Network connection disconnect after xxx minutes

[Steven C. Kondolf]

Hello -

We are currently running Oracle 8.0.5 on an HPUX 11.0 box. We run
applications 11.0.3 as well as some in-house apps using Dev 2k 1.6.1.
Clients are primarily win98se and win2000.

Recently our network admin installed some new hardware (routers, pix
box, etc) and from this point on we've had users complain that their
sqlnet connections have been dropping after some time, usually 45 min
to 1 hr. I don't have the exact error but something like SQL Forced
error rollback.

The only connection limiting setting I know of within Oracle is
applying a profile to a user and setting a limit in there. We do have
that defined but it's set at 240 minutes (4 hours) and our disconnects
happen much sooner than that. Also, I just found today that we don't
have the proper entry in our init.ora file so this profile is
basically useless.

The other interesting thing is that it's not happening at our "home
office" but only at our branch locations. Not being a network admin
myself I can't tell you the difference between the two (if any).

Reviewing the info on Metalink pretty much suggests that I set up
trace on sqlnet which fwiw I cannot get to work properly on any client
I've tried it on. (win98 and win2000)

Personally I think it has to do with the network somehow dropping the
line after so many minutes of inactivity which could explain why some
people have the issue and others don't. As everyone has the same
Oracle profile applied to their username, if it was a db issue it
would be consistent (at least that's my logic).

If anyone has had this issue in the past or any suggestions of things
to look at It would be very much appreciated.

Peace,
Steve
skondolf@garbage.rochester.rr.com

[davistony]

Hi, before you go to the trouble of SQL tracing etc ( that may at the end of
the day, only show that the rollback was invoked, by what looks like a
client abort, due to your comms infrastructure changes). It is the comms
that has changed, so I would guess that is where the problem lies. The "pix"
box is some sort of firewall/router combination, I think, and needs to be
set up very carefully/precisely.
A good initial plan, might be to put one of your comms "experts" out at a
branch, and get him to use a comms tracing laptop, to check what the state,
and routing of the data packets is.A basic traceroute, from a client PC. may
be useful, but it will not necesarrily tell you what part of the comms
infrastructure is getting in the way. You can check if any routes in the
trace have extended response times. Also, your comms people might want to
look at TTL values ( TIME_TO_LIVE for data packets), which can be
maniplulated at socket level, or globally, with some comms commands on the
server ( your server admin should know these). Hope it helps a bit, Rgds,
TD.


"Steven C. Kondolf" <skondolf@garbage.rochester.rr.com> wrote in message
news:rsllqvoupu6kr6hckulm0q9980cljt7mva@4ax.com... Hello - We are currently running Oracle 8.0.5 on an HPUX 11.0 box. We run applications 11.0.3 as well as some in-house apps using Dev 2k 1.6.1. Clients are primarily win98se and win2000. Recently our network admin installed some new hardware (routers, pix box, etc) and from this point on we've had users complain that their sqlnet connections have been dropping after some time, usually 45 min to 1 hr. I don't have the exact error but something like SQL Forced error rollback. The only connection limiting setting I know of within Oracle is applying a profile to a user and setting a limit in there. We do have that defined but it's set at 240 minutes (4 hours) and our disconnects happen much sooner than that. Also, I just found today that we don't have the proper entry in our init.ora file so this profile is basically useless. The other interesting thing is that it's not happening at our "home office" but only at our branch locations. Not being a network admin myself I can't tell you the difference between the two (if any). Reviewing the info on Metalink pretty much suggests that I set up trace on sqlnet which fwiw I cannot get to work properly on any client I've tried it on. (win98 and win2000) Personally I think it has to do with the network somehow dropping the line after so many minutes of inactivity which could explain why some people have the issue and others don't. As everyone has the same Oracle profile applied to their username, if it was a db issue it would be consistent (at least that's my logic). If anyone has had this issue in the past or any suggestions of things to look at It would be very much appreciated. Peace, Steve skondolf@garbage.rochester.rr.com

[Ron Reidy]

Steve,

I had a similar issue just recently. The culprit turned out to be the
AT&T VPN client's firewall. You might have a similar problem.

--
Ron Reidy
Oracle DBA

Steven C. Kondolf <skondolf@garbage.rochester.rr.com> wrote in message news:<rsllqvoupu6kr6hckulm0q9980cljt7mva@4ax.com>... Hello - We are currently running Oracle 8.0.5 on an HPUX 11.0 box. We run applications 11.0.3 as well as some in-house apps using Dev 2k 1.6.1. Clients are primarily win98se and win2000. Recently our network admin installed some new hardware (routers, pix box, etc) and from this point on we've had users complain that their sqlnet connections have been dropping after some time, usually 45 min to 1 hr. I don't have the exact error but something like SQL Forced error rollback. The only connection limiting setting I know of within Oracle is applying a profile to a user and setting a limit in there. We do have that defined but it's set at 240 minutes (4 hours) and our disconnects happen much sooner than that. Also, I just found today that we don't have the proper entry in our init.ora file so this profile is basically useless. The other interesting thing is that it's not happening at our "home office" but only at our branch locations. Not being a network admin myself I can't tell you the difference between the two (if any). Reviewing the info on Metalink pretty much suggests that I set up trace on sqlnet which fwiw I cannot get to work properly on any client I've tried it on. (win98 and win2000) Personally I think it has to do with the network somehow dropping the line after so many minutes of inactivity which could explain why some people have the issue and others don't. As everyone has the same Oracle profile applied to their username, if it was a db issue it would be consistent (at least that's my logic). If anyone has had this issue in the past or any suggestions of things to look at It would be very much appreciated. Peace, Steve skondolf@garbage.rochester.rr.com