Integrations route through the System Agent?!

Kinetic ERP
, ,
1

Upgraded to 2022.2 on Jan 1. :partying_face:

At the same time, we switched to a new architecture, with the task agent on the SQL server and then a separate app server for logging in (but all on the same VM), like so:

image
image1002×632 29.5 KB

Also, we pushed everyone to the browser. Oh yeah.

On Jan 2, normal humans logged into the system. :slightly_frowning_face:

And then about 50% of the time:

  1. PDF reports generated but could not be opened
  2. “Export to Excel” generated but could not be opened
  3. Our eCommerce site failed to retrieve pricing and place orders (it’s integrated with Kinetic)

I opened a ticket with support about issue #2 and they said to change the System Agent like so. And that fixed 1 and 2. So, Excel was a surprise - apparently it routes through the Task Agent now when used in the browser. You can see it in the SysTask table.

image
image1084×629 29.5 KB

But the real surprise was that after that, the eCommerce site was fine also, and has been for over a week now.

So, do REST calls go through the System Agent?! Sure seems that way!

2

I can’t imagine how they would
 I make REST calls to an appserver that doesn’t even have a Task Agent all the time :man_shrugging:

But there are lots of things that I could see failing if Epicor can’t find the EpicorData folder. Guessing something downstream of your REST calls were trying to touch EpicorData??

3

Your guess is as good as mine (well, yours is probably better).

4

To be fair, that’s what this is, too.

The call is to the app server, but the task agent is on the SQL server.

5

Reports go through the task agent. So if you rest call makes a report, then yes, it uses the task agent. If it doesn’t make reports, then you just need the app server.

Export to Excel is using the report service.

6

Off topic, but I’m curious,

how are folks adapting to the browser?

7

No, this was REST to a BAQ and REST to the SalesOrder business object.

So maybe they are not related to the SystemAgent thing. Just mighty curious that I changed nothing else (that I recall
) and we’ve had no issues since.

8

So, they hate it, but less so every day.

And I am grateful for our division president who said to the whole staff at the outset he didn’t want to hear complaining about the new look and to just get over it.

FWIW, I am a fan. I use it right along with everyone else, except when I can’t, which is only Functions, BPMs, and updatable BAQs.

2 Likes
9

In Love Hearts GIF by SpongeBob SquarePants

2 Likes
10

but seriously, do you think the ecommerce integration uses functions or ‘processes’ that are getting queued up to the Agent for ‘batch processing’?

11

I’m in over my head with all of that.

It’s entirely possible that one is not a cause nor effect of the other. But it’s all I got right now.

12

Check your system monitor and the SysAgent maint screens. If it’s scheduled by the agent, it’s going to show up in there somewhere.

Always a possibility. I’ve wasted whole days tracking down completely unrelated coincidences. Frankly, aside from scheduled functions (which aren’t really REST by themselves), you have to go wayyy out of your way to intertwine anything REST-related with the SysAgent.

13

I believe that. It makes no sense to me either.

I just wish I knew why it started working again. I’m happy, sure, but SO paranoid that the integration will crash and I won’t know how to fix it.