[TriLUG] *nix consulting gig

[Jon Carnes]

On Sun, 2003-06-22 at 13:59, Jason Tower wrote:

> the problem is that they try to run a "daily close" routine it returns the 
> following message: "WARNING DAILY CLOSE RUNNING OR YOU ARE IN A RESTART" and 
> the routine fails.

Here's a couple of WAG's:
 - There is a lock on one of the databases and it can't get a Write
permission, to do the commit.
 - The server is low on space on one of the drives (low is a relative
term if it needs to replicate the database to do a commit).
 - Problems creating a temp file
   - It tries to create the same named temp file each time,
     and there is a copy already in existence.
   - There is not enough room to create the necessary file

If strace works on the system that would tell exactly what is happening
when the call fails.  I assume that the routine is kicked off by a
binary and not a script of some kind. 

>   this "daily close" routine is very important to them 
> because without it they cannot properly process invoices and payments.  i 
> assume there is some sort of database glitch but do not know how to fix it.  
> the server recently suffered a large number of dirty shutdowns due to 
> hardware failure (that has been fixed) which may have contributed to the 
> problem.  i believe the app itself is quite solid as they have had no other 
> problems with it.

This could have corrupted the database, but it also makes me suspect the
"file" already exists problem.

Taking a look at file creation dates could help out.
> 
> so here's the deal: if someone can help me fix this one particular "daily 
> close" problem they'll earn a nice little consulting fee (exact amount TBD, 
> but probably between $250 and $400).  prerequisites:
> 
> must know old school unix reasonably well
> know a thing or two about databases
> be available on monday to visit customer site (in raleigh)
> 
> if anyone is interested, please email me offline.  thanks, jason

Good Luck, Jason!