Transmission Problems w/MLS 2.8.2

[ericb]

I just tried a send/receive several times and am getting the following error each time: Afaria #100 "General Failure". The message indicates to contact my stake clerk for help (well, I guess that's an 'attempt' to help ). After about the fourth retry, MLS locked up on me.

I haven't seen this error before, so thought I would add to this thread as the problem sounds related.

[childsdj]

There was an extremely high volume of connections on Sunday afternoon and the servers were denying some connections until about 6:00 p.m. MST. I haven't seen any problems since then, so if you are having a problem it could be another issue. I haven't seen an Afaria 100 message before, but it sounds like some of the other problems we saw Sunday afternoon.

[wasatchpowder-p40]

So, do you know why the servers continue to deny connections and what are the plans for resolving this issue?
I think headquarters should expect extremely high volumes of connections on Sundays because that's when we do our work.

I'd like to reduce the extremely high volume of phone calls to me when the servers are not working.

Dave

[childsdj]

So, do you know why the servers continue to deny connections and what are the plans for resolving this issue?
I think headquarters should expect extremely high volumes of connections on Sundays because that's when we do our work.

I'd like to reduce the extremely high volume of phone calls to me when the servers are not working.

Dave

It is being dealt with. The problem stems from more and more information that is being transmitted over slow phone lines. This creates longer connections and thus does not allow as many connections as we would like. There is a big server farm that handles the connection, but the software is can only handle single threads where the server hardware is more robust.

This should be an isolated couple of incidents and most Sundays should not have any problems.

[sedgerton-p40]

For the second week in a row, I have had the same problem. MLS is seeing the server, but not connecting and estalishing a socket. It continues to come back saying

ERROR, Afaria#2 "time out waiting for server".

any ideas???

[slmsz20]

Seems to be a typical Sunday, starts about noon MDT continues through most of the afternoon. I have used MLS since it was released to most of the Wards over 4 years ago and the Sunday outages have been part of it from the get go.

Our Stake transmits mainly through our internet connection, ironically the internet connection gets more problems connecting than the modem here.

Anyway, one reason to not disconnect the modem lines is a backup for those using internet to transmit. It doubles your chances of success. If it doesn't work today always try tomorrow or call it in. Best of luck.

[lajackson]

MLS is seeing the server, but not connecting and estalishing a socket. ...
ERROR, Afaria#2 "time out waiting for server".

An Afaria 2 error almost always means that the servers at CHQ are busy. And on Sunday afternoons, they are. All you can do is try again. With the Internet connection, you can try more often or more quickly. Things lighten up later in the afternoon.

I do not know if the dialup hits a different server. If it does, that may be the reason you sometimes get through that way and not through the Internet connection. But I think you are tagging the same target either way, and it just takes longer at the busiest time of the week to get through.

We suggest that our units do a Send/Receive earlier on Sunday to clear out the membership changes, so that only the deposit gets sent in the transmission later in the day. You cannot always do that, of course, and you need to send when you need to send, but anything we can do to avoid the Sunday afternoon drive in the park, we do.
[grin]

[dprice-p40]

I can appreciate the volume of calls on Sunday... but we've gone back to the church at 10 p.m. Sunday and still had the problem. I went in Monday night (ought to be the slowest time, right??) and had multiple failures to connect. I eventually gave up. I'll try again today (Tuesday) at lunch. The problem is significantly different from what we've seen in the past on Sunday afternoons.
Dave Price
Mt Pleasant IA

[aebrown]

I can appreciate the volume of calls on Sunday... but we've gone back to the church at 10 p.m. Sunday and still had the problem. I went in Monday night (ought to be the slowest time, right??) and had multiple failures to connect. I eventually gave up. I'll try again today (Tuesday) at lunch. The problem is significantly different from what we've seen in the past on Sunday afternoons.

Interesting. I did a Send/Receive at 5:30pm MDT on Sunday afternoon and it went through first time with no error. FWIW, I was using an Internet connection, not dial-up. One ward clerk in our stake reported problems connecting in two attempts on that Sunday morning at about 8:00am MDT, but was able to transmit just fine at 10:30am MDT.

I'm sure there's some luck involved anytime lots of people are trying to connect to limited servers, but still it seems odd that some people would experience persistent problems such that they have to give up and try another day, while others have little or no problem. Could it be regional? Is there a significant difference between Internet and dial-up connections?

[Mikerowaved]

I can appreciate the volume of calls on Sunday... but we've gone back to the church at 10 p.m. Sunday and still had the problem. I went in Monday night (ought to be the slowest time, right??) and had multiple failures to connect. I eventually gave up. I'll try again today (Tuesday) at lunch. The problem is significantly different from what we've seen in the past on Sunday afternoons.
Dave Price
Mt Pleasant IA

Dave, don't rule out the fact that something might be wrong with the equipment on your end. Last year, we were having major difficulties connecting and staying connected and finally traced it down to the telephone in the clerk's office that was apparently spewing out noise on the line interfering with the modem. Swapped it out with a new phone and it's been smooth sailing ever since.

Mike