Troubleshooting the Novo Scheduler Service
The Novo Scheduler Service is a Windows Service which is responsible for the periodic 1) sending of Novo Reports and 2) checking a monitored email account and creating Help Desk tickets from qualified emails.
Use this article to troubleshoot the Novo Scheduler Service.
Novo Scheduler Service Components - The outline below shows the "moving parts" of the Novo.SchedulerService:
- Novo Mail Service
- File System Folders
- {NovoRoot}\Scheduler (Service installation folder and config files)
- {NovoRoot}\Temp\Unprocessed
- {NovoRoot}\FileEmails
- Logging
- {NovoRoot}\Logs\NovoSchedulerServiceLog.txt (Logs Mail Service and Report Scheduler actions and errors)
- C:\NovoSchedulerServiceLog.txt (Logs service starts and stops)
- Novo Mail Service Interfaces
- Incoming Email Settings
- Service settings
- Monitored Account settings
- Email History(logs successfully and unsuccessfully processed emails; can also be viewed in the EmailHistory database table)
- Mail Service Log (logs service connection errors; can also be viewed in the ApplicationEventLogdatabase table)
- Database Tables
- ScheduledJobs (accessed by the Scheduler Service to collect tasks and runtimes)
- ApplicationEventLog
- EmailHistory
- Scheduled Reports
- Report Timer Interface
- In the Novo application, browse to: Reports > Add/Edit Reports > Setup Email Scheduler
- SMTP Settings
- In the Novo application, browse to: Admin > Setup > Core/General > Settings
- Database Tables
Novo Mail Service Functions Check
- Check that the Novo.SchedulerService is running
- Check the Novo.SchedulerService Log is created and current
- Send a test email to the monitored account.
- Check that the email is received by the email provider; and is populating in the email client
- Check that the email is populated into {NovoRoot}\Temp\Unprocessed on the web server
- Check that the email is then populated into {NovoRoot}\FileEmails
- Check for a successfully created ticket
- Check for correct logging in Admin > Management > Email History
- Check that the LastRunTime and NextRunTime values are correctly updated in the ScheduledJobs table of the Novo database (see section below)
- Check that the value of Status is correctly updated from Idle to In Progress and then back to Idle in the ScheduledJobs table of the Novo database (you can also see this in the Novo.SchedulerService Log)
Preliminary Novo Mail Service Troubleshooting
- Restart Novo.SchedulerService
- Check for Novo.SchedulerService Log entries
- In Incoming Email Setting > Account Settings
- Check credentials for the Monitored Account
- Check webmail accessibility for the Monitored Account
- Check for EmailHistory Log entries
- Check forApplicationEventLog entries
- Remove and recreate email accounts in 'Incoming Email Settings'
- Check Anti-virus software logs for any activities that might be blocking incoming email
- Temporarily disable Anti-virus software and send an email to the monitored account
- Check any Firewall logs for any activities that might be blocking incoming email
- Temporarily disable Firewall and send an email to the monitored account
- Reinstall Novo.SchedulerService (See below)
- Restart the server
KickStart the ScheduledJobs table
For various reasons, the ScheduledJobs table of the Novo database can become stuck; and multiple Service restarts do not rectify this.
To verify this is the case, check the values of Status and NextRunTime in the ScheduledJobs table of the Novo database with the following query:
- select Status,NextRunTime from ScheduledJobs where jobid = 51
If the Status is 'In Progress' and the NextRunTime is more than 3 minutes in the Past, run the following queries against the Novo database to set the values of Status and NextRunTime to Idle and {NOW} + 4 minutes:- Select the values of Status and NextRunTime from scheduledJobs:
select [Status],[NextRunTime] from [ScheduledJobs] where JobId=51
- update ScheduledJobs to set Status to 'Idle' and NextRunTime to 4 minutes in the future:
update [dbo].[ScheduledJobs] set [Status]='Idle', [NextRunTime] = (DATEADD(MINUTE,4,GETDATE())) where JobId=51
Once the queries are completed, restart the NovoScheduler Service and send an email to the monitored account. Monitor the Novo.SchedulerService Log to determine the next service run. Once the service has run twice, check the {NovoRoot}\Temp\Unprocessed folder for the new message.
If it still will not process email (i.e. EmailHistory table still shows records with status of "NotProcessed" and ScheduledJobs is Status = "Idle" and NextRunTime did not change try the following:
The {NovoRoot}\Temp\Unprocessed folder may have too many files for the scheduler to clean up. If this folder has over 2000 files this MAY be causing the problem. There is a setting in Incoming Email Settings for the number of days to keep email in this folder. If there are more than 2000 files move all files a day or more older (than when the problem started) and move them into a new folder (i.e. {NovoRoot}\ZZ_Unprocessed_Date).
Repeat the above updated statement to change the NextRunTime value and then restart the Novo Scheduler Service.
Another possible issue is that there are too many records in the EmailHistory table with the status of "NotProcessed" (i.e. 150+). This can cause the service to get "clogged" also. If this is the case, change the EmailHistory Status for all but 30 of these to something very different (i.e. ZZPending).
Repeat the above updated statement to change the NextRunTime value and then restart the Novo Scheduler Service.
If those 30 get processed, you can then update another 30 to "NotProcessed". Repeat the above sequence until they are all processed.
If the above still does not fix it, restart IIS (there has been 1 case where this resolved the issue - it resets the Web Service the Novo Mail Service connects to. After this you will again need to repeat the above updated statement to change the NextRunTime value and then restart the Novo Scheduler Service.
If the above still does not fix the issue, follow the steps below to uninstall and reinstall the Novo Scheduler Service BUT be sure do the following just before the reinstall step:
- update ScheduledJobs to set Status to 'Idle' and NextRunTime to 4 minutes in the future:
update [dbo].[ScheduledJobs] set [Status]='Idle', [NextRunTime] = (DATEADD(MINUTE,4,GETDATE())) where JobId=51
Scheduled Reports Troubleshooting
Report Scheduler Service Function Check
- Check that the Novo.SchedulerService is running
- Check the Novo.SchedulerService Log is created and current
- Schedule a Report to be sent
- Browse to Reports
- Add or Edit a Reports
- Add an email address and Send Date Time values to the Setup Email Scheduler interface
Preliminary Scheduled Reports Troubleshooting
- Ensure SMTP Settings are correct and that the SMTP Service is running for the Email server that is configured in the Novo application (Settings are at Admin > Setup > Core/General > Settings)
- Check for Novo.SchedulerService Log entries; when a report is sent, the send action is logged with the "To" address/es
- Ensure there is an entry for the scheduled report in Novo_Report_Timer; You can run the following select query on the novo database by replacing {Report Name} with the Name of the report:
- select * from [dbo].[Novo_Report_Timer] where [UserReportID]=(select [UserReportID] from [dbo].[Novo_Report_UserReport] where [ReportTitle]='{Report Name}')
- Check Anti-virus software logs for any activities that might be blocking incoming email
- Temporarily disable Anti-virus software and send an email to the monitored account
- Check any Firewall logs for any activities that might be blocking incoming email
- Temporarily disable Firewall and send an email to the monitored account
- Reinstall Novo.SchedulerService (See below)
- Restart the server
Reinstalling Novo.SchedulerService
- To manually uninstall the Novo Scheduler service
- Open a command prompt
- Browse to the folder where the Novo Scheduler service is installed
- i.e. C:\Program Files\Novo\Scheduler
- Enter: %SYSTEMROOT%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\InstallUtil.exe /u Novo.Scheduler.exe
- To manually install the Novo Scheduler service
- Open a command prompt
- Change to the {NovoRoot}\Scheduler folder
- i.e. cd C:\Websites\Novo\Scheduler
- Install the service using the following command:
- %SYSTEMROOT%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\InstallUtil.exe Novo.Scheduler.exe
- Start the service using the following command:
- net start Novo.SchedulerService