Cracking the Vault

Vault Basic 2013 and Simulation Moldflow Installation Issue

After installing:

• Autodesk Moldflow Advisor 2013
• Autodesk Moldflow Insights 2013
• Autodesk Moldflow Synergy 2013

Then installing the Autodesk Vault Basic 2013 (Client) from the "\VaultClient\Vault_2013_English_Japanese_WIN_32bit_64bit.exe" file

 You can get this error.

"Installation cannot proceed because no qualifying CAD applications were found. Please ensure that one or more qualifying applications are installed before installing Autodesk Vault 2013"

Error 29001. Vault management error: Could not load file or assembly 'IFilterWrapper'

If you are installing Vault Server 2013 on a machine that previously had Vault 2011 or 2012 installed, you may receive the following error during the installation of Vault Server 2013:

Vault Server 2013 Installation Troubleshooting Typing Mistake

We found too late an issue with the Help guidance for the ASP Status Check.

There is an unnecessary space in the following advice for:

ASPX file failed to run at URL: "http://localhost/TestASP/TestASPNet.aspx". The test ASPX did not run properly. Re-register the ASP.Net filters. At the command line, enter:c:\windows\microsoft.net\framework\v4.0.30319\aspnet_regiis -i -enable.

On a 64-bit operating system, enter:

c:\windows\microsoft.net\framework64\ v4.0.30319\aspnet_regiis -i -enable

Note Make sure 32-bit mode is not enabled on 64-bit OS.

On Windows XP x64 or Windows Server 2003 x64, type the following command to disable the 32-bit mode:

 cscript
%SYSTEMDRIVE%\inetpub\adminscripts\adsutil.vbs SET
W3SVC/AppPools/Enable32bitAppOnWin64 0

On Windows vista x64, Windows Server 2008 x64, or Windows 7 x64, right-click on the DefaultAppPool and select Advanced Settings. Make sure that the Enable 32-bit Applications is set to False.

Also, check to make sure that the default web site is using version 4.0 of ASP.Net by performing these steps:

 

It should read

On a 64-bit operating system, enter:

c:\windows\microsoft.net\framework64\v4.0.30319\aspnet_regiis -i -enable

Note Make sure 32-bit mode is not enabled on 64-bit OS.

Vault Install Error

When installing Vault Server you can sometimes see this error in the ADMS System Check Report.

"Accessing an http static file failed at URL http://localhost:80/TestASP/TestASPNetStatic.txt"

If you click the link in the dialogue box, there are a number of solutions. However you also need to make sure that IIS was installed correctly in the first place. So refer to the Advance Configuraiton Guide for all the roles that should be installed for Internet Information Services. Then re-try the Vault installation.

Error 1920. Service 'MSSQL$AUTODESKVAULT'

When installing Vault Server, one of our partners reported this issue.

Error 1920. Service 'MSSQL$AUTODESKVAULT' (MSSQL$AUTODESKVAULT) failed to start. Verify that you have sufficient privileges to start system services.

Now, time was short for this issue as this occured at a conference, so we did not have time to fully investigate. Nor did we search the web for more information. We made sure that the User Account Control was disabled as per the ACG.We checked that the Anti Virus was disabled and that the logged in user was an administrator.

We overcame this by manually installing SQL 2008 Express R2 as per the Advanced Configuration Guide. Then installed Vault Server. Because SQL was already installed, up and running, the Vault Server install was then successful.

 

 

Vault login problem "Unhandled exception has occurred"

When trying to log in to Vault Server, you see this message.

"Unhandled exception has occurred"
"The request failed with HTTP status 415: Unsupported media type"

Extended error information is

************** Exception Text **************
System.Net.WebException: The request failed with HTTP status 415: Unsupported Media Type.
at Autodesk.Connectivity.WebServices.InformationSvc._InformationService.Invoke(String methodName, Object[] parameters)
at Autodesk.Connectivity.WebServices.InformationSvc._InformationService.GetSupportedProducts()
at Connectivity.Proxies.Information.InformationServiceMethods.GetSupportedProducts(String remoteHost)
at Connectivity.Request.Vault.Internal.Utils.InformationServiceCfg.get_SupportedProducts()
at Connectivity.Request.Vault.Request.Information.GetSupportedProducts.Execute(RequestContext rContext)
at Connectivity.Request.Common.CommonRequest`1.ExecuteRequest(RequestContext rContext)
at Connectivity.Request.Runtime.RequestExecutor.Execute(IRequest req, RequestInstance reqInstance)
at Connectivity.Common.Vault.ViewModel.VaultConnection.GetSupportedProducts(String serverName)
at Connectivity.Common.Vault.SignIn.a(Exception A_0)
at Connectivity.Common.Vault.SignIn.l(Object A_0, EventArgs A_1)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.OnClick(EventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.Button.OnMouseUp(MouseEventArgs mevent)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WmMouseUp(Message& m, MouseButtons button, Int32 clicks)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.ButtonBase.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.Button.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow.Callback(IntPtr hWnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wparam, IntPtr lparam)

This can happen if there is a problem with the files in the default C:\Inetpub folder. One investigation revealed that an administrator had moved that folder in Windows without updating IIS Mananger.

In some cases this has been resolved by reinstalling or repairing the Vault Server installation.

Troubleshooting 'Access Denied' issues related to Vault with Process Monitor

Sometimes you find yourself in a position where either get a pop up error message or in the logfiles you have errors that the access is denied.

Typical scenarios could be:

* You perform a backup and it fails with an error message 'Access Denied' (you see this usually in the logfiles)

* You create a new Vault Workgroup (replication) in Vault Server and get a SQL error 26

* You have problems with rebuilding the Search Index of your Vault and in the logfiles you find entries about Lucene error 227 and such entries:
Access to the path 'C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\VaultServer\Indexes\Vault\write.lock' is denied

And all other issues where you can think of that the root cause could be just a failed windows operation due to lack of permissions.

To troubleshoot the issue you could use Process Monitor (from Microsoft).

1. Download Process Monitor here

2. Run Process Monitor on the Vault Server

3. In Menu Filter go to Filter ...

4. Pick Result and use the condition "is". As value choose: ACCESS DENIED

5. Click add to enable the Filter and then the ok button

6. Press Ctrl + X to clear the current results inside process monitor

7. Reproduce your issue again (try to perform the backup, add the Workgroup, rebuild search indexes etc.)

Now you should see some operations which failed due to the Result "Access Denied" like this:

"This server must be the same version as the servers in the replication environment and must have the same applications."

If you install a Vault Server Update on one Server, but not another, when you start the ADMS Console on a machine that does not have it installed, you will get this sort of message.

--------------------
Autodesk Data Management Server Console 2012
--------------------
This server must be the same version as the servers in the replication environment and must have the same applications.
You must add or upgrade to the following applications:

  Vault Professional Server 16.1.58.0  (Service Pack 1)
  Vault Server 16.1.58.0  (Service Pack 1)
  Vault Collaboration Server 16.1.58.0  (Service Pack 1)
  Vault Workgroup Server 16.1.58.0  (Service Pack 1)

Service packs are available from:
  www.autodesk.com.
Applications are available from your reseller.

Ctrl+C copies this message to the clipboard
   
--------------------
OK
--------------------

Before running the ADMS Console in a Connected Workgroup, ensure that you have applied the same level of Update as all other Vault Servers. If there are any special instructions in the readme file, such as a -b2bmigrate, that command must be executed on 1 Vault Server in the Publisher Workgroup first.

 

"Object must implement IConvertible"

Autodesk are currently planning to address this issue in an upcoming hotfix, but in the meantime, here is the issue and the workaround....

 Select a file that was under lifecycle control

1. Switch to the List view to Change State.
2. Select a different state within the grid and a tooltip error message appears "Object must implement IConvertible"

The workarounds are to:-

• Switch to another view (Not List View)
• Press the esc button to remove the red circle.

As the workaournds are quite simple, it has not been given a high priority. However, more and more customers are requesting that this be addressed. Autodesk is therefore considering bundling a fix for this in a soon to be released hotfix.

 

Subscribing Workgroups must have the same version of SQL Server as the publishing workgroup

After installing SQL and try to Add a Workgroup in the ADMS Console, you are returned this error message

Subscribing workgroups must have the same version of SQL Server as the publishing workgroup.

In this instance, SQL 2008 R2 RTM was installed on both machines. However, on one machine Windows Updates had installed a patch for SQL on the publisher. But Windows Updates had installed the same patch on the Subscriber.

In the Vault Implementation Guide it asks "Are all Windows updates current on all servers?" in the Pre-Install Checklist. Obviously in this case there was a mismatch which was addressed by running Windows Update on both servers.

As mentioned in the Best and Worst practices of Vault...(see the categories on this blog) We recommend that once a machine enters production to turn OFF Windows Updates and lock it down. If this hotfix had been applied on one machine but not the other in a production environment, it would not be obvious to figure out the root cause of a failed replication.

It's best to turn off WU or there may be boo hoo ;-)