Home - Fax Server Blog

8/9/2010

Faxes disappear in Faxutil After Server Migration in Rightfax 9.x

While rare, it is possible to cause a behavior where you can see faxes in the Enterprise Fax Manager, but when you look at users in Faxutil, you do not see anything. This is caused by not migrating all the registry keys from the old environment to the new environment. Here are all the registry keys that need to be imported over:

HKEY

_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\RightFax\Cluster\<ServerName>

HKEY

_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\RightFax\Doctransport

HKEY

_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\RightFax\FaxServer

In specific, this issue occurs if you do not modify the Cluster GUID. By leaving it as the incorrect information, it will not be able to display the faxes. Thankfully, the fix is simple. All that you need to do is input the correct CLUSTER GUID, and restart the services. Once done, you will be able to see the faxes properly.

Posted at 9:05 AM by System Account | Permalink | Email this Post | Comments (0)

8/2/2010

"Object reference not set to an instance of an object" error when converting word documents in Rightfax Server Collective

Recently, I built a Rightfax Environment with Windows 2008 and Office 2007. The Rightfax environment had shared collective, and everything worked fine except word documents were not converting correctly. If I stopped all the services in one server, things worked fine. Equally, I did the same on the second server, it also worked. The problem only occurred when I had the services running on both servers.

To troubleshoot, I put all workservers and the captaris conversion engine in debug on both servers. I then noticed the following error in the workserver logs:

14:03:07[PID:0,TID:1231172]<->WSISO: Sending conversion request message labeled "CEDS36~1.DOC 7/16/2010 2:03:07 PM" to queue ".\private$\IsoConvWordRequest" and response queue ".\private$\IsoConvStatus01"

(M-D-Y)07-16-2010 14:03:08[PID:4200456,TID:0]<!>WSISO: Conversion failed for "\\SERVER\rightfax\FCS\CEDS36~1.DOC":conversion failed after the configured maximum of 3 retries. Details: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.

(M-D-Y)07-16-2010 14:03:08[PID:0,TID:-2147467259]<!>WSISO: Error 16389 Unknown error (M-D-Y)07-16-2010 14:03:08[PID:1470,TID:1]<!>MFW:Error converting cover sheet model \\SERVER\rightfax\FCS\CEDS36~1.DOC to \\SERVER\rightfax\OUTGOING\0000FA2F:

After discussing the problem with OpenText, it turns out that Office 2007 is not supported with Windows 2008. The solution is to have Office 2003 installed with the compatibility pack enabled. Once done, word documents converted properly without the above error.

Posted at 2:21 PM by System Account | Permalink | Email this Post | Comments (0)

7/26/2010

Faxes recieved at the same time cannot print to the same printer

This is a fun issue, as it is so rare to occur. Every once and awhile, the rightfax server would receive 2 faxes at the same time that are set to print to one printer. When the issue occurs, the following error is generated:

"Error (32) sending print data to \\server\share"

Error 32 is a windows error meaning that the process cannot access the file because another process has locked a portion of the file.

This got me thinking and decided to check the properties of the workserver modules. Sure enough, 2 workserver modules were set to do printing. What was occurring is that both workserver went to try to submit print request to the same printer at the same time, causing the access violation error.

We ultimately corrected this by only designating workserver 3 to handle print request. Once done, the error went away...

Posted at 2:07 PM by System Account | Permalink | Email this Post | Comments (0)

7/19/2010

"Object reference not set to an instance of an object" error when trying to install EDC Module

I had a client give me a call saying that he was unable to install the EDC module after moving Rightfax 9.3 to new hardware. When he kicks off the install, he would get the following error message:

"Object reference not set to an instance of an object"

After further review, the issue was due to the client launching the FP2 version of the EDC module. You need to make sure that you install the base level version of the EDC module, then install FP2.

When installed correctly, no errors occured.

Posted at 1:59 PM by System Account | Permalink | Email this Post | Comments (0)

6/1/2010

How to slipstream FP1 into Rightfax 9.4?

I have had several clients look into slipstreaming the FP1 into the Rightfax 9.4 package in order for Windows 7 fax client to install correctly. Here are the directions from OpenText:
Complete the following steps to install Fax Server client applications on computers running Windows 7:
1. Update the client setup program with FP1.

a) Copy the Client folder from the Open Text Fax Server, RightFax Edition 9.4 installation DVD (or disk image) to a server that client computers can access.

b) Copy the Open Text Fax Server, RightFax Edition 9.4 Feature Pack 1 setup program to the same server.

c) In a Command Prompt window, run the following command:

RightFax940_FP1.exe /ClientInstall

When setup completes, the setup program in the Client folder is updated with Feature Pack 1.

d) Share the Client folder.

2. Install the client applications on a Windows 7 computer.

a) From a Windows 7 computer, connect to the shared Client folder on the network.

b) Run the setup.exe file from the Client folder, and follow the steps on page 41 of the installation guide.

An updated version of the installation guide is included with FP1, located in the ...\Program Files\RightFax\Docs\ folder of your Fax Server computer.

After following these steps, however, it did not update the client package, rather, it went through the entire install. Since the KB references the updated docs, for giggles, I decided to read it and found these directions instead:

1. Copy the Client folder from the Open Text Fax Server, RightFax Edition 9.4 installation DVD (or disk image) to a server that client computers can access.

2. Copy the Open Text Fax Server, RightFax Edition 9.4 Feature Pack 1 setup program to the same server.

3. In the command prompt window, run RightFax940_FP1.exe /ClientInstall When setup completes, the setup program in the Client folder will be updated with Feature Pack 1.

4. Share the Client folder.

The first directions were missing the path location! After putting the proper path location, the command works great and I was able to install the setup with FP1 rolled up. It worked flawlessly and I was able to install the client piece on a Windows 7 workstation.

Posted at 3:16 PM by System Account | Permalink | Email this Post | Comments (0)

4/19/2010

Strange Faxutil error in Rightfax 9.0

Just when you thought you have seen all the problems that rightfax can throw at you, you get another one. This morning, I had a user send me an error in faxutil that I've never seen before:

"4 of your folders are unreachable. Faxes in these folders can be retrieved by your administrator in Administrative Mode or by creating new folders."

Of course, there is no mention of this error in the knowledge center. Since Rightfax 9.0 is not supported anymore by OpenText, my only suggestion is to upgrade to 9.3/9.4 so we can do further troubleshooting.

The kicker? According to the user, she is not missing any folders. If I ever figure out why this error is occuring, I'll be sure to send an update!

Posted at 8:19 AM by System Account | Permalink | Email this Post | Comments (0)

4/16/2010

How to migrate users in a parallel rightfax environment?

I have a client looking to document these procedures, so I figured it would make for some good reading on here. First, what is the benefit of moving users between rightfax servers? I see it used mostly when a company is looking to upgrade rightfax, but they don't want to take the risk of doing an in-place upgrade. Instead, you can have both versions running in parallel which gives the company more flexibility and control. So, better question, how do you do it?

Open the enterprise fax manager in the new environment

Click File -> Open

Input old fax server name and hit OK

Now, you have both environments open at the same time.

Click users on the left-hand pane in both environments to authenticate to both servers.

At this point, select the users that you are looking to migrate over first. You can highlight multiple users using SHIFT or CONTROL keys.

Once users are highlighted, left click and drag to the Users area for the new environment.

Select Copy Faxes and Phonebooks (assuming that you want this information)

Depending on the size of the fax box depends on how long this will take. Typically, large fax boxes take between a 1/2 an hour to an hour to migrate. Smaller fax boxes are significantly quicker.

Posted at 8:33 AM by System Account | Permalink | Email this Post | Comments (0)

4/12/2010

Entourage + Rightfax Exchange connector

As entourage becomes more popular, more companies are inquiring if it is possible to email via entourage. The short answer is yes! In order to send a fax via entourage, you would need to format the from email address as follows:

Entourage: IMCEAFAX-FAXNUMBER@domain.com

The domain would be your email organization's domain. FAXNUMBER=an actual fax number like 212-222-2222. Here is an example of a working command to submit via entourage:

IMCEAFAX-212-222-2222@bitxbit.com

The downside to using entourage is that there is no client that can integrate as its outlook counterpart does. If you did not have an outlook client, you would need to format the from address in outlook as follows:

[RFAX:Name@/FN=FaxNum]

A working example of this is as follows:

[RFAX:TestName@/FN=212-222-2222]

Outlook web access can use either manual method and will send out correctly.

Good luck and happy faxing!

Posted at 1:48 PM by System Account | Permalink | Email this Post | Comments (0)