Troubleshooting a SIMCA-online service that does not start
When a SIMCA-online server service fails to start, the server log file and SimApi log files are useful to be able to fix the issue. This article is a walkthrough of this process.
The details on server logging are found in Making use of SIMCA®-online server logging for finding problems (Q742) (sartorius.com)
Step-by-step troubleshooting
1. Analyze the server log to see why the server did not start
On the server computer, open the server log by right-clicking on the SIMCA-online monitor icon in the Windows notification area and then selecting View server log.
Then, in your text editor, scroll to the end of the file to the most recent entry. From there, scroll (or search) upwards until you see an entry tagged [Critical] or [Error]. Those messages usually tells you why the server did not start.
For example:
[2022-08-04 07:58:48.720-04:00] [TID:5240] [Information] [SimApiProxy::ThreadProc()]
PIDatasource:simapi2_getIdentity returned PI AF SimApi (Jan 27 2021 16:50:08).
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[2022-08-04 07:58:49.278-04:00] [TID:5240] [Error] [SimApiProxy::ThreadProc()]
PIDatasource:simapi2_connectionOpen failed.
Status code: SIMAPI2_STATUS_ERROR (1)
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[2022-08-04 07:58:49.279-04:00] [TID:2176] [Critical] [ServerComponents::Start()]
PIDatasource (D:\Program Files\Umetrics\SimApi\PIAFSimApi\PIAFSimApi.dll) failed to open connection.
From the last entry above, we can see that the SimApi named PIDatasource could not open a connection (to the PI server) and for that reason the server did not start. Tip: from the first entry above you can also see which SimApi this is: the PI AF SimApi, and the build date (Jan 27, 2021) of that particular version.
Note: of course, the reason the server did not start can be something else than related to the SimApi. If so the message in the server log probably will tell you what the problem is.
In the example here, however, the cause is the SimApi so the next step is:
2. Analyze the SimApi log to know why the server did not start because of a SimApi error
The SimApi log file shows what that specific SimApi is doing, and most likely will show the exact error message why SimApi could not start. The log file can be found in the folder %programdata%\umetrics\SimApi. Navigate to this folder in Windows File Explorer.
Open the file PIAFSimApiPIDatasource.log in a text editor, and scroll to the end to see the most recent activity in the log file.
For example:
[2022-08-04 07:58:49.178-04:00] [TID:3] [Debug] [Connection.Connection]
Connecting to AF Server using network credentials, user account dataaccess_account
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[2022-08-04 07:58:49.271-04:00] [TID:3] [Critical] [Connection.Connection]
Error: The server has rejected the client credentials.
In this example, the cause were wrong credentials. With this knowledge you can make changes in the SimApi or on the data source to fix the password and then start the server successfully.
Other common causes that prevent a SIMCA-online service from starting
Common causes to a failed startup of the service are;
- The wrong service account is used for SIMCA-online, or the password of the service account has been changed in the Windows Domain without being changed on the SIMCA-online server computer
- Network issues preventing access to the data source
- Network issues preventing access to Active Directory (if that it used)
