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Server Address Book missing

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Nijel Terry, User (Posts: 55)
Dec 10, 2018 7:08:28 pm EST
I have a similar issue or perhaps the same one as Steven and Cristian. I only have one Viewer PC and no plans for any additional Viewers needed so my solution was to stop using the cloud address book feature altogether.  

When I was using the cloud address book I needed to repeatedly sign back in to the server because it would sign me out very frequently and this made adding and removing clients very tedious or impossible.
Eventually I couldn't even sign in at all and I just gave up on using the feature and exported my address book to the Viewer and disabled signing in to the server so now my Viewer launches much faster.

As a side note, I can only connect and see the online status of clients when I am on the same LAN as the server if my Viewer PC's network connection is routed through a VPN.
For some reason it doesn't work from inside the network. When I'm using my cellular hotspot or another ISP or my VPN it works but I can't connect to the server domain address from inside the network.

A side note to the side note; the only way I am able to make clients I know are online appear online and connectable while my Viewer is on the same LAN as the server without using a VPN is if I edit the server address on each client on the Viewer address book and remove the domain name of the server and enter the server LAN IP address. Obviously this isn't going to work for when I'm on the road so I just use my VPN in the office instead.

It's not really a problem for me to use a VPN while in the office so I'm not complaining, I just think this is an interesting problem and if anyone else has dealt with it and has a fix I'm all ears.
Edited:Nijel Terry - Dec 10, 2018 7:12:40 pm EST
Steven Coleman, User (Posts: 21)
Dec 10, 2018 7:38:45 pm EST
Support level: Starter
Conrad,

Do you need more information to help solve this issue? I can send you my address book .xml and log files if that helps. I really want to purchase the Pro  license but I can't without a working central address book management solution.

Also not sure if it makes a difference, but I also have users and groups assigned to the different address books to limited access to certain configured connections within the address book.  I current only have 3 users configured. 1 admin that has rights to every connection and 2 users that only have rights to specific address books and connections.
Edited:Steven Coleman - Dec 10, 2018 8:39:54 pm EST
Steven Coleman, User (Posts: 21)
Dec 10, 2018 9:45:15 pm EST
Support level: Starter
I think I found the issue.  When I enable "Auto import" the next time I restart the server service the address book manager is blank and I can't access my address books.  When I don't use "Auto import"  or clear the feature quickly after restarting the server service my address books appear and work as expected.

I think there is a bug with applying  security groups/users to an address book in combination with enabling Auto import.
Conrad Sallian, Support (Posts: 3049)
Dec 11, 2018 7:43:15 am EST
Hello Steven,

Steven Coleman wrote:

Restarting the Admin panel (InternetIdAdmin.exe) never resolves the Address Book issue. Restarting the service (InternetIdService.exe) gives you access to the address books for about about 30 seconds - 1 minute. After that time you can't edit it anymore and it goes blank again if you exit and go back into the address book manager.

The sync breaks as well from the viewer. You can't sign in to the server anymore when the address books show up blank on the server.

Did you restart the actual PC after you installed the server? Also, although you don't have any third-party antivirus software installed on the server machine, Microsoft's Windows Defender may still be running. This is very unlikely that RU Server could be deleted or blocked by Windows Defender (and any other antivirus software for that matter) but still you could check that and add server installation folder to the exceptions.
Conrad Sallian, Support (Posts: 3049)
Dec 11, 2018 7:45:45 am EST

Do you need more information to help solve this issue? I can send you my address book .xml and log files if that helps. I really want to purchase the Pro license but I can't without a working central address book management solution.

Yes, it would help. Namely, if you can, please send us the entire server installation folder with all the files in it. Also, we need this registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Usoris\Remote Utilities . You can export it to a reg file using the Windows registry editor.

You can send the files (or a link to download them) to support@remote-utilities.com.

I think I found the issue. When I enable "Auto import" the next time I restart the server service the address book manager is blank and I can't access my address books. When I don't use "Auto import" or clear the feature quickly after restarting the server service my address books appear and work as expected.

I think there is a bug with applying  security groups/users to an address book in combination with enabling Auto import.

We will test that and try to reproduce. Thanks.
Conrad Sallian, Support (Posts: 3049)
Dec 11, 2018 7:57:50 am EST
Hello Nijel,

When I was using the cloud address book I needed to repeatedly sign back in to the server because it would sign me out very frequently and this made adding and removing clients very tedious or impossible.

This might be caused by intermittent network connectivity or network configuration problems. You may not notice that when web surfing, for example, because a web browser briefly connects to a web server, downloads the page, and then disconnects. With remote access software though you need a long lasting connectivity and sometimes network problems may affect how your remote connection works.

As a side note, I can only connect and see the online status of clients when I am on the same LAN as the server if my Viewer PC's network connection is routed through a VPN.
For some reason it doesn't work from inside the network. When I'm using my cellular hotspot or another ISP or my VPN it works but I can't connect to the server domain address from inside the network.

This has something to do with your specific network configuration. Unfortunately, with so many possible factors we cannot tell for sure why this is happening. Still, you should be able to communicate with your server directly on the same LAN using its hostname or domain address, it is very strange that you cannot.

A side note to the side note; the only way I am able to make clients I know are online appear online and connectable while my Viewer is on the same LAN as the server without using a VPN is if I edit the server address on each client on the Viewer address book and remove the domain name of the server and enter the server LAN IP address. Obviously this isn't going to work for when I'm on the road so I just use my VPN in the office instead.

Here is a question - why would you want to use the server (the relay role, that is, to broker a remote connection) if you have direct connectivity with remote machines, such as through VPN? You could simply connect from Viewer to Host using the Host's VPN address, you don't need to use the server for that.

Please, note that server's roles may work independently. For instance, you can sync your address book through the server and still connect directly to remote machines.
Steven Coleman, User (Posts: 21)
Dec 11, 2018 8:57:42 am EST
Support level: Starter
I send an email to support@remote-utilities.com with a link to download the registry key export and files you requested.
Conrad Sallian, Support (Posts: 3049)
Dec 11, 2018 11:33:43 am EST
As we have just confirmed, the issue is caused by a bug in the auto-import feature. We will fix the bug in very nearest update of the program.

Sorry for any inconvenience.
Manuel J Gomez, User (Posts: 4)
Feb 12, 2019 7:42:48 am EST

Conrad Sallian wrote:

As we have just confirmed, the issue is caused by a bug in the auto-import feature. We will fix the bug in very nearest update of the program.

Sorry for any inconvenience.

I have recently came across this bug and cannot access the address book on the server. It is just gone from the server. Luckily I was able to find an auto backup copy made by the Viewer however how would I re-import this address book with all permissions?

I had 60 remote machines with about a dozen users with various permissions on the folders. Is this just lost? Am I going to have to re-create them? Any help would be appreciated.
Steven Coleman, User (Posts: 21)
Feb 12, 2019 8:25:28 am EST
Support level: Starter
In my case the address book was still on the RU server in the "C:\Program Files (x86)\Remote Utilities - Server\data" folder, it just appeared to be blank in the Address Book Manager. When I disabled the "Auto import" feature and restarted the RU server everything started to work again. The issue I had was fixed in RU server version 2.7.5.0.

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