Navigation Changes disappear

Crobertson

Hi All,

When I add a few folders and links to the navigation bar in the self self-service portal they promptly disappear about an hour later. Is there a way to get them to stick around?

Joe_Burrows

@Florian_Moos & @Crobertson

Ive confirmed this is a licensed feature hence why its hiding when it cant confirm a valid license. Id recommend raising this as a feature request to see if we can add the ability of adding nav nodes and URLs to the free community version of the portal.

Thanks!
Joe

Florian_Moos

Hey @Leif_Erkisson

that is correct. The Free Community Portal is and will stay free of Charge. But adding Navigation Nodes is a licenced Feature. This is because the free Portal is basically the same as the licenced Portal from Cireson, but Comes with less functionality and without Support.

If you're searching for an easy, good looking, lightweight self-service Portal just for the end users: The community Edition could fit your needs!

If you Need the Ability to add Navigation nodes and want the adavantage of more Things like Analyst Features, send Mail and so on, you should contact an authorized Reseller or cireson direct for a demo / Trial licence to figure out if the full Portal fits your Needs better.

Hope this helps!

Regards Florian

Dakota_Green

Sheer curiosity, have you restarted your Cache Builder since adding the folders?

Crobertson

I did, and they were still there for awhile. It's really puzzling, eventually after about an hour or so they just disappear like the portal navigation settings reset.

Crobertson

After more testing it seems like its related to the cache builder being reset or refreshing on its own.

Tony_Collett

Sounds a little strange. I haven't come across this myself. Are you able to check to see if it happens at the same time every time or if it's a random occurrence?

Crobertson

It appears to be related to when I manually restart the cache builder to apply some changes. The folders promptly disappear. 

Tony_Collett

I'll have a look at this in my environment and see if I can reproduce the problem. 

Crobertson

I appreciate it, not sure what the deal is just had it happen again. Ok it looks to be related when I do nested folders, so if I have a folder inside of a folder those are disappearing and any promoted views inside end up in the root.

Daran_Stokes

Hi Guys...

Was there ever a resolution to this one?

Tony_Collett

Sorry, I never came back with a response. 

I didn't experience this problem in my environment. I've had folders and pages sitting there for a while now through CB/IIS restarts and they haven't been lost.

I'm not really sure where the issue would lie either I'm afraid

Daran_Stokes

Hmmm... Its really weird.

When I setup the views and promote, I then get to see them under the navigation settings menu, but once the Cache builder refreshes, I loose them.

I've tried creating the views in a folder at the root of the Config Items level and also within the  Config Itmes> Asset mgmt. > hardware Assets > new folder, but the same thing happens.

Tony_Collett

I just followed the same steps that you listed here and was not able to replicate the issue you are having. Does the navigation node completely disappear in Navigation Settings on the portal or does it just get 'turned off' (public/visible settings checked off)?

If you're able to, could you raise a support ticket with us at support.cireson.com and attach your Cachebuilder/WebConsole logs, as well as include what version you are running. 

We can definitely have a closer look.

Daran_Stokes

will do Tony

Crobertson

I just updated my production portal to the latest version and I'm going to test this out. Oddly enough I can't replicate in my test environment...

Tony_Collett

Ultimately the best thing you can do for now is to monitor the issue, if it occurs again, create a report on what was done between the time it vanished and the last time you checked the Navigation. Include all logs and events. 

If it does happen again, send this report through to Cireson Support and we can have a look at them from there, and then you can attempt to recreate the Navigation Node. 

Regards, Tony

Florian_Moos

Hello together,

I expirience exact the same issue in our Environment.

It seems like it has nothing to do with Cache Rebuild. I'll try to reproduce the error and will collect all Logfiles to post them here for finding the reason and maybe publish a fix,

Regards
Florian

Florian_Moos

Hello all together,

here is my little update after some hours:

After two Manual restarts of the Cache builder Service, nothing happend to the Navigation Node (I added a link to an internal Website, public) It was reachable and visible on the localhost and remote Systems.

Now I've looked again and the link was gone.

In de Application or System Logs i can't find any error or warning directly related to the WebPortal.
The first strange thing is that there is some reporting about svchost crashes!? But i don't think that they're related to the issue (are they?)

The second strange thing is an error in the System Log from WAS. It contains a message that the application Pool of "CiresonPortal" was shut down due to Inactivity. (The Default value is 20 minutes in IIS..)
Could this be responsible for the issue?

I changed the Default value to 1200 minutes (I know it's a Long time..) and added a new Navigation node. I'll Keep you updated with my Experience.

regards, Florian

EDIT:

- Portal runs on the secondary Management Server.
- Windows Server 2016 all latest Updates installed
- System Center is Version 2016
- CiresonCacheBuilder Service runs under SCSM Service Account

If someone want to take a look, i'll upload the logfiles collected

Daran_Stokes

Hi Guys,

I got to the bottom of my issues with Joe Burrows yesterday. It turns out that I had a temporary license key applied to the portal, which differed from the one in SCSM settings. copied and pasted the correct key in and all the views turned up together.

Florian_Moos

Hi @Daran_Stokes and the rest,

is there a "normal" licence for the community Portal? And how do we get it?

regards, florian

Daran_Stokes

Hi Florian,

I'm sure the support guys could help you out on this...

I got a temporary license to resolve an issue when I upgraded the portal a few weeks back. It never got reverted back to my real license...

Tony_Collett

Florian_Moos said:

Hi @Daran_Stokes and the rest,

is there a "normal" licence for the community Portal? And how do we get it?

regards, florian

There are no license keys for the community portal. It should simply work as is

Adam_Dzyacky

I've occasionally experienced this behavior in a load balanced environment.

I usually end up making changes for folders/navigation on the WF server which has the portal, but is not part of the load balanced set.

Florian_Moos

Hey @Tony_Collett

As you say "it should" but sadly it does not.After a random time the Navigation changes disappear.

Any Ideas?

@Adam_Dzyacky Our Environment isn't load balanced, we have two Management Servers (Primary+secondary) Cireson Portal runs on secondary as metioned above.

Regards, Florian

Crobertson

Even after updating to the latest version this is still occurring for me.

Joe_Burrows

Crobertson said:

Even after updating to the latest version this is still occurring for me.

Hi

Ive just tested and can replicate this, it appears for folders and nav icons it needs a valid license otherwise it hides the nav nodes when cachebuilder and app-pool is recycled.

Im not sure if this is by design and if these are features of the analyst portal - but I will confirm this with the team and let you know.

Cheers
Joe

Florian_Moos

Hey @Joe_Burrows

thanks for your confirmation.

Regards, Florian

Joe_Burrows

@Florian_Moos & @Crobertson

Ive confirmed this is a licensed feature hence why its hiding when it cant confirm a valid license. Id recommend raising this as a feature request to see if we can add the ability of adding nav nodes and URLs to the free community version of the portal.

Thanks!
Joe

Leif_Eriksson

Any solution for this? 

We also get this in our enviroment.....

Florian_Moos

Hey @Leif_Eriksson

as @Joe_Burrows from Cirseon mentioned above saldy it's a licensed Feature.

Regards Florian

Leif_Eriksson

Oh... I thought that the Portal was free of charge and required no license???

Florian_Moos

Hey @Leif_Erkisson

that is correct. The Free Community Portal is and will stay free of Charge. But adding Navigation Nodes is a licenced Feature. This is because the free Portal is basically the same as the licenced Portal from Cireson, but Comes with less functionality and without Support.

If you're searching for an easy, good looking, lightweight self-service Portal just for the end users: The community Edition could fit your needs!

If you Need the Ability to add Navigation nodes and want the adavantage of more Things like Analyst Features, send Mail and so on, you should contact an authorized Reseller or cireson direct for a demo / Trial licence to figure out if the full Portal fits your Needs better.

Hope this helps!

Regards Florian