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Dynamics 365 Community / Forums / Microsoft Dynamics AX (Archived) / Communication error: &...
Microsoft Dynamics AX (Archived)

Communication error: "The server is unavailable..."

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Posted on by bdzevel 970

Hello,

I'm receiving the following error when starting up the Ax32.exe utility:

Communication error: "The server is unavailable. Check your configuration and network connection and try again."

Normally, when I see this kind of error I figure 'the AOS is probably down or something,' but after checking, I was surprised to see that it was up and the service was running. I pinged the machine and the ping went through fine. Just in case, I restarted the AOS service anyway, but no cigar.

I am seeing this error specifically on one server, as one particular user. If I RDP to a different server as that user, I can start this utility without any problems. If I RDP into this server (the one with the problem) as any other user, I can also start the utility without any problems. In other words, there is something about the combination of that particular server and that particular user account that causes this error. Another strange piece of the puzzle is that based on some jobs that we ran last night, we were able to start the utility for a startupcmd=CompileAll_- as this user (ran for about 5 hours... I can't be absolutely certain that the utility ran correctly, but the fact that the job ran for a set amount of time and didn't hang seems to suggest everything ran smoothly. If this message popped up, the job would still be hanging.). In fact, the error came up this morning when we tried to do the same exact operation.

I would appreciate any help in debugging this error. I can't see anything relevant in the event viewer either on this machine or on the AOS. Are there some logs I can look at?

 

Thanks.

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  • Tommy Skaue Profile Picture
    Tommy Skaue Moderator on at

    Are you mixing different versions of the AX client on the same OS? Make sure you are connecting with the correct version of the client to the correct AOS.

  • bdzevel Profile Picture
    bdzevel 970 on at

    We only have 2012 (vanilla, not R2) around here. Also, the client I'm starting says "Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012" (that's the name of the client in "All Programs").

    It has to be the same version. We only have one installer, too.

     

    EDIT: Also, when I start this client utility as a different user on the same machine, it starts up fine (no errors).

  • Tommy Skaue Profile Picture
    Tommy Skaue Moderator on at

    Well, in that case, make sure your local configuration is correctly set up. You will find it under Control Panel and Administrative Tools. Look for Microsoft Dynamics AX Configuration. If the original one is incorrect, create a new one with correct settings. Given that other users can connect, we can rule out a local firewall blocking the network traffic.

  • bdzevel Profile Picture
    bdzevel 970 on at

    I'm not ruling that out yet, but it seems fine.

    My active configuration store is "[Registry]" which seems to suggest that if this wasn't correct, the other users on that machine would have problems as well (which, they don't... or at least, there ARE other users on that machine that can run this client utility without errors).

    The configuration is "Original (installed configuration)," the same as on every other machine (you can't edit this one, by the way). I clicked around on the tabs and am not surprised to find that all the settings seem to be identical as those on other machines (such as my own).

    Like I said, I'm not ruling it out, but it seems like everything is normal.

  • Tommy Skaue Profile Picture
    Tommy Skaue Moderator on at

    Actually, each user on the machine have their own set of Local Configurations in the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Dynamics. The one within LOCAL_MACHINE is the one that holds the settings for the installed Business Connector. This means two different users can have two different Local Configurations on the same machine.

    Is there any hints of what the problem is if you look in the Event Viewer on the machine where you start the client, or on the AOS servers Event Viewer. Look under Windows/Application-log.

  • bdzevel Profile Picture
    bdzevel 970 on at

    Hm... Well, I logged in as myself and verified that I can still properly start the client utility on that machine. Then I checked the configuration; it looks identical to the other user's.

    I checked the eventvwr again, and I still can't see anything relevant. I do see errors on the AOS, but they're all dealing with SharePoint (either "..Server" or "..Foundation"). The client machine doesn't seem to log anything at all at the time that I see the error.

  • Tommy Skaue Profile Picture
    Tommy Skaue Moderator on at

    If you can log in with this user to the same AOS from other machines, then this users local profile on the server causing issues must be the problem. Test first to see if the user can login from a different machine. If yes, then login as the user and open windows explorer, navigate to %appdata%\..\Local and delete any auc-files and try start the client. If this doesn't work, try delete the user profile on this machine altogether and recreate the profile.

    :-)

  • bdzevel Profile Picture
    bdzevel 970 on at

    The user can run the client from a different machine.

    There was one AUC file in that location, but after removing it I still couldn't access the client.

    So, I logged in as a different user, I deleted this user's home directory (C:\Users\...), and I deleted the user's registry key under  HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList\...

    I logged back in as the user and tried to start the client. I still get the same error =[

  • Tommy Skaue Profile Picture
    Tommy Skaue Moderator on at

    What version of the operating system is this? If it is Window 2008 or later, please refer to this article for how to completely remove a user profile:

    support.microsoft.com/.../2462308

    Since the user can login from a different machine, and you can login from the troubled machine, there should not be anything wrong with the users access to AX, or the machines access to AX. Unless you have some custom security software installed that works differently depending on who is logged in.

    What you also could try is to create yourself a valid configuration file you know is working. If you save a working configuration from the Configuration Manager, double click it and choose to run it with ax32.exe with your own user, and it works, then you have a working configuration. You could then log on with the user having issues and try run the same configuration file, again associated with ax32.exe, and see what happens.

  • bdzevel Profile Picture
    bdzevel 970 on at

    Tried that method of deleting a user profile, still getting that error.

    I'll try making a config file.

     

    EDIT: I made a config file on another machine (as me, not as the user in question, but I don't think it matters). I transferred it to the machine in question.

    I started up Ax32.exe with the following command:

    ax32.exe C:\mypath\myconffile.axc

    I still get that error. The error message is only slightly different. Instead of "server" it now says "Application Object Server."

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