2004-03-12 Netwiz Technical Contacts

It has been a while since a Netwiz Technical Support Note has been sent. I guess this is largely because MonTel is very stable now. It is also because I have had my head down producing the costing tables. I may have something to show for that in a few weeks.

There have been a few minor updates to MonTel in the past few months. Also the web pages have been changed slightly to clarify the intention of each section. Change Log MonTel now holds the update information. 2.9.68 is the current version (http://www.netwiz.com.au/appnotes/i3267.htm).

CLIENT WONT START DEBUG CHECK LIST

There have been only 4 support incidents this year so far, and I find that I am a little rusty on things to check when a single or a few clients won't start. He is a pretty complete list. Let me know if anything is missing. What to check if the MonTel client won't start correctly: http://www.netwiz.com.au/appnotes/i3304.htm.

SQL CONNECTIONS

Of the support issues in the last 6 months, the majority have been because of network changes by the client. Sometimes this has caused different client computers to use the wrong Net-library to try to connect to the SQL or MSDE Server. The following Topics should provide some help. Some MonTel clients cannot connect to the SQL Server or appear to hang on start up: http://www.netwiz.com.au/appnotes/i3309.htm and How to select up the correct MS SQL network libraries for MonTel on both the Server and Client: http://www.netwiz.com.au/appnotes/i3316.htm.

OCCASIONAL ERROR 71 OR NO CONNECTION ON RANDOM COMPUTERS

If MSDE or SQL Server is running on Windows 2000 Professional (or NT or XP) using named pipes as the Net-Library, only 10 computers can connect simultaneously. This might mean that in a busy office when 30 or 40 people login within a few minutes some might fail to get a connection. For the fix see: Occasionally MonTel clients fail to connect to MSDE or SQL Server with Error 71: http://www.netwiz.com.au/appnotes/i3317.htm.

WHY NOT TO USE EXT NUMBER AS EMPLOYEE CODE

Employee codes are much more important to MonTel than might first appear. They should be unique, and not just a copy of the Extension number. For the reasons see: How to determine the Employee code and or pin number for each user: http://www.netwiz.com.au/appnotes/i3287.

OLD SUPPORT NOTES

Some of these old notes have been collected together and placed on the web site at http://www.netwiz.com.au/appnotes/i3290.htm. More will be added later.

Please let me know if there are any topics you would like discussed.