Communications link failure

Find information about the Communications Link Failure message and see suggested strategies for locating the problem.

Communications link failure

Communications Link Failure messages are written into the amdberror.log in the Amlib programs folder when there is a network communications failure between the machine running the Amlib program and the machine hosting the Amlib databases. The Amlib programs folder contains the Amlibtop.exe and the user’s desktop shortcut or menu entry will point to it.

The network communications failure may only be transient but if it occurs when an Amlib database access is in progress then the only solution is to restart the Amlib application.

In every instance where this error has occurred, it has proven to be caused by a network issue. It can be related to faulty hardware or sometimes issues with the DNS server.

The problem has usually been solved by switching the Amlib PCs to a different segment of the network, by replacing a switch / router or a faulty network cable or by changing the network configuration.

To eliminate issues with DNS resolution the application can be configured to connect to the database with an IP rather than a host name by changing the SQL.ini file.

Suggested Strategies for locating the problem

The Amlib support staff are not network specialist and the strategies listed below are the strategies that some of our customers have employed when dealing with this issue.

  1. The problem only occurs on one of several Amlib Client PCs
    • Is the problem machine on a different segment of the network?
    • Is there a faulty cable?
    • Is the network card in the PC faulty?
       
  2. The problem occurs on all Amlib Client PCs
    • Try changing the SQL.ini file to point to the server IP address rather than the host name.
    • Try moving the Amlib PCs to a different segment of the network
    • Try swapping the switches / routers
       
  3. NetOpacs is affected and the NetOpacs application is installed on a different machine from the database server.
    • Try installing NetOpacs on the same machine
    • Try the strategies suggested above