SAS Configuration Error - Update Content

[SangaviS]

We have SAS 9.4 M6 grid installed on linux servers. We are upgrading our depot to another release (Not M7) to remove dependencies on Adobe flash player as it is getting retired end of this year.

We successfully installed and configured the new depot on our sandbox and QA environment. However, while performing the configuration on our Production environment,, I got the below error during Midtier1 configuration during Stage 8: Update Content.

"An error occurred retrieving information for object type 50 - null"

This is something that occurred even on Sandbox and QA. I referred the SAS note https://support.sas.com/kb/66/003.html and performed all the post configuration steps like SSL, load balancing etc on Web Server’s sas.conf, httpd.conf, httpd-ssl.conf, WebAppServer’s server.xml and setenv.sh. I also changed the ports on SAS Management Console for Internal/External connections as mentioned in the SAS Note. Usually after performing these steps, it used to resolve this error and the configuration was successful in sandbox and QA. However in Prod, this error pops up again and again and if I restart the midtier services and retry this, I am getting a different error as shown below which has never appeared in the other environments.

"Error Creating Types:Connection reset"

Can anyone help me resolve this error?

[SASKiwi]

Have you followed the recommendation in the referenced SAS Note to contact SAS Tech Support if the troubleshooting tips don't fix the problem? Analysing a bunch of SAS server logs looks like the next step and Tech Support is in the best position to do that.

[AnandVyas]

Hi @SangaviS 

There are a lot of manual steps that are listed to perform as workaround for this error. I would suggest you to double check if every step has been completed. If still facing the same issue, as suggested by @SASKiwi  it's good to reach out to SAS Technical support team to help analyze the logs and provide a faster resolution.

[megalopsuchos]

SangaviS,

Dude.  Exact same thing here.  Bumpy ride on our QA environment, finally it's done--so, onto Prod and this error null 50 pops up over and over, at the same step, except it's the first step of Stage 8:  1. SAS Web Infrastructure Platform

"An error occurred retrieving information for object type 50 - null"

Late afternoon after following steps in the KB, started to get the same sort of "Error Creating Types:Connection reset" not this exact error, but similar.

So, I reverted back to a snapshot and started the whole thing over.  I do have a track open.  I want you to know you're not the only one facing this frustrating error, stemming from the exact same step and how much troubleshooting it takes to finally post in community support.

You are a few days ahead of me, so if you got a fix from tech support, please reply!

[SangaviS]

Hello All, Techsupport couldn't help me as they did not have technical resources to help me over the weekend. But since this is a production environment, I had to work straight 10 to 12 hours before Monday to get this resolved. Here are the steps that I tried. (It might be lengthy, please bear with me)

1. I replaced the below files from the backup

../WebServer/conf/sas.conf

../WebServer/conf/httpd.conf

../WebServer/conf/extra/httpd-ssl.conf

../WebAppServer/SASServerm_n/conf/server.xml

../WebAppServer/SASServerm_n/bin/setenv.sh

2. I verified all the customizations done for SSL, load balancing etc (I built this environment initially from the scratch, so I was aware of the steps and I had that documented too. Likewise in your case please refer your initial build document and see for customizations done to midtier. The depot upgrade basically reverts most of this to the initial state, so this is much needed) Examples: proxyName, proxyPort, scheme etc

3. In some cases, you may want to check the gemfire-locator.sh, gemfire-start-locator-sas.sh too

4. Check your internal and external connections for all the web applications in the SAS Management console and change them if you find any discrepancies. Below sascode might help you with that

getttcpipconnections 

5. Please refer this SAS note - https://support.sas.com/kb/66/003.html

6. After verifying all the above things, while you have the error, restart your midtier services on another window and then click on retry

7. In my case, this also failed. And All I did was, restart everything one by one. WebServer first and then I restarted the WebAppServers one by one by using tcruntime-ctl.sh and I observed catalina.out and waited for the "Server Startup in xx ms" message and then proceeded with the next WebAppServer.

8. After doing this, I clicked retry and observed the "webinfpltfm_updateContent_<TimeStamp>" log in ../Lev1/Logs/Configure

(It should run lines similar to below)

updateContent:
     [echo] +-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
     [echo] |**************CHECKING CURRENT VERSION TO DETERMINE IF UPDATE IS REQUIRED************|
     [echo] |Current ConfigureVersion ${webinfpltfm.configobj.version}=9.4_M6
     [echo] |Previous Order Customer Version = 9.4_M6
     [echo] |Current Order Customer Version  = 9.4_M6
     [echo] +-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
     [echo] SAS Web Infrastructure Platform is not at the version required for this order so it will be updated
     [echo] +-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
     [echo] |Updating content for SAS Web Infrastructure Platform at 2020-11-09-04.08.06
     [echo] |From Version = 9.4_M6
     [echo] |To Version   = 9.4_M6
     [echo] +-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
[createObjectTypes.groovy]      [echo] Processing object type Machine (50)
[createObjectTypes.groovy]
[createObjectTypes.groovy]      [echo] Encoded password
[createObjectTypes.groovy]
[createObjectTypes.groovy]      [echo] Will update object type at <url_comes_here>
[createObjectTypes.groovy]
[createObjectTypes.groovy]      [echo] Encoded password
[createObjectTypes.groovy]
[createObjectTypes.groovy]      [echo] Opened connection
[createObjectTypes.groovy]
[createObjectTypes.groovy]      [echo] Setting icon for type: 50 at url <url_comes_here>
[createObjectTypes.groovy]
[createObjectTypes.groovy]      [echo] Encoded password
[createObjectTypes.groovy]
[createObjectTypes.groovy]      [echo] Setting localized names for type: 50 at url <url_comes_here>

9. If it processes all the objects one by one, you are good. If it is stuck at a particular object for a long time and if you get the error again, restart your webapp services and try again

And one last tip: After making all the customizations and restarting all the midtier services, make sure your web applications are accessible. Try to test one application per webappserver. If yes, you will definitely get past this error after few restarts and retries.

Hope this helps 🙂

[JuanS_OCS]

Hello @SangaviS , @megalopsuchos ,

why are you deploying SAS 9.4 M6? Not bad, but I would argue that if you deploy a new software right now, better be SAS 9.4 M7, which implemented a lot of improvements and it is more mature. I would say it is specially relevant for Grid and for Production environments.

FYI, M6 has at this moment a very large number of hotfixes to be installed. Is it worth to you?

I would like to ask you both: do you see a chance that M7 could be considered?

Best regards,

Juan

[megalopsuchos]

@JuanS_OCS 

Sorry this is a year later, haha.  When I began planning for our update to address the Flash end-of-life, M6 was the latest update (April/May 2020).  SAS released M7 soon after.  When I mentioned maybe I should change course and update to M7?, I was assured that M6 would be fine, provided I installed all the hotfixes..  

It hasn't been that fine. 

I am now facing another issue where VA dashboards won't load maps.  I am going to start another thread.  

Thanks for your reply.