OWB: Unable to open or save projects due to a connection timeout

Products

• Clarity PPM SaaS
• Clarity PPM On Premise

Issue/Introduction

You are experiencing quick time-outs in Open Workbench (OWB) where you are unable to save project updates back to Clarity within 5 mins of having the project open or being prompted for credentials. You may also see that projects hang when attempting to save projects back to Clarity.

The below error may be observed (but not always) when opening a project: 

A server error occured during login: - Connection timed out: connect 

Other errors that may be seen:

• "Received fatal alert 'handshake_failure'"
• "Unable to save project CA PPM\<ID>.Received fatal alert: Record_overflow"

Environment

Release: All
Component: CLARITY OPEN WORKBENCH (OWB)

Resolution

Step 1: Create an Environment Variable to update timeout

Create the following environment variable on the workstation: JAVA_TOOL_OPTIONS=-Dsun.net.client.defaultConnectTimeout=300000;-Dsun.net.client.defaultReadTimeout=300000

1. Search for Environment Variables on the workstation, then click Environment Variables (or you can also right-click on Windows Explorer and select System)
2. Under System Variables, click New
3. For Variable Name, enter: JAVA_TOOL_OPTIONS
4. For Variable Value enter: -Dsun.net.client.defaultConnectTimeout=300000;-Dsun.net.client.defaultReadTimeout=300000
5. Click OK, then click OK again

Step 2: Change the timeout in Clarity to be less than the LB timeout

The default for SaaS customers is 15 minutes, so if you are a SaaS Customer try 14 minutes or less or 0 for no timeout. To check the timeout value:

1. In Clarity go to Administration->General Settings->System Options
2. Check the value set for 'Minutes Of Inactivity Until Logout'
3. If this is set to >14 minutes, lower this to 14 minutes or less. 

Step 3: Check for LB issues (On Premise customers)

• Remove the Load Balancer (LB) from the equation by logging directly into the App Server via Clarity.
• During the Login process in OWB, you will need to change the Clarity URL to match the IP address or machine name being used in the test. The port # needs to match what is showing the non LB Clarity URL. SSL Handling should be none.
• If the issue doesn't happen without being connected to the LB, see F5 Load Balancer timeout recommendations for Clarity

Additional Information

• If the issue happens with larger projects, try increasing the 'JavaMemoryLimit' on the workstation to 800. See Setting maximum java memory usage for OWB for steps on how to do this.
• If you're seeing error: A server error occured during login: - Connection timed out: connect also check to see if there is a proxy issue by using the steps in KB OWB log in errors when using proxy