGM{VVOUT}[VVOUT_SSOPENWORKSHEET]-->VVSRVPGM{VVOUT}[VVOUT_SSOPENWORKBOOK]-->VVSRVPGM{VVOUT}[VVOUT_XLSXOPENWORKBOOK]-->VVSRVPGM{VVUTILITY}[VVUTILITY_QSHELL]-->VVRMTDB[VVRMTDB]-->VVRMTDB[PROCESSDIRECTIVE]



Procedure:
VVOUT_XLSXOpenWorkBook
Message Text:
Error opening Temp XLSX workspace
Help Text:
Failed to open XLSX workspace
Valence Login ID:
IWMSADMIN
IBM i User:
IWMSADMIN
Timestamp:
2023-07-19-15.59.05.463000
Job Number:
186428
Calling Program:
VVSRVPGM
Call Stack:
VVCALL[VVCALL]-->VVDATASRC[VVDATASRC]-->VVDATASRC[GETDATAEXCEL]-->VVSRVPGM{VVOUT}[VVOUT_EXECSQLTOSS]-->VVSRVPGM{VVOUT}[VVOUT_SSSQLROWS]-->VVSRVPGM{VVOUT}[VVOUT_SSOPENWORKSHEET]-->VVSRVPGM{VVOUT}[VVOUT_SSOPENWORKBOOK]-->VVSRVPGM{VVOUT}[VVOUT_XLSXOPENWORKBOOK]


Can you offer any guidance regarding the potential cause please?

[robert.swanson]

Can you confirm job VRMT186428 is active?

Is the Excel download problem specific to a single app, or is it happening across all apps?

[Ian_Spottiswood]

Hi Rob,

Yes, Job VMRMT186428 is active, nothing in the joblog to suggest a problem there. The other CGI job that runs shows "Directory created" in its joblog, e.g. "Directory /IWMSTST/valence-5.1/temp/155805 was successfully created", and I can see that folder on the IFS, with objects in it, including a "worksheets" directory with a "sheet1.xml" in it:

Work with Object Links

Directory . . . . : /IWMSTST/valence-5.1/temp/155805

Type options, press Enter.
2=Edit 3=Copy 4=Remove 5=Display 7=Rename 8=Display attributes
11=Change current directory ...

Opt Object link Type Attribute Text
_rels DIR
docProps DIR
xl DIR
^Content_Types].xm > STMF

Looking at the timing tab in the GUI (Chrome Dev Tools) shows that it times out after 60 seconds.
We can see "Waiting for 10.210.3.21..." in the bottom left of the screen while it's trying to connect, etc. - this disappears when the 60 seconds is up.


The Excel download is specific to one single Nitro Query, but we only have one setup so far.

[robert.swanson]

Do you have a more recent version of Valence installed on that machine? It'd be helpful to know if migrating that app to a Valence 6.* instance (preferably 6.2) resolves the issue. That would help narrow down the issue. There have been quite a few changes since Valence 5.1.

[Ian_Spottiswood]

Hi Rob,

No, this is on a hosted machine and we only have Valence 5.1 on there - our product (Indigo WMS) is embedded in that version of Valence anyway, so it's not an option to upgrade at that level.

Cheers,
Ian

[robert.swanson]

Understood, but if we could confirm the Excel download for that Nitro app functions fine in 6.* that would help narrow down the root cause of the problem you're encountering.

If temporarily installing Valence 6.2 is not an option, we'll need to schedule some time to have a look at that 5.1 system with you directly over a web meeting. Let me know.

[Ian_Spottiswood]

Hi Rob,

Having spoken to Glenn Melville here at Indigo, we'll try temporarily installing Valence 6.2 to see if that works - I'll get back in touch when we have some results.

Cheers,
Ian

[Ian_Spottiswood]

Hi Rob,

I can confirm that Valence 6.2 works ok on that hosted LPAR - I've successfully created a simple Nitro Query and been able to download to .xlsx from it.

Please see attached picture confirming that :)

Not sure where we go from here, but if you're available for a web meeting sometime, so I can demonstrate the problem, please let me know.

Cheers,
Ian

[robert.swanson]

Okay, that's good to know. Let me review the differences for that process between 5.1 and 6.2 and see if I can isolate some sort of a solution (patch) for this issue. I will reach out to you directly.

[Ian_Spottiswood]

We found 2 problems, with the help of Rob:

1. \<Valence>\resources\bin folder was missing on the IFS, so the download process could not find the 'zip' and 'unzip' folders.

2. QSHELL configuration - when the file being downloaded is compressed, it uses QSH commands and these are taking over a minute to run, exceeding the timeout in the GUI (at Valence 5.1) - the V7R4M0 IBM i where this is happening must not be configured for QSHELL.


We fixed problem 1 by copying the folders in from another Valence instance.
We need to investigate and resolve problem 2 ourselves.

Thanks for all your help Rob :)