Folder monitor rules that monitor remote network shares randomly stop working; I have to stop and restart the rule to get it to work again.

THE INFORMATION IN THIS ARTICLE APPLIES TO:

• EFT Server, all versions on Windows 2003 and Windows 2008, both 32-bit and 64-bit

EFT v8.0 and later store Advanced Properties in a JSON file. When you upgrade from EFT v7.4.x to EFT v8, the non-default settings that you have defined in the registry will be added to the Advanced Properties file during upgrade. (Default settings become part of the EFT configuration files.) For a more on how to use advanced properties, and a spreadsheet of the advanced properties, please refer to the "Advanced Properties" topic in the help for your version of EFT.

SYMPTOM

Folder monitor rules that monitor remote network shares randomly stop working; I have to stop and restart the rule to get it to work again.

RESOLUTION

To resolve this issue, verify that the MaxCmds and MaxMpxCt registry values are set to 400 or more. If they do not exist on your computer, you can create them as new REG_DWORD values. The range of values for these registry entries is between 0 and 65535.

To create or edit the advanced properties:

In v8.0 and later:

Add the name:value pair to the AdvancedProperties.JSON file as described in the "Advanced Properties" topic in the online help for your version of EFT.
{
"name": value
}

In versions prior to v8.0: 

1. On the EFT computer, click Start > Run, type regedit, and then click OK.
2. Locate (or create) and then click the following key in the registry: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\lanmanworkstation\parameters
   
   (Make sure that you are editing the lanmanworkstation\parameters registry key and not the lanmanserver\parameters registry key.)
3. In the right pane, double-click the MaxCmds value.
4. In the Value data box, verify that the value is 400 or more. The MaxCmds registry entry is a REG_DWORD decimal entry.
5. Quit the Registry Editor, then restart the EFT Server computer.
6. On the remote Windows OS File Server computer, click Start > Run, type regedit, and then click OK.
7. Locate (or create) and then click the following key in the registry: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\lanmanserver\parameters
   
   (Make sure that you are editing the lanmanserver\parameters registry key and not to the lanmanworkstation\parameters registry key.)
8. In the right-pane, double-click the MaxMpxCt value. (On SMB servers that are running a version of Windows earlier than Windows 2000, the MaxMpxCt registry entry is named MaxMpxCount, but has the same function.)
9. In the Value data box, verify that the value is 400 or more. The MaxMpxCt registry entry is a REG_DWORD decimal entry. (The MaxMpxCt value determines the maximum number of simultaneous, active requests that the server permits from an individual client.)
10. Quit the Registry Editor, then restart the file server.

MORE INFORMATION

EFT uses the Server Message Block (SMB) protocol to monitor remote folder shares with the FindFirstChangeNotification function. Per Microsoft this method can break down if the operating system is not configured to handle the necessary amount of requests at either the EFT Server end or the remote server end. In this mechanism, EFT Server acts a client making an outbound long term connection to a remote file server. To ensure that the server can continue to function, you must add the registry entries to the TCP configuration of the server's operating system.