blat process freezing intermittently

[[e-mail] [blat]]

I use blat at my job in scripts to FTP files. We've been using blat for years without any issues until recently. We are starting to see our script jobs hang intermittently when they execute a blat process. I've modified the parameters to capture the debug output but I'm not getting any useful information. These scripts run upwards of 100 times a day and we only see this once every few days. This is running on 64-bit Windows 7 Enterprise OS. Here is an example of what I'm seeing in the log file:




blat tmpfile -s "subject" -t "recipient" -log debugfile -debug -timestamp



2017.03.28 12:30:12 (Tue)------------Start of Session-----------------
Blat v3.1.2 (build : Dec 27 2013 14:33:12)

32-bit Windows, Full, Unicode




I have verified that the debug output is correct when the blat process runs successfully. I haven't upgraded to the current version because I was hoping to identify the root cause first. What are next steps for troubleshooting?

['Chip' [e-mail] [blat]]

Post by ***@yahoo.com [blat]
I use blat at my job in scripts to FTP files. We've been using blat for
years without any issues until recently. We are starting to see our script
jobs hang intermittently when they execute a blat process. I've modified
the parameters to capture the debug output but I'm not getting any useful
information. These scripts run upwards of 100 times a day and we only see
this once every few days. This is running on 64-bit Windows 7 Enterprise
blat tmpfile -s "subject" -t "recipient" -log debugfile -debug -timestamp
2017.03.28 12:30:12 (Tue)------------Start of Session-----------------
Blat v3.1.2 (build : Dec 27 2013 14:33:12)
32-bit Windows, Full, Unicode
I have verified that the debug output is correct when the blat process
runs successfully. I haven't upgraded to the current version because I was
hoping to identify the root cause first. What are next steps for
troubleshooting?

If this is happening only once every few days, my early guess is that
perhaps your message file (tmpfile) is being held up by some other process.
If the file does not exist, Blat should exit with an error message saying
that it could not find the file. If the file does exist, then Blat should
be able to open it and process the content.

"Until recently" also might indicate a change to the environment that Blat
runs in. This could be the OS was patched, your antivirus program and/or
its definitions, the network proxies, or the SMTP server. It does seem
strange that Blat was running just fine, then not, so I am thinking that
this is caused by some external changes in the environment.

I can give you a newer version of Blat with much more extensive debugging
messages if you want, that might help identify where within Blat it is
getting hung up. You will need to send an offline message direct to me at
***@att.net if you want the extra debugging capabilities.

Chip


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['Mike Mattos' [e-mail] [blat]]

Not specific to blat, but I have encountered errors lately with newly created files not being available to calling processes, and the calling process fails.



Example: A database query creates a text file, and blat tries to send the file, but fails. However, it isn’t so much file not found as it is that the file locking fails. No idea why but it seems to happen at random work stations perhaps 1 in 500 times.



This isn’t new, but seems to be more frequent than a few years ago.



Mike Mattos



“To succeed in the world it is not enough to be stupid, you must also be well-mannered”



Voltaire



From: ***@yahoogroups.com [mailto:***@yahoogroups.com]
Sent: March 29, 2017 9:21 AM
To: ***@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [blat] blat process freezing intermittently





I use blat at my job in scripts to FTP files. We've been using blat for years without any issues until recently. We are starting to see our script jobs hang intermittently when they execute a blat process. I've modified the parameters to capture the debug output but I'm not getting any useful information. These scripts run upwards of 100 times a day and we only see this once every few days. This is running on 64-bit Windows 7 Enterprise OS. Here is an example of what I'm seeing in the log file:









blat tmpfile -s "subject" -t "recipient" -log debugfile -debug -timestamp



2017.03.28 12:30:12 (Tue)------------Start of Session-----------------

Blat v3.1.2 (build : Dec 27 2013 14:33:12)

32-bit Windows, Full, Unicode





I have verified that the debug output is correct when the blat process runs successfully. I haven't upgraded to the current version because I was hoping to identify the root cause first. What are next steps for troubleshooting?

[Adam Croft [e-mail] [blat]]

Hi Mike,

Thanks for the tip. I do create the tmpfile shortly before calling blat so
that gives me some direction on where to look.

Adam

Post by 'Mike Mattos' ***@rogers.com [blat]
Not specific to blat, but I have encountered errors lately with newly
created files not being available to calling processes, and the calling
process fails.
Example: A database query creates a text file, and blat tries to send the
file, but fails. However, it isn’t so much file not found as it is that
the file locking fails. No idea why but it seems to happen at random work
stations perhaps 1 in 500 times.
This isn’t new, but seems to be more frequent than a few years ago.
Mike Mattos
“To succeed in the world it is not enough to be stupid, you must also be
well-mannered”
Voltaire
*Sent:* March 29, 2017 9:21 AM
*Subject:* [blat] blat process freezing intermittently
I use blat at my job in scripts to FTP files. We've been using blat for
years without any issues until recently. We are starting to see our script
jobs hang intermittently when they execute a blat process. I've modified
the parameters to capture the debug output but I'm not getting any useful
information. These scripts run upwards of 100 times a day and we only see
this once every few days. This is running on 64-bit Windows 7 Enterprise
blat tmpfile -s "subject" -t "recipient" -log debugfile -debug -timestamp
2017.03.28 12:30:12 (Tue)------------Start of Session-----------------
Blat v3.1.2 (build : Dec 27 2013 14:33:12)
32-bit Windows, Full, Unicode
I have verified that the debug output is correct when the blat process
runs successfully. I haven't upgraded to the current version because I was
hoping to identify the root cause first. What are next steps for
troubleshooting?

[Lars Holm [e-mail] [blat]]

Adam,


It might have to do with Windows way of cacheing, and flushing the content
to disk later. If your program can do a hard commit after closing the file,
it would have windows to do the diskwrite directly.
Just my thought.


Lasse

Post by Adam Croft ***@gmail.com [blat]
Hi Mike,
Thanks for the tip. I do create the tmpfile shortly before calling blat so
that gives me some direction on where to look.
Adam

Post by 'Mike Mattos' ***@rogers.com [blat]
Not specific to blat, but I have encountered errors lately with newly
created files not being available to calling processes, and the calling
process fails.
Example: A database query creates a text file, and blat tries to send
the file, but fails. However, it isn’t so much file not found as it is
that the file locking fails. No idea why but it seems to happen at random
work stations perhaps 1 in 500 times.
This isn’t new, but seems to be more frequent than a few years ago.
Mike Mattos
“To succeed in the world it is not enough to be stupid, you must also be
well-mannered”
Voltaire
*Sent:* March 29, 2017 9:21 AM
*Subject:* [blat] blat process freezing intermittently
I use blat at my job in scripts to FTP files. We've been using blat for
years without any issues until recently. We are starting to see our script
jobs hang intermittently when they execute a blat process. I've modified
the parameters to capture the debug output but I'm not getting any useful
information. These scripts run upwards of 100 times a day and we only see
this once every few days. This is running on 64-bit Windows 7 Enterprise
blat tmpfile -s "subject" -t "recipient" -log debugfile -debug -timestamp
2017.03.28 12:30:12 (Tue)------------Start of Session-----------------
Blat v3.1.2 (build : Dec 27 2013 14:33:12)
32-bit Windows, Full, Unicode
I have verified that the debug output is correct when the blat process
runs successfully. I haven't upgraded to the current version because I was
hoping to identify the root cause first. What are next steps for
troubleshooting?

[Adam Croft [e-mail] [blat]]

I use blat in FTP scripts at my job to mail back the log output. I haven't
had any problems for years until recently some scripts are freezing when
blat is executed. This happens intermittently with different scripts at
different times. It only happens a few times a week over several hundred
job runs. I've added the debug parameters to troubleshoot the problem but
I'm not getting any useful information. When this happens I kill the blat
process and the script finishes. It's running on 64-bit Windows 7
Enterprise OS. Here is an example of the debug log:


blat tmpfile -s "subject" -t "recipient" -log debugfile -debug -timestamp


2017.03.28 12:30:12 (Tue)------------Start of Session-----------------
Blat v3.1.2 (build : Dec 27 2013 14:33:12)
32-bit Windows, Full, Unicode


I verified debug output is correct on a successful run. I haven't upgraded
blat yet because I'm hoping to know the root cause of the issue first. Can
someone recommend next troubleshooting steps?