18.8 Status Reports and Troubleshooting¶
After each run, Acinta Server writes a status report: what was sent, to whom, and what went wrong. Enter addresses under Send status report to on the General tab to receive it by e-mail – Always, or only when errors occurred.
The Status Report¶
The subject is "
| Result | Meaning |
|---|---|
| [OK] | Everything was sent |
| [3 of 40 emails failed] | Some e-mails couldn't be sent |
| [FAILED] | Nothing was sent, or reports couldn't be made |
| [OK, 1 warning], [FAILED, 2 warnings] | The same, with warnings in the report |
The date and time are in the report itself (Started and Finished). The report has these sections:
| Section | Contents |
|---|---|
| STATUS REPORT | A one-line summary, e.g. OK: 40 emails sent, followed by any Warning: lines (see below) |
| DISTRIBUTION | Distribution, project, workbook, phase, next run, start and finish time, who received the status report |
| REPORTS | Number of reports made, without data, or failed; whether e-mails were collated |
| EMAILS | Sent, failed and not sent (no data); rows without an e-mail address; each failed address |
| AI COMMENTARY | Only with AI commentary: calls to the AI service, answers reused from the cache, tokens, web search, why commentary was missing, and a warning when the AI customer key expires within 30 days |
| TIMING | How long each step took |
| NOTES | Extra information, see below |
| ERROR | An error that stopped the run |
| SERVER | Which server and build sent it, memory and log file |
A status report is sent after every run once all e-mails have been processed – also when the recipient list was empty (0 emails), unless you chose to receive it only when errors occurred (build 20328 and later).
Each e-mail is attempted up to 10 times before it counts as failed. If the mail server stops answering for 2 minutes during a send, that attempt is given up and the next one starts (build 20328 and later).
One recipient's problem doesn't stop the others (build 20328 and later). An e-mail fails on its own – and is listed under EMAILS with the reason – when:
- its report couldn't be made: The report could not be generated.
- the e-mail couldn't be put together, e.g. a merge field, the AI commentary or the HTML part failed: [Prepare email]
The other recipients still get their e-mails.
[!NOTE] Before build 20328, a report that couldn't be made or an e-mail that couldn't be put together stopped the run: the remaining recipients got nothing, no status report was sent, and the run stayed Running in the audit log. A run with an empty recipient list sent no status report.
Warnings¶
Warnings appear right below the summary and are counted in the subject. Currently they are about fonts in the PDF attachments:
- Text using the font "Bahnschrift Light" was converted to shapes in the PDF because it is a variable font. It cannot be selected or searched there. – the text looks right, but can't be selected or searched in the PDF.
- Text using the font "…" has the wrong letter spacing in PDF files because it is a variable font. – table cells in a variable font.
See Fonts in PDFs in 17.2 PDF and Email. Acinta Server also writes the warnings to its log.
NOTES¶
The NOTES section explains things that didn't go as planned without being errors, e.g.:
- Collated: 12 report runs sent as 4 emails.
- Attachments could not be combined, sent as separate files: …
- Excel attachments are on, but the report "…" has no tables.
Notes about AI commentary – e.g. No AI commentary: not allowed by the project's AI data policy or No AI commentary in 2 emails: the report shows no data – appear in the AI COMMENTARY section. AI tokens are billed to the project's AI customer key; answers reused from the cache cost nothing.
Recent Runs¶
New in build 20228.
You don't need to be on the status report's mailing list to see how a distribution went. Open the distribution and click the Recent runs tab:
- The top line says whether Acinta Server is running, e.g. Acinta Server: running on SRV01 or Acinta Server: not running since today 06:12 – or Acinta Server has never run on this project, so scheduled distributions are not sent when the audit log has no Acinta Server session for the project (build 20379 and later; before, "Acinta Server: has not run this project yet").
- The list shows the last 10 runs, newest first, with Started, Status (OK, OK with warnings, failed, running or interrupted), Emails sent, Failed, Skipped (not sent for lack of data) and Duration.
- Click a run to see its full status report below the list.
The Run column says whether it was a Scheduled run by Acinta Server or a Test with Test... – tests are listed too, but don't count as the distribution's last run (build 20375 and later; before, tests weren't recorded). Refresh reads the server status and the runs again (build 20375 and later).
When Report executions is off in the audit log settings, the list is empty and says Distribution runs are not logged. Turn on "Report executions" in the audit log settings (Enterprise Manager, Servers tab; administrators also in Datashop). When Sessions is off, the top line says Acinta Server: unknown (turn on "Sessions" in the audit log settings) (build 20374 and later).
The runs are read from the audit log each time you open the tab. Without the audit log, the tab says Turn on the audit log to see the server status and the distribution runs – see 32.3 The Audit Log. A new distribution says The distribution has not been saved yet, so it has not run., and one that hasn't run yet No runs yet. Tests with Test... are listed too, marked Test in the Run column (build 20375 and later; before, only scheduled runs by Acinta Server were listed). Interrupted means the run never finished because Acinta Server stopped during it.
A scheduled run doesn't start while the distribution's previous run is still running – otherwise recipients could get the reports twice (build 20349 and later). The new run is skipped, and the Acinta Server log gets the warning "
A skipped run never starts, so it isn't listed under Recent runs or in the Last run column, and no status report is sent – only the run that was still going is shown, as usual. If you miss a run, look in the Acinta Server log.
The Last run column in the main window shows the latest run of every distribution at a glance – see 18.1 What Distributions Are.
Common Problems¶
Problem: The distribution isn't sent at all. - Solution: Check the Status and Last run columns in the Distributions + actions folder – the Last run header also says whether Acinta Server is running. A red ! means the setup is incomplete (no workbook, no recipients, or test phase without test recipients). Stopped or Schedule disabled means it isn't switched on. Also check that Acinta Server has been restarted since the last change.
Problem: A scheduled run was left out. - Solution: The previous run was probably still running – for example a long distribution scheduled every hour. Acinta Server skips the new run and writes skipped, because the previous run is still running in its log (build 20349 and later). The skipped run doesn't appear under Recent runs, and no status report is sent for it, so the server log is the place to look. Schedule the distribution less often, or make its reports faster.
Problem: Only I get the e-mails, with a note at the top. - Solution: The distribution is in the test phase. Change Phase to Activated when you're happy with the result.
Problem: A recipient didn't get the e-mail. - Solution: Look for the address in the status report's errors. Check the address in the recipient list, and use Preview... (dimensional unit lists) or View data (SQL query lists) in the recipient list editor to see whether the recipient is included.
Problem: Recipients get several e-mails. - Solution: The address has several personal reports. Tick Send one email per recipient with all its reports (collate) – see 18.5 Attachments and Collated Emails.
Problem: The e-mails have no AI commentary. - Solution: Read the AI COMMENTARY section – it gives the reason, e.g. the data policy, a missing or expired customer key, or no data in the report.
Problem: No status report arrived. - Solution: Open the Recent runs tab to read the status report of the last runs. Check Send status report to and Send status report on the General tab – with "only when errors occurred", a run without errors sends none. A status report is only sent when the run has finished; a run that is still sending (e.g. retrying while the mail server is down) reports later. If the mail server itself can't be reached, the status report can't be sent either – check the Acinta Server log.
Problem: Some recipients are missing, or the report says The report could not be generated. or [Prepare email] … - Solution: Those e-mails failed on their own; the others were sent. The reason is next to each failed address under EMAILS. [Prepare email] points to a merge field, the AI commentary or the e-mail text; The report could not be generated. points to the workbook or its data for that recipient – try it with Test..., see 18.9 Testing a Distribution.
Problem: A report fails after a long time, and the audit log shows the cause Timeout. - Solution: Loading the report's data took longer than the project option Time limit for loading report data (minutes) (default 40, build 20334 and later) – see 26.2 Project Options. The e-mails for that report count as failed, and the status report is sent. Make the report faster (e.g. fewer details, a materialized view), or raise the limit. The Acinta Server log names the report.
Problem: The mail server rejects the e-mail. - Solution: The attachments may be too large. Combine or reduce them, or ask your administrator about the mail server's size limit.