Diagnosing and Resolving Problems
After detecting a problem that cannot be corrected automatically or by the user, you need to begin diagnosing the problem. This involves categorizing and localizing the problem to determine its root cause.
Localizing Problems
To localize the source of the problem, you need to ask questions such as:
• Is the problem associated with a business process issue such as a system-of-record violation, a functional issue such as invalid data, or a technical issue such as a server being down?
• Is the problem associated with Windchill PDMLink, or the distribution target ERP system?
• Is the problem associated with the underlying physical network and computing, rather than ERP Connector?
• Can the problem scenario be duplicated in a test system with the same configuration as the production environment?
Categorizing Problems: Key Areas of Focus for Troubleshooting
To categorize problems, you need to focus on key problem areas and get familiar with error handling reports such as error logs and error handling codes.
Most system-related, technical issues can be categorized according to the location of the root cause.
It is also important for you to become familiar with the business process and functional troubleshooting information in the online help. Users who are not familiar with this information may escalate these issues to you.
The following categories of problems and their descriptions are not intended to be exhaustive step-by-step procedures. Rather, they are provided to help you focus on some of the key or potential root causes of technical issues:
• Problems originating from ERP Connector
• Problems originating from the distribution target
• Problems indicated in ERP Connector logs
ERP Connector Problems
The following lists how to deal with problems that may originate from Windchill ESI services:
• Verify that the Windchill server is running
• Scan for error messages in the Windchill administrative logs
• Verify that the system that represents the distribution target (for example, the relevant FTP or e-mail server) is up and running and that the identifier is set correctly for the given target
• Verify the appropriateness of the values of the relevant ERP Connector properties