Hello,
Since we started using OttoDeploy, we have noticed a strange behaviour many times on our clients’ servers after deployments.
We have found random files opened in Read-Only mode, and we have only had this problem on clients with Linux servers, but we noticed another post on OttoCommunity (OttoFMS Opens File as Read Only After Deployment) where a user had the same issue on a Mac server.
In fact, this worries us more since our software is composed of many files, and every time we find a random file opened in Read-Only mode, it means we have other files affected as well. Tracking the affected files and data and restoring them is a very time-consuming procedure.
As I mentioned before, this problem started when we began using Otto. For years, we have had our own instrument that we are also partially using now, and it has never caused a problem similar to this one.
We suspected it could be coming from FileMaker Server itself, so we discussed the matter with Claris support. They responded: “The only time Server opens a file in read-only mode is if the operating system is preventing it from opening with write access. That means some other process on that machine had that file open with write access already. Maybe Otto had some files open for some reason when Server tried to open the file.”
Their technical team went through the issue and assured us that it is not related to the server.
So we brought up the issue here to ask if you have any opinion? Is Otto using some processes that we are not aware of? Any type of process that might occupy the file while FMServer is trying to open it?
We’d sincerely appreciate your time and help.
This is a really huge problem for us.
What do you have to do to get it to open again? Does restarting OttoFMS free up the file, or do you have to reboot the server? Knowing that could help figure out what is locking the file.
You can also run lsof /path/to/your/file on the terminal to see what process has the file opened.
If you have antivirus or backup software running, I would check to make sure that it excludes the FileMaker backup folders that OttoFMS uses.
I appreciate your response. We observed that closing and reopening the file from the admin console resolves the issue.
Regarding the use of the lsof command to see the processes, I’m afraid it wouldn’t help since we schedule deployments around 3 a.m. on Sundays. The number of files we process each week varies; we have quite a few clients, and the problem has occurred quite randomly so far. So I’m not sure how we could effectively monitor it.
Another problem is that we only become aware of the issue when clients start working on Monday. If we’re lucky, they notice it before the damage gets worse, and we intervene by closing and reopening the files. If there were a tool that could at least warn us when a file is opened in read-only mode, we could manage the issue better and prevent clients from losing data.
Thanks for your time,
Alaleh
Yes, Please find attached the screenshots belonging to two different clients. one of them has the Italian system so instead of Read Only you may see Sola Lettura
