We are using Sesame on the Microsoft Small Business Server (Windows NT variation, I think) in a client-server setup.  Of course, sometimes the server locks up.  When this happens, the Sesame databases get locked (all clients trying to access get the access-denied-too-many-clients message.

When we unlock the applications from the server (in the Sesame administrator utility), they do not really unlock until we also OPEN each individual database on the server.  That fixes the problem.

Um, shouldn't "unlock application" do the whole job?  Why do we have to do both a supposed unlock, then open each and every database on the server?

Do you have any idea why the server is locking up? Is the Sesame server itself locking up or do you mean that the machine is freezing? In either case, is this a condition you are able to reproduce readily?

Also, having a locked application, will not cause the "access-denied-too-many-clients" message. It will cause the "Database xxxx failed to open" message. It will put a "database already being served" message in your log file.

The "too many clients" message is being caused by the socket layer (networking) not allowing a client to connect to the server. There can be a couple of causes of this. Primary among them is that Sesame is unable (for some reason) to re-initialize the socket. On both Linux and Windows, if a task "owns" a socket, and dies without relinquishing that socket, there is a timeout period before the operating system forces that socket back into available status. During that timeout, if Sesame server is restarted, it cannot (the OS will not allow) the server to re-initialize the network layer, and clients cannot reconnect.

I suspect that the time taken to unlock the applications (which is required if they have not been properly closed) is then allowing the OS time to timeout. Which, in turn, allows Sesame to re-initialize its sockets.

What I would like to know (so I can fix it) is why is Sesame going down so suddenly that it cannot relinquish the sockets it has open. Is there some particular operation or configuration that we need to look into, that may be causing this condition?

Sesame is true client/server. It is not file sharing. When you open a file in a client/server environment only the server actually has the file open. The client is merely a "window" viewing the file the server has open. The client does not open any files, but rather issues a command to the server to have it open the file. Once the server has a file open it sends a list of the available databases and forms to the client. The client displays that list. The user uses the client to select a form. That send a command to the server to send that form to that client. The client receives and displays that form. The user types a search spec into the form and hits F10. The client reads the on-screen form and sends that search spec to the server. The server receives that search spec and searches the database it has open for the records that match that spec. The server then sends the first matching record's worth of data to the client. The client receives that data and writes it into the on-screen form. Etc...

So in answer to your question, no - the client and the server don't *both* open the database file, only the server does. If you have multiple clients using the same database file, the server takes requests from each of the clients and hands out the data accordingly.

The server can have multiple database files ("applications") open simultaneously. You do not need one server per application file. One server can "serve" many applications files to many clients all at once. (Page 414 of the User's Guide). You can, if you wish, run multiple servers - but you don't need to.

Appendix 1 of the User Guide (page 413) is devoted to client/server setup and explanation.

For an advanced explanation check the Appendix 4 in the User Guide (page 453).

Instructions for general client/server are included with the multi-user license package.

If you would please send the connection strings being used. You will find these in the properties dialog for the icons for Sesame Server and for the clients. Also the send the "Start In" properties. Send all this to support@lantica.com. That'll get support (I'm really a Sesame developer) involved. Tell them what you are seeing. If at all possible, try to get the secretaries to keep track - maybe in general terms, of what they were doing when the server went down. Are they entering data, performing searches, etc...? If you can, also send the version number you are running, the OS version, and anything else you can think of to help us track this down.

Or you could fill out a support request (its free):

http://www.lantica.com/Support/support_request_form.html

and tech support will contact you.