Error message when starting a remote manager: Connection error, This manager is already connected or Data is running in emergency / backup / recovery mode or the active data is unreachable

[rsneddon]

Hi ETM,

I am attempting to configure a remote manager communicating to the data and event managers on our central WinCC OA server and am receiving the following exception
when the manager attempts to connect to the remote data/event managers.
This happens both for the C# custom manager I have developed and with an ordinary CTRL manager that dpConnects to ExampleDP_Arg1 and then sets ExampleDP_Arg2 on any changes.

HostA - full project with data/event managers running
HostB - remote project pmon & remote manager only

When remote managers start on HostB talking to HostA I get the exception
Connection error, This manager is already connected or Data is running in emergency / backup / recovery mode or the active data is unreachable.

On HostA is see a log message
WCCILdata (0), 2018.11.26 16:24:44.067, SYS, INFO, 0, , Connection from HostA expired; did not receive any init message
when the connection error is logged.

I can successfully run the same remote manager from my development PC installation and connect to HostA

If I run a test project on HostB that has data and event managers I can connect a remote manager from HostA to HostB

The major difference that I can see in the configurations is that HostB is running without a license, as I had been led to believe
by our local WinCC OA rep that remote managers used the license of the server they connect to.

Is this related to licensing or some other issue?

Are there any additional debugging flags I can enable to determine where/why the connection is failing?

I've also tested from my (again, licensed) development PC and it can successfully connect the remote manager to HostA and the test project with data/event managers on HostB.
HostB cannot connect to data/event managers on my development PC either when HostB is running the remote manager project.

HostA Version 3.16 P001 Windows Server 2012
HostB Version 3.16 P003 Windows 7
DevPC Version 3.16 P003 Windows 7

The patch versions are different between HostA and HostB, however they are also different between DevPC and HostA which works.

Thanks,
Richard

[leoknipp]

The PC where the remote managers are running does not need an own license. In WinCC OA only the server where the Event Manager is started needs a valid license.
A difference in the patch level is not the cause for the problem.

You can probably use the debug flag "-dbg dispatch" on the server and client side to get more detailed information when a connection is established.
Please check if the mxProxy-settings are the same in both projects and if the firewall settings fit the project settings (port numbers for TCP connection). Also please check if the hostnames/IP-addresses of the server and client are defined in the hosts file of the operating system.

Best Regards
Leopold Knipp
Senior Support Specialist

[rsneddon]

Thanks Leopold

Adding host names to the system hosts file and using -data -event rather than -data -event has done the trick.
Based on the -dbg dispatch trace it seems as though -data will connect if you also have happen to have an entry in the hosts file that matches the host name that is sent in the INIT_SYS_MSG reply.
Once I added all the hosts involved (and also changed to using host names in the data/event command line options) the managers started connecting.

Thanks for your help,
Richard