Technical Notes, Zetafax

FIX: Zetafax Backup Server in a Failover system does not start up when Primary Server is unresponsive

ZTN1999

ID: ZTN1999

This Zetafax technical note applies to:

  • Zetafax Server 2014 Failover

Symptom

In certain configurations, when the Zetafax primary server is unresponsive (network connection lost, machine sudden shutdown etc.), the backup server does not take over and remains in a passive state.

Cause

The servers communicate via a watchdog file. The backup server monitors a last accessed attribute of the file in order to work out whether the primary server is still running. In certain circumstances, the last accessed attribute does not function as expected and thus the backup server is made to think that the primary server is still running.

Resolution

This fault was corrected in a hotfix, which is available by contacting Equisys Technical Support and quoting the technote number ZTN1999. The logic used for checking that the primary server is running has been modified to use a more reliable mechanism that resolves the issue described.

Status

This behaviour was corrected in the hotfix detailed above.

Last updated: 19th May 2014 (NT/JV) 

Keywords: failover backup server not starting