Date:         Tue, 17 Feb 1998 08:23:35 +1100
Reply-To:     Tim Churches <tchurch@IBM.NET>
Sender:       "SAS(r) Discussion" <SAS-L@UGA.CC.UGA.EDU>
From:         Tim Churches <tchurch@IBM.NET>
Subject:      Re: Win NT Server 4.0 as a SAS/CONNECT server?
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

Tim Churches wrote:
>
> I would love to hear from anyone using Windows NT Server 4.0 as a
> SAS/CONNECT server. We are swapping from SCO UnixWare to Win NT Server
> as our SAS/CONNECT server platform. So far, so good, except that when a
> client SAS session crashes or is improperly terminated (usually by the
> user hitting the power switch without shutting down) or when the
> wide-area network glitches, we are left with "orphaned" or "zombie" SAS
> sessions on the SAS/CONNECT server which have lost contact with the
> (probably now defunct) client SAS session which spawned them. On our
> UnixWare servers, these zombie SAS sessions would be terminated (by the
> operating system?) after about 5 minutes, but on the Win NT Server box
> they persist (forever?) and one can't even kill them using Task Manager
> when logged on as Administrator! The only solution is to reboot the
> server every other day or so - not a very satisfactory solution. Has
> anyone else had this problem? Even better, anyone got a solution? An
> upgraded DLL from SI which sets the server TCP/IP KEEPALIVE to ON didn't
> seem to fix the problem (UE340 on the SAS FTP site). Details: using the
> latest version of the SAS spawner as a service, with the -security,
> -ncleartext, -authserver and -noscript options all set. Clients ae Win
> 3.11 plus Novell Client32 TCP/IP stacks and TCP comms in POLL mode or
> Windows 95 with standard Microsoft TCP/IP stack, TCP comms in BLOCK
> mode. Same problem with both types of client.
>
> Othewise, SAS 6.12 on Win NT Server seems excellent, so far.
>
> Tim Churches
> NSW Health Dept
> Sydney, Australia.
> Email: tchur@doh.health.nsw.gov.au
>        tchurch@ibm.net
 
Problem solved! I was just impatient. The new TCP/IP KEEPALIVE DLL from
the SAS FTP site does indeed detect severed connections with client SAS
sessions and then shut down the SAS/CONNECT session on the server, but
only after about three hours. This is longer than idea but still quite
acceptable, especially since it seems to work quite reliably.
 
Tim Churches