Synch leaves files with size=0, no error messages!

[abrush]

Using v. 16 SP2, about 30,000 contacts, 40,000 attachments.  16 users, 4 of whom are remote.  At random intervals, a synch will result in all of the files synched in that session having directory entries in the Attachments directory, with filenames but no contents and size of file reported as "0".  These files have to be copied over by hand, or a new remote database cut.  There seems to be no way to get Act! to re-do or correct the mis-synchronization.  The bad synch is always reported as a success in the synch log.  Seems to happen more often using Internet synch than Network synch.  Act! tech support is baffled.  Any ideas?

[wellmet]

I've always suspected that it is caused by a file access issue.  The remote person doesn't have access to the files so it creates an "empty" file for them.  This is just speculation on my part.  That problem is the sort of problem that it takes a long time to figure out and consequently a hefty price tag.  Let us know if you figure it out.

Stan

[abrush]

A plausible theory.  I assume that you mean that the remote user doesn't have permissions to the MAIN atrachment store.  I see two problems with that idea:

1. The user can use Windows file explorer to directly copy the files.
2. Other synchs by the same user on the same system in the same session in the same day will be successful.

So, our system would have to be changing permissions randomly.  That seems improbable.  It seems more likely that the Internet synch is broken or at least that the configuration needs to be corrected.  I guess it makes sense to try running procmon during a synch and see if there are file open failures.

[wellmet]

The files are probably actually being written by the process that is running the sync framework so that is the "user" that would need to have permission to write to the files although if a standard user could write to them then anyone should be able to write to them unless they were excluded.  I would just compare the rights on a couple of the files and see if they're the same as other files that have successfully synched and if they are then that probably isn't it.

Stan

[abrush]

The files that are not getting synched are being synched from the main to the remote.  The files are OK on the main, and all have the same permissions, although different owners:  The files placed there by local users are owned by those users, and the files placed there through synchronization are owned by "Administrators".  On the random occasions that a synch results in files of size=0, all the files created locally in that session fail, regardless of the owner.

In the remote Attachments directory, all of the files are owned by the remote user of the workstation.  The permissions are identical to other files on the workstation.

BTW, have seen this problem with remote running on Win 8.1 64, and Win 7 32, with different users.

An additional note that may give a clue:  Last synch log showed that 181 files were received during a synch, but only 80 files turned up in the Attachment directory, all of size=0.

My theory is that Act! internet synch builds the directory entries first, then goes back and synchronizes the data.  It appears that something (bug in Internet sync) is interrupting the process while the directory entries are being created.  The real bug is that Act! throws no errors, marks all the files as fullly synched, and lets us go forward with missing attachments.

We have not yet seen the problem with files being synched from remotes to the main database.

We have not yet seen the problem when using "network" connection mode.

We went in and changed the timeouts in the IIS to 360 seconds minimum.  No failed synch was ever taking anything like 6 minutes, so I'm dubious that this is a timeout problem.

There is a bug in the KB about 0 size files resulting from synchs when the remote is marked to not synch attachments, but of course there is no solution or repair.  I wonder if this is somehow related, but Act! will not discuss it (They occasionally respond by telephone, and when I get a good synch while they are on the line, they close the case, no action.)