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M
mbrown-nasa1-Visitor
1-Visitor
May 15, 2015
Question

How do I maintain my Creo session connection to the Windchill server when the server is time to break the connection when it sees no workspace activity? Not all modeling activity requires server interaction.

  • May 15, 2015
  • 12 replies
  • 5677 views

We have a timeout set within the Windchill environment. We we are creating models, with the Creo session connected to Windchill, the creation time regularly exceeds this timeout setting. We are often disconnected from Windchill while in the middle of a sketch or other Creo activity that doesn't involve server interaction. This causes us to lose design work or even end up with a corrupted workspace. We are trying to find something that could run in the background of our session that mimics server activity and thus keeps our Creo session with Windchill alive.

12 replies

M
MarkBohannon1-Visitor
1-Visitor
May 15, 2015

I am not sure that I understand why you are having an issue. If the problem really is the connection, can you just work in offline mode and then reconnect when the model is ready to be uploaded or checked-in?

If you really need to maintian the connection, are you open to a JLink solution?

M
mbrown-nasa1-VisitorAuthor
1-Visitor
May 15, 2015

Hi Mark - Thanks for the input. We need to maintain an active collaborative environment, so offline work isn't a good option for us. JLink? Yes, we're open to this.

L
LoriSood23-Emerald II
23-Emerald II
May 15, 2015

Mike,

What timeout are you referring to (KeepAliveTimeout in Apache)?

What exactly is happening when you notice the corruption or the disconnect issues?

Is it an issue where you finish modeling data, try to save and/or check in that fails/hangs?

M
mbrown-nasa1-VisitorAuthor
1-Visitor
May 18, 2015

Lori,

I believe that this timeout is set at the Apache level. The problem is that while modeling, a timeout warning is being posted via a pop-up window. This happens at 13 minutes of connection time. If you miss electing to "stay connected" (a choice in the pop-up window), then you are disconnected at the 15 minute point. You keep modeling, and then you attempt to upload or check-in, but you are now disconnected. Continue attempts to reconnect often fail. You then get out of Creo and relaunch. When you try to open up a previously worked on model, you at times get a "Fatal Error" and a Creo crash. There is an open case with PTC that describes this as a cache corruption error.

I am looking for a means of keeping the Creo-Windchill connection alive...maybe by some background means. Doing repeated uploads is not efficient for the type of complex modeling we are doing.

P
PaulMarshall1-Visitor
1-Visitor
May 18, 2015

Mike,

I've seen issues in the past where dm_cache_limit (config.pro option) was set too small for the data sets being worked on and cause odd behaviour like this.

In fact, I'd recommend taking a quick look at all the config.pro options starting "dm_" as they can have a big impact on the Creo-Windchill interaction.

Also, you might want to checkout this blog - Pater's All Things WGM Blog - has some really good links all in one place. A good place to start would be searching that blog page for the word "offline" - I just found this https://support.ptc.com/appserver/cs/view/solution.jsp?n=cs129947

I hope this helps.

Paul

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mbrown-nasa1-VisitorAuthor
1-Visitor
May 18, 2015

Paul,

Thanks for the information. Our disconnection purposely built in from the Windchill (Apache) side via SiteMinder. I think what we really need is a way to "fake" CAD to Windchill activity continuously taking place - perhaps every 10 minutes - so as to keep the connectivity. As long as I actively choose to Upload or Check-in, I have no issue with staying connected past the 15 minute disconnection enforcement.

P
PaulMarshall1-Visitor
1-Visitor
May 18, 2015

Ahhh SiteMinder gotcha ... that is a pleasure I'm yet to experience in production environment with Creo-Windchill - currently in dev environments so will have to keep an eye on that - certainly with other web applications SiteMinder has provided challenges.

CraigPater
CraigPater20-Turquoise
20-Turquoise
May 29, 2015

Mike,

Try something like:

  • Create <Windchill>/codebase/keepalive.htm file with the following content:

          <head>

          <META HTTP-EQUIV="refresh" CONTENT="600">

          </head>

          <body>

          keep alive page

          </body>

          </html>

It will autorefresh the page at a 10 minute interval and should keep your session alive.

Alternately, you could file a Product Idea to have the lower limit of the Windchill preference Workspace > Access rights refresh interval reduced from 1800 to 600 seconds as this preference controls how often a Creo/WWGM client makes a request in the background to update detail in the client cache.

Regards,

Craig

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