Oh, someone please... please help. I really can't
afford the $250 call to MS, but am running out of options
quickly.

I have a single server configuration (Dell PE2650),
running the applications below:

Windows Server 2003
IIS 6.0
SQL Server 2000 Std
MySQL 4.1.08
SmarterMail
SmarterStats
TitanFTP
PHP
And, a few ASP components.

The issue is this: At random (sometimes twice a day;
sometimes days in between) IIS locks up, and all sites go
dead. Most sites are written in ASP / HMTL. One in
PHP. When opening IIS, all APPEAR to be functioning
normal (from a novice's view). Every other "server" app
continues to function normally (ie. mail, ftp, stats,
etc.)

When examining the Event Viewer, no Errors can be
found... only the occasional Warning about W32Time not
syncronizing, and the occasional SQL Server "SuperSocket"
Warning. No Warnings or Errors on the same day IIS locks
up.

I will bite the bullet if necessary (MS/$), as this
absolutely has to be solved... but if ANYONE has an idea
of what might be the problem, suggestions will be greatly
appreciated. It's been happening every since setting up
the server.

Thanks,

-Nate Jones

800-519-9091 Cell
866-815-3366 Home

PS : Unlike many out there, everything on this system has
a legal license. I have made the extra effort and
sacrifice to be so, but STILL find myself begging for
support. Funny how that is. :-\

Re: IIS 6 Locks Up, Must Restart, No Event Errors by David

David
Sun May 09 21:40:19 CDT 2004

You can use IIS State to diagnose what is causing IIS to "Lock up", and post
its log file here for analysis. This is the same sort of tool that
Microsoft PSS will ask you to run anyway; we allow you to do it yourself and
will even help you analyze what's going wrong and sometimes provide
workaround/fixes -- all for free.

http://www.iisfaq.com/default.aspx?view=P197

My suspicion is that some of your web pages are slowly tying up IIS threads,
which over time results in IIS running out of resources to handle requests,
at which point you see it "lock up". We'll need to use IIS State to
diagnose what is actually tying up IIS, which can then help suggest how you
may fix the issue.

The reason why you do not see any event messages about "locking up" is
simple -- it is theoretically impossible to detect a locking situation with
100% accuracy. I am not going to give you a false impression that it can be
done -- because any attempt will either have false positives or false
negatives -- even when users expect the impossible. Why? Let's just say
that it is not possible to distinguish from an external perspective between
a long-running operation that will eventually finish and another
long-running operation that is locked up. Only the thread that is doing the
operation can determine with 100% accuracy, but it's currently tied-up on
that long-running operation and cannot tell you whether it's locked or not.


FYI:
I feel compelled to say the following to clarify some of your
misconceptions. I do this with only positive intentions.

A license to use a particular software does not imply support. It's like a
driver's license gives you the right to drive, but it doesn't mean the
license comes with a car to drive -- you still have to buy/maintain the car.

In your case, you have constructed a custom server package after purchasing
the various licenses, so the assumption is that YOU will take care of
supporting the combination of server software. If you cannot... then you
either must pay some professionals (in this case, you chose Microsoft PSS
for some reason even when most of your software does not involve Microsoft),
or change your server package to a supported one that fits your needs.

I mean, this is not different from any other industry -- if you modify your
car engine, the assumption is that you are responsible for those
modifications... and if you find that you have engine knocks later on but
you cannot take care of it, then you either need to pay a car shop to take
care of it, or you get another car that has the modifications and is
supported.

You cannot buy a car, make modifications, and expect the car manufacturer to
support your modifications for free...

--
//David
IIS
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
//
"Nate Jones" <nate@natejones.net> wrote in message
news:a5c301c43628$967b47f0$a401280a@phx.gbl...
Oh, someone please... please help. I really can't
afford the $250 call to MS, but am running out of options
quickly.

I have a single server configuration (Dell PE2650),
running the applications below:

Windows Server 2003
IIS 6.0
SQL Server 2000 Std
MySQL 4.1.08
SmarterMail
SmarterStats
TitanFTP
PHP
And, a few ASP components.

The issue is this: At random (sometimes twice a day;
sometimes days in between) IIS locks up, and all sites go
dead. Most sites are written in ASP / HMTL. One in
PHP. When opening IIS, all APPEAR to be functioning
normal (from a novice's view). Every other "server" app
continues to function normally (ie. mail, ftp, stats,
etc.)

When examining the Event Viewer, no Errors can be
found... only the occasional Warning about W32Time not
syncronizing, and the occasional SQL Server "SuperSocket"
Warning. No Warnings or Errors on the same day IIS locks
up.

I will bite the bullet if necessary (MS/$), as this
absolutely has to be solved... but if ANYONE has an idea
of what might be the problem, suggestions will be greatly
appreciated. It's been happening every since setting up
the server.

Thanks,

-Nate Jones

800-519-9091 Cell
866-815-3366 Home

PS : Unlike many out there, everything on this system has
a legal license. I have made the extra effort and
sacrifice to be so, but STILL find myself begging for
support. Funny how that is. :-\




Re: IIS 6 Locks Up, Must Restart, No Event Errors by Nate

Nate
Sun May 09 22:32:36 CDT 2004

David,

Thank you much for your quick reply. I did notice from
searching the newsgroups, how many have commented on the
use of IIS State. I have downloaded it, and will attempt
to produce a dump to post here for others to look at, as
you suggested.

Also, thanks for taking the time to share your views on
licensing and support. I would have to agree with you,
as they are two seperate avenues.

One thing I quickly noticed when reading through the IIS
State help files is that it requires the PID of the IIS
process. At present, I remotely control the server via
RDC. However, when I login (as an admin), and view the
Task Manager, many of the processes (including IIS) are
not visible. Is this just a "feature" of RDC for
security reasons? Or, is there a way to discover the PID
of IIS using another method? From what I can see, with
out the PID, IIS State cannot help me.

Also, when IIS "locks up", as I have mentioned, would
this be considered a hard crash ("hc") or a soft crash
("sc")?

I can get physical access to the machine, with a bit of
effort, but would prefer to simply manage it remotely, if
possible.

Thanks, again, for your time in replying. I hope to one
day be on the same level as many who post here.

-Nate

800-519-9091 Work
866-815-3366 Home


>-----Original Message-----
>You can use IIS State to diagnose what is causing IIS
to "Lock up", and post
>its log file here for analysis. This is the same sort
of tool that
>Microsoft PSS will ask you to run anyway; we allow you
to do it yourself and
>will even help you analyze what's going wrong and
sometimes provide
>workaround/fixes -- all for free.
>
>http://www.iisfaq.com/default.aspx?view=P197
>
>My suspicion is that some of your web pages are slowly
tying up IIS threads,
>which over time results in IIS running out of resources
to handle requests,
>at which point you see it "lock up". We'll need to use
IIS State to
>diagnose what is actually tying up IIS, which can then
help suggest how you
>may fix the issue.
>
>The reason why you do not see any event messages
about "locking up" is
>simple -- it is theoretically impossible to detect a
locking situation with
>100% accuracy. I am not going to give you a false
impression that it can be
>done -- because any attempt will either have false
positives or false
>negatives -- even when users expect the impossible.
Why? Let's just say
>that it is not possible to distinguish from an external
perspective between
>a long-running operation that will eventually finish and
another
>long-running operation that is locked up. Only the
thread that is doing the
>operation can determine with 100% accuracy, but it's
currently tied-up on
>that long-running operation and cannot tell you whether
it's locked or not.
>
>
>FYI:
>I feel compelled to say the following to clarify some of
your
>misconceptions. I do this with only positive intentions.
>
>A license to use a particular software does not imply
support. It's like a
>driver's license gives you the right to drive, but it
doesn't mean the
>license comes with a car to drive -- you still have to
buy/maintain the car.
>
>In your case, you have constructed a custom server
package after purchasing
>the various licenses, so the assumption is that YOU will
take care of
>supporting the combination of server software. If you
cannot... then you
>either must pay some professionals (in this case, you
chose Microsoft PSS
>for some reason even when most of your software does not
involve Microsoft),
>or change your server package to a supported one that
fits your needs.
>
>I mean, this is not different from any other industry --
if you modify your
>car engine, the assumption is that you are responsible
for those
>modifications... and if you find that you have engine
knocks later on but
>you cannot take care of it, then you either need to pay
a car shop to take
>care of it, or you get another car that has the
modifications and is
>supported.
>
>You cannot buy a car, make modifications, and expect the
car manufacturer to
>support your modifications for free...
>
>--
>//David
>IIS
>This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and
confers no rights.
>//

Re: IIS 6 Locks Up, Must Restart, No Event Errors by Ken

Ken
Mon May 10 03:17:09 CDT 2004

In Task Manager, do you have the "Show Processes from all users" box
checked?

Cheers
Ken


"Nate Jones" <nate@natejones.net> wrote in message
news:a96401c4363f$6ff010e0$a501280a@phx.gbl...
: David,
:
: Thank you much for your quick reply. I did notice from
: searching the newsgroups, how many have commented on the
: use of IIS State. I have downloaded it, and will attempt
: to produce a dump to post here for others to look at, as
: you suggested.
:
: Also, thanks for taking the time to share your views on
: licensing and support. I would have to agree with you,
: as they are two seperate avenues.
:
: One thing I quickly noticed when reading through the IIS
: State help files is that it requires the PID of the IIS
: process. At present, I remotely control the server via
: RDC. However, when I login (as an admin), and view the
: Task Manager, many of the processes (including IIS) are
: not visible. Is this just a "feature" of RDC for
: security reasons? Or, is there a way to discover the PID
: of IIS using another method? From what I can see, with
: out the PID, IIS State cannot help me.
:
: Also, when IIS "locks up", as I have mentioned, would
: this be considered a hard crash ("hc") or a soft crash
: ("sc")?
:
: I can get physical access to the machine, with a bit of
: effort, but would prefer to simply manage it remotely, if
: possible.
:
: Thanks, again, for your time in replying. I hope to one
: day be on the same level as many who post here.
:
: -Nate
:
: 800-519-9091 Work
: 866-815-3366 Home
:
:
: >-----Original Message-----
: >You can use IIS State to diagnose what is causing IIS
: to "Lock up", and post
: >its log file here for analysis. This is the same sort
: of tool that
: >Microsoft PSS will ask you to run anyway; we allow you
: to do it yourself and
: >will even help you analyze what's going wrong and
: sometimes provide
: >workaround/fixes -- all for free.
: >
: >http://www.iisfaq.com/default.aspx?view=P197
: >
: >My suspicion is that some of your web pages are slowly
: tying up IIS threads,
: >which over time results in IIS running out of resources
: to handle requests,
: >at which point you see it "lock up". We'll need to use
: IIS State to
: >diagnose what is actually tying up IIS, which can then
: help suggest how you
: >may fix the issue.
: >
: >The reason why you do not see any event messages
: about "locking up" is
: >simple -- it is theoretically impossible to detect a
: locking situation with
: >100% accuracy. I am not going to give you a false
: impression that it can be
: >done -- because any attempt will either have false
: positives or false
: >negatives -- even when users expect the impossible.
: Why? Let's just say
: >that it is not possible to distinguish from an external
: perspective between
: >a long-running operation that will eventually finish and
: another
: >long-running operation that is locked up. Only the
: thread that is doing the
: >operation can determine with 100% accuracy, but it's
: currently tied-up on
: >that long-running operation and cannot tell you whether
: it's locked or not.
: >
: >
: >FYI:
: >I feel compelled to say the following to clarify some of
: your
: >misconceptions. I do this with only positive intentions.
: >
: >A license to use a particular software does not imply
: support. It's like a
: >driver's license gives you the right to drive, but it
: doesn't mean the
: >license comes with a car to drive -- you still have to
: buy/maintain the car.
: >
: >In your case, you have constructed a custom server
: package after purchasing
: >the various licenses, so the assumption is that YOU will
: take care of
: >supporting the combination of server software. If you
: cannot... then you
: >either must pay some professionals (in this case, you
: chose Microsoft PSS
: >for some reason even when most of your software does not
: involve Microsoft),
: >or change your server package to a supported one that
: fits your needs.
: >
: >I mean, this is not different from any other industry --
: if you modify your
: >car engine, the assumption is that you are responsible
: for those
: >modifications... and if you find that you have engine
: knocks later on but
: >you cannot take care of it, then you either need to pay
: a car shop to take
: >care of it, or you get another car that has the
: modifications and is
: >supported.
: >
: >You cannot buy a car, make modifications, and expect the
: car manufacturer to
: >support your modifications for free...
: >
: >--
: >//David
: >IIS
: >This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and
: confers no rights.
: >//



Re: IIS 6 Locks Up, Must Restart, No Event Errors by Pat

Pat
Mon May 10 10:31:34 CDT 2004

A hang is not a crash. A crash is a termination of the process.

So, run IISState as:

iisstate -p <pid of w3wp.exe> <enter>

Pat

"Nate Jones" <nate@natejones.net> wrote in message
news:a96401c4363f$6ff010e0$a501280a@phx.gbl...
> David,
>
> Thank you much for your quick reply. I did notice from
> searching the newsgroups, how many have commented on the
> use of IIS State. I have downloaded it, and will attempt
> to produce a dump to post here for others to look at, as
> you suggested.
>
> Also, thanks for taking the time to share your views on
> licensing and support. I would have to agree with you,
> as they are two seperate avenues.
>
> One thing I quickly noticed when reading through the IIS
> State help files is that it requires the PID of the IIS
> process. At present, I remotely control the server via
> RDC. However, when I login (as an admin), and view the
> Task Manager, many of the processes (including IIS) are
> not visible. Is this just a "feature" of RDC for
> security reasons? Or, is there a way to discover the PID
> of IIS using another method? From what I can see, with
> out the PID, IIS State cannot help me.
>
> Also, when IIS "locks up", as I have mentioned, would
> this be considered a hard crash ("hc") or a soft crash
> ("sc")?
>
> I can get physical access to the machine, with a bit of
> effort, but would prefer to simply manage it remotely, if
> possible.
>
> Thanks, again, for your time in replying. I hope to one
> day be on the same level as many who post here.
>
> -Nate
>
> 800-519-9091 Work
> 866-815-3366 Home
>
>
> >-----Original Message-----
> >You can use IIS State to diagnose what is causing IIS
> to "Lock up", and post
> >its log file here for analysis. This is the same sort
> of tool that
> >Microsoft PSS will ask you to run anyway; we allow you
> to do it yourself and
> >will even help you analyze what's going wrong and
> sometimes provide
> >workaround/fixes -- all for free.
> >
> >http://www.iisfaq.com/default.aspx?view=P197
> >
> >My suspicion is that some of your web pages are slowly
> tying up IIS threads,
> >which over time results in IIS running out of resources
> to handle requests,
> >at which point you see it "lock up". We'll need to use
> IIS State to
> >diagnose what is actually tying up IIS, which can then
> help suggest how you
> >may fix the issue.
> >
> >The reason why you do not see any event messages
> about "locking up" is
> >simple -- it is theoretically impossible to detect a
> locking situation with
> >100% accuracy. I am not going to give you a false
> impression that it can be
> >done -- because any attempt will either have false
> positives or false
> >negatives -- even when users expect the impossible.
> Why? Let's just say
> >that it is not possible to distinguish from an external
> perspective between
> >a long-running operation that will eventually finish and
> another
> >long-running operation that is locked up. Only the
> thread that is doing the
> >operation can determine with 100% accuracy, but it's
> currently tied-up on
> >that long-running operation and cannot tell you whether
> it's locked or not.
> >
> >
> >FYI:
> >I feel compelled to say the following to clarify some of
> your
> >misconceptions. I do this with only positive intentions.
> >
> >A license to use a particular software does not imply
> support. It's like a
> >driver's license gives you the right to drive, but it
> doesn't mean the
> >license comes with a car to drive -- you still have to
> buy/maintain the car.
> >
> >In your case, you have constructed a custom server
> package after purchasing
> >the various licenses, so the assumption is that YOU will
> take care of
> >supporting the combination of server software. If you
> cannot... then you
> >either must pay some professionals (in this case, you
> chose Microsoft PSS
> >for some reason even when most of your software does not
> involve Microsoft),
> >or change your server package to a supported one that
> fits your needs.
> >
> >I mean, this is not different from any other industry --
> if you modify your
> >car engine, the assumption is that you are responsible
> for those
> >modifications... and if you find that you have engine
> knocks later on but
> >you cannot take care of it, then you either need to pay
> a car shop to take
> >care of it, or you get another car that has the
> modifications and is
> >supported.
> >
> >You cannot buy a car, make modifications, and expect the
> car manufacturer to
> >support your modifications for free...
> >
> >--
> >//David
> >IIS
> >This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and
> confers no rights.
> >//



Re: IIS 6 Locks Up, Must Restart, No Event Errors by Nate

Nate
Mon May 10 12:44:51 CDT 2004

Ah... thank you. That was the reason I was not seeing
all the processes. (Sometimes I swear I'm blind.)

-Nate


>-----Original Message-----
>In Task Manager, do you have the "Show Processes from
all users" box
>checked?
>
>Cheers
>Ken
>
>


Re: IIS 6 Locks Up, Must Restart, No Event Errors by Nate

Nate
Mon May 10 12:51:59 CDT 2004

Below is the .log file created from running iisstate as
you recommended.

Note : currently the machine is not in a "hang". Did you
want me to wait until it is to run this? Also, many
others have said to run it on inetninfo.exe. Did you
mean to have me run it on that instead?

--- OUTPUT BELOW ---

Opened log file 'C:\iisstate\output\IISState-4664.log'

***********************
Starting new log output
IISState version 3.3.1

Mon May 10 11:47:18 2004

OS = Windows 2003 Server
Executable: w3wp.exe
PID = 4664

Note: Thread times are formatted as HH:MM:SS.ms

***********************




Thread ID: 0
System Thread ID: 13b8
Kernel Time: 0:0:0.0
User Time: 0:0:0.62
Thread Type: HTTP Compression Thread
# ChildEBP RetAddr
00 0006fe58 77f43741 SharedUserData!SystemCallStub+0x4
01 0006fe5c 77e41817 ntdll!ZwWaitForSingleObject+0xc
02 0006fecc 77e4168f kernel32!WaitForSingleObjectEx+0xac
03 0006fedc 5a3635ae kernel32!WaitForSingleObject+0xf
04 0006feec 5a364d7d w3dt!
WP_CONTEXT::RunMainThreadLoop+0xe
05 0006fef4 5a3a1d98 w3dt!UlAtqStartListen+0x2d
06 0006ff00 5a3a5d54 w3core!W3_SERVER::StartListen+0x8e
07 0006ff0c 010017af w3core!UlW3Start+0xea
08 0006ff44 0100195e w3wp!wmain+0x236
09 0006ffc0 77e4f38c w3wp!wmainCRTStartup+0x12f
0a 0006fff0 00000000 kernel32!BaseProcessStart+0x23




Thread ID: 1
System Thread ID: bac
Kernel Time: 0:0:0.0
User Time: 0:0:0.0
Thread Type: Other
# ChildEBP RetAddr
00 009fff9c 77f4262b SharedUserData!SystemCallStub+0x4
01 009fffa0 77f6b5b2 ntdll!NtDelayExecution+0xc
02 009fffb8 77e4a990 ntdll!RtlpTimerThread+0x45
03 009fffec 00000000 kernel32!BaseThreadStart+0x34




Thread ID: 2
System Thread ID: 14b8
Kernel Time: 0:0:0.0
User Time: 0:0:0.0
Thread Type: Other
# ChildEBP RetAddr
00 00a3ff70 77f430c7 SharedUserData!SystemCallStub+0x4
01 00a3ff74 77f7e6ae ntdll!ZwRemoveIoCompletion+0xc
02 00a3ffb8 77e4a990 ntdll!RtlpWorkerThread+0x3b
03 00a3ffec 00000000 kernel32!BaseThreadStart+0x34




Thread ID: 3
System Thread ID: 155c
Kernel Time: 0:0:0.0
User Time: 0:0:0.0
Thread Type: Possible ASP page. Possible DCOM activity
Executing Page: Unable to locate ASP page

No remote call being made

# ChildEBP RetAddr
00 00aafe20 77f4313f SharedUserData!SystemCallStub+0x4
01 00aafe24 77c57b85 ntdll!NtReplyWaitReceivePortEx+0xc
02 00aaff8c 77c60829 RPCRT4!
LRPC_ADDRESS::ReceiveLotsaCalls+0x193
03 00aaff90 77c60771 RPCRT4!RecvLotsaCallsWrapper+0x9
04 00aaffb0 77c60857 RPCRT4!BaseCachedThreadRoutine+0x9c
05 00aaffb8 77e4a990 RPCRT4!ThreadStartRoutine+0x17
06 00aaffec 00000000 kernel32!BaseThreadStart+0x34




Thread ID: 4
System Thread ID: 12f0
Kernel Time: 0:0:0.0
User Time: 0:0:0.0
Thread Type: Other
# ChildEBP RetAddr
00 00aeff10 77f4262b SharedUserData!SystemCallStub+0x4
01 00aeff14 77e418ea ntdll!NtDelayExecution+0xc
02 00aeff7c 77e416ee kernel32!SleepEx+0x68
03 00aeff88 77162501 kernel32!Sleep+0xb
04 00aeff94 771625ea ole32!
CROIDTable::WorkerThreadLoop+0x12
05 00aeff9c 77160000 ole32!CRpcThread::WorkerLoop+0x1e
06 00aeffac 77162653 ole32!_imp__InstallApplication
<PERF> (ole32+0x0)
07 00aeffb8 77e4a990 ole32!
CRpcThreadCache::RpcWorkerThreadEntry+0x1f
08 00aeffec 00000000 kernel32!BaseThreadStart+0x34




Thread ID: 5
System Thread ID: 1054
Kernel Time: 0:0:0.156
User Time: 0:0:0.187
*** WARNING: Unable to verify checksum for C:\Program
Files\IISPassword\IISPasswordFilter.dll
*** ERROR: Symbol file could not be found. Defaulted to
export symbols for C:\Program
Files\IISPassword\IISPasswordFilter.dll -
Thread Type: Other
# ChildEBP RetAddr
WARNING: Stack unwind information not available.
Following frames may be wrong.
00 00caf25c 10004c10 IISPasswordFilter!
GetFilterVersion+0x4f5
01 00caf2a4 1000511d IISPasswordFilter!
GetFilterVersion+0x3a30
02