Troubleshoot Network Problems with a Local LimsData

Occasionally, we receive technical support calls and emails from LIMS multi-user installations with various error messages or performance issues that suggest a problem with the user’s network infrastructure. For example, “Not responding” may appear in the LIMS title bar or a “System resource exceeded” error may occur while running a query. Other errors that may occur suggest the LimsData database is randomly inaccessible. In a multi-user LIMS installation, these and other errors can occur if there are problems with the server where the LimsData database resides or with the connection between the LIMS workstation and the server.

If you suspect network issues may be the cause of slow query performance or other errors you can perform a simple test with a local copy of LimsData to determine whether the network is the culprit. Follow these steps at a LIMS workstation that exhibited the problem:

1. Determine the location of your LimsData database. You can find the name and location of LimsData listed at the bottom left of the LIMS main menu and on the System Info tab of the System Configuration screen on the Admin menu.

2. Exit the LIMS on all workstations then copy your LimsData database file from the server folder to folder C:\LIMS.

3. In folder C:\LIMS right-click the LimsData database file, choose Properties, enable the Read[1]only attribute then click OK. This will prevent any inadvertent data entry in the local LimsData database.

4. Start LIMS, use File | Open LIMS Database, select your LimsData file in folder C:\LIMS then click Open.

5. With the attached local LimsData database, repeat the query or other tasks that caused the performance problem or error.

If the problem no longer appears in step 5, you have isolated the issue to your network infrastructure and you should contact your IT support folks and demonstrate that the problem is network related. When you are finished testing, remember to use File | Open LIMS Database and select your server LimsData database.