Today around noon we had to restart a remote desktop computer on which the VisualCron server runs (Windows Server 2019 Standard). The problems were not related to VisualCron. We hadn't done an upgrade of VisualCron.

When the shutdown started, the first errors appeared:

17.12.2021 12:19:14 Info System is shutting down
17.12.2021 12:19:14 Info VisualCron Server is shutting down
17.12.2021 12:19:14 Info Shutting down running processes
17.12.2021 12:19:14 Err KillProcessAndChildren->Unhandled exception: System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException (0x8007045B): Der Computer wird heruntergefahren. (Ausnahme von HRESULT: 0x8007045B)
bei System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal.ThrowExceptionForHRInternal(Int32 errorCode, IntPtr errorInfo)
bei System.Management.ManagementScope.InitializeGuts(Object o)
bei System.Management.ManagementScope.Initialize()
bei System.Management.ManagementObjectSearcher.Initialize()
bei System.Management.ManagementObjectSearcher.Get()
bei VisualCronService.ProcessAPI.AddProperty(Int32 key_Y, Boolean ismap, Boolean iscomp) in C:\git\code\VisualCronService\Jobs\apiProcess.vb:Zeile 588.
17.12.2021 12:19:14 Err EventLog->ParseObject->Unhandled error: System.OperationCanceledException: Der Vorgang wurde abgebrochen.
bei System.Diagnostics.Eventing.Reader.EventLogException.Throw(Int32 errorCode)
bei System.Diagnostics.Eventing.Reader.NativeWrapper.EvtNext(EventLogHandle queryHandle, Int32 eventSize, IntPtr[] events, Int32 timeout, Int32 flags, Int32& returned)
bei System.Diagnostics.Eventing.Reader.EventLogWatcher.RequestEvents()

At least at this stage all jobs were obviously still there

17.12.2021 12:19:42 Info Startup->Edition: Pro
17.12.2021 12:19:42 Info Startup->License subscription type: Perpetual
17.12.2021 12:19:42 Info Startup->Max version: 9.8.5
17.12.2021 12:19:42 Info Startup->Maintenance expiration date: 2021-12-16 13:23:42
17.12.2021 12:19:42 Info Startup->Offline validation date: 2021-12-16 13:23:42
17.12.2021 12:19:42 Debug Loading language
...
17.12.2021 12:19:45 Debug Loading jobs
17.12.2021 12:19:47 Info Loaded: 447 Job(s)
17.12.2021 12:19:47 Err Trigger error: Der RPC-Server ist nicht verfügbar
17.12.2021 12:19:47 Err Trigger error: . ApproximateReceiveCount@ ApproximateFirstReceiveTimestamp, MessageDeduplicationId MessageGroupId SequenceNumber Number Binary( Server name is emptyB Un�Der RPC-Server ist nicht verfügbar
17.12.2021 12:19:47 Err Trigger error: . ApproximateReceiveCount@ ApproximateFirstReceiveTimestamp, MessageDeduplicationId MessageGroupId SequenceNumber Number Binary( Server name is emptyB UDer RPC-Server ist nicht verfügbar

After that we get thousands of errors in the log file, so obviously Visualcron seems to have fully crashed.

In the late afternoon I noticed that both on the remote where the VC server is installed and on further remotes where only VC clients are running that it wasn't possible to connect to the VC server. After another restart of the remote desktop computer (where the VC server runs) I was able to connect to the VC server again and on the left side of the VC interface I can see all the folders. However, when I click on a folder nothing happens and it seems that all jobs have been lost!!

17.12.2021 18:37:57 Debug Exiting NetworkDrivesAPI.Load
17.12.2021 18:37:57 Debug Loading jobs
17.12.2021 18:37:58 Info Loaded: 0 Job(s)
17.12.2021 18:37:58 Debug Expiring old triggers
17.12.2021 18:37:58 Info Searching for jobs that should have been executed
17.12.2021 18:37:58 Info Running missed jobs between 17.12.2021 18:37:45 and 17.12.2021 18:37:58

Is it possible to recover the jobs? Do you store a history of clients jobs on your servers?

I have had the same a couple of times.
In the VisualCron program files (x86) directory there is a folder backup, in there is a zip file.
Extract the zip file and replace the origional jobs.xml with the one in the zip file you extracted.

I cannot speak to what happened or how to get your jobs back (Although the suggestion by Danny van Oijen seems correct)

What I did want to mention is that VC has two jobs preloaded when you install. Delete logs and backup settings. Assuming you did not remove those jobs you will have a backup, somewhere.

I would always assume you will need a backup because of a catastrophic failure. To that end we have each instance of VC setup to backup, nightly, to another server. Each backup has it's own name to distinguish it from the others. This way, if you overwrite a job, delete something you did not want to, etc, you can go back to last night's backup. You could set it to backup multiple times a day if needed. The only thing you lose on restore would be the history created between the backup and restore.

I set all of the backups to be the name of the server/computer from where they came.

One suggestion for your situation would be find the backup file, save it somewhere on your computer not related to VC, uninstall VC and then download and install the newest version (or one version up from what you had)

Today around noon we had to restart a remote desktop computer on which the VisualCron server runs (Windows Server 2019 Standard). The problems were not related to VisualCron. We hadn't done an upgrade of VisualCron.

When the shutdown started, the first errors appeared:

17.12.2021 12:19:14 Info System is shutting down
17.12.2021 12:19:14 Info VisualCron Server is shutting down
17.12.2021 12:19:14 Info Shutting down running processes
17.12.2021 12:19:14 Err KillProcessAndChildren->Unhandled exception: System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException (0x8007045B): Der Computer wird heruntergefahren. (Ausnahme von HRESULT: 0x8007045B)
bei System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal.ThrowExceptionForHRInternal(Int32 errorCode, IntPtr errorInfo)
bei System.Management.ManagementScope.InitializeGuts(Object o)
bei System.Management.ManagementScope.Initialize()
bei System.Management.ManagementObjectSearcher.Initialize()
bei System.Management.ManagementObjectSearcher.Get()
bei VisualCronService.ProcessAPI.AddProperty(Int32 key_Y, Boolean ismap, Boolean iscomp) in C:\git\code\VisualCronService\Jobs\apiProcess.vb:Zeile 588.
17.12.2021 12:19:14 Err EventLog->ParseObject->Unhandled error: System.OperationCanceledException: Der Vorgang wurde abgebrochen.
bei System.Diagnostics.Eventing.Reader.EventLogException.Throw(Int32 errorCode)
bei System.Diagnostics.Eventing.Reader.NativeWrapper.EvtNext(EventLogHandle queryHandle, Int32 eventSize, IntPtr[] events, Int32 timeout, Int32 flags, Int32& returned)
bei System.Diagnostics.Eventing.Reader.EventLogWatcher.RequestEvents()

At least at this stage all jobs were obviously still there

17.12.2021 12:19:42 Info Startup->Edition: Pro
17.12.2021 12:19:42 Info Startup->License subscription type: Perpetual
17.12.2021 12:19:42 Info Startup->Max version: 9.8.5
17.12.2021 12:19:42 Info Startup->Maintenance expiration date: 2021-12-16 13:23:42
17.12.2021 12:19:42 Info Startup->Offline validation date: 2021-12-16 13:23:42
17.12.2021 12:19:42 Debug Loading language
...
17.12.2021 12:19:45 Debug Loading jobs
17.12.2021 12:19:47 Info Loaded: 447 Job(s)
17.12.2021 12:19:47 Err Trigger error: Der RPC-Server ist nicht verfügbar
17.12.2021 12:19:47 Err Trigger error: . ApproximateReceiveCount@ ApproximateFirstReceiveTimestamp, MessageDeduplicationId MessageGroupId SequenceNumber Number Binary( Server name is emptyB Un�Der RPC-Server ist nicht verfügbar
17.12.2021 12:19:47 Err Trigger error: . ApproximateReceiveCount@ ApproximateFirstReceiveTimestamp, MessageDeduplicationId MessageGroupId SequenceNumber Number Binary( Server name is emptyB UDer RPC-Server ist nicht verfügbar

After that we get thousands of errors in the log file, so obviously Visualcron seems to have fully crashed.

In the late afternoon I noticed that both on the remote where the VC server is installed and on further remotes where only VC clients are running that it wasn't possible to connect to the VC server. After another restart of the remote desktop computer (where the VC server runs) I was able to connect to the VC server again and on the left side of the VC interface I can see all the folders. However, when I click on a folder nothing happens and it seems that all jobs have been lost!!

17.12.2021 18:37:57 Debug Exiting NetworkDrivesAPI.Load
17.12.2021 18:37:57 Debug Loading jobs
17.12.2021 18:37:58 Info Loaded: 0 Job(s)
17.12.2021 18:37:58 Debug Expiring old triggers
17.12.2021 18:37:58 Info Searching for jobs that should have been executed
17.12.2021 18:37:58 Info Running missed jobs between 17.12.2021 18:37:45 and 17.12.2021 18:37:58

Is it possible to recover the jobs? Do you store a history of clients jobs on your servers?

Hello,

We do not store jobs on our server, it is all about your own backups (by default there should be a backup in the Backup folder of the installation path).

We have made a beta build that should fix the issue with jobs gone missing, and it would really help if you tried it out and let us know if anything like this happened again: https://www.visualcron.c...aspx?g=Posts&t=10478 

---

This happened to us as well (we lost jobs.xml file). What is the reason for this? How could it be avoided?
We had backups and monitored jobs.xml file size, so were able to recover.

This happened to us as well (we lost jobs.xml file). What is the reason for this? How could it be avoided?
We had backups and monitored jobs.xml file size, so were able to recover.

We are working on this in 9.9.7 which we will release, if everything goes as planned, today or tomorrow. It is in the final beta stage and you can download it here: https://www.visualcron.c...aspx?g=Posts&t=10499 

It is a bug that happens in extremely rare conditions, and we are aware of it. 9.9.7 should take care of this.