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What to Check When ABM Service Server Goes Wrong

Start every check in ABM Service Server Manager: each company's line says whether it is serving, and the line under it says whether it can reach its database. Then read the company's logs with Open logs. Each check here starts from what people report and lists what to look at, in the order that finds the cause fastest.

What should I check when the web address does not open?​

First check the company's line in ABM Service Server Manager says Running with a version; then check the port and the firewalls between the person's computer and the server. Most failures to open are a stopped company, a wrong port in the address, or a firewall other than Windows Firewall.

  1. Check the company's line. Stopped or Stopped (Windows service) means press Start; no version yet means the company has not yet downloaded the web application for the first time, which needs the server to reach the update feed over the internet.
  2. Check the address people use ends with a colon and the number the line shows after port, and starts with http://, not https://.
  3. Open the address in a browser on the server itself, with localhost (or 127.0.0.1) in place of the server's name. If it opens there and not elsewhere, the network is blocking it.
  4. Check Windows Firewall has the incoming rule named like the company's Windows service (AbmService- followed by the company's name). The manager creates it; Settings... with Save creates it again.
  5. Check any other firewall, antivirus with a firewall, or network firewall between offices allows the port.
  6. Check the server's name resolves to the server from the person's computer.

If the line keeps going back to Starting or Restarting and the address answers with nothing even on the server, open the company's logs: the child file says so when the web server cannot use its port because another program already has it. Choose another port in Settings....

Why does a company show no version yet or never update?​

The company cannot reach the software supplier's update feed. A new company downloads the ABM web application before it can serve anything, and every company checks for updates every five minutes, so both need the server to reach the internet over HTTPS.

  • Check the foot of ABM Service Server Manager: could not check and The update feed has not answered since the service started. mean the latest check of the feed failed.
  • Check the server can reach updates.abm-portal.com over HTTPS: a proxy, a firewall allowing only some addresses, or a server with no internet route will stop it. The full address it asks is in the file FEED_URL.txt in the server's program folder.
  • Check the proxy, if the server reaches the internet through one. The company's Windows service uses the proxy set for the machine in Windows, not the proxy of whoever is signed in, and ABM Service Server has no setting of its own for a proxy that asks for a user name and password.
  • Read the company's launcher log with Open logs: lines about the feed say what failed, and lines about the download say whether a package was refused because its signature did not match.
  • Press Update now once the internet is reachable, rather than waiting five minutes.

What should I check when a company keeps restarting or is not answering?​

Open the company's logs from ABM Service Server Manager and read today's launcher file from the end. The company restarts its web server by itself when it stops, or after about three minutes of not answering, waiting a little longer between tries each time (1, 2, 5 and 10 seconds, then 30), so a line that keeps changing between Starting, Unhealthy and Restarting means the web server starts and then fails. It never gives up: it goes on trying every 30 seconds until the cause is fixed or you press Stop, and a web server that then stays up for two minutes starts the waits again from one second.

  • Launcher file: look for the web server stopping by itself and the reason, or for failed health checks.
  • Child file: the web server's own errors, such as a port it cannot use or a setting it cannot read.
  • Not answering - the service is running but its launcher is not replying; watching. The company's Windows service is itself stuck or restarting. Wait a minute; Windows restarts a service that fails. If it stays, restart the Windows service in the Services window.
  • After an update: a new web application that will not start is put back automatically after three tries of a minute each. A new service software that will not start is put back by the setup, or by Update launchers.

Save a copy of the launcher and child files for the day before you change anything, for the software supplier.

What should I check when the database line is red or people see database errors?​

A red database: not answering since line in ABM Service Server Manager means the company is running but cannot reach its company database; SQL Server's own message follows. Check the SQL Server first, then the login.

  1. Check the SQL Server is running and reachable from this server.
  2. Check the login's password has not changed. If it has, give the company the new one in Settings....
  3. Check the database is online and has not been renamed or moved. If it moved, fill in the company group again in Settings....
  4. Wait for the next check: the line updates within five minutes of the database answering again, and the company needs no restart.

A company whose database stops answering is never restarted for it, so the line is the place to look. People using ABM Service meanwhile see errors on the screens they open.

What should I check when nobody can sign in?​

Read the message on the sign-in page, then check the company's control database connection in ABM Service Server Manager. An ABM user's sign-in reads the control database of ABM (Advanced Business Manager) every time, so a control database that cannot be reached stops every ABM user from signing in. The Customer portal's sign-in does not use the control database: customers' sign-ins are kept in the company database, so when only customers cannot sign in, check the company database's line instead.

  • The control database's server and database name followed by did not answer., or ABM's user list could not be read: with the same words: the control database's server is down, or its login cannot read it. In Settings..., fill in all four boxes of the control group (SQL Server, Database, Login and Password) and press Test, because a blank login and password only keep the saved connection and test nothing; a database administrator may need to give the login access to ABMControl.
  • The company database's server and database name followed by did not answer.: the password was accepted but the company database could not be reached. Check it as for a red database line.
  • is not configured for the company, naming the company: it was added before the control database was needed. Give it a control database connection in Settings....
  • ABM has not given this user this company. The person needs this company in ABM's own user list; nothing on the server changes that.
  • This user has no password yet. Set one in ABM's own user list.
  • The server is busy signing people in; try again in a moment. The same person tried again while their last attempt, or the wait after a wrong password, was still running, or many sign-ins arrived at once; it clears by itself.

If only one person cannot sign in, the cause is almost always in ABM's user list rather than on the server.

What should I check when the database is being updated for ever?​

When everybody sees The database is being updated and Try again does not clear it, the sentence in that window says why. If it says the database could not be brought up to date followed by SQL Server's message, the company database's login is almost always missing the permission to create tables; a database administrator must grant it, and the next Try again brings the database up to date.

If it says another process has been bringing it up to date for more than 2 minutes, something else is holding the database: an ABM Service desktop app or another server on a newer version, or a long job in SQL Server. Wait for it, then press Try again. What ABM Service adds to the company database, and the rights its login needs, are in What ABM Service Changes in the Company Database.

What should I collect before contacting the software supplier?​

Collect the versions and the logs before you change anything, so the software supplier sees the problem as it happened.

  1. Note the ABM Service Server version from the manager's title bar, and the web application version from the company's line.
  2. Save the company's launcher and child files for the day with Open logs and Save a copy....
  3. Copy manager.log, and install.log if a setup was involved, from C:\ProgramData\ABM Service\Server\logs, using an elevated command prompt.
  4. Note the exact message people saw, and when.