TN Appsvr160 How to prevent a computer running Application Server from turning off a NIC to save power

Description

Sometimes a computer or virtual image can turn off a NIC in order to save power. This can negatively effect the Wonderware Application Server communication or in a redundant environment cause a failover to occur. This tech note walks through a process for making sure this doesn't happen.

• Author: Joseph Hefner
• Published: 10/15/2015
• Applies to: Application Server 3.1 and above

Details

When the NIC power issue occurs you will usually see warning messages for the MessageChannel similar to the one below:

CFMCObj::IssueRead - tagPlatformContext::GetConnection hSocket 14a8 failed

To prevent the computer from turning off the NIC follow the steps below:

Step 1:

From Control Panel \ Network and Sharing Center click the "Change Adapter Settings" link

Step 2:

Right click on the adapter and choose properties:

Step 3:

Click the Configure button:

Step 4:

Select the "Power Management" tab:

Step 5:

Uncheck the checkbox for "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power":

The next thing to check is to ensure the the TOE is disabled. The article below walks through the process for checking this:

http://knowledgebase.progress.com/articles/Article/P163165

1. Launch command propmt as an Administrator
2. Use the command below to see if it is disabled:
   
   netsh int tcp show global 
    
3. If it is enabled you can use the command below to disable it:
   netsh int tcp set global chimney=disabled

To change the TCP Chimney Offload setting on the network adapter in line with the Operating System setting above:

1. Start -> Network Connections or Start -> Run -> ncpa.cpl
2. Choose the network adapter in use.
3. Right click and choose Properties
4. Select the Configure button
5. Select the Advanced tab where all features related to TCP Chimney offload available on the Network card are listed. The configurable options available vary depending on how the vendor implements their driver for Windows. Most network cards have features including Receive Side Scaling, TCP Checksum Offload and TCP Large Send Offload. 
6. Change the related value setting to Off/Disable or On/Enable as appropriate. Refer to the vendor’s documentation for specific steps on how to disable these features.

The article below describes the TCP chimney:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/951037#/en-us/kb/951037