P.S. With advice from Erika, Sesame was still running as a process.  She indicated to hit ALT-CTRL-DEL on the server and check Processes under the Task Manager.

Sure enough Sesame was running many times and by hghlighting sesame.exe and clicking on END PROCESS, it cleared the ports.

Databases had to also be unlocked as well.

QUESTION STILL:  Why was I not able to disconnect a user (phantom) through the server administration window ?

Thanks,

Louis

The only way we have seen to cause a phantom client is to cause the network connection to be suddenly disconnected. Killing the client process, or even rebooting the client computer will not do it. From the look of things, Louis' client suddenly disconnected from the network by removing the laptop from its cradle.

The reason you connect force a disconnect from a phantom client is because a disconnect requires a connect. By suddenly disconnecting, the operating system (any MS) will takeover that connection and begin a timeout sequence. Sesame cannot get the server end of the connection to pay attention until MS gives it up. We're working on it to find if there is a way to get around Mickey.

It is very unlikely that a sudden disconnect would damage the app files.

Further to the "Phantom User" issue, it turns out that it was not a laptop.  I have had two cases now where they were desktop users.

I am not sure what the circumstances were, but at this point, nothing out of the ordinary happened to these users.

If I find something, I will post.

Thanks,

Louis

We're seeing a similar issue:

a users connection is dropped unexpectedly, and sesame server still shows them as logged in.

I am only seeing this with 2 users, 1 works remotely, via broadband and the other is on our local wired lan. However, both usernames show up as ip address in admin panel...not as their user (machine?) names. All users who show up as their user names in the admin panel can disconnect gracefully.

Are there any workarounds for this?

Unfortunately, I've had to ask both users to not log into sesame until we get this fixed.

Steve

Hello Steve,

Quote:


The Computer name means nothing to Sesame. We operate on the IP address. We display the computer name for your convenience as you may not know who '192.168.0.35' is but you know who 'Marys_Computer' is.

Here are the known ways to create a ghost client
1. Unplug Clients Network Cable
2. Disable Clients Network Connection in Control Panel
3. Change the Client's IP address
4. Bring up a Firewall on the client that does not let Sesame through.
5. Bring up a Firewall on the server that does not let Sesame through.
6. Server goes into Standby mode.

Is this all of them? Probably not, but this should give you a general idea of what to look for. Check for a Static IP address on the client on the LAN.

You can set up Ping so that it pings a computer until you tell it to stop. Ping your One client that drops from the Server. When it drops, and leaves a ghost client, look at the Ping output and see what it says. Note: This will slow down your network so do it during a slow part of the day or at night.

-Ray

Ray:

We do use DHCP.  How do I find the setting that indicates the client lease time ?  Are we talking on the server or the client ?

Also, pattern seems to be client has application open without use for an extended time.

Our server does not go on standby automatically, but maybe it has in the past without anyone noticing it ?

Thanks,

Louis

Ray:

We found out that the DHCP client lease time on the firewall has been set to the default of 10 hours (maximum is 12 hours).

On one of the units, we have a network card issue and have replaced it.  Hopefully this was the problem.

Thanks,

Louis